Peninsula Players Theatre is delighted to announce the case for its upcoming reading of “Do You Turn Somersaults?,” a charming love story by Aleksei Arbuzov, translated by Ariadne Nicolaeff. The performance is the second presentation of the theatre’s winter series, The Play’s the Thing. Artistic Director Linda Fortunato directs award-winning actors Cindy Gold and Greg Vinkler. Gold and Vinkler are cast to portray Lidya and Rodion, a patient and a doctor whose relationship unfolds at a sanitorium along the Baltic Coast. “Do You Turn Somersaults?” will be performed on Monday, March 3, at Björklunden’s Vail Hall (7590 Boynton Lane, Baileys Harbor) at 7:00 p.m. There is no admission fee, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 6:15 p.m. Donations are welcome.
What begins as a doctor-patient relationship develops into a romance when Rodion, a crusty widower, meets Lidya, who defies the sanitorium’s rules within the first days of her stay. Lidya has had a varied and unhappy life, but unlike Rodian, she has embraced life instead of hiding from it. Her exuberance and cheerful outlook could be what melts Rodian’s lonely heart.
Cindy Gold (“A Murder is Announced,” “Spider’s Web,” “Rain”) and Greg Vinkler (“Romance in D,” “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Butler”) have distinguished stage credits and have both been awarded the Joseph Jefferson Award for their performances in Chicago. Gold’s regional credits include “Showboat” and “Daughter of the Regiment” at The Kennedy Center and “The Music Man” at Glimmerglass Opera and performing internationally at the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman. Vinkler is familiar to Door County audiences, having directed or performed in 86 productions at Peninsula Players Theatre as well as serving as the theatre’s artistic director from 1993 to 2021. Vinkler’s credits include Broadway’s revival of the Tony Award-winning “West Side Story” and performing internationally at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Barbican Theatre in London, Vienna’s English Theatre and Singapore Rep.
“Do You Turn Somersaults?” made its Broadway debut in 1978 and marked the final Broadway appearance of acclaimed musical theatre actor Mary Martin, known for her Tony Award-winning performances in “South Pacific,” “Peter Pan” and “The Sound of Music.” The playwright of this romantic comedy, Arbuzov, was also an actor and director who began writing for the stage in the 1930s. “Do You Turn Somersaults?” was adapted into the Russian film “Old-Fashioned Comedy.” “The charm of his [Arbuzov’s] work lies in his shrewd but affectionate attitude to his fellow man; he sees through human foibles to the basic desire to lead a good and useful life and creates plausible, even likable, ‘positive’ characters,” wrote Avril Pyman, a British scholar and translator of Russian poetry, in “The Penguin Companion to Literature: European.”
The Play’s the Thing concludes on Monday, April 7, with the reading of “A Body of Water” by Lee Blessing. The Play’s the Thing is funded in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as generous grants from Friends of Door County Libraries, Green Bay Packers Foundation, The Shubert Foundation and operating funds of Peninsula Players Theatre.
Peninsula Players Theatre is America’s Oldest Professional Resident Summer Theatre. The Play’s the Thing is part of the theatre’s winter outreach programming, presenting professional play readings for the public. Learn more about Peninsula Players Theatre and its 2025 season at www.peninsulaplayers.com.