Steppin' Out

Cover Story

Don't Look Back

Regret trumps real life for siblings in 'The Three Sisters'

By Heather Zimmerman

The road not taken--that is, the road back to Moscow--looms large for the title characters of Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters.

Pear Avenue Theatre opens its sixth season with the classic drama, Sept. 6-30 at 1220 Pear Ave., Unit K, Mountain View.

The play tells of a trio of sisters, Olga, Masha and Irina, and their brother, Andrey, all young adults stuck in a sleepy military outpost after the death of their army colonel father. Each sibling hopes to return to Moscow, their former home, and a place symbolic to them of their family's heyday, and of a brighter future. However, love, life and the siblings' own unrealistic expectations conspire to thwart their dreams.

The Three Sisters was written in 1901, and with its timeless themes of longing, disappointment and nostalgia, and its prescient portrait of Russia's aristocracy on the wane, is widely considered to be a masterpiece. Pear Avenue presents the play in a new translation by Craig Lucas (Prelude to a Kiss, Light in the Piazza).

Tickets are $15-$30. For more information, call 650.254.1148 or visit www.thepear.org.