Interpreting The Seagull

Video by Masha Vlasova

“In ‘Chekhov’s Masha’s Masha’ I read a short monologue by a character named Masha, in Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull. The play is about actors, writers, theater, the torments of the creative process. It is a play imported from and therefore about Russia. I take up Masha’s monologue as a found text, interpreting it as a Russian, an American, an actress, a director, and a Masha.”

Masha Vlasova works in film, video, sculpture, and installation. She received her BFA at the Cooper Union in 2012 and her MFA from Yale University in 2016. She is a recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship in Filmmaking, Alice Kimball Traveling Fellowship, and JUNCTURE Art and Human Rights Initiative Fellowship at Yale Law School.