Review: Quantum Theatre's 'Seagull' is a dreamy drama at Chatham University

In the midst of the second act of Quantum Theatre’s “Seagull” on Sunday night, I was reminded of the first half of the Langston Hughes poem “Dreams”: “Hold fast to dreams / For if dreams die / Life is a broken-winged bird / That cannot fly.”

In the case of Anton Chekhov’s classic play, that metaphorical bird is a seagull.

Continuing their brilliant tradition of site-specific theater, Quantum chose to stage this new adaptation at Chatham University in Squirrel Hill. With an 8 p.m. start time, the play’s action builds — backdropped outdoors by the pond, verdant trees and stately buildings of the campus — as the sun sets and pale stage lights take over.

Director Joanie Schultz was also the pen behind this adaptation of “The Seagull.” Chekhov’s play premiered in 1896 and has enjoyed numerous Broadway and West End revivals, but Schultz’s version feels modern and taut in a completely new way. Besides trimming about an hour from the script — shortening the runtime from three hours to two — she also reimagined Constantine, the character at the crux of the play’s drama, as female.

As is often true of the works of great Russian writers, “Seagull” contains plenty of philosophizing and spoken abstractions. But it’s also gripping just to witness the evolution of the play’s characters and their relationships with one another. Forget about love triangles; this one’s got love pentagons.

“Seagull” is set at the country estate of Sorin (Ken Bolden), an older man who laments the many opportunities he missed in life. Joining him are his sister, Arkadina (Lisa Velten Smith), a middle-aged actress struggling with her lost youth, and her lover, Trigorin (Brett Mack), a famous novelist. Arkadina’s daughter, Constantine (Phoebe Lloyd) is also present as she strives to find her voice as a writer and nurses her love for a local girl, Nina (Julia Rocha).

In addition, there’s the caretaker of the estate, Shamraev (Paul Anderson); his wife, Polina (Gwendolyn Kelso); and their daughter, Masha (Maxine Coltin). Evan Vines plays Medvedenko, a teacher who pines for Masha; and lastly, Daniel Krell plays Dorn, a doctor who attends to Sorin.

Now, after untangling that cast of characters, the audience gets to see their individual challenges and yearnings — often for each other. While Constantine is hopelessly in love with Nina, Nina becomes smitten with Trigorin. And while Medvedenko doggedly pursues Masha, her heart lies with someone else — Constantine.

On top of their interpersonal conflicts, these people are dealing with their individual inner dramas as well. Lloyd portrays Constantine’s loneliness and identity crisis — both as a person and a writer — with a constant undercurrent of desperation that builds and builds to a climax. Nina begins as an ingenue filled to bursting with hope and admiration, but Rocha’s performance blossoms during her difficult journey. She and Mack share a whirlwind of chemistry that makes their scenes together magnetic.

Then there’s Velten Smith as Arkadina, who is often melodramatic and delivers many of the play’s funny moments. But beneath that is the push and pull of her emotions when it comes to her daughter, her loss of youth and her relationship with Trigorin.

All of these characters have dreams, and many of them go unrealized. Whether it’s regret, unrequited love or the phenomenon commonly known as imposter syndrome, the whole cast draws out their characters’ secret hopes and lays them bare for the audience to examine.

These actors were also given so much space to work with, courtesy of the outdoor setting. Coltin’s Masha especially gets plenty of cardio as she runs all across the landscape, a feat that would be impossible in a regular theater. Sound designer Ryan McMasters found a masterful way to mic each performer so that even as they ran quite a distance around the space — often in search of one another — their lines are easily audible. He also balanced sound cues and music with the ambient noise of frogs, crickets and rustling trees. With the exception of a few inconvenient airplanes overhead and distant sirens, the soundscape could easily come from the countryside.

The play is also set next to a lake, which becomes a character and symbol unto itself. The pond was a perfect setpiece for the action of “Seagull.” Scenic designer Chelsea Warren created a compact but complete set that allowed the audience to easily see and follow every second of the action. Lighting designer C. Todd Brown subtly balanced warm and cool light to complement the tone of the scenes after the sun set.

Damian E. Dominguez put all of the actors in costumes that fit the time and station of their characters perfectly, from Constantine’s suits to Arkadina’s long gowns. On the other hand, they didn’t fit the humidity and above-80-degree temperatures on Sunday night — I can’t imagine having to wear a corset or wool suit in that weather. This cast deserves an ovation just for suffering for their art.

I won’t give too much away, but the breathtaking acting, scene-setting and directing came together in the play’s final scene. Gauzy curtains, tense piano music and a wordless but mesmerizing performance from Lloyd as Constantine made for perhaps the best five minutes of theater I’ve seen this year.

“Seagull” is complex, beautiful and will give you plenty to discuss on the car ride home. In short, it’s an absolute dream.

Quantum Theatre’s “Seagull” runs until Aug. 17 on the campus of Chatham University in Squirrel Hill. For tickets and more information, visit quantumtheatre.com.