Themes on Variations: An Evening of One Act Plays
There will be a ten minute intermission between plays
Variations on the Death of Trotsky
By David Ives
Directed by Jack Green
Time and place:
Trotsky’s study in Coyoacan, Mexico, August 21, 1940
Cast
Trotsky: LeeJa Junker
Mrs. Trotsky: Rebecca McNeill
Ramon: Garrett T. McDonald
Leon Davidovich (November 7 [O.S. October 26] 1879 – August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein, was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was an influential politician in the early Soviet Union, first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and then as the founder and commander of the Red Army and People's Commissar of War. He was also a founding member of the Politburo. Following a power struggle with Joseph Stalin in the 1920s, Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union. On August 20th, 1940, a Spanish Communist named Ramon Mercader smashed a mountain-climber’s axe into Trotsky’s skull in Coyoacan, a suburb of Mexico City. Trotsky died the next day.
Trotsky's ideas form the basis of the Communist theory of Trotskyism, and Trotskyism remains a major school of Communist thought distinct from the theories of Marxism espoused by Stalin or Mao Zedong.
Adapted from Wikipedia.com
The Nina Variations
by Steven Dietz
(based on a scene from The Sea Gull by Anton Chekhov)
Directed by Joe Jacoby
Time and place
Treplev’s study, the present
Cast
Treplev (aspiring playwright/in love with Nina): Chris
Chilton, Arron Craft, Chris Fannon, Aaron Rich, Zachary Rollston
Nina (aspiring actress/in love with Trigorin): Alyssa Calder,
Whittney Hawk, Lizz Horton, Samantha Robson
Scene Manager: Daniel Soults
“[Anton Chekhov] does nothing less than confront his characters – and his audience – with the fundamentals of life: love, loss, hope, regret, dreams, death.
Having been approached several years ago about writing a
new adaptation of The Sea Gull, I immersed myself in the play. And what
I found surprised me: I could not get the final scene between Treplev and Nina
out of my mind. If fact, I could not focus on the rest of the play at all. I
was mesmerized by the magnitude of this single, fateful encounter. And so,
these ‘variations’ were born.”
Excerpted from Steven Dietz’s Author’s Note, The Nina Variations, 3/13/97
Production Staff
Stage Manager: Jackie Weir
Costumer: Judith McGiveney (Variations
on the Death of Trotsky)
Jackie Weir (The Nina Variations)
Lighting Design: John “Goose” Gallegos
Sound Design: Jack Green, Allen Konigsberg
Technical Director: John “Goose” Gallegos
Set Coordinator: Justin Van Eaton
Properties: Patty Baker, cast members
Scenery Construction: Justin Van Eaton, Eric Nowak, Drew Leiser, Jackson Wilkey, Bobee Bovee, Matt Day, Daniel Edmiston.
Costume Assistants: Kendal White, Jackie Weir
Lighting Crew: John Gallegos, Eric Nowak, Meggin Gallegos
Light/Sound board operators: John “Goose” Gallegos, Meggin Gallegos, Eric Nowack
Poster: Matthew Cutshall
Program: Matthew Cutshall
Publicity: Stacy Hudson
House Manager: Patty Baker
Acknowledgements
Rick Sousa of Design Events, Spokane Civic Theatre, Virginia Johnson, Janet Warner, Diane Rininger and Campus Safety, ChickenFoot Productions