March 2026, NY and MA: CHEKHOVEK 2026
Chekhovek began when I saw a group of actors in Michael Howard’s Tuesday master class in NYC, doing scenes from some short stories by Anton Chekhov, sometime in 2008.
I read several dozen stories and was inspired to adapt a full-length play.
The play was originally titled VIRTUE DESIRE DEATH and FOOLISHNESS. It had a four-week run in Hudson, NY and then got picked up by some enthusiastic backers and moved to an Off-Broadway theater in Manhattan.
In 2026, after shooting a short film called STAGE LEFT about the backstage life during a run of CHEKHOVEK, I decided to restage it with a new cast and some script edits.
We had a sold-out three-week tour in NY and MA in March 2026.
CHEKHOVEK*
(*Chekhovek /ˈtɕεxəfˈıek/ n. [Russian; derived from chelovek, meaning person; vek, meaning century, or life (arch.); and Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, author, 1860-1904.] A comedy about desire, death and foolishness, in 14 scenes.)
Chekhovek is a COMEDY, adapted from 9 short stories by Anton Chekhov, with a multitude of characters, acted by a cast of five. Adapted and directed by Melania Levitsky.
Filled with the compassion and humor of an observer who is both doctor and journalist, critic and poet, Chekhov’s stories bear witness to the spectacle of ordinary people in conflict with their ordinary fantasies and failures.
The Lady with the Dog
Death of a Government Clerk
The Ninny
A Blunder
A Chorus Girl
The Chemist’s Wife
The Black Monk
The Huntsman
Vanka
With Sean Allison, Tristan Geary, Berenika Lehrman, Jessica Loy, and Jordan Zakka.
Laura Geilen on Accordion, Jonathan Talbott on Violin
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