The Seagull by Anton Chekhov

A story from one of the world's most venerated playwrights about people who fail to achieve life in their art and who struggle with the art of living hardly seems the stuff of comedy. The famed Moscow Art Theatre certainly didn't think so when they gave the play its start 105 years ago; yet Chekhov insisted he was writing comedy. STS now enters the argument and takes Chekhov's side. STS's treatment of Chekhov's poetic writing and his "bohemian" characters, illuminates the relationship between life and art -- and perhaps even adds a fresh chapter to this century-old debate.

March 13th - Kennedy Center

International Ballet Festival

The Kirov Ballet honors Marius Petipa with the spellbinding "Kingdom of the Shades" from La Bayadère. Miami City Ballet brings George Balanchine's The Four Temperaments. And "The Best of Britain," featuring former Royal Ballet principal Adam Cooper and Company with dancers from English National Ballet, performs Sir Kenneth Macmillan's electrifying Sea of Troubles.

May 3rd - Hillwood Museum & Gardens

Trip to Hillwood Museum

Opened to the public in 1977 as a public museum, Hillwood features the most comprehensive collection of 18th- and 19th-century Russian imperial art outside of Russia, as well as one of the world's most important collections of 18th-century French decorative arts. These have been beautifully displayed in a grand setting as they were used by Hillwood's founder, Marjorie Merriweather Post, heir of the Post cereal empire and one of America's first businesswomen. Encircled by woodlands in the heart of Washington, D.C., the twenty-five acre estate boasts pleasure gardens and important azalea and orchid collections.

May 9th, 5pm - Art & Sociology Building, Room 2203 (floor 1R)

Vasily Aksyonov

Aksyonov will talk about his latest works and then open up the floor for questions. Both Russian and English will be spoken. A catered buffet will follow at 6:30pm.

Trained as a medical doctor, Vassily Aksyonov made his Soviet literary debut in 1960. Although perhaps the most popular Soviet writer of prose in the 60s and 70s, he was forced into exile in 1980. He emigrated to the United States and settled in the Washington DC area, where he continues to write and is quickly gaining popularity among American readers. The Winter's Hero was published in 1996, the final volume in English of the trilogy that began in 1994 with Generations of Winter and has received accolades worldwide. In 1999 he wrote The New Sweet Style. Other works include The Island of Crimea, The Burn, Searching for Melancholy Baby and Say Cheese. Aksyonov taught at The Johns Hopkins University and Goucher University before coming to George Mason University.