Having passed their New York auditions in a rather non-traditional manner, three actresses are cast in a production of Chekhov’s The Three Sisters to be performed by San Antonio’s Actors Express. There’s Lisabette, the young third grade teacher who recently made her acting comeback in a community theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof. She’s been cast as Irina, the youngest and most optimistic sister. Casey on the other hand - a veteran of off-off Broadway, having closed 200 productions without ever getting paid - is set to play Olga, the plain, older, more jaded sister. And then there’s Holly, the famous TV star whose agent convinces her that performing in a theater production of Chekhov would buy her some respect (and more film offers). She’s playing the dark, passionate middle sister Masha because, as she sensitively puts it, " the most powerful person plays the best part." Added to this rather eclectic cast of players is a country music star that plays the romantic lead, a flamboyant costume designer, a corporate drone from a sponsoring cigarette company, a rich-hick funder, a hard-working Stage Manager, an arrogant English director, and an incompetent producer who tries to hold things together. In all, 7 women play 15 characters. 

The adventure of the "three sisters" follows them down a Texas rabbit hole and into the American theater Wonderland. Their madcap excursions take them through the typical regional mire like funding crises, impossible critics, eccentric directors, and inept producers. But like Alice, they fail to comprehend the mad tea party that the American theatre sometimes resembles. But through all their failures, they search for life’s deeper purpose. Because comedy as an art form is based on pain- and because this comedy is written by Jane Martin- the actors’ trials and tribulations can be very, very funny.

Do the women pull it off? Will San Antonio get that Russian masterpiece? Will Holly get that film she’s after? Is Lisabette headed for Broadway? And what will Casey do with the money from her first paid acting gig?

Despite the challenges and failures the women of ANTON… experience, there is no shortage of laughter. The play is full of wild antics and humor in the tradition of the backstage comedy (think Noises Off or Bullets Over Broadway). There’s the leading lady/leading man romance, fights with directors, power trips, actors playing multiple characters and of course, ongoing funding woes. Like Chekhov, Jane Martin has captured the humor of life. It just happens to be the life in show business.

Come see the play critics hailed "Hilarious, smart and even a little warped" (Houston Press), "Jane Martin’s very best play to date" (Chicago Sun Times) and the finalist for the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Award.