Displaying items by tag: Kason Chesky

Red Theater is thrilled to announce the cast and crew of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, directed and adapted by Ian Maryfield, running February 14 - March 15, 2026 at The Edge Off Broadway in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, 1133 W. Catalpa Ave.

The production features Anne Sheridan Smith as Arkadina, Kason Chesky as Treplyov, Chuck Munro as Sorin, Jamie Herb as Nina, Joe Zarrow as Shamraev, Ana Ortiz-Monasterio Draa as Polina, Magdalena Dalzell as Masha, Josh Razavi as Trigorin, Chris Hainsworth as Dorn, Ben Murphy as Medvedenko, and Bobby Bowman as Yakov, understudied by Jack Hradecky, Ethan Smith, Jacqui Touchet, Pricilla Torres, Chuck Munro, Marisa Macella, Andrew Pond, and Bobby Bowman. 

Comments Artistic Directors Clare Brennan and Wyatt Kent, “After three back-to-back new play premieres, we’re thrilled to be returning to the classics with Chekhov’s The Seagull. Ian has done incredible work diving into this text and creating a lively and deeply inspired adaption, and we’re honored to be hosting his directorial debut at Red Theater. With a stellar cast showcasing some of the sharpest storefront actors working in Chicago right now, audiences are in for a surprisingly funny and deeply moving take on this beloved story.” 

The production team includes Mary T. Cahoon (assistant director), Tessa Huber (stage manager), Hunter Cole (scenic design), Suzanne Barnes (props design), Brenden Marble (lighting design), Victoria Nassif (intimacy design), Maggie McGlenn (costume design), Kate Schnetzer (sound design), Jonathan Hannau (composer), Skyler Simpson (poster design), Faith Decker (photographer), AJ Mueth (technical director), Mia Irwin (charge artist), Becca Holloway (casting director), Wyatt Kent and Clare Brennan (co-artistic directors).

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Title: The Seagull

Playwright: Anton Chekhov

Director / adaptor: Ian Maryfield

Cast: Anne Sheridan Smith (Arkadina), Kason Chesky (Treplyov), Chuck Munro (Sorin, u/s Shamraev), Jamie Herb (Nina), Joe Zarrow (Shamraev), Ana Ortiz-Monasterio Draa (Polina), Magdalena Dalzell (Masha), Josh Razavi (Trigorin), Chris Hainsworth (Dorn), Ben Murphy (Medvedenko), Bobby Bowman (Yakov, u/s Trigorin), Jack Hradecky (u/s Treplyov), Ethan Smith (u/s Medvedenko/Yakov), Jacqui Touchet (u/s Masha), Pricilla Torres (u/s NIna), Marisa Macella (u/s Arkadina/Polina), and Andrew Pond (u/s Dorn/Sorin).

Production Team: Mary T. Cahoon (assistant director), Tessa Huber (stage manager), Hunter Cole (scenic design), Suzanne Barnes (props design), Brenden Marble (lighting design), Victoria Nassif (intimacy design), Maggie McGlenn (costume design), Kate Schnetzer (sound design), Jonathan Hannau (composer), Skyler Simpson (poster design), Faith Decker (photographer), AJ Mueth (technical director), Mia Irwin (charge artist), Becca Holloway (casting director), Wyatt Kent and Clare Brennan (co-artistic directors).

Location: The Edge Off Broadway, 1133 W. Catalpa Ave, Chicago

Opening night: Saturday, February 14, 2026 @ 7:30P

Previews: Wednesday, February 11, Thursday, February 12, Friday, February 13, 2026 @ 7:30P

Run dates: Saturday, February 14 - Sunday, March 15, 2026

Curtain times: Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, & Saturdays @ 7:30P, Sundays @ 3P

Tickets: General admission tickets are $30. As part of Red’s mission to make theater by putting people first, a limited number of $10 access tickets are available for students, artists, or anyone on a tight budget. Purchasing a ticket at our $50 pay-it-forward tier helps us sustain Red’s accessibility efforts. Tickets are currently available at www.redtheater.org. Use code ACCESS at checkout for $10 tickets. Monday nights are Industry Nights! Artists and service industry professionals can use code ANTON for half price tickets. 

Direct Box Office Link: https://ci.ovationtix.com/35021/production/1264035  

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Ian Maryfield | DIRECTOR / ADAPTOR – Ian (he/him) is an actor in Chicago and is grateful to be making his directorial debut with Red. Some Chicago credits: Translations (Writers Theatre); A Lie of the Mind (Raven Theatre); The Lord of the Rings Musical - US Premiere & New Zealand Tour, SS: Romeo & Juliet, SS: Comedy of Errors (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); All Quiet on the Western Front (Red Tape Theatre); Photograph 51 u/s, The Originalist u/s (Court Theatre); Hamlet, Indoor Cats (Red Theater); Recipe for Disaster (Windy City Playhouse); The Nutcracker (The House Theatre). Regional credits: As You Like It (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks). Commercial credits: Illinois Lottery, State Farm, Wisconsin Lottery, Guinness, Legendary Whitetails, and Avocados From Mexico. Television credits: Chicago Fire (NBC). Ian holds a BFA with a minor in Directing from Oklahoma City University. Rep: Stewart Talent.

“This Is Our Youth,” with mesmerizing performances by Kason Chesky as Warren, Grayson Kennedy as Dennis, and Annalie Ciolino as Jessica, is still vital and fresh nearly thirty years after its Off Broadway premiere. Playwright Kenneth Lonergan set it in 1982 during the Reagen era, but these 48 hours in the lives of three dissolute young adults read fresh and vital today as it did almost 30 years ago.

Much of that is attributable to the outstanding performances of all three actors in Gwydion Theatre’s production at Greenhouse Theatre. Under the direction of Andrew Shipman, this trio really gives voice to Lonergan’s deftly drawn characters - locked in their personal traumas and immersed in the travails of their emergence from their upper middle class homes to independence. It’s just a snapshot - two days - during which the characters have some of their best and worst moments.

The two-act play is simple and straightforward: 19-year-old Warren has been booted from his house by his abusive dad, a driven businessman, and secretly lifts $15,000 of dad’s cash as he heads out. Arriving at his friend Dennis’s apartment, suitcase in hand, Warren is a dweeb and awkward, totally aggravating, and we soon side with the more dynamic and charismatic Dennis, who doesn’t want the risk of harboring Warren and his cash.

But Dennis relents, and hatches a plan for the hapless Warren to replenish the missing funds that he has carelessly spent along the way. Here’s how Buzz editor Ken Payne described it in the 2014 Steppenwolf production: a hair-brained scheme where they would buy some coke, keep some for themselves, cut it and then resell it for a profit exceeding the amount needed to replace the full fifteen thousand dollars.

Though I saw the 2014 Steppenwolf version of “This Is Our Youth,” which starred Michael Cera and Kieran Caulkin, I liked this version much, much better. Cera, in the Warren role, was a one-note actor, and Caulkin had nothing to play against - I really didn’t notice how good the script was. In Gwydion Theatre’s sterling production, we quickly learn that these young men have a neurotically abusive relationship.

Dennis is an ill-tempered drug user and purveyor; and Warren weathers a constant barrage of his demeaning put-downs and mean-spirited physical jousting.
When Dennis departs to carry out the scheme, we have a chance to meet Jessica, and Ciolino’s performance is outstanding. Her character allows the other dimensions of Warren’s personality to unfold, and we gain empathy andrespect for the two as more fully emotionally developed individuals, especially compared to Dennis.

Throughout the play, the conversations deliver the exposition and backstories effortlessly, another tribute to Lonergan’s script, and why this play resurfaces so frequently, and remains fresh and meaningful. The two-act run time is over two hours plus intermission. But it grips our interest throughout, and never really falters. Chesky’s Warren is onstage nearly throughout, and he delivers a remarkable performance, but Kennedy and Ciolino are every bit his equals. The energy required of Kennedy in the role of the manic, drug-altered Dennis, may be a formula for stage burn-out, but he carried it off admirably on opening night.

“This Is Our Youth” comes highly recommended, and runs through September 28 at the Greenhouse Theatre Center on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago.