The Undiscovered Chekhov

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ICAME TO LOVE CHEKHOV early on because he felt good to speak. As an actor, when I spoke him, he felt familiar. He felt more familiar than most twentieth century playwrights I was speaking at the time.

I don’t act very much anymore, but when anyone ever asks me what role I would really like to play, I tell them that any male Chekhov role would be just fine.

When I was asked to do two public readings of stories from this collection I hesitated at first because I am not a good public reader. Then I thought, But it’s Chekhov so it’s got to be simple, in that gloriously divine way that my six year old is; simple in speech and complex in his being. So, I read some of these stories at two public gatherings and once again Chekhov felt good and I felt reconnected to him.

I rarely find life funny but I have often found it absurd. I think Camus defines the absurd as the meeting place between the rational and the irrational. That meet¬ing place, for me, is often found in these stories. They speak in a connected way about non-connectedness and social disorientation. These stories are like vivid, surreal dreams.

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