There’s an exercise I’ll occasionally use in class, to help students think more expansively or differently about the world of a play we have read: “Create a scene that is missing from this play.” It’s an exercise that’s playful, fun, and a little naughty (because it wrests control of the play from its original author); it’s also an exercise that frequently yields new insights into the original play.

Jeremy Lesifko-Bremer’s new play Pigeon [III1/2] indulges in that exercise on a larger scale. His “missing scene” runs ninety minutes long, and fills the two-year gap between Acts 3 and 4 of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. The action of Lesifko-Bremer’s play is roughly the same as what is described through exposition in the final act of Chekhov’s play: Nina arrives in Moscow to become Trigorin’s lover, she pursues an acting career, she gets pregnant, loses the baby, and meanwhile, back at the country house, Masha marries the schoolteacher Semion even though she’s really in love with the playwright Konstantin, who in turn remains infatuated with Nina. But in Lesifko-Bremer’s telling, the characters are rebooted for the 21st century: in particular, Trigorin is an urban hipster (sans tattoos) and Konstantin is in the process of transitioning to become Constance (though she’s still in love with Nina).

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Jeremy Lesifko-Bremer as Boryz Trigorin in “Pigeon [III1/2]”. Photo courtesy Birch Swinger Ensemble.

Although not required, a pre-show brush-up on The Seagull might be a good idea, especially if you want to get all of the theatrical in-jokes woven into the script. Intertextual references abound, and there’s a good deal of playful self-referentiality, starting with Constance’s instruction to us to “nod with your knowings and ac-knowledge-ments” and culminating in Nina’s excitement over having been cast in a play that “takes place in a two year gap between the acts of a classic play.”

The languid, pause-filled dialogue has a Chekhovian quality, but for much of the play it also seems to mimic the overblown style of Konstantin’s mocked and much-derided play-within-a-play in The Seagull. Pigeon [III1/2] appears to draw, in style and substance, on other modern playwrights as well, including Pirandello, Genet, and Sartre, and its declarative dialogue and low-affect, hypernaturalistic acting style are reminiscent of the work of postmodern playwright and director Richard Maxwell.

Pigeon [III1/2] is the inaugural production of Birch Swinger Ensemble, which describes itself as a “nano-theatre company.” I’ve never heard that term before, but I surmise that it means they are producing plays with a very small team on a very tiny budget: certainly everyone in the cast did double or triple duty on this production. In addition to writing the play, Jeremy Lesifko-Bremer directed, produced, and played the role of Boryz Trigorin. Michelle Lesifko-Bremer played Nina, and served as co-producer and assistant director. Jon David, who played the schoolteacher Semion, also designed the set and props and served as the stage manager; Andrew Yankes played Constance and served as the production assistant; Emily Naples, who played Masha, was marketing director and makeup artist; and Jane Hyland, who did movement and consultation on sets and costumes, also played the voice of Irina.