Here Kat Lutze [right], a sophomore majoring in arts administration with a specialization in theatre, discusses her experience playing Olga, the oldest of the three sisters. Lutze is joined by junior Shannon O’Brien [left] who plays Maria and sophomore Abbey Ehling [center] who plays Irina.

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Probably the most enjoyable and most challenging part of The Three Sisters has been learning and interpreting Chekhov’s realism and humor. We are supposed to play as realistically as possible. This means we don’t play humorous lines for laughs and we don’t play tragic lines for sympathy. We try to represent the situations as realistically and as straightforward as possible. The challenge here is in choosing very specifically where to focus a scene and where to really drive the scene. I truly enjoyed working with Martha to find and interpret these moments.

I have never portrayed a more realistic period character. In other shows I have played characters with over-the-top accents, old ladies, animals and other creatures, and even as numerous Shakespearian men. Martha (Johnson) constantly had to remind me that Olga is a strong woman with integrity. She may have tragedy in here life and she may be tired, but I should never act as such. I should always act the strong woman with integrity and let the words, not my “acted emotion,” display her tiredness and her tragedy.

The Three Sisters is a classic that any scholar should certainly be encouraged to see, but it also includes philosophy by which we can all live. Though many characters say “What difference does it make?” these sisters stand by each other through times both happy and sad and encourage each other to keep on working and living so that in the end people can learn from their suffering. Olga looks to a future where “suffering will turn to joy for the people who come after us. Their lives will be happy and peaceful and they’ll remember us kindly and bless us!”

We are the people who come after these three sisters. It leads us to question whether our lives really are as bright as these characters believed they would be. But even those who do not see plays for philosophy can be entertained by both the comedic and tragic elements in the main plot. It is a thoughtful play full of love, deception, yearning, philosophy, and redemption. I do hope you’ll enjoy it.

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The Three Sisters is directed by Martha Johnson. Remaining performances are November 13 and 14 at 7 p.m. and November 15 at 3 p.m. Call 612-330-1257 for tickets.

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Written by Sarah Ruhl, Eurydice is a retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus told from the point of view of Eurydice, his wife. “It’s almost like a dream,” Johnson said. “The play uses images you would only see in a dream but is also very human. There’s a little bit of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in it.” Johnson believes patrons will appreciate the contemporary humor, Ruhl’s ability to play with language, and the unusual set designed by Joe Stanley.

Johnson calls Eurydice a poignant and humorous exploration of death, loss, and memory. Written when Ruhl was grieving the loss of her father to cancer, the play focuses both on the relationship between husband and wife as well as on Eurydice’s relationship with her father. Ruhl used the play to imagine what would happen if Eurydice met her father in the underworld, since he had been dead at the time of her wedding, in the underworld.

The role of Eurydice is played by Shannon O’Brien, a sophomore theatre major whose father, Paul O’Brien, is also an actor and a student in the Augsburg MBA program.

“I wanted to become an actress because of my father,” Shannon said. “I saw him in Amadeus at the Guthrie when I was in middle school, and I fell in love with the theatre.” Paul offers advice when his daughter asks for it and helps her memorize lines but says he tries to stay out of her way. “She is doing things that are very tough, being a student and playing the lead in the play,” he says. “I just try to be there and be a supportive dad.”

Paul learned about Augsburg’s MBA program when he brought his daughter to campus to begin her first year. After he was accepted into the program, she told him not to expect to see her every time he was on campus. “In my first year, this was kind of my territory,” she said, but soon she came to enjoy seeing her father at Augsburg. The pair has dinner together every Monday before Paul goes to class and Shannon goes to rehearsal. “All my friends love him.”

Shannon builds on the close relationship with her father in her role as Eurydice. “Toward the end of the play when my father and I are in the underworld, he is bringing me to Orpheus and we are walking down an imaginary aisle as though at my wedding. At that time, I think about what it would be like to lose my dad,” she said. Her father, who lives with multiple sclerosis, said “Every father dreams of walking his daughter down the aisle. Because I have MS, that is uncertain.”

Performances of Eurydice are Oct. 31, Nov. 1, 6, and 8 at 7 p.m., and Nov. 2, 8, and 9 at 2 p.m. in Tjornhom-Nelson Theater in Foss Center. Tickets are $10 general public; $8 ACTC, faculty, staff, and students; $2 Augsburg students and children under age 12. For reservations or other information, call 612-330-1257.

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