Falling through endless days at an office desk, the disillusioned, aptly named Mr. Mann wins tickets to see Anton Chekhov"s Three Sisters. By no means a theater-goer, Mann nevertheless attends the play and is soon transfixed by what he sees onstage—he recognizes in the sisters a yearning to escape their mundane, provincial lives. With Chekhov"s characters and themes coming to inhabit the man"s mind and life, And Slowly Beauty speaks eloquently to the power of art to transform lives.Michel Nadeau is an actor, director, and playwright who has long been active in Quebec arts and culture.Maureen Labonté is a dramaturge, translator, and teacher.