As Marina, Zhenya Lavy is ever present on stage… generally in the background. She’s really spinning yarn and really knitting socks! With Joseph Lavy (Vanya) and Margaretta Campagna (Sonya) | Uncle Vanya (2014) | Photo: Annie Paladino
Although Jerry Kraft gives a lot of respect to APL overall, he didn’t think our Uncle Vanya worked and would have preferred for us to have approached the text with more traditional Realism. On the bright side:
The staging is extremely simple and highly theatrical, the focus and intention of the performers obvious and the ambition admirable.
For the acting, Carter Rodriquez gets good mention for a realistic portrayal of Astrov, and “Zhenya Lavy as the old nurse, Marina, was successful at occupying a substantial presence in the background of this production, but she was not a leading character.”
Full review is here: “Uncle Vanya” by Jerry Kraft, SeattleActor.com, March 24, 2014
About Akropolis Performance Lab
Founded in 2000 by Co-Artistic Directors Joseph and Zhenya Lavy, Akropolis Performance Lab (APL) is Seattle's premiere ensemble-based theatre company. The ensemble practices rigorous, ongoing vocal and physical training and devises original work through long-form rehearsal process. APL's signature aesthetic, Theatre of Polyphony, is our original approach to crafting ensemble performance events that symbiotically interweave music, movement, and poetry to tell compelling and vital stories while reinventing the given spatial location and audience relationship to our art.
Company members include Annie Paladino (Associate Artistic Director), Catherine Lavy, Emily Jo Testa, Jennifer Crooks, Joseph Lavy, Margaretta Campagna, Matt Sherrill, Sara Kaus, Tyler J. Polumsky, and Zhenya Lavy.
The co-artistic directors' artistic lineage comes through the Central and Eastern European heritage of Meyerhold, Vakhtangov, and Grotowski.
Recent work includes Ecce Faustus (2016), The Glas Nocturne (2015), and Pomegranate & Ash (2015).
The ensemble hosts quarterly Salons and offers regular workshops in physical and vocal praxis.
Akropolis Performance Lab is a Washington State Non-Profit Corporation.
