“Chekhov for Children” Film and Discussion: NYC, October 21
When I was in fifth grade, I was part of something truly bizarre — a totally serious elementary school production of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.
The play is a melancholic 19th century Russian drama about middle age, inappropriate infatuations, and the sacrifices and disappointments of aging. Because it was the seventies, writer Phillip Lopate decided that this would be a perfect project for a mixed-race group of urban public school kids to take on. And so we did, and it was weirdly amazing. (I played Vanya, the 47-year-old title character.)
One of the other kids who was involved with the play is now a documentary filmmaker, and she’s made
