Seton Hill's 'The Seagull' delves into love in all of its forms

Russian playwright and author Anton Chekov once described his classic comedy, “The Seagull,” as having a cast of nine, four acts and “five tons of love.”

Robyne Parrish, who is directing the Seton Hill University Theatre production of the play written in 1895 and first produced in 1896, agrees the work delves into love in all its forms — “love new and old, love young and not so young, love unrequited and love lost.”

“The play is also about the meaning and purpose of life and art. And the play deals with death and destruction,” she says. “I think we can all agree that these are themes that transcend time and will always be relevant. One of the reasons (the tragicomedy) has survived for so long as one of the great works is that it was and will always be ahead of its time.”

For Parrish, who has acted twice in “The Seagull” and produced other Chekhov plays in New York City, has a “deep love and respect for the classics and in particular, Chekhov,” and says she jumped at the chance when asked by Kellee Van Aken, department chair, Seton Hill’s theater and dance program, to direct his work.

Taking the plunge

And despite her cast’s lack of life experience and roles playing older characters that are married with children or are in complicated mature relationships, the director says the Seton Hill students “were excited to take the plunge and absolutely game to explore this great work fearlessly and with great passion!”

Anna Strauser, a junior musical theater major from Uniontown, portrays Nina, who has lived in one place her entire life and is finally ready to start making decisions to make more of her life “and I’ve become quite the opportunist. The greatest challenge with that is working with the stakes of these decisions. The stakes are high.”

She says the play’s theme that resonates most with her is the idea of how one prioritizes their life, whether by relationships, their calling or their own thoughts and feelings.

“Your way of life differs depending on what you put first. That experience will always remain relevant,” she says. She last performed in “Music Man” at the State Theatre Center for the Arts in Uniontown.

Take a look inside

Malcolm McGraw, a junior musical theater major, plays Sorin, “sort of the dying patriarch of the family” that no one listens to, but everyone expects to listen to them. He would tell audiences to see this play “for the same reason people should see Shakespeare, Arthur Miller and Henrik Johan Ibsen — because it is a classic.”

“This production calls the audience to take a look inside themselves to see how they are doing, understand that they still have time to at least start to accomplish something, and that they still have drive,” he says.

Growing as a performer

Christina Trocchio, a freshman musical theater student from Pittsburgh, plays Irina, a famous actress who always must be the most powerful person in the room. Her biggest challenge at first was allowing herself to be as bold and brash as her character can be at times, “but doing so has helped me grow so much as a performer and even made me a more confident person.” She recently was in the play “Check Please” at Seton Hill.

Trocchio says the director’s vision for Seton Hill’s interpretation of “The Seagull” is unique and exciting, elevating the work into a new version of itself while still staying true to the story Chekhov created.