101 Stage Adaptations

8 - THE THREE SISTERS OF WEEHAWKEN by Deborah Zoe Laufer (Ep. 20)

March 09, 2023 Deborah Zoe Laufer Episode 20
101 Stage Adaptations
8 - THE THREE SISTERS OF WEEHAWKEN by Deborah Zoe Laufer (Ep. 20)
Show Notes

Melissa reconnects with playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer. They first met when Melissa interviewed her about her play, Be Here Now. Now we be here again to talk about one of Deb's (apparently many) stage adaptations, The Three Sisters of Weehawken, based of course on Chekhov's Three Sisters

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Why Deborah set her adaptation in New Jersey
  • Which of Chekhov's 3 sisters we are
  • What message Chekhov's plays have for us today 
  • How writers groups influence her writing process

And more!

Resources Mentioned

The Three Sisters of Weehawken by Deborah Zoe Laufer
Melissa's first interviews with Deborah : The Be Here Now Interview, On Playwriting Pt. 1 & Pt. 2

About Our Guest

Deborah Zoe Laufer’s plays have been produced at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Playhouse, Geva, The Humana Festival, Everyman, Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and hundreds of other theaters around the world. Plays include Be Here Now, End Days, Rooted, Informed Consent which was a NYTimes critic’s pick, Leveling Up, Out of Sterno, The Last Schwartz, Sirens, Meta, The Three Sisters of Weehawken, Fortune, dozens of short plays, and the musicals, Window Treatment, and By Any Other Name, written with composer, Daniel Green. Deb is a recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, the Lilly Award, The ATCA Steinberg citation, and grants and commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Edgerton Foundation, The National New Play Network, and the Lincoln Center Foundation. Her work has been developed by The Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Theatre Lab, PlayPenn, The Cherry Lane Alternative, The Missoula Colony, LOCAL Theatre, Asolo Rep, The Baltic Playwrights Conference, and more. Her plays are published or recorded by Concord/Samuel French, Smith and Kraus, Playscripts, LA Theatreworks, and Premieres. She is a graduate of Juilliard, an alumna of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical T

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