Sisters: Sam Landman, Jeremy Motz, David Coral, Margaux Daniel, Matt Wall, Nissa Nordland, Kayla Hambek, Brettina Davis, Derek "Duck" Washington, Sean Dillon, and Marci Lucht Photo by Alex Wohlhueter

None of that history, nor my admiration for their work, prepared me for the ambitious and profound accomplishment Theatre Pro Rata has mounted at the Crane Theater in northeast Minneapolis. They are currently showing two plays, one a classic, Anton Chekov's Three Sisters, the other a recent play by Aaron Posner, No Sisters. The two are staged simultaneously, with the Chekov play on the Crane's main stage and Posner's in the theater's lobby. Moreover, all seven of the actors in No Sisters also appear in Three Sisters, playing the same characters on the same evening. It is a feat accomplished with split second timing and virtuoso performances.

Posner wrote No Sisters, which premiered in 2017 at Washington D.C.'s Studio Theatre, to play in tandem with Three Sisters. Seven characters from the Chekov work share Posner's insights and imagined histories during the time that they are not on the Three Sisters stage. We are with them in a kind of metaphysical green room where they expound at length about their back stories, their ruminations, and their fraught relationships with each other. When their cue is heard, they quickly depart for the mainstage, usually with another character already there to pick up the thread.

No Sisters: Meri Golden and Jonathan Edwards Photo by Alex Wohlhueter

A video monitor is mounted unobtrusively on a wall to show the action taking place in Three Sisters, with the sound muted. We are entranced enough by what is going on in person before our eyes, there is scant attention paid to that monitor except on occasions when one of the characters in No Sisters calls our attention to it.

What is going on next door is an altogether gripping production of Three Sisters. Were it offered on its own, this would be reason enough to put this show on your must-see list. Three Sisters is generally ranked as one of Chekov's four great plays, along with Uncle Vanya, The Seagull, and The Cherry Orchard, and like those, depicts an aristocracy losing its grip on its wealth, and with that, its sense of any meaning to their lives. The play takes place in the Prozorov family home in a garrison town removed from Moscow, which is where sisters Olga, Masha and Irina and their older brother Andrei grew up. They reminisce deeply about Moscow, feeling as if they'd left all the sophistication, pomp, and gaiety the world has to offer, and frequently bemoan their unhappiness living in what feels like a provincial backwater. They dream of returning to Moscow.

The play, in four acts with one intermission, takes place over a period of several years. It begins on the first anniversary of the death of the siblings' father. Their mother had passed away long before, and much of that responsibility of raising them was left to their long-tenured servant, Anfisa, whom the sisters still call Nanny. Now past eighty, Anfisa is unable to work very vigorously. The date also happens to be the twentieth birthday of Irina, the youngest, and there are plans for a dinner party. Soldiers from the garrison are among the guests, several of whom have their eye on the beautiful and idealistic Irina.

Also planning to attend the party is middle sister Masha's husband Fyodor, a Latin teacher much older than she, whom she married straight out of school at 18, and with whom she is now profoundly bored. The final guest is a young woman from the town, Natasha, whose lack of fashion and grace makes her the subject of the sisters' derision, but whom Andrei has in mind to marry. If this all sounds like a complicated web of humanity, it is and it only gets more so, but Chekov crafts it with a master's touch.

Director Carin Bratlie Wethern presents the intricacies of the narrative with impeccable clarity, and stages the numerous transitions between conversations and encounters with utter finesse, leaving time only for a blink of the eye or a catching of one's breath before our attention is drawn to the next scene. This is all the more remarkable because Three Sisters and No Sisters are synchronized so their four acts, including the intermission between Acts 2 and 3, occur at the same time. Julie K Phillips directs No Sisters, Wethern's partner in this daunting endeavor, and succeeds beyond reasonable expectations in drawing out, from the actors in No Sisters, performances that remain in character, true to Chekov's creations, but with their guard lowered as they share the secrets, "dirty" and not, stowed beneath the part of their biography Chekov had meant us to see.

Without being hyperbolic, every performance is worthy of a rave. All three sisters–Kayla Hambek as Olga, Nissa Norland as Masha, and Brettina Davis as Irina–win our sympathies for the plight they have landed in. They persuasively convey the unique qualities of each while sustaining a sense of the family bond that holds them in place. Derek "Duck" Washington as Andrei is astonishing in his struggle to maintain the high standards to which he was born, while his actual capacities and inclinations lead elsewhere. Marci Lucht, as Natasha, earns our scorn as the sister-in-law who creates misery for her husband's three sisters in the Chekov play, while in No Sisters she has the opportunity to show us her side, and is quite wonderful in doing so.

David Coral as the aging army doctor, Ivan Chebutkyin, who manages his disappointments by drinking far too much, and Sam Landman as Alexander Vershinin, newly arrived at the garrison and drawn to Masha by their mutual disappointment in their marriages, are both pitch perfect–neither appears in No Sisters, but the actors, and Chekov's precision in creating the characters, ensure that we know them well. Two actors with small roles in Three Sisters, but much larger roles in No Sisters–Meri Golden as the withered housekeeper Anfisa, and Jonathan Edwards as Alexey Fedotik, the youngest and most naive of the soldiers vying for Irina's attention–create whole lives in the Posner play that make us appreciate their significance in the Chekov play so much more.

Others deserving of praise are Sean Dillon, as mild-mannered Vasily Solyony, and Jeremy Motz, as the explosive Alexey Fedotik, fellow officers whose life-long friendship is threatened when both fall under the spell of Irina's loveliness, as well as Matt Wall as Fyodor, brilliant in conveying the character's resolute determination that his life is a good life, that his wife is a good wife, and that he is a happy man, despite strong evidence to the contrary.

Set designer MJ Leffler has designed a lovely setting for the Chekov piece, which offers a glimpse of the elegance of the Prozorov home's dining room, parlor, and terrace. For No Sisters, the vintage chairs and sofas in the Crane's lobby are pushed to the periphery for audience members, with some spots reserved for actors to seek repose. A dressing table is used at times by actors preparing to return to the mainstage for their next scene. Andrea M. Gross's costumes are excellent, with each of the three sisters having a distinct style, none of them ostentatious in the least, yet radiating the sense that these are clothes for wealthy women–unlike Natasha's more folkloric attire. Emmet Kowler's lighting and Jacob M Davis's sound design effectively brings to life such events as a raging storm, a fire in the village (not seen on stage, yet we get a strong feel of our proximity to it), and the migration of birds.

Among the many things I will keep with me from these paired productions is a soliloquy from Fyodor, the earnest Latin teacher, in praise of civilization. Can there be any doubt we need to hear that? If you are even a little bit of a fan of Chekov, or unfamiliar with his work and ready to correct that oversight, I strongly recommend that you see Three Sisters, and go on to see No Sisters at the next opportunity. If you are familiar with Three Sisters, or more generally with the themes and style of Chekov's plays, you can probably enjoy seeing the two in either order. But this pairing, by small by mighty Theatre Pro Rata, is a rare theatrical event, and it would be a shame for you to miss it.

Three Sisters and No Sisters, presented by Theatre Pro Rata and performed simultaneously, continues through May 24, 2025, at the Crane Theater, 2303 Kennedy Street N.E., Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please call 612-234-7135 or visit theatreprorata.org.

Playwright: Three Sisters: Anton Chekov, in an English translation by Cordelia Lynn. No Sisters: Aaron Posner; Director: Three Sisters: Carin Bratlie Wethern, No Sisters: Julia K. Phillips: Set Design: MJ Lefffler; Costume Design: Andrea M. Gross; Lighting Design: Emmet Kowler; Sound Design: Jacob M. Davis; Prop Design: Jenny Moeller; Intimacy/Fight Choreographer: Annie Enneking; Stage Manager: Three Sisters: Clara Costello, No Sisters:Stephanie Kahle.

Cast: David Coral (Ivan Chebutkyin), Margaux Daniel (Ferapont), Brettina Davis (Irina Prozorov), Sean Dillon (Baron Nikolay Tuzenbach), Jonathan Edwards (Alexey Fedotik), Meri Golden (Anfisa), Kayla Hambek (Olga Prozorov), May Heinecke (Isa- video), Sam Landman (Alexander Vershinin), Marci Lucht (Natasha Ivanovna), Jeremy Motz (Vasily Solyony), Phi Hamens Nelson (Vladimir Rode), Nissa Nordland (Masha Prozorov), Matt Wall (Fyodor Kulygin), Derek "Duck" Washington (Andrei Prozorov).