"Chekhov Shorts," Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre

Photos courtesy of Mike Hardy. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a writer and a doctor. He said that "Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress." It makes perfect sense, then, that "Chekhov Shorts," directed by Diane Benedict for the Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre, should prove that laughter is the best medicine. It's a clever arrangement of three short stories. "The Bear" and "The Marriage Proposal" are sandwiched between "The Bet." The Bear" tells the story of recently widowed El...