Sarasota's Urbanite Theatre presents an adaptation of Chekhov's 'The Seagull'

When Anton Chekhov wrote "The Seagull," part of his purpose was to explore the role of theater in society.

"But that was about 140 years ago," Vincent Carlson-Brown said. (It was actually 120 years ago, but that doesn't really matter.)

Brown is directing the upcoming production from Sarasota's Urbanite Theatre. It's by Aaron Posner, who wrote "The Chosen" and "My Name is Asher Lev," and aims to bring Chekhov's ideas up to date.

"The show is a sort of adaptation of 'The Seagull,' " Brown said. "It's kind of an irreverent, contemporary, very funny take on 'The Seagull.' It looks at theater in a new and interesting way." The play is titled "Stupid (Expletive) Bird." The bird in the title is, obviously, Chekhov's seagull.

"The characters know that they're characters in a play," Brown said. "Sometimes they'll say things like they feel like they're trapped in their own story, and their story is, of course, 'The Seagull.'"

Posner is primarily a director, Brown said, best known for his work with Shakespeare plays. That gives Brown, who is the artistic director of the Nebraska Shakespeare Company in Omaha, something of a kinship with Posner.

And in writing this play, Brown said, Posner as playwright performs some of the functions of a director,

"As a director, you're always illuminating plays for a new audience," Brown said. "And by adapting this source material in the way he has, he makes the Chekhov play more meaningful for a contemporary audience."

Posner's play has been around for a few years now, and it's been almost universally praised. A review of the Los Angeles production called it the best adaptation of Chekhov in more than 20 years, since Louis Malle's film "Vanya on 42nd Street." The play also won the prestigious Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play or Musical in 2014.

Brown, who also directed "Isaac's Eye' for Urbanite -- arguably the strongest production that Urbanite has staged in its still-young life -- said that while updates of Chekhov plays are refreshing and enlightening, his original work is still immediate and still touches every contemporary playwright, director, actor and theater-goer.

"If you go to theater school you have an immediate relationship with Chekhov," he said. "He's essentially the inventor of realism. It's a style of theater that disguises it's own conventions. People have emotions, but they don't state what their emotions are. It's all subtext."

Casual theater-goers who don't know Chekhov or "The Seagull" will still enjoy "Bird," Brown said. It's a self-contained world, and its ideas and its humor don't rely on prior knowledge of the source. But if you know "the Seagull," there are inside jokes scattered throughout that you will chuckle at as they fly past others in the audience.

Details: Feb. 12-March 3, Urbanite Theatre, 1487 Second St., Sarasota. Show times: 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, plus 8 p.m. March 1 and March 8. Tickets: $20; students with ID $5. Information: 941-321-1397, urbanitetheatre.com.

Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919.

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This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Sarasota's Urbanite Theatre presents an adaptation of Chekhov's 'The Seagull' ."