J. Cody Spellman

Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alum J. Cody Spellman ’13, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Theatre Directing program, is directing a new production of Anton Chekhov’s classic comedy Uncle Vanya for Pittsburgh’s Throughline Theatre, where Spellman is artistic director. His staging of Uncle Vanya, in a contemporary adaptation by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker, runs June 19 through July 1 at the Carnegie Stage in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. For tickets and more information, click here.

J. Cody Spellman

“I’m excited about audiences experiencing this play in a way they probably have never experienced before,” Spellman said in an interview with the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s blog. “It’s going to be really fun and funky and different and break the shape of what their experience of [Russian playwright] Chekhov is.” To read the full interview, click here.

Originally written in 1898, Uncle Vanya is a comedy about a Russian family trying to survive the hopelessness of country life in Russia during the late 19th century. “I’ve always wanted to do Chekhov, I feel like his plays aren’t really done in Pittsburgh,” Spellman says. “But I feel like, for me, those plays in the past have always been really leading into tragedy and everything so I’m really excited for the chance to show the Pittsburgh region just how funny this can be.”