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"He longs for human company…" are the last words of Konstantin Treplev's untitled and unfinished play that linger in our minds as the performance is abruptly interrupted by his mother. Unfortunately, we never hear the rest of the play, nor do we know its ending. Was Treplev's work merely a jumble of pretentious and meaningless "avant-garde" concepts, as Arkadina claims? Or did his writing possess a deeper significance? What might the ending of the play, which we never see, have been? What is the meaning and purpose behind Treplev’s highly abstract and surreal play within the grounded, realistic world of The Seagull?

In this workshop/exploration, we will delve into Konstantin’s unfinished play and strive to imagine what the audience might have seen had it not been so brutally interrupted.

Yuri (Yura) Kordonsky 

Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Yura received his MFA degrees in Acting and Directing from the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theatre Arts, Russia, under the direction of Lev  Dodin. He has taught, performed, and directed internationally since 1989. In the period of  1989-2001, he was a resident actor and director at the renowned Maly Drama Theatre Theatre of Europe in St. Petersburg.  

His directing credits include his original play Disappearance and House of Bernarda  Alba by Lorca (Maly Drama Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia); Uncle Vanya by Chekhov,  The Marriage by Gogol, Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, Marble by Brodsky, Bury Me Under the Baseboard by Pavel Sanaev, and Zinc Boys by Alexievich (Bulandra Theatre, Bucharest, Romania); The Lower Depths by M. Gorky and The Cherry Orchard  by Chekhov (Hungarian Theatre, Cluj, Romania), The Encounter (UNESCO ITI  congress, Manila, Philippines), Fatherlessness by Chekhov (Orkeny Szinhaz, Budapest),  Last Day of Youth by Tadeusz Konwicki (National Theatre “Radu Stanca”, Sibiu,  Romania), The Seagull by Chekhov and Erendira by Marquez (German National Theatre,  Timisoara, Romania); The Heart of a Dog by Bulgakov and Romeo and Juliet by  Shakespeare (National Theatre, Bucharest), Peer Gynt by Ibsen, Oedipus Rex by  Sophocles, and The Bald Soprano by Ionesco (Wesleyan University, CT), A Diary of a  Madman by Gogol (West End Theatre, Gloucester, MA), and Canterbury Tales by  Chaucer (Riverside Theater, New York), among others.  

Yura’s productions have won numerous international awards including Golden Light, Governor’s Award, and Bravo Award for the Best Production (Russia), Union of  European Theatres’ Award for the Best Production (Italy), multiple UNITER Awards for  Best Production and Best Director (Romania), and the Special Prize of the Romanian  Ministry of Culture. 

As a performer and director, Yura has toured in more than twenty countries and taught acting and directing in the US, Russia, China, Germany, Spain, Italy, Philippines, and  Romania. Since moving to the US in 2001, he taught at Wesleyan University – where he  served as Professor and Chair of Theater Department, as well as at Columbia University,  UC San Diego, George Washington University, Colgate University, and the Eugene  O’Neill Theater Center. 

He currently serves as Associate Chair of Directing and Professor in the Practice of  Directing at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

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Event in English
Duration: 3h
United States

ACCES BY REGISTRATION, SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY
BY REGISTERING FOR THIS WORKSHOP, PARTICIPANTS AGREE TO ATTEND ALL THREE DAYS
REGISTRATIONS CAN BE DONE FROM JUNE 1, 2025 UNTIL JUNE 11, 2025 AT THE ADDRESS constantin.gajim@ulbsibiu.ro