Shakespeare Theatre Company has announced the cast of Uncle Vanya, directed by STC Artistic Director Simon Godwin. The production, hailed the “show of the year” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “pure theatre magic” (SFist) by California critics, plays in a strictly limited engagement in STC’s Harman Hall March 30-April 20, 2025.
In an acclaimed adaptation by Olivier Award-winner Conor McPherson, Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece features Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington) in the title role of this heartbreaking comedy about the eternal battle between futility and change. When the distinguished elderly owner of a rural estate returns with a new young wife, chaos erupts. Tensions run high, marriages reach their limits, confessions — and vodka — flow freely, and weapons are drawn.
“It has been an absolute pleasure and a true collaboration working with Hugh and this stellar ensemble,” said Godwin. “Everyone has bought such nuance and humanity to their performances, and our run in Berkeley has been a joy. I can’t wait to see how the show transforms when we present it in Harman Hall, staged with a three-quarter thrust to bring the audience into the action of the show.”
Accompanying “a stellar performance by Hugh Bonneville” (BroadwayWorld), Uncle Vanya also features Tony Award-winner John Benjamin Hickey (The Normal Heart) and an ensemble cast that includes Ito Aghayere (Star Trek: Picard), Melanie Field (A League of Their Own), Sharon Lockwood (Mrs. Doubtfire), Kina Kantor (Mrs. Christie West Coast Premiere), Tom Nelis (Broadway’s Girl From the North Country, Indecent), Nancy Robinette (STC’s Everybody, Sweet Bird of Youth), and Craig Wallace (STC’s King Lear, Our Town). Understudies for Uncle Vanya include Anne Darragh, James Whalen, and John Leslie Wolfe.
Written by Anton Chekhov and adapted by Conor McPherson, the creative team for Uncle Vanya includes Robert Brill (Scenic Design), Susan Hilferty (Co-Costume Design), Heather Freedman (Co-Costume Design), Jen Shriever (Lighting Design), Darron West (Sound Design), Elisa Guthertz (Stage Manager), Leigh Robinette (Assistant Stage Manager), and Trinity Wicklund (Production Assistant). Dramaturgy is by STC Artistic Producer Drew Lichtenberg, and casting is by Karina Fox and STC Resident Casting Director Danica Rodriguez.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Ito Aghayere*
Eléna Andréevna
STC: Debut. NEW YORK: Broadway: Junk, Bernhardt/Hamlet. Off-Broadway: The Public Theater: Mlima’s Tale | Signature Theatre: The Liquid Plain | Playwrights Horizons: Familiar (Lucille Lortel nomination). REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya. FILM: Logan Lucky, Fear the Night. TV: The Residence (Netflix), Star Trek: Picard (Paramount+), Carol’s Second Act (CBS), Chicago Med (NBC), The Blacklist (NBC). UPCOMING: Leading and producing her first feature, directed by her husband, Leon Hendrix III. PERSONAL: Training: Duke University; Columbia University.
Hugh Bonneville*
Iván Voinítsky
STC: Debut. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya. INTERNATIONAL: Chichester Festival Theatre: Enemy of the People, Shadowlands. Hugh’s stage career spans more than three decades and includes seasons with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. FILM: Notting Hill, Iris, The Monuments Men, I Came By, the Paddington movies. Paddington in Peru is now in theaters and the third Downton Abbey film will be released in September. TV: Downton Abbey (Golden Globe nomination, two Emmy nominations, three SAG Awards for Outstanding Ensemble), Twenty Twelve, W1A (BBC), Douglas Is Cancelled, The Agency (Paramount+). The second season of The Gold, a six-part BBC drama about a famous gold bullion robbery in 1983, will be broadcast on PBS later this year. OTHER: His memoir, Playing Under the Piano is now available in paperback. Hugh is a patron of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, The National Youth Arts Trust, Scene & Heard, and The Primary Shakespeare Company.
Anne Darragh*
u/s Maríya Voinítsky, Marína Timoféevna
STC: Debut. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya, Suddenly Last Summer, The Life of Galileo | Eureka Theatre: Angels in America | The Marsh: 180 Days. To Die. To Live. | The Magic Theatre: The Kind Ones. OTHER: World premieres of works by Neena Beber, Michelle Carter, Anthony Clarvoe, Anne Galjour, Barry Gifford, Rebecca Gilman, Allan Havis, Julianne Jigour, Denis Johnson, Lynne Kaufman, Julie Marie Myatt, Peter Nachtrieb, Bill Talen, and Brian Thorstenson. PERSONAL: Anne is thrilled to be part of this amazing team.
Melanie Field*
Sófya Aleksándrovna
STC: Debut. NEW YORK: Broadway: The Phantom of the Opera, Evita. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya. TOURS: Wicked. TV: A League of Their Own (Amazon), American Horror Stories (Hulu), Heathers (Paramount Network), Florida Girls (POP TV), The Angel of Darkness (TNT), Shrill (Hulu), You (Netflix), Killing It (Peacock). PERSONAL: Training: NYU; Yale School of Drama.
John Benjamin Hickey*
Mikhaíl Ástrov
STC: Debut. NEW YORK: Broadway: Love! Valour! Compassion!, Cabaret, The Crucible, Mary Stuart, The Inheritance (Tony nomination), The Normal Heart (Tony Award). He recently directed the Broadway revival of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite, which also played the West End. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya. FILM: Lilly (upcoming), Salem’s Lot, Sublet, Pitch Perfect, Flags of Our Fathers, The Anniversary Party, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Taking of the Pelham 123, Mapplethorpe. TV: The Big C (Emmy nomination), Daredevil: Born Again, In Treatment, Manhattan, Gossip Girl, Sex and the City, Modern Family, Hannibal, Law & Order (all of them), The Good Wife, The Good Fight.
Kina Kantor*
Ensemble, u/s Eléna Andréevna, Sófya Aleksándrovna
STC: Debut. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya, The Far Country u/s, The Great Wave u/s | TheatreWorks: Mrs. Christie | The Magic Theatre/Campo Santo: Garuda’s Wing, Richard II | San Francisco Playhouse: The Great Khan, The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin, Tiny Beautiful Things | American Conservatory Theatre: A Christmas Carol | Aurora Theatre: Fallen Angels | Marin Theatre Company: Torch Song. OTHER: Touring with the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. Kina is a company member of the Actor’s Reading Collective (ARC) and PlayGround SF. FILM: Free (2024), You’ll Lose a Good Thing (2024). PERSONAL: Kina is a Bay Area actor, artist, and cellist. Teaching: SF Shakespeare Festival, StageWrite, the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Sharon Lockwood*
Maríya Voinítsky
STC: Debut. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Bay Area Critics Circle Award), Wintertime, Volpone, Zorro in Hell | American Conservatory Theatre: 16 seasons of A Christmas Carol | Mark Taper Forum: Nickel and Dimed | Alley Theatre: The Humans | La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe, Long Wharf Theatre, Seattle Rep. FILM: Mrs. Doubtfire, Long Road Home. OTHER: Sharon spent many summers playing the parks and touring with Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. Video Games: Psychic Detective (Electronic Arts). AWARDS: Sharon was honored with a Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship for her regional career and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Theatre Bay Area.
Tom Nelis*
Aleksándr Serébryakov
Broadway: Girl From the North Country, Indecent, The Visit, Enron, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, Aida. Recent Off-Broadway: Ragtime (City Center), King Lear and The Beautiful Lady (Cafe La Mama). International: The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Suzuki Company of Toga, SITI Company, and international tours with Laurie Anderson, Songs And Stories From Moby Dick and Richard Foreman, Pearls For Pigs. Awards: Eliot Norton Outstanding Performer (Prospero – The Tempest), OBIE (Marshall McLuhan – The Medium), Drama League Nominee (Leonard Bernstein – Score). Founding member of SITI Company, MFA, UC San Diego.
Nancy Robinette*
Marína Timoféevna
STC: Everybody, Sweet Bird of Youth, Way of the World, Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Little Foxes, An Ideal Husband, The Rivals, The Imaginary Invalid, The Silent Woman, Henry IV, Twelfth Night, The Winter’s Tale. NEW YORK: Broadway: Prayer for the French Republic (Outer Critic’s Circle nomination), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. REGIONAL: Most recently: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya | Arena Stage: Death on the Nile | Studio Theatre: Problems Between Sisters | Round House: Jennifer Who Is Leaving. FILM: Serial Mom; Three Christs; Soldier Jack, or The Man Who Caught Death in a Sack. TV: Louie, Up Here!, The Hunley. AWARDS: Helen Hayes Tribute.
Craig Wallace*
Ílya Ílyich Telégin
STC: Numerous productions including Our Town and King Lear (directed by Simon Godwin). REGIONAL: Round House Theatre: Radio Golf, Ink, “Master Harold”…and the Boys | Folger Theatre: Othello (Othello), Twelfth Night | Ford’s Theatre: Fences (Troy), Death of a Salesman (Willy Loman), The Laramie Project, A Christmas Carol (Ebenezer Scrooge) | Arena Stage: All the Way, The Great Society, K2 | Signature Theatre: Primary Trust, Angels in America | Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya | Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Shakespeare Santa Cruz. PERSONAL: Training: Howard University: BFA; Pennsylvania State University: MFA; Royal National Theatre, London.
James Whalen*
u/s Iván Voinítsky, Mikhaíl Ástrov, Ensemble
STC: King Lear, Cymbeline. REGIONAL: Everyman Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tribes, Ghosts, And Then There Were None | Signature Theatre: Primary Trust, Ragtime, Daphnes’ Dive | Wooly Mammoth: Shipwreck | Arena Stage: The Little Foxes, The Heiress | Round House Theatre: NSFW, Small Mouth Sounds | Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya | The Olney Theatre Center: Colossal (Helen Hayes Nomination Best Ensemble) | Actors Theatre of Louisville: Dracula | The Kennedy Center, Mosaic Theatre, Theatre J. FILM: Money Matters, A Beautiful Mind. TV: House of Cards, VEEP, I Love You…But I Lied.
John Leslie Wolfe*
u/s Aleksándr Serébryakov, Ílya Ílyich Telégin
STC: Debut. NEW YORK: Broadway: Sarava, Evita, Passion, Parade. TOURS: Phantom of the Opera/Las Vegas, Parade, Evita, Martin Guerre, Brightstar. REGIONAL: Kennedy Center: Passion, Golden Child | Signature Theatre: Sweeney Todd, Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes, Titanic, Three Penny Opera, Passion | Arena Stage: Mother Courage, Damn Yankees | Ford’s Theatre: Ragtime, 1776, Christmas Carol, Captains Courageous, To Kill a Mockingbird. OPERA: New York City Opera: Brigadoon, Most Happy Fella. FILM: HBO’s Something the Lord Made, Amira and Sam, The Invasion, Step Up, Invincible. TV: House of Cards, The West Wing, The Wire, Homicide.
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Conor McPherson
Adaptor
Conor McPherson was born in Dublin. His plays include The Weir, Girl from the North Country (with Bob Dylan), The Seafarer, The Night Alive, Shining City, Port Authority, This Lime Tree Bower, and St Nicholas. Honors for his work include the Laurence Olivier Award, New York Critics Circle Award, Evening Standard Award, London Critics Circle Award, and five Tony Award nominations.
Simon Godwin
Director
STC: Uncle Vanya, All the Devils are Here: How Shakespeare Created the Villain, Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Timon of Athens; Simon Godwin joined Shakespeare Theatre Company as Artistic Director in September 2019. He has served as Associate Director of National Theatre of London, Royal Court Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, and Royal & Derngate Theatre. INTERNATIONAL: UK: His work at the National Theatre includes Man and Superman (ft. Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma), Antony and Cleopatra (ft. Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo), Romeo & Juliet (ft. Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley and filmed for Sky Arts/PBS) | Work at Royal Shakespeare Company includes Hamlet, Timon of Athens (ft. Kathryn Hunter and reimagined in 2020 for Theatre for a New Audience and STC). AWARDS: Evening Standard/Burberry Award for an Emerging Director (2012).
Robert Brill
Scenic Design
STC: Debut. NEW YORK: Broadway (selected): Hell’s Kitchen (Tony nomination), How to Dance in Ohio, Dancin’, Thoughts of a Colored Man, Ain’t Too Proud (Tony nomination), Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, Assassins (Tony nomination), set and club design for the acclaimed revival of Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar, Guys and Dolls (Tony nomination), Buried Child, Design for Living. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, The Laramie Project. AWARDS: Michael Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration. OTHER: Brill is a founding member of Sledgehammer Theatre. PERSONAL: Teaching: Design faculty at UC San Diego.
Susan Hilferty
Co-Costume Design
STC: The Oresteia, The Tempest, Salomé. NEW YORK: Broadway: Wicked (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle), Swept Away, Parade, Funny Girl, Present Laughter, Spring Awakening, Lestat, Into the Woods. TOURS: Taylor Swift, Speak Now. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya, Swept Away, Compulsion, Dream of a Common Language, The Illusion, Born in the RSA, Road to Mecca, Twelfth Night, Woman Warrior, Tooth of Crime, and Convict’s Return. OPERA: Metropolitan Opera: Aida. OTHER: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Directorial collaborations: Athol Fugard (40-plus productions), Joe Mantello, Yaël Farber, James Lapine, Michael Mayer, Richard Nelson, Tony Kushner, JoAnne Akalaitis, Des McAnuff, Rebecca Taichman, Sharon Ott, Tony Taccone. PERSONAL: Hilferty has designed sets and costumes for over 400 productions across the globe | Teaching: NYU Tisch: Design for Stage and Film (25 years as chair).
Heather C. Freedman
Co-Costume Design
STC: Debut. NEW YORK: Broadway: Swept Away, Funny Girl (Assistant Costume Design; Designer: Susan Hilferty); Caroline, or Change (Assistant Costume Design; Designer: Fly Davis). REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya. OTHER: Newtown Odyssey, a floating opera on and for Newtown Creek co-created by composer Kurt Rohde, writer Dana Spiotta, and artist Marie Lorenz | HERE Arts Center: Tina Howe’s Where Women Go (World Premiere) (Henry Hewes nomination: Best Costume Design) | NYU Steinhardt: Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi | Brown University: Play House. PERSONAL: Heather is a visual artist and designer for theatre, opera, and film. She lives in New York City. | Teaching: NYU Tisch, Design for Stage and Film | Training: Rhode Island School of Design; NYU Tisch.
Jen Schriever
Lighting Design
STC: Romeo and Juliet. NEW YORK: Broadway: Eureka Day, Mother Play, A Strange Loop (Tony nomination), Death of a Salesman (Tony nomination), 1776, Birthday Candles, Lackawanna Blues, What the Constitution Means to Me, Lifespan of a Fact, Eclipsed, Ghetto Klown. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya, What the Constitution Means to Me, Angels in America, Chinglish | ACT: The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical | CTG: A Transparent Musical. OPERA: Seattle Opera: A Thousand Splendid Suns | Metropolitan Opera: Die Fledermaus, Pearl Fishers | Mariinsky (Russia) Faust, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Traviata | ENO: The Pearl Fishers. AWARDS: Obie Award for sustained excellence in design. PERSONAL: Mom to Henry | Teaching: Purchase College, Adjunct Professor.
Darron L West
Sound Design
STC: All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain. NEW YORK: 30-year company member designing the productions of Anne Bogart’s SITI company. AWARDS: TONY and Obie award-winning sound designer whose work has been heard in over 700 productions all over the United States and internationally in 15 countries. REGIONAL: Former resident sound designer at Actors Theater of Louisville, Williamstown Theater Festival and Alabama Shakespeare, his work has been heard at every major regional theater in the country too numerous to name. Additional honors include the Drama Desk, Lortel, Audelco, and Princess Grace Foundation Statue Award, among many others.
Satellite Wigs, Inc.
Wig Design
STC: Debut. NEW YORK: Broadway: A Wonderful World. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya. FILM: Babes, Smile 2, Companion. PERSONAL: Satellite Wigs, Inc. is a tale of two Sara(h)s with over 20 individual Broadway credits between them. Sara Donovan and Sarah Levine met as hair and makeup apprentices at The Juilliard School. While working together in television, they formed a wig-making company focused on creating high end wigs, facial hair, and custom pieces for personal, professional theatrical, and cinematic needs.
Drew Lichtenberg
Dramaturg
STC: Senior member of artistic staff, dramaturg in residence since 2011-12, working on over 60 productions. Selected dramaturgy credits: NEW YORK: Broadway: Roundabout Theatre Company; Off-Broadway: Brooklyn Academy of Music, Public Theater, La Mama. REGIONAL: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, McCarter Theatre, ACT, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Baltimore Center Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre. INTERNATIONAL: Royal National Theatre. OTHER: Writing: guest essays in The New York Times, Lincoln Center Review, and many theater journals. He is the author of The Piscatorbühne Century (Routledge, 2021) and Shakespeare in the Theatre: Shakespeare Theatre Company (Arden/Bloomsbury, 2024, with Deborah C. Payne). PERSONAL: Proud husband of Rebecca Ende Lichtenberg, father of Dylan and Noah. Teaching: Catholic University of America, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, Eugene Lang College of the Liberal Arts at the New School. Training: Doctor of Fine Arts in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism, Yale School of Drama.
Danica Rodriguez
STC Resident Casting Director
STC: Kunene and the King, Leopoldstadt, Babbitt, Comedy of Errors, The Matchbox Magic Flute, Macbeth, The Lehman Trilogy, As You Like It, Macbeth In Stride, Evita, Here There Are Blueberries, King Lear, Jane Anger, Much Ado About Nothing, Red Velvet, Our Town, The Merchant of Venice. New York: Off-Broadway: The Public Theater: cullud wattah*, Romeo y Julieta, Soft Power, for colored girls…, Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park), Mojada, Ain’t No Mo’*. Regional: Folger Theatre: Our Verse in Time to Come; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes*, Incendiary; The Kennedy Center: The Day You Begin; JAG Productions: Next to Normal; The Civilians: El Condor Magico, and others. Awards: Theatre Communications Group 2021 Rising Leader of Color. Personal: she/her, Founding Trainer with Broadway for Racial Justice Casting Directive, Training: Dartmouth College, BA in Film & Media Studies. (*World Premiere)
Karina Fox
Casting
STC: Debut. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Now in her third season at Berkeley Rep, Karina has worked on the casting of over ten mainstage shows as well as The Ground Floor Summer Lab | Magic Theatre: The Kind Ones; Monument, or Four Sisters (A Sloth Play); The Resting Place; The Virgin Play Series (2018–2022). PERSONAL: Karina has been working as a Casting Director, Producer, and Director in the Bay Area since 2017.
Elisa Guthertz*
Production Stage Manager
STC: Debut. NEW YORK: Broadway: The Good Body. REGIONAL: Berkeley Rep: Uncle Vanya; Bulrusher; Sanctuary City; Mother Road; English; the ripple, the wave that carried me home; Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski | Arena Stage: Data, Toni Stone, Sanctuary City | McCarter Theatre Center: Bulrusher | American Conservatory Theater: The Good Body, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Toni Stone, Big Data, The Headlands, Fefu and Her Friends, Testmatch, Seascape, Sweat | The Old Globe: A Thousand Splendid Suns | Alcazar Theatre: The Vagina Monologues | Long Wharf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music: Big Love. INTERNATIONAL: Theatre Calgary: A Thousand Splendid Suns. PERSONAL: Elisa has been a stage manager in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years.
Leigh Robinette*
Assistant Stage Manager
Trinity Wicklund
Production Assistant
Uncle Vanya runs March 30–April 20 in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Harman Hall, 610 F St NW, Washington, DC 20004. Showtimes are Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm, with 2:00 pm matinees Saturday and Sunday. Tickets range from $35 to $225. For more information and tickets, call the Box Office at 202.547.1122 or go online.
SPECIAL PERFORMANCES
Young Prose Night (Under 35) – Friday, April 4 | 7:30pm
Audio Description – Saturday, April 19 | 2pm
Open Captioning – Saturday, April 12 | 2pm / Thursday, April 17 | 7:30pm
ABOUT SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
For over 35 years, the Tony Award-winning Shakespeare Theatre Company has been recognized as the nation’s premier classical theater. STC tells vital stories in audacious forms, stories that are Shakespearean in the deepest sense, even if they are not written by Shakespeare. They stage epic stories in exhilarating style.
BERKELEY REP
Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a storefront stage to an international leader in innovative theater. Known for its ambition, relevance, and excellence, as well as its adventurous audience, the nonprofit has provided a welcoming home for emerging and established artists since 1968. Over 6 million people have enjoyed more than 500 shows at Berkeley Rep, including 86 world premieres. Berkeley Rep shows have gone on to win 8 Tony Awards, 9 Obie Awards, 11 Drama Desk Awards, 1 Grammy Award, 1 Pulitzer Prize, and many other honors. In recognition of its place on the national stage, Berkeley Rep received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. Berkeley Rep invites audiences to enjoy an eclectic range of theatrical experiences featuring diverse artistic voices, themes, and perspectives through its annual seven-play season, together with up to four special event presentations. To formalize, enhance, and expand the processes by which Berkeley Rep makes theater, The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work was launched in 2012. Serving some 20,000 people a year, Berkeley Rep’s School of Theatre ensures broad access to dynamic arts educational activities, especially for Bay Area youth, and provides immersive training for current and future theater makers. In 2021, Berkeley Rep launched In Dialogue, a program that places its theater-making skills and resources in service of the community. Using storytelling as an anchor, In Dialogue is developing long-term collaborations with local, socially centered organizations, as well as educating and activating audiences around organizations whose work aligns with the themes of Berkeley Rep productions. Berkeley Rep’s bustling facilities — which include the 600-seat Roda Theatre, 400-seat Peet’s Theatre, Medak Center, and a spacious campus in West Berkeley — are helping revitalize a renowned city. Learn more at berkeleyrep.org.
