Stage Review - Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (SecondStory Rep)

Stage Review - Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Presented By: Second Story Rep - Redmond, WA
Show Run: January 16 - February 01, 2026
Date Reviewed: Friday, January 16, 2026 (Opening Night)
Run Time: 2 Hours, 15 Minutes (including a 15-minute intermission)
Reviewed By: Anna Tatelman

SecondStory Repertory is kicking off the new year with a fun take on the contemporary classic Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. By turns hilarious and tender-hearted, this tragicomedy features family dysfunctional chaos that many in the audience will both laugh and cringe at in familiarity, alongside a cohesive ensemble and outstanding production elements.

Although based loosely on various Chekhov plays, Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike doesn’t require knowledge of its source materials to be enjoyed. The plot centers on three adult siblings, two of whom (Vanya and Sonia) live in their childhood home because, until recently, they cared for their aging parents. Both feel as if they’ve wasted their lives, yet find themselves at a loss when it comes to making a change. The third sibling (Masha) financially supports Vanya and Sonia along with all housing expenses, which isn’t a problem thanks to her lucrative (though perhaps dwindling) career as an actress. Tensions come to a head when Masha returns to her childhood home—along with her new younger boyfriend Spike—to let Vanya and Sonia know that she plans to sell the house.

Although this piece is primarily a comedy, there are many beats that resonate with emotion, too. Director Christopher Nardine smartly amplifies these moments of compassion and softness by guiding the six-person ensemble to linger and let the characters grieve for their bygone chances, or respond awkwardly to one another’s pains. Much of the comedy is there too, especially when the characters engage in word play or make allusions to other texts, although the other types of humor in this script (such as the more sarcastic lines) could be strengthened with tighter pacing. Since I did attend opening night, the parts that currently move a bit too slowly for the required comedy may get faster as the run goes on.

Carissa Meisner Smit, who plays Sonia, incredibly captures her character’s shifts from tepid and anxious to someone courageous and unafraid to ask for the future she wants. The monologue she delivers while Sonia is on the phone is one of the most powerful moments of this production. Although she had a little trouble remembering her lines the night I was there, Jenifer Gillis Rifenbery does a great job showing us how her character is Sonia’s opposite in almost every way—vain, hyperbolic, manipulative via an overly sweet persona—but also thrumming with an undercurrent of dissatisfaction at how her life has turned out. Sean O'Bannon as Vanya embodies the third sibling who is often caught in the mediator role between his sisters, although increasingly we see the fissures resulting from how much passion and anger he’s repressed over the years.

Somtochukwu Muo plays Cassandra, the siblings’ housekeeper who—like her literary namesake—constantly makes prophecies no one listens to. Some of the funniest moments in SSR’s production are during these prophecies, which Muo delivers, alternately, as apocalyptic and anecdotal. Spike, portrayed by Simon Dunlap, is quite funny as the sweet but idiotic young man that nearly everyone on stage finds attractive. I will probably never see a ‘reverse strip tease’ again, but if I do, it will be hard to see one that compares to his. Rounding out the cast is Amanda Marquis Petrowsk as Nina, a young woman visiting her neighboring relatives who gets sucked into the familial chaos, but manages to stay forward-looking and optimistic in contrast to all the pessimism and stagnation around her.

As with everything I see at SSR, I was impressed with the high caliber of the production elements. The set depicts an ornate living room, replete with a fireplace and real staircase, along with a front door that leads to a trellis wall covered with ivy. There’s a window too that can depict gradients of blues, yellows, or whites, depending on the time of day, along with working decorative lamps. Most of the music is pleasantly ambiant and reminiscent of the early 1900s, but Cassandra’s entrances and prophecies are usually accompanied by tunes far more discordant and ominous. The costumes also do a wonderful job characterizing everyone. I especially loved touches like Cassandra’s jeans made of one blue pant leg and one black, and the fact that Masha wears platform heels everywhere, even inside the house (set and lighting design by Mark Chenowick; costume design primarily by Mark Chenowick, with designs by Amanda Petrowski and Somtochukwu Muo, respectively, for most of their characters’ outfits).

SecondStory Repertory’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike beautifully highlights the tender-heartedness underlying this tragicomedy while getting great humorous mileage from the script’s many allusions and word play moments. Replete with an ensemble that plays in harmony with one another and fantastic design elements across the board, this current production is a smart and funny start to what promises to be another great year at SSR.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike runs on stage at SecondStory Repertory in Redmond through February 1. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit www.secondstoryrep.org/.

Photo credit: Michael Brunk