Cerny Pavel

By 1972, Czechoslovakia-born writer/director Pavel Cerny, who held a Master’s degree from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, had established himself as a noted director of film and theater in his native country. On a visit to Los Angeles that year, he was informed he could not return to his homeland. “No reason was given by officials from my country,” he recalls. “I was just forbidden to return. Fortunately, I was able to work at my craft in Los Angeles.”

In 1975, Cerny was invited by Hollywood-based Company of Angels to direct Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters. “I did the classical version of this work and it was very successful. That was very encouraging and gave me the confidence to open my own theater, the Orpheum, on the Sunset Strip (1975-1985).”

In the succeeding years, Cerny forged a highly successful career, in Los Angeles and in Europe. At the Orpheum, he staged an eclectic array of works ranging from the classics to contemporary. His most popular production in Los Angeles was the long-running musical about the Yiddish cabaret, Belz!, which he both wrote and directed.

Evelyn Loerna and Mark Deliman

Subsequently, Cerny was invited to direct theater in Germany and Austria. His production of the English farce See How They Run was sold out for two years at the large Essen Opernhaus Theater.

He also directed the European premiere of Driver and Haddow’s Chekhov in Yalta at Schauspielhaus Graz, the second largest theater in Austria. Cerny’s play Circus Welt, which premiered in January 2010 at the Whitefire in Sherman Oaks, has been translated and published in Czech and German languages and had a staged reading at the National Theatre in London. He also has been invited to stage Circus Welt at the International Theater Festival in Kiev, Ukraine.

“I have been quite happy with the work I’ve done and have been allowed to do over the last 35 years, but I’ve always had a desire to re-visit Three Sisters,” Cerny admits. “But I didn’t want to repeat myself. Finally, I came to the determination I knew more about life in Russia than most directors in America. I wanted to somehow find a link between the Russia of Chekhov’s time at the turn of the 20th century and what is happening in America.

Mark Deliman, Kevin J. Ryan and Evelyn Lorena

“I felt the period 1987 in Russia was very similar to what was happening now. There was a liberal new President in the capital. The army was going to Afghanistan. People were unhappy and looking for better lives. It was very similar to today’s situation in the United States. So I transposed the whole play. I know it is very complex because you can’t just change everything from the 1900s to the 1980s. And audiences today don’t know from German barons.”

While remaining respectful to Chekhov’s masterpiece, Cerny has re-imagined the provincial Russian world of the Prozorova sisters (Olga, Maria, Irina) from the original 1900 into the Glasnost Soviet Union of the mid-1980s. He understands that many of the changes are significant. There are no duels, no aristocratic Germans (Baron Tuzenbach has become a Jew, Aaron Tuzenbach). The Soviet army is leaving the community of the sisters to fight in Afghanistan. Also the character of each sister has been updated to a contemporary sensibility. Olga, who is often portrayed as a mousy spinster, has become a lesbian, perhaps the first avowed LGBT character in a play by Chekhov. Despite the changes, Cerny believes the basic strength of Chekhov’s dramatic narrative will be sustained, even as the characters and situations become more accessible to a contemporary audience.

Olga Konstantulakis and Andrew Hernon

“Of course, I have been very scared while doing this,” Cerny admits. “I love Chekhov. I have done many of his plays. I have endeavored to remain true to his spirit and his style. This is still going to be Chekhov. The actors will still be portraying Chekhov’s characters.” Director Cerny’s cast includes (in alphabetical order) Don Baldaramos, Nic d’Avirro, Mark Deliman, David Gerard, Angela Grillo, Andrew Hernon, Kelly Kemp, John Klopping, Olga Konstantulakis, Mark Leland, Evelyn Lorena, Kyle Maloney, Nicole Messier, and Kevin Ryan.

Cerny was quite aware that most professional actors have encountered Chekhov and most likely the original Three Sisters. At the beginning of rehearsals, he knew there would need to be some pre-staging conversations about his script. “I started the first rehearsal with a long discussion about Perestroika (Mikhail Gorbachev’s “restructuring” of the Soviet political and economic system).

“We discussed the situation of politics and situation of the people in that changing society. We also talked about the situation of Jews and LGBT people in Soviet society during that period. We did all this background work. But once we put the play on the stage, it was time to rely on my cast, the script and my instincts as a director. I have always said my best talent as a director is my ability to cast the best people for the roles and that is very true in this case.”

Kelly Kemp and Kyle Mahoney

Cerny feels he has found a home at the Whitefire, which certainly must be comforting after living through a history of creative instability. His exile from Czechoslovakia lasted nearly 20 years. It didn’t end until the dismantling of the Iron Curtain (1990). His success in Germany came to an end after several years, when a number of theaters there (including the National Theater in Mannheim where he was to open the season with Waiting for Godot) uninvited him “as a sign of protest against Ronald Reagan’s stationing of US atomic weapons in Germany.”

Cerny reveals, “I am currently financing my own stage work, mostly from working as a Special Ed substitute teacher in the Los Angeles school district. The budget is always difficult, but I am able to get the work I want to see on the stage. That is always the most important thing. Coming back to Three Sisters after 35 years is a kind of homecoming for me.”

***All Production Photography by Mark Deliman

Three Sisters or Perestroika, presented by Orpheum Theater Corporation, opens May 1; plays Thurs., 8 pm; Sun., 3 pm; through June 12. Tickets: $15-$25. Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks; 866-811-4111 online ticketing: www.theatermania.com.