Since Christopher Durang’s clever and funny play “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” made its San Diego premiere at The Old Globe in 2014, I’ve seen it three times.
Never have I enjoyed it more than Cygnet Theatre’s new staging, which opened Saturday as the inaugural production in The Dottie, a flexible 150-seat studio space at The Joan, the company’s 5-week-old theater complex in Arts District Liberty Station.
Director Anthony Methvin’s snappy, hilarious and music-filled staging mines every possible nugget of humor from Durang’s absurdist script, while also authentically portraying the deeper, sadder and more human moments in the lives of its characters. Methvin has also perfectly cast three of San Diego’s best actors as the play’s central sibling trio.
Andrew Oswald as Vanya, left, and Eileen Bowman as Masha in Cygnet Theatre’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.” (Karli Cadel)
As Vanya, Andrew Oswald is subtle but deadly with his acerbic line delivery and wicked side-eyes, and he aces his character’s second-act meltdown. As Sonia, the scene-stealing Shana Wride dominates almost every scene, first with comic outbursts and later with heartbreaking vulnerability. And as the fading film star Masha, Eileen Bowman is the absolute queen of comic vanity and clueless insensitivity.
Also providing strong comic support are the vibrant Daisy Martinez as the fiery Greek-style prophetess Cassandra, dreamy-eyed Emma Nossal as aspiring ingenue Nina and high-energy Sean Brew as self-absorbed actor Spike.
It’s not necessary to know the plays of Anton Chekhov to appreciate “Vanya and Sonia,” but it sure makes it more fun. Chekhov mostly wrote about ennui-laden middle-class Russians trapped on their shrinking country estates. That’s a good way to describe Vanya and Sonia at the opening of Durang’s play.
The bickering middle-age siblings have spent their lives together in a Pennsylvania country cottage, where they cared for their parents — community theater fans who named their three children for Chekhov characters — until their deaths years ago. Vanya is a closeted gay man who shuns intimacy and Sonia is a neurotic spinster who feels unnoticed and unloved.
Their tedious but much-cherished daily routine is interrupted by the arrival of their eldest sister and benefactor Masha, an aging B-movie actress who sweeps into town with her much-younger lover, Spike, for a neighborhood costume party. During her brief visit, Masha also announces plans to sell the family cottage, which would put her idle siblings out on the street.
Scenic designer Yi-Chien Lee has created a fairy tale-like cottage in The Dottie, a space with comfy seats, great sightlines and a cozy, intimate feel that’s just right for this play. Curtis Mueller designed lighting, Evan Eason designed sound, Heather K. Nunn designed the highly amusing costumes and wign/makeup designer Peter Herman created a different wig for every time Masha steps onstage.
“Vanya” is a laugh-out-loud play with kooky characters, but underneath there is real heart and sweetness in this fine production.
‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’
When: 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Nov. 9
Where: Cygnet Theatre’s Dottie Studio Theatre at The Joan, 2880 Roosevelt Road, Arts District Liberty Station, San Diego
Tickets: $58 and up
Phone: 619-337-1525
Online: cygnettheatre.com
Originally Published: October 13, 2025 at 3:59 PM PDT