LiveArtDC to Stage Drunkle Vanya from April 10 – 25 as Part of the Accidental Vanya Festival
Award-winning production company presents another riotous creation from Three Day Hangover at The Pinch in Columbia Heights
WASHINGTON, D.C. — LiveArtDC is producing another show created by the New York City’s Three Day Hangover for the Accidental Vanya Festival in Washington, D.C. Drunkle Vanya mixes Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya with Cards Against Humanity (“the party game for horrible people”), vodka shots and the kind of intimacy you only get at a dive bar. Staged at The Pinch in north Columbia Heights, the show brings out the dark humor of Chekhov’s original text and adds the kind of fun and games fans are accustomed to from the two production companies.
After winning “Best Drama” for its production of R+J: Star-Cross’d Death Match at the 2014 Fringe Festival, LiveArtDC is please to again partner with Three Day Hangover to bring a lively, audience-centered show to the District. Adapted by Lori Wolter Hudson, Drunkle Vanya was hailed by Broadway World as “an engaging, raucous romp” during its New York City run last September. Theater in the Now wrote, “Three Day Hangover did the unthinkable and made Chekhov bearable and cool.”
“This is a story we can all relate to — especially in a bar,” says director Lee Liebeskind. “We all want something better — a better job, better lovers. But most of us just complain about it and don’t do anything to get it and end up frustrated, depressed and starting the cycle again.” Liebeskind is one of the artistic directors of The Inkwell, a new play development organization in DC. He has directed for The Inkwell, Rorschach Theatre, and The Source Festival. This production stars Karina Hilleard, 2014 Helen Hayes Award Nominee for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play-HELEN Production, as the title character.
LiveArtDC advises audience members to wear comfortable shoes and expect to stand and walk around the space. The actors will be moving through the crowd, inviting the audience to participate in games and, sometimes, challenging them to drinking contests. But, come hungry — The Pinch’s parmesan fries were included in DCist’s roundup of the “Top 10 Fries in the D.C. Area,” with its sweet potato fries a close runner up. The Washington Post calls their burger, the Burduckon, “monumental: a beef patty topped with bacon, fried onions and a pile of pulled barbecue duck.”
| Where: | The Pinch3548 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20010
(Columbia Heights) |
| When: | From April 10-25 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, except for Friday April 24. Additional showings will be held on Monday, April 20 and Thursday, April 23. |
| Who: | Director: Lee LiebeskindFeaturing: Jenna Berk, Rebecca Ellis, Kevin Hasser, Karina Hilleard, Jon Jon Johnson, Bob Manzo, Rasik Ohal |
| Tickets & Passes: | Available at LiveArtDC.com |
| Official Hashtag: | #drunklevanya |
About LiveArtDC
LiveArtDC (as in “give”) is a Washington, D.C.- based company of artists who believe in the power of collaboration to create engaging stories for the theater. Comprised of writers, actors, directors, dramaturgs, and other art lovers, LiveArtDC is focused on the process of story and character development. No play is guided by a production deadline. Since we do not have the constraints of seasons or spaces, we have the freedom to play and explore, and allow the work to emerge when it’s ready. Our inaugural show “I <3 Hummels” was incubated over three years, premiered at the 2012 Capital Fringe Festival and remounted last year in Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas, Nev. Our 2014 Fringe show “R+J Star-Cross’d Death Match” at DC Reynolds won “Best Drama of Fringe.” Current projects include “The Clara Bow Project” and “Causality.”
