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From left, Jim Hisler plays Sorin, Yolanda Maria Knight is his sister Arkadina, and Charles Fisher is Dorn in The Vortex Theatre production of “The Seagull.” (Courtesy Of Alan Mitchell Photography)
Tony-nominated actor Joanne Camp Sobel is debuting as a director with “The Seagull,” the first of writer Anton Chekov’s four major plays.
“It’s such a great actors’ play,” Sobel explains. “The characters are really fun.”
Sobel, whose professional name is Joanne Camp, has played one of the female leads, Arkadina, as a founding member of the resident acting company at The Pearl, a New York City theater she and her husband Shepard Sobel established, and where they worked for more than 25 years. Over the years, she has acted in all four of Chekov’s major plays.
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‘The Seagull’ WHEN: Feb. 1-24, 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m., Sundays. Talk with the director and cast after the play on Feb. 17 WHERE: The Vortex Theatre, 2004 1/2 E. Central HOW MUCH: $18 general admission, students $10 five minutes before curtain, if available. Audience optional pricing Feb. 3 |
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“I’ve really enjoyed the (Vortex) actors. They are very open to suggestion and direction. They are very open and patient with me,” she says.
“The Seagull” titled by Chekov as “A Comedy in Four Acts,” mixes comedy and tragedy within the confines of a late-19th-century Russian country estate, where a group of actors and writers have gathered. The character Arkadina, a celebrated actress, is in a Hamlet-like conflict with her son, an aspiring playwright, and her lover, a novelist, who keeps his distance, because he is continually observing others as fodder for his writing.
Other romantic entanglements, human suffering and self-destruction lie beneath the surface, according the Vortex news release.
A seagull shot for sport and offered as a trophy in the play becomes a symbol of artists’ lives and artistic expression that can soar, but can also be shot down, Sobel explains.
“I think what was funny to Chekov was the way we go after what we want in life. Sometimes we continue to pursue things, despite all evidence to the contrary that it should never happen,” she says. “If you fall in love with someone and that someone doesn’t return the love, I think we all agree that following that person around is ridiculous and painful. But sometimes we pick the thing that brings hardship and pain. Sometimes artists are willing to live in that world and use the experience to enrich their art.”
Sobel, who also teaches acting locally, explains that she never had a desire to direct, but that professional acting opportunities are limited in Albuquerque.
When the Vortex asked her to direct “The Seagull,” she was happy for the opportunity to be active in local theater and stay within the restrictions of her acting unions.
The Sobels moved to Albuquerque several years ago to be near their family and grandchildren. She will return to New York City in March to rehearse and act in the latest Terrence McNally play, Sobel says.
In the meantime, she’s focusing on “The Seagull,” which will be staged in the round at the Vortex, with the actors and the audience about 15 feet apart.
“It will be very intimate. I think it will be fun for the audience,” she says.
The cast features Yolanda Maria Knight, Paul Hunton, Jim Hisler, Amanda Machon, Marc Lynch, Teresa Longo, Jennifer Loli, Mark Hisler, Zen Kotori, Sherry Rabbino Lewis, Caroline Graham and Charles Fisher.
