The Lydia Etudes – Abuot Loving Anton Chekhov – Elgin Art Showcase – 11/06/11 – Elgin, IL

The controversial love between Anton Chekhov and a woman named Lydia comes alive on stage in Dawn Arnold's solo performance of The Lydia Etudes.

An intimate look at the master storyteller, Anton Chekhov, told through the eyes of the woman who might have been his one true love.

"People think that Chekhov never experienced a great
love. I had thought so myself, but now I can say
emphatically: he did experience such a love - for Lydia
Avilova." Ivan Bunin in About Chekhov

Actress Dawn Arnold explores the secrets of the heart in her original adaptation of Lydia Avilova's memoir, "Chekhov in My Life" and Chekhov's letters to Lydia. In her solo play about love, Dawn Arnold takes both sides as she portrays Lydia and Anton - and a host of other characters -transporting us into the world of Chekhov and inviting us into both the private and public places of Chekhov's life. Accompanied by the strains of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, Dawn Arnold reveals the interior arias of human yearning told in the style of one of Chekhov's own plays.

"Dawn Arnold is mesmerizing to watch as Lydia Avilova."
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati