Don’t Dress For Dinner

ANDREW BOTSFORD (Bernard) has appeared in more than 45 Hampton Theatre Company productions since 1985, most recently as Actor A in last season’s production of Alan Ayckbourn’s Alarms and Excursions. Also a director, his most recent production was this season’s opener, Joe DiPietro’s Clever Little Lies. Other regional stage work includes Round Table Theatre Company’s production of Shakespeare’s Scottish Play and Tonight at 8:30 at Guild Hall’s John Drew Theater. The host of a summer film commentary program at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, he is also the co-host of the annual Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival in December in Sag Harbor. For his day job, Andrew is delighted to be working with the exceptional team in the MFA in Creative Writing and MFA in Film programs at the Stony Brook Southampton Graduate Arts campus. ROSEMARY CLINE (Jacqueline) last appeared with the HTC as Actor B in Alarms and Excursions. A founding member of the company, she has had leading roles in 30+ productions. She spent 15 years in NYC performing in theater, film and TV as well as 7 years in summer stock at Ivoryton, CT and and Bristol Valley Theatre, Naples NY. She has studied directing and acting at Stony Brook Southampton with Mercedes Ruehl, Joanna Merlin, Tony Walton and Rinde Eckert, among others, and is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at the Southampton campus. She is currently in her 10th year directing the plays and musicals at the WHB HS. Heaps of thanks to our amazing director, George, our beautiful cast and crew and all of those in our company who make the magic happen on our stage season after season. All love to Christopher, Cashew, Carter, June and Jane–with a wink to Mom and Dad. MATTHEW CONLON (Robert) was just seen at HTC in The Boys Next Door. Selected NYC: HB Playwrights: The Game of Love and Death (with Herbert Berghof); Freud’s Last Session (with Fritz Weaver) and The Chase; Sonnet Rep: The Tempest; EST: The Traveling Lady; La Mama: A Human Equation. Partial Regional: Penobscot: To Kill a Mockingbird; Bay Street: Men’s Lives; Cleveland Play House: The Importance of Being Earnest; O’Neill: Fuddy Meers; Stage West: Suddenly Last Summer (with Kim Hunter); Mendelssohn: Oedipus Rex. Recent Film: Sweet Lorraine; The Crimson Mask; The Man from the City. TV: Law and Order(s); One Life to Live. Thanks now and always to Julie. REBECCA EDANA (Suzanne) Rebecca happily returns to The Hampton Theatre Company. Most recently she appeared at the Southhampton Arts Center in The Vagina Monologues and with the Neo-Political Cowgirls in ZIMA! You might recognize Rebecca from past HTC productions such as An Act of the Imagination, November, Lost In Yonkers, Dead Accounts, and Clybourne Park. A SAG-AFTRA actor working in film and tv, she most recently worked on the web series Vicious Pride of Youth. She would like to thank her family for the love and support they show every day. AMANDA GRIEMSMANN (Suzette) Amanda is thrilled to return to the HTC stage following her appearances as Holly in An Act of the Imagination and Bec in 4000 Miles. She also was seen as Nina in Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike and Sheila Birling in An Inspector Calls. She has performed for several seasons in Manhattan with The Inwood Shakespeare Festival. She has also performed with The Lafayette Salon Series, a monthly reading series that meets at The Players Club. A special thanks to George for this opportunity! Lots of love to friends and family! SAM YARABEK (George) Sam is an actor and teacher who works in theater and film. His stage work includes productions in NYC, East Hampton, and Barcelona, Spain. His screen work has been selected for film festivals such as Slam Dance and the Newport Beach Film Festival. He teaches English and Philosophy at the Ross School in East Hampton, NY, and he is very glad to be joining the Hampton Theatre Company for the first time in their production of Don’t Dress for Dinner. MARC CAMOLETTI (Playwright) is perhaps best known for his signature hit, Boeing, Boeing. Camoletti (1923 – 2003) was born a French citizen in Geneva, Switzerland, though his family had Italian origins. His theatrical career began in 1958, when three of his plays were presented simultaneously in Paris; one of those plays, La Bonne Anna, ran for 1,300 performances and went on to play around the world. Boeing, Boeing ran for seven years in London in an English adaptation by Beverley Cross. The two central characters, Bernard and Robert, turn up again in principal roles in Don’t Dress for Dinner. Camoletti was awarded one of France’s highest honors, the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, and his plays have been performed in numerous languages in 55 countries. ROBIN HAWDON (Adaptation) is a British actor and playwright whose first major commercial success, The Mating Game, had a long run at London’s Apollo Theatre and subsequently played in more than 30 countries around the world. After running in London’s West End for six years, Hawdon’s adaptation of Don’t Dress for Dinner played all over the U.S., Australia, Canada and the English speaking world. GEORGE LOIZIDES (Director) has directed Bus Stop, Picnic, The Odd Couple (Female Version) and Lost In Yonkers for the Hampton Theatre Company and appeared with the company in Glengarry Glen Ross, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Bedroom Farce, Heroes and most recently Alarms and Excursions. He has acted and directed for Playcrafters Theatre Company in Bellport as well. George has been an actor and director for 50 years. For 27 years he was Director of Theatre Arts for Ward Melville High School where he directed 81 productions. He attended HB Studio in NYC where he studied acting and directing. Other directing credits include Private Lives, Our Town, The Laramie Project, West Side Story, A Chorus Line and several of Shakespeare’s plays, among others. Thanks to HTC for the opportunity to work with the A-team cast and crew. To the cast, “Thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks” for making me laugh. Thanks to the crew. Thanks to Diana. To Kathy, special thanks. SEAN MARBURY (Set Designer) has worked in textile design, built sets for TV series, commercials, and films and worked with the design, engineering and fabrication of race car components. He currently works on high end residential construction. His set designs for HTC include Deathtrap, Other People’s Money, Other Desert Cities, The Foreigner, Harvey, Time Stands Still, November, An Act of the Imagination, Alarms and Excursions, and Clever Little Lies. DIANA MARBURY (Set Decor/Rehearsal Stage Manager) Is delighted to be working alongside of her son, Sean,to give this delightful play its setting. Diana has dressed sets for the last 30 years and still finds it challenging. It would be impossible to do without the many people and businesses who have continuously lent props and furniture, making her job a pleasure. Last but not least, she thanks our audience for their never ending support and encouragement. TERESA LEBRUN (Costume Designer) is the resident costumer for HTC. She started helping with costumes in 1986 and has designed the costumes for all the company’s productions since 2005. Teresa also costumes for Center Moriches and Westhampton Beach High Schools. She is happy to be working with George again and this amazing cast. Much love to her boys, Josh and Noah, family and great friends. THOMAS DEANGELO (Stage Manger)’s stage manager credits include: The Boys Next Door, That Championship Season, Jacobs Marley’s Christmas Carol, Run for your Wife, On Golden Pond, Oklahoma!, Today I am a Fountain Pen, Inherit the Wind, Mass Appeal, Jake’s Women, Wrong Turn at Lungfish, A Funny…Forum, Cabaret, Greater Tuna, 12 Angry Men, Psycho Beach Party, An Enemy of the People, Our Town, I Oughta Be in Pictures. He also served as Production Assistant for the 1992 Easter show at Radio City Music Hall. JOSIAH ANDERSON (Lighting/Sound Tech) Josiah is a freelance artist and a student of digital art striving to be accepted to a film school to become a director and screenwriter. He was introduced to HTC as a stagehand for Alarms and Excursions and has since remained a member of the team for each show following and has transitioned into lighting and sound tech. JULIA MORGAN ABRAMS (House Manager). After retiring from the legal department of Bristol Myers Squibb, Julia began a second career as a volunteer, initially for Literacy Suffolk, HTC and the Southampton Animal Shelter, where she wrote grants and worked in fundraising. She continues to write grants and help with marketing for several local nonprofits. Julia would like to thank all of her dedicated House Assistants for their continued support.

The Hampton Theatre Company, in conjunction with our local libraries, offers special Dinner (& Lunch) and Theater Packages which offer wonderful events at terrific prices. There are three remaining packages (Rogers Memorial Library and Westhampton Free Library packages are SOLD OUT) available for DON’T DRESS FOR DINNER. The Hampton Bays Public Library is offering a dinner package on Friday, June 1. Dinner is at 1 North Steakhouse in Hampton Bays at 5 pm, followed by the show at 7 pm. The cost for the dinner (including tax and tip) and show is $60. To register, please call the Hampton Bays Library at 631-728-6241. The Quogue Library is offering a dinner package on Thursday, June 7. Dinner is at The Quogue Club at 5 pm, followed by the show at 7 pm. The cost for dinner (including tax and tip) and show is $70. To register, please call the Quogue Library at 631-653-4224 ext. 101. The Quogue Library package is available first to library members. If space is available, others may participate as well. The Hampton Theatre Company is offering a lunch and theater package in conjunction with the Saturday matinee on Saturday, June 9. Lunch is at The Quogue Club at the Hallock House in Quogue at 12:30 pm, followed by the show at 2:30 pm. The cost for lunch (including tax and tip) and show is $60. To reserve, please send your check, for $60 per person, to Hampton Theatre Company, PO Box 400, Quogue, NY 11959. Please include your name, address, phone number and email address so that we may email you your tickets. Please reference “June 9 lunch/theater event.” Reservations and payment required by June 5.

Hamptons Theater Review: Hampton Theatre Company’s “Don’t Dress For Dinner”

By T.J. Clemente
Hamptons.com The Hampton Theatre Company successfully opened their 33rd Summer Season by presenting Marc Camoletti’s Don’t Dress For Dinner, adapted by Robin Hawdon at the Quogue Community Center. The show received thunderous applause on opening night along with timely laughter. The show is a high-energy precision comedy. This production of Don’t Dress For Dinner is absolutely what local theater is totally about – a great live show that gives you the highest level of entertainment. Don’t Dress For Dinner, is a show to see, whether with a date, a friend or by oneself. I was glued to every twist and turn in this two act two-hour show. I found myself applauding the many line exchanges that dazzled me.

Director George A. Loizides had his cast finely tuned with amazing timing as the show produced laugh line after laugh line that coincided with precision comedic acting, line spacing and movement. Not once did I miss the essence of anyone’s lines.

I always believe that within every show there is a performance that is the glue to the show. In this show the whole cast was super, each having multiple shining moments with scene stealing lines, facial expressions along with comedic movements. However, I choose to start with the performance of Andrew Botsford as Bernard, whose country home, some distance from Paris around 1992, is where this play takes place.

Botsford’s performance as Bernard is the magic glue that holds everything together on opening night as the story bends, snaps double back and charges forward. Botsford’s performance made an unbelievably complicated chain of events glide forward with ease. His stage presence and his talented skills glowed under the lights. His performance alone is worth the price of the ticket, but there is more!

Also putting in an amazingly high energy and convincing performance is Matthew Conlon who plays, Robert, Bernard’s long time friend who is also Bernard’s wife’s lover. Conlon’s comedic acting skill shines like a harvest moon throughout the whole show. Again his performance too is also worth the price of the ticket.

The three women roles in this play are each challenging parts. Rosemary Cline who portrays Jacqueline, Bernard’s wife, is a gifted actor who when in control of the scene owns the stage. She has a very nice talent and playing Jacqueline enabled her to show it off and make it sparkle. Cline’s timing is superb, her verbal spacing of her words is as good as it gets, and quite frankly she was flawless.

Amanda Griemsmann plays Suzette, the cook. Griemsmann won over the opening night audience showing the amazing versatility that her part demanded. She totally delivered, because her lines were important in setting up the foundation of the plot that builds a certain mettle within her character as the play proceeds. Her comedic routine throughout the play adds laughs and fun to the show. Kudos to Amanda!

Rebecca Edana provided just the right amount of sizzle to the part of Suzanne, Bernard’s mistress. Edana powered through with her versatility, especially in her physical comedic acting. She was able to conjure up laughs seemingly at will. She showed a great understanding of her role, obviously because she understood the nuances of her every line. One could tell she did great preparation reading the script because her nuances threaded the needle of the complicated script like a fine needle with a very fine thread. Her poise and successful portrayal of Suzanne was very important to the show. I totally enjoyed her performance.

Lastly, Sam Yarabek play’s George, Suzette’s husband. Although he only appears briefly towards the very end of Act II, Sam gets some laughs and does get to steal a scene with his convincing jealous husband interpretation of his part.

There can be no minimizing Loizides’ influence on this show. He was able to collect the talents of his cast and wonderfully create an energy flow using the great dialogue of the playwright Marc Camoletti as adapted by Robin Hawdon. The alliterations and puns within the script are keenly special, but more so because Loizides was able to isolate those moments so that the phrases were clearly heard with the correct pauses and impeccable timing.

Always accolades to Sean Marbury for his set design and construction.

Don’t miss this opportunity to see this show! This production of Don’t Dress for Dinner is a winner and only runs until Sunday, June 10. Shows will take place on Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. On closing weekend, there will be an additional matinee performance on Saturday, June 9.

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Madcap Mania Caps Off HTC Season

By Beth Young
East End Beacon It’s a rare joy to be able to sit back in a local theater and laugh your heart out at the foibles up on stage, but if such an evening is the medicine you need in your life (and it is for most of us), don’t hesitate to book your tickets to the Hampton Theatre Company in Quogue in the next two weeks to see their new production of Marc Camoletti’s “Don’t Dress for Dinner,” playing through June 10.

“Don’t Dress for Dinner,” which had its English debut in the West End in 1991, is a much later play that Camolett’s 1962 classic “Boeing, Boeing,” but it brings back the two main characters from that play, Bernard and Robert, and puts them through another hell of their own making — with infidelities and alibis piling up in a fast-paced evening of deepening absurdity.

Bernard (Andrew Botsford) has planned to cook up a weekend with his mistress Suzanne (Rebecca Edana) while his wife Jacqueline (Rosemary Cline), is off visiting her mother, and he’s invited his best man, Robert (Matthew Conlon) over for the weekend, to help him perfect his alibi.

The first problem is that Robert doesn’t know he’s Bernard’s alibi.

But that’s hardly the only problem. Unbeknownst to Bernard, Jacqueline is having an affair with Robert, and when she gets tipped off that he’s coming for the weekend, she cancels the trip to her mother’s in the hopes of arranging a secret tryst with her own lover.

Bernard twists Robert’s arm to try to salvage the weekend by getting his best man to pretend for Jacqueline’s sake that Suzanne is his own lover, a facade that Robert can’t refuse without giving away his own secret dalliance to Bernard.

When the Cordon Bleu chef Bernard has arranged to cook for the weekend, Suzette (Amanda Griemsmann), shows up before Suzanne (they are both called Suzy for short), things rapidly spiral out of control.

This is a fine cast comprised mostly of HTC veterans, whose comedic timing and quick wits make for a tight, action-packed evening of theater, under the fine direction of George Loizides, who last directed HTC’s tender and heartfelt 2016 production of Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers.”

Amanda Griemsmann as the cook, Suzette, is a particular delight, sharp-witted and acerbic in her commentary and her willingness to take advantage of the situation she’s fallen into.

HTC newcomer Sam Yarabek, who plays Suzette’s insanely jealous husband, George, doesn’t appear on stage until well into the second act, but he steals the show when he comes to pick up his wife, wearing a chef’s coat stained with what is likely the detritus of a night of cooking, but could just as easily have been blood.

There’s not a moment out-of-place in this seamless production, with a crew comprised of HTC veterans as well — with set design and decor by Sean and Diana Marbury, respectively; lighting design by Sebastian Paczynski and sound design by Seamus Naughton. Ms. Marbury served as rehearsal stage manager and Thomas DeAngelo as production stage manager.

The costumes in this production, designed by Teresa LeBrun, really take the cake. That’s a good thing, because with all the food that gets thrown or dropped on the actors in this play, particularly Mr. Botsford, they go through a lot of clothes.

“Don’t Dress For Dinner” continues through June 10 on Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. An additional 2:30 p.m. matinee performance will be held on Saturday, June 9 at 2:30 p.m., in addition to the 8 p.m. show that evening.

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Hilarious Hijinks At HTC

The Independent
By Bridget LeRoy
One of the best things you can say about an evening at the theater is that you couldn’t hear all the dialogue because the audience’s laughter drowned out the words.

“I’m going to have to see this again,” said one happy theater-goer, still chuckling and wiping tears from his eyes, during intermission on opening night of Don’t Dress for Dinner at Quogue’s Hampton Theatre Company.

Playwright Marc Camoletti is better-known for his Coffee, Tea, or Me-style classic French farce Boeing-Boeing, set in the swinging ‘60s, and Don’t Dress for Dinner continues in the same vein, albeit some years later, and features two of the same characters — Bernard and Robert — who apparently haven’t learned much over the past two decades or so.

Camoletti’s original Pyjama Pour Six was masterfully rewritten by British actor and playwright Robin Hawdon, who interjected a bit of fast-paced “Fawlty Towers” British humor and awkwardness into the already turbo-charged script.

Don’t Dress for Dinner is set on an evening in the French countryside, where Bernard is packing his wife off to see her mother, while arranging for his mistress, a Parisian model named Suzanne, or Suzy, and his best friend Robert, as a “beard,” to visit for the weekend. He has also hired a Cordon Bleu chef to cook for them named — wait for it — Suzette, also known as Suzy.

But when Bernard’s wife, Jacqueline, hears that Robert — her secret lover — is coming for the weekend, she changes her plans and decides to stay, leaving Bernard scrambling to pile lie upon uproarious lie, bringing Robert, Suzanne, and Suzette along for the ride.

Two Suzies? Two affairs? Which lie has been told to whom? You might lose track, but with the sidesplitting chops of HTC veterans Andrew Botsford as the scheming Bernard and Matthew Conlon as the befuddled Robert, you won’t really care. It’s all fun when these two go at each other, either with words, or, in several scenes, with fists and phone wires.

And it’s really okay, you see, to have mistresses and lovers and lie to your partner — because it’s set in France.

Rosemary Cline gets to portray Jacqueline, the wronged wife who is also enmeshed in her own peccadillo, with grace, style, and humor. Rebecca Edana is Bernard’s chic, mink-lined Suzanne, who has to pretend she is the chef, and of course, can’t cook worth a lick. And newcomer Sam Yarabek gets a fun turn as a psychopathic visitor during the evening’s delightful denouement.

But it is Amanda Griemsmann as the chef, Suzette, convinced to take the part of Robert’s mistress, who is the real star of this strong ensemble production. Playing the cynical French domestic who doesn’t seem to be a bit surprised at anything these crazy rich people cook up, Griemsmann provides the perfect foil for the sharp-witted shenanigans of the upper set. George Loizides, an HTC regular, directs the hilarious hijinks with a deft hand.

If you are seeking subtle nuance and underplayed innuendo, this is not the production for you. But if you are looking for a bawdy, mile-a-minute French farce full of silliness and confusion, go see Don’t Dress for Dinner at Hampton Theatre Company, 125 Jessup Avenue, through June 10.

FROM SUNRISE HIGHWAY (ROUTE-27):
Sunrise Highway (Route 27) to exit 64S (Rte. 104 to Quogue). Rte. 104 South (approx. 3 miles) to Montauk Highway (Rte. 80). Right onto Montauk Highway to light at Otis Ford (1 mile). Left onto Jessup Avenue. 1/2 mile to theater (on right). FROM MONTAUK HIGHWAY (ROUTE-80):
Montauk Highway to light at Otis Ford in Quogue. South onto Jessup Avenue. 1/2 mile to theater (on right).

PARKING: There is limited street parking around the theater as well as a parking lot that can be entered just north of the Quogue Community Hall. WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: The theater is wheelchair accessible through the side entrance. If a member of your party needs wheelchair access, please come to front entrance and ask the person taking tickets to open the side door. If a member of your party requires a wheelchair in the theater, please reserve one seat at the end of a row. ASSISTED LISTENING DEVICES: The theater does not have assisted listening devices at this time.