Unadilla Theatre's New Artistic Director: Zephyr Teachout

The cast of Anton Chekhov's Ivanov at Unadilla Theatre Credit: Courtesy

At the age of 101, Unadilla Theatre founder Bill Blachly decided this was the year to hand over the artistic directorship of his seasonal enterprise in Marshfield. His replacement choice was no surprise.

Since 1983, Blachly has produced scores of modern and classic plays with timeless themes in the rustic setting of a hill farm. Who better to assume his role than Zephyr Teachout, a frequent Unadilla actor and director? Her career bridges the arts, law and political activism. She was a strategist in Vermont governor Howard Dean’s campaign for president and was a candidate herself in Democratic primaries for attorney general, congress and governor of New York.

“It’s not like it’s been a clear transition,” said Teachout, who curated the plays for the 2025 season. “Bill is still there, just less involved. And he’s still sharp as a tack.”

For most of the year, Teachout lives in New York City’s East Harlem and teaches law at Fordham University in the Bronx. During the summers, the 53-year-old Norwich native lives in Montpelier and has often directed Unadilla shows, such as Heather Raffo’s critically acclaimed solo play Nine Parts of Desire, which opens on Friday, August 15.

It was Blachly who introduced Teachout to this play 20 years ago. Based on two years of interviews, it weaves together the stories of nine Iraqi women during the U.S. invasion in 2003. In addition to Anton Chekhov’s Ivanov and a collection of shorter, lesser-known plays by Samuel Beckett, Teachout hopes this season will include Baggage From BaghDAD: Becoming My Father’s Daughter, Valerie David’s story of her father’s escape from Iraq during the 1941 Farhud pogrom. She’s currently casting a replacement for the performer of the one-person show.

Teachout recently spoke with Seven Days about Unadilla’s August offerings.

I’m sensing a theme. What’s behind this year’s plays about Iraq?

Good theater that engages recent history is really important, and for me, the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was an absolutely pivotal political moment. I was out on the Statehouse lawn in the snow protesting, and it’s one of the reasons I went to work for [governor] Howard Dean at the time. So I return to the Iraq War as a key moment that we need to understand as we move forward and bomb other places.

This year’s choice of plays happened pretty organically. I wanted to have a local Iraqi actor, Safiya Jamali, in a play about Iraqi women. Her parents have been journalists all over the Middle East, including Iraq. We also have Valerie David’s one-woman show, Baggage From BaghDAD. So these two different time periods in Iraq are windows to understanding more of Middle Eastern history.

How did you decide what shows to bring?

For Bill, it’s always been something you’re not likely to see elsewhere. This is the first professional staging of Nine Parts of Desire in Vermont. Getting directors who are really excited about plays is important, too. In New York City I met a woman who curates an annual Chekhov Day. She’s passionate about Ivanov because she says this play changed her life. I love Chekhov, but I’ve never seen Ivanov, so that’s a double win because I have an enthusiastic director, Laura Strausfeld, putting on a play that’s typically not put on outside of New York. Bill always says, “People don’t realize how funny Chekhov is.” As our society gets darker and weirder, people are getting into the dark humor of the stuck characters.

Is being Unadilla’s artistic director a long-term gig for you?

One year at a time. It is a challenge being based in New York. I won’t lie about that. And the Unadilla is still Bill and [his partner] Ann [O’Brien’s] theater.

Given where our country is right now, do you feel an added responsibility to choose plays whose messages are more timely and relevant?

I not only love theater, but I think theater is just the opposite of so much of what’s happening in our political life. The act of doing theater itself is a strange thing, to drive to a dark barn and watch people move around a small stage. One of the things theater does is give you a true capacity to imagine another life and another moment in time.

This interview was edited for clarity and length.

Ivanov by Anton Chekhov, directed by Laura Strausfeld, August 8-24: Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m., and Sundays, 2 p.m. Nine Parts of Desire by Heather Raffo, directed by Zephyr Teachout and Alana Rancourt, August 15-24: Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m., and Sundays, 2 p.m. Both at Unadilla Theatre in Marshfield. $30. unadilla.org

The original print version of this article was headlined “Zephyr Teachout Discusses Her New Role at Unadilla Theatre”