Mikhail Baryshnikov wields his ‘chutzpah’ in a new Chekhov adaptation

Mikhail Baryshnikov spoke to chief arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown about his new show, “Man in a Case,” adapted from two Anton Chekhov short stories. Video shot by Victoria Fleischer and Rebecca Jacobson and edited by Victoria Fleischer.

As a schoolboy in the Soviet Union, Mikhail Baryshnikov grew up reading the works of celebrated Russian writer Anton Chekhov. A few of those short stories resonated with the legendary dancer. Chekov, Baryshnikov explained, “puts his characters in strange situations but at the same time very recognizable.”

Now 65, he is starring in “Man in a Case,” a play adapted from two Chekhov short stories by Paul Lazar and Annie-B Parson of Big Dance Theater, an experimental dance/theater company that uses multimedia. Video and audio are heavily featured in this latest work of avant-garde theater.

Tymberly Canale, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Aaron Mattocks perform in “Man in a Case.” For Baryshnikov, stage acting can be like dance. This show, he says, for example, is “tightly choreographed … it’s a body language.”

Of course, Baryshnikov is no stranger to the world of performance. He first stepped on a professional stage as a child, beginning a decades-long career, joining up along the way with the famed Kirov Ballet of St. Petersburg and George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet. He’s also had his fair share of roles on film and television, including 1977’s “Turning Point” and HBO’s “Sex and the City.” “Man in a Case” is his sixth theatrical production.

Baryshnikov calls his dance career an “accumulation of luggage, working with different dance forms, different choreographers, different partners.”

But acting is a different type of challenge. “Theater is much more of a heart-and-mind-related process,” he said.

In a conversation with chief arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown before a performance at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., Baryshnikov explained that, for him, theater is a more vulnerable experience.

“There’s no changing who you are, but you are trying to put yourself in the skin of a character and it affects your delivery of the text, your voice, your body language and this is extremely private … You have to have a bit of chutzpah.”

“Man in a Case,” directed and adapted by Paul Lazar and Annie-B Parson of Big Dance Theater, is playing at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. until Dec. 22. From there, the show continues its tour through May 18, stopping at the Berkeley Repertory, ArtsEmerson, Broad Stage, and MCA Chicago. Originally commissioned by Hartford Stage Company, the show is produced by Baryshnikov Productions in associate with ArKtype/Thomas O. Kriegsmann.

Back in 2007, chief arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown reported on Mikhail Baryshnikov’s arts center in New York City.

Colleen Shalby contributed to this report.