An unexpected winter theater festival

Merely Players opens “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” a comedy by Christopher Durang, tonight at the Durango Arts Center. At exactly the same time, the Fort Lewis College Theatre Department opens its mid-winter production, “The Little Prince.”

Both run only two weekends, and both have one Sunday matinee.

What happened?

We screamingly need a better community calendar.

Or, on the other hand, the double offering could be seen as an unofficial winter festival. Add this Sunday’s afternoon concert by the San Juan Symphony, and the weekend looks like an embarrassment of riches.

Christopher Durang is a modern master of absurdist comedies. You may have heard of “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All.” And you may know that “Vanya” won Best Play on Broadway in 2013.

Ben Brantley of The New York Times chirped that “Vanya” was the American playwright’s “sunny new play about gloomy people.”

That’s a fair assessment. I’d add that a palpable dryness courses through the story of adult siblings who live, visit and battle in the family homestead in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. “It’s a wonderful script,” director Mona Wood-Patterson said in an interview last week. “Christopher Durang is mostly known for his absurdism, but this veers away believably toward realism.”

“Vanya” is set in modern times, Wood-Patterson noted. And the title obviously references Anton Chekhov, the Russian realist who viewed everyday situations and ordinary characters with a dry eye.

“If you haven’t read any Chekhov,” Wood-Patterson said, “it really doesn’t matter. Durang’s play stands on its own as comedy.”

Here’s the story: two middle-aged siblings live in their parents’ Pennsylvania farmhouse and squabble over the littlest things. Bored Vanya (Stephen Bowers) and miserable Sonia (Jeannie Wheeldon), his adopted sister, have settled into recognizable, daily rituals. Morning coffee is a perfect platform for petty bickering.

Masha, their colorful, celebrity sister (Melanie McClean) sweeps in for a family visit. She has brought Spike (Matt Welbourn) with her. He’s Masha’s handsome boy toy.

Add Cassandra (Debbie Meyers), a wacky, psychic servant, and Nina (Anna Rose Rousseau), a comely, star-struck neighbor, and you have a sextet that stirs hopes, fantasies, regrets and reality into a heady, comedic boil.

“Vanya” is for adults only, so be forewarned.

The new production at Fort Lewis College, however, is for the whole family.

“The Little Prince” is based on the famous children’s classic by Antoine de Saint Exupéry. The play version has been adapted by Rick Cummins and John Scoullar and has been performed widely in professional settings as well as at colleges and community theaters.

Director Ginny Davis has assembled a large cast for this grown-up fairy tale. The story centers on an aviator (Wyatt Grice) who has crash-landed in the Sahara Desert. He encounters a tiny prince (Genoa Martin) who has dropped out of the sky and has tales to tell. The pilot listens to the prince’s stories about what he has learned about life, people and the stars and planets he inhabits. Along the way, the little prince encounters a fox (Ashley Williford), a snake (Ryan Torres), a coquettish rose (Izabella Gray), a queen (Alana Rosler), a lamplighter (Elaina Allen), a geographer (Jennifer Holling), a conceited man (Chris Jahrling) and a businessman (Shaunibah Morfin).

When “The Little Prince” was published in 1943, it immediately captured international interest. Born in 1900, Saint Exupéry was a writer, poet, journalist, and perhaps most importantly, a pioneering pilot. He flew many mailing missions over North Africa and also combat missions for the French Air Force. He survived a number of crashes, but his plane disappeared in 1944 somewhere near Marseille, making his stories all the more poignant – for children and for adults.

“This classic tale is perfect for the whole family,” Davis said in an interview. And as a theatrical adaptation, “it’s a true ensemble piece full of enchantment and heart.”

Plan ahead. See both productions.

jreynolds@durangoherald.com. Judith Reynolds is a Durango writer, art historian and arts journalist.

If you go

“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” a comedy by Christopher Durango, performed by Merely Players, directed by Mona Wood-Patterson, at Durango Art Center, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19-20, 25-27, and 2 p.m. Feb. 28. Tickets: $20 DAC members, $23 non members. Info: 259-2606.

“The Little Prince,” an adaptation of the original story by Antoine de Sainte Exupéry by Rick Cummins and John Scoullar, Fort Lewis College Drama Department, directed by Ginny Davis, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19-21, 25-27, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28. Tickets: $12 adults, $10 seniors, students, $5 children. Info: 247-7089.