URTC premieres Sisters tonight


Friday, Feb. 20, 1998	URTC premieres Sisters tonight By JENNIFER ECK Collegian Arts Writer Trapped in a small town, longing for the big city with no means to get there and dreaming of a brighter future, Three Sisters find their way into the Pavilion Theatre tonight.
Olga, played by Jacquelyn Poplar, delivers a monologue while her sisters, played by Joyce Thi Brew and Kimberly Colflesh, listen during a scene from Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters. The University Resident Theatre Company production begins tonight and will run through Feb. 28 at the Pavilion Theatre. (Collegian Photo/Timothy Gyves - click for full size image)	University Resident Theatre Company will present Three Sisters, a play by Anton Chekhov, written in 1900. Opening tonight at the Pavilion Theatre, the play continues through Feb. 28. Performances are at 8 p.m., with a matinee performance scheduled for the last day. Tickets are still available at the Arts Ticket Center at Eisenhower Auditorium for $8.50. Director Cary Libkin has studied Chekhov for many years, and said Three Sisters is probably Chekhov's best play. "I think Chekhov is brilliant at writing the truth," Libkin said. "Every single character has good points and bad points." The internal voyage of the characters encompasses feelings from discontent to desperation, including a strong sense of human truth and ironic comedy. Set in turn of the century Russia, Three Sisters is the story of Olga, Masha and Irina, who are cultured women trapped in a provincial garrison town. They long to return to Moscow, but are trapped because they don't have the means to leave.
(Collegian Photo/Timothy Gyves - click for full size image)	The action of the play is within the minds and hearts of the characters, Libkin said. "Audiences today are just as interested in the human psyche as they were 100 years ago," Libkin said. Throughout their struggle, the sisters remain full of love for each other. Olga, the eldest, is hard-working and self-sacrificing. She realizes that she will never marry and must care for her sisters instead. Masha, the middle sister, is romantic and sensitive, but unhappily married. Irina, the youngest, is hopeful and dreamy, but her suitor gets killed in a duel. Kristi Funk (freshman-theatre arts) works with the lighting on the set. "If it's done well, I think it can be very compelling," she said. "It sends across a message that life can be a struggle." Students can relate to the play, she said, because the sisters, ". . . have the whole world before them. They just can't reach it."