web1_TTL020919Healthy2.jpg

From now on, it’s ‘Esthercise’

web1_Righteous-Brothers.jpg

Righteous Brothers to perform at F.M. Kirby Center

Her face alive with mischief and excitement, the character Cassandra clutches a rain stick and dances around the stage at King&#8217;s College until she seems a trifle dizzy.Then she flicks a lighter and tries to burn some sage but &#8212; ouch! &#8212; she seems to have burned her hand.In her third attempt at tapping into otherworldly power, Cassandra pulls out a voodoo doll and jabs it with pins.&#8220;I do not want to sell the house,&#8221; she mutters to the doll. &#8220;I do not want to sell the house.&#8221;&#8220;And whenever I do think of selling the house, I get a little pain,&#8221; she says, sticking the doll again as, off-stage, the character Masha screams an anguished &#8220;Aaaaagh!&#8221;Welcome to a rehearsal of &#8220;Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,&#8221; a Christopher Durang comedy about three middle-age siblings (you can guess which title characters are related because their names all have a distinctive Russian sound) and the one sister&#8217;s much younger boy toy (that would be Spike).Rounding out the cast are Nina, an aspiring actor who&#8217;s visiting the neighbors, and the dramatic Cassandra, who serves as housemaid to the reclusive Vanya and Sonia.&#8220;She&#8217;s sort of our link to the outside world,&#8221; said Dorothy Monforte, 22, of Grahamsville, N.Y, who plays Sonia.&#8220;I&#8217;m a nut,&#8221; said Jessica Sudano, 19, of Milford, laughing about her character&#8217;s eccentricities.Actually, just about everyone in this play has some eccentricities, but Cassandra&#8217;s stand out.Like the Cassandra of Greek mythology, Sudano said, the Cassandra in this play can foresee the future, but people tend to not pay attention.The self-professed psychic senses trouble when Vanya and Sonia&#8217;s peaceful existence is ruffled by a visit from their sister Masha, whom they haven&#8217;t seen in 15 years.&#8220;She interrupts our flow,&#8221; said Andrew Martinez, 22, of Wilkes-Barre, who plays a &#8220;very comfortable and complacent&#8221; Vanya.If Masha goes through with her plan to sell the house, that could upend Vanya and Sonia&#8217;s lives.The pair of siblings, whom director M. Sheileen Godwin describes as &#8220;almost like an old married couple, without the romantic part,&#8221; had devoted themselves to caring for their elderly &#8212; now deceased &#8212; parents, a pair of professors who were fans of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov.&#8220;I think Masha is grateful to Sonia and Vanya for taking care of their parents,&#8221; said Stephanie Kleinfelder, 19, of Langhorne, who plays Masha. &#8220;I think you&#8217;ll see she has a good heart.&#8221;&#8220;We&#8217;re not there yet,&#8221; said Monforte, whose Sonia bitterly resents her sister, despite having accepted her financial support for years.&#8220;She&#8217;s had the life I always wanted. She&#8217;s had a career and she&#8217;s fallen in love many times.&#8221;Masha&#8217;s latest love interest is Spike, played by Dylan Laraba, 20, of Womelsdorf.&#8220;He likes that she has a lot of connections,&#8221; Laraba said. &#8220;He&#8217;s kind of using her.&#8221;Naturally, Masha will become jealous of Nina, the neighbors&#8217; houseguest.&#8220;She&#8217;s not an ordinary teen-age girl who&#8217;s boy crazy,&#8221; Mikayla Acree, 19, of Parsippany, N.J., described her character. &#8220;She&#8217;s an aspiring actor, very young and ready to learn. She has an old soul.&#8221;Nina is willing to dress up like Dopey the dwarf for a costume party where Masha hopes to shine as Snow White, surrounded by an entourage of supporting characters. Not everyone is so obliging, and the narcissistic Masha will later want &#8220;to forget that horrible party.&#8221;Chekhov fans will likely enjoy certain nuances of the play &#8212; perhaps instances where the script mentions a cherry orchard or Nina calls Vanya &#8220;uncle&#8221; or characters talk about birds, not exactly seagulls, but birds.Nevertheless, Godwin said, &#8220;it&#8217;s not a parody and you don&#8217;t need to know the plays of Anton Chekhov to enjoy the humor.&#8221;<style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_vanya.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Andrew Martinez portrays Vanya, Stephanie Kleinfelder plays Masha and Dorothy Monforte is Sonia in the King&#8217;s College production of &#8216;Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,&#8217; which opens Feb. 14. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_vanya.jpg</photo0><caption0>Andrew Martinez portrays Vanya, Stephanie Kleinfelder plays Masha and Dorothy Monforte is Sonia in the King&#8217;s College production of &#8216;Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,&#8217; which opens Feb. 14. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Mary Therese Biebelmbiebel@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>IF YOU GOWhat: &#8216;Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike&#8217;Where: George P. Maffei II Theatre, King&#8217;s College Administration Building, 133 N. River St., Wilkes-BarreWhen: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14-16 and 21-23, and 2 p.m. Feb. 17 Admission: $12; students/senior citizens, $5More info: 570-208-5825</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</shirttailMeta></div>

‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ coming to King’s College