WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

What is “Nothing Sacred” about? Here’s how six resident theaters marketed the play to their subscribers:

Mark Taper Forum

LOS ANGELES

In this hilarious and irreverent social comedy, an irresistible young nihilist falls into the lap of a provincial gentry family and challenges its sanctity of tradition, established order, prevailing justice and conventional morality. Against the historical tapestry of mid-19th-Century Russia, a new liberalism threatens the old order, and frantically comic generational conflicts echo forward to the Revolution.

Northlight Theatre

EVANSTON, ILL.

Romantic, witty and impertinent, this modern adaptation of Turgenev’s 19th-Century classic explores a timeless dilemma; the conflict between young and old. Against a backdrop of a changing society, a son returns home from the university with his friend, a self-styled rebel. The family’s tranquility is upset--both comically and tragically--when the brazen new ideas of the sons challenge the politics and traditions of their fathers.

Hartford Stage Company

A satiric comedy of manners about the effect of a young revolutionary on the traditional values of a provincial Russian family in the mid-19th Century. An award-winning adaptation of Turgenev’s classic novel, “Fathers and Sons.”

Seattle Repertory Theatre

A young idealist’s revolutionary zeal arouses the ire of a pompous aristocrat in this spirited retelling of Ivan Turgenev’s classic novel, “Fathers and Sons.” A witty and insightful exploration of political and amorous passion, and the consequences that result.

American Conservatory Theatre SAN FRANCISCO

Based on “Fathers and Sons” by Ivan Turgenev . . . “Nothing Sacred” is a rich, robust comedy-drama of a generation in revolt against the complacency of its elders--a revolt seen in deeply human terms, set against a background of a Russia moving inexorably toward the revolution that changed the world.

Arena Stage

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Based on Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons,” this award-winning mordant comedy is tender, philosophical and savagely funny. Canadian playwright George Walker (“Filthy Rich”) demonstrates how Turgenev’s story of generational conflict is as true today as it was a century ago.