Mint Theater Company to present world premiere pairing of stories by Chekhov and Tolstoy

The tales will be staged at Theatre Row for a limited engagement from January 23 to March 14, 2020.

Mint Theater Company has announced the world premiere of a programme of short plays at Theatre Row, based on two texts by Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy, respectively. Titled Chekhov/Tolstoy: Love Stories, the plays have been adapted for the production by Miles Malleson.

Chekhov/Tolstoy: Love Stories will begin previews on January 23, ahead of an official opening on February 10, and will run through March 14, 2020.

Chekhov/Tolstoy: Love Stories is inspired by An Artist's Story by Anton Chekhov, which tells the story of Nicov, a painter who encounters two very different women on a visit to the country: the flirtatious Genya and her pragmatic sister Lidia. The play questions the necessity of landscapes in a world where people are poor and hungry.

Leo Tolstoy's What Men Live By is also an inspiration for Chekhov/Tolstoy: Love Stories, telling the story of a Russian peasant couple whose lives intersect with a mysterious stranger whose odd ways and brilliant smile bring them to a new understanding as well, reflecting a life of Christian pacifism based on personal conscience.

Casting for Chekhov/Tolstoy: Love Stories is yet to be announced. An initial creative team features direction by Jonathan Bank and Jane Shaw, scenic design by Roger Hanna, costume design by Oana Botez, lighting design by Matthew Richards, sound design by Jane Shaw and prop design by Chris Fields.