‘3 Sisters’ Not Always in Sync at OCC

COSTA MESA —  The gradual, marked decline of promising lives that makes Anton Chekhov’s “The Three Sisters” such a hypnotic tragedy is, by its nature, an Everest for college actors.

The always courageous Orange Coast College Repertory actors suit up for the climb in OCC’s Drama Lab yet don’t have the oxygen to go all the way under Rita Renee’s direction.

Restricted to the space’s black-box dimensions, this is a minimalist “Three Sisters” that takes place as much in the mind as in the physical set (also Renee’s).

We must imagine most of the country-style splendor in the early scenes at the Prozorov house, where Andrei (Tino Tovar) and his sisters--Olga (Pamela Russell), Masha (Lee Kassebaum) and Irina (Andrea Jackson)--host guests, mostly men from the temporarily stationed army.

We also must strain to imagine the decline, as Andrei’s boorish wife, Natasha (Janeen Gronsky), takes over and the town nearly burns to the ground.

Demonstrating how to do more with less, Renee adds such touches at the sad, autumnal end as brown leaves on the ground--simple, natural, Chekhovian.

As with all of Chekhov’s plays, so rooted in place and time, it’s not easy to fool with “The Three Sisters,” but this edition adds some contemporary filigrees: Bob Dylan (the new, more reflective Dylan) on the soundtrack; and Erik Lawrence’s and Cynthia Corely’s costumes--Natasha’s leopard-pattern spandex pants, Irina’s hip beret and a friendly family doctor Chebutykin’s (David Scaglione) Hawaiian shirt. Except for the Dylan touch, which nicely underlines the play’s mood of reverie, the stylistic angles have no context.

As can be expected in college Chekhov, the performances vary wildly. Though her vaguely half-Australian, half-British accent is a distraction, Kassebaum exudes a potent range of frustration and desire, dominating the relatively weak turns from Jackson and Russell.

Gronsky shows off her versatility in the delicious naive-to-nasty Natasha role; Keith Bennett revels in death-tinged nihilism as Solyony.

Scaglione holds forth as the play’s voice of comic sadness, but the other men--led by Justin Satterfield’s inexpressive Vershinin and Darren Crane’s stilted Tuzenbach--need to go off and study Chekhov.

Of course, that’s what college is for.

* “The Three Sisters,” Orange Coast College Drama Lab, Costa Mesa. Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Sunday. $6. (714) 432-5880. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.

Pamela Russell: Olga

Lea Kassebaum: Masha

Andrea Jackson: Irina

Tino Tovar: Andrei

Justin Satterfield: Vershinin

Darren Crane: Tuzenbach

Janeen Gronsky: Natasha

David Scaglione: Chebutykin

Keith Bennett: Solyony

An Orange Coast College Repertory production of Anton Chekhov’s drama. Direction and set: Rita Renee. Costumes: Erik Lawrence and Cynthia Corely. Lights: Steve Mathis. Props: Corely and Renee. Stage manager: Jeff Marx.