Archive

Identifier: Month 1995

Inclusive Dates: April 4 - June 10 1995

A Month in the Country was Roundabout's third revival of this Russian classic, with earlier stagings Off Broadway in 1976 and 1979. This 1995 production was staged at the Criterion Center with first previews on April 4 1995, opening night on April 25, 1995 and closing night on June 10, 1995.

The production and several of its stars earned Tony and Drama Desk nominations and Helen Mirren was a 1995 Theatre World recipient. Howard Kissel of New York Daily News said in his review, "Mirren is so skilled that she is riveting..." Ticket prices were $55 individually and was offered as part of the subscriber package for the 1994-1995 season.

Directed by Scott Ellis using a translation by Richard Freeborn by arrangement with Oxford University Press. Set design by Santo Loquasto, costumes by Jane Greenwood, lighting design by Brian Nason, sound design by Tony Meola, hair and wig by Paul Huntley.

Starring Helen Mirren as Natalya Petrovna, Ron Rifkin as Mikhailo Aleksandrovich Raktin, F. Murray Abraham as Ignaty Ilich Shpigelsky, Rocco Sisto as Schaaf, Helen Stenborg as Anna Semenovna, Gail Grate as Lizaveta Bogdanovna, Benjamin N. Ungar as Kolya, Alessandro Nivola as Aleksei Nikolaevich Belyaev, Dan Moran as Matvei, Kathryn Erbe as Verochka, Byron Jennings as Arkady Sergeich Islaev, Patricia T.A. Ageheim as Katya and John Christopher Jones as Afanasy Ivanovich Bolshintsov. Understudies Julian Gamble, Dee Ann Newkirk, Paul F. Dano, Patricia Baxter, Ezio Cutarelli. 

The playwright, Ivan Turgenev, wrote the play between 1848 and 1850. The story follows a bored and willful young Russian woman living on an estate in the late 1840s whose marriage to an older man is tested when she seeks out the admiration and attention of two other men, one who begrudgingly returns her affection and another who does not and instead falls in love with her young charge, creating great discord. In 1872 the play was staged in Moscow and several intepretations have viewed the work as a metaphor for the death of the ruling class in Russia. Subsequent adaptations in opera and ballet have been performed throughout the years, with the play remaining a masterwork of 19th century Russian comedic drama.

 

The collection consists of one hollinger box containing 13 folders with master script, translator agreement, playbill, press files, education guide, minor set and costume documentation, opening night, and other administrative files. Collection lacks documents detailing artistic vision for the play (director's notes, set, costume, sound, lighting).

Digital files related contain scanned photographs, scanned press clippings, scanned playbill, scanned study guide, and show art used by the marketing department to promote the production.

Photograph file contains copies of black and white prints of production and opening night.

Access Restrictions: Open and available for research by appointment only.

Preferred Citation: A Month In the Country 1995, Roundabout Theatre Company Archives