{"id":1539,"date":"2015-08-14T18:31:30","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T18:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hamptontheatre.org\/?page_id=1539"},"modified":"2017-10-16T20:26:19","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T20:26:19","slug":"desperate-affection","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hamptontheatre.org\/?page_id=1539","title":{"rendered":"Desperate Affection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

GENERAL INFO<\/a><\/p>\n

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\r\n\"hampton<\/a>\r\n
by Bruce Graham\r\ndirected by Bob Kaplan<\/h6>\r\n
November 12 – November 21, 2010<\/h6>\r\nA black comedy about a young actress who may or may not\r\nhave chosen the correct “Mr. Right.”\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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\r\nCAST:<\/strong>\r\nMaddie – REBECCA EDANA\r\nRichard – EDWARD KASSAR\r\n<\/div>
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WHO'S WHO<\/a><\/p>\n

\n \t\r\nREBECCA EDANA<\/strong> (Maddie) made her Hampton Theatre Com-pany debut as Jan in last spring\u2019s production of BEDROOM FARCE and appeared most recently on the East End as Fraulein Kost in Center Stage\u2019s CABARET. She has been in numerous independent films including, most recently, Greetings From Bushwick, as well as theater productions and improv troupes. Her favorite shows include TALK RADIO, HAPPY HOUR and SWEET CHARITY. Rebecca is a graduate of UC Irvine\u2019s acting program and currently studies at T. Schreiber Studio in NYC. She would like to thank her family for their tireless support and endless encouragement.\r\n\r\nEDWARD KASSAR<\/strong> (Richard) played Mike Talman in the HTC\u2019s production of WAIT UNTIL DARK as well as Ricky Roma in GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, Mike in BREAKING LEGS, Lennie in OF MICE AND MEN, and Limping Man in FUDDY MEERS. Other theatrical credits include THE ZOO STORY, ART, MISERY, HURLYBURLY, GOOSE AND TOMTOM, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, SAME TIME NEXT YEAR, I HATE HAMLET, BURIED CHILD, NOT ABOUT NIGHTINGALES, THE NERD, JOE TURNER\u2019S COME AND GONE, THE BALCONY and LA RONDE. Film credits include Unlikely Prophets, Dying for Dollars, Overdrive, Mook, Sushi Bar, Mulligan Farm, Down Clown, Nine Out of Ten, If I Only Knew and Scallop Pond. Thanks to Mom, Dad, Cara, family and friends for their support.\r\n\r\nBRUCE GRAHAM<\/strong> (Playwright)\u2019s plays include ACCORDING TO GOLDMAN, BELMONT AVENUE SOCIAL CLUB, BURKIE, THE CHAMPAGNE CHARLIE STAKES, COYOTE ON A FENCE, MINOR DEMONS, EARLY ONE EVENING AT THE RAINBOW BAR AND GRILL and MOON OVER THE BREWERY. His TV and film credits include Dunston Checks In, Anastasia, and the Abbie Hoffman biopic Steal This Movie, as well as the Ira Einhorn mini-series Hunt for the Unicorn. Graham has won several awards from the Pew Foundation, the Theater Association of Pennsylvania, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Princess Grace Foundation.\r\n\r\nBOB KAPLAN<\/strong> (Director) enjoys acting and directing. Each presents different challenges; both are invigorating and humbling. He has directed MAURITIUS, GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS and WAIT UNTIL DARK for the HTC, as well as SYLVIA, FOREVER PLAID, PLAZA SUITE, SOCIAL SECURITY and MAN OF LA MANCHA. He has acted in THE PRICE and SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION (here at HTC), EARLY ONE EVENING AT THE RAINBOW BAR AND GRILL (another Bruce Graham play), I HATE HAMLET, LAUGHTER ON THE 23RD FLOOR and THE HEIDI CHRONICLES. He also works with the Teeny Awards, a program that supports high school theater by presenting awards each year to deserving students. Thanks to his son Seth and his wife Betsy for being his most insightful critics and for continuing to understand his need to be involved in theater.\r\n\r\nSEBASTIAN PACZYNSKI<\/strong> (Lighting Designer) first worked with the Hampton Theatre Company when he designed the company\u2019s 2003 production of SUMMER AND SMOKE at Guild Hall and has designed all the company\u2019s productions since PROOF in 2004 as well as the theater\u2019s new lighting system. He has designed lighting for theater, dance and special events in a number of Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway and regional venues. He has also worked in film and television as the director of photography. He has designed numerous productions for Guild Hall and for the Hamptons Shakespeare Festival.\r\n\r\nKATHY ILACQUA<\/strong> (Set Design). It has been a joy and a privilege to have participated at HTC over the past few years. To be able to work with people who have such a high level of professionalism and talent is inspiring. As a self taught artist, I seek opportunity to grow and develop, and therefore look forward to contributing to the vision of HTC in the years to come. Thanks to Bob Kaplan who introduced me to the world of theater and always to my husband Tony whose support and belief in my talent gives me courage.\r\n\r\nTERESA LEBRUN<\/strong> (Costume Designer) is the resident costumer for the Hampton Theatre Company and has designed costumes for all the company\u2019s recent productions. Teresa has also costumed for Spindletop Productions at Guild Hall. Much love to her boys Josh and Noah.\r\n\r\nJEAN PLITT<\/strong> (Stage Manager). It is a pleasure to work with the talented people who perform or are involved in the production of each show presented by the Hampton Theatre Company. From auditions to opening night, the process of bringing the \u201cpage to the stage\u201d requires the creative energies of all involved, and I am very happy to be part of it. Congratulations to the cast and crew of DESPERATE AFFECTION!\r\n\r\nROB DOWLING<\/strong> (Lighting & Sound Technician) has done lighting and sound for 19 years at the North Fork Community Theater, Vail-Leavitt Music Hall, Producer\u2019s Club (NYC), the Loft Theater at Dowling College and the Southampton Cultural Center. He has also helped Sebastian with lighting set up at Guild Hall, the Ross School, and other local venues. \u201cMany thanks, Sebastian!\u201d This is Rob\u2019s fifth season with the Hampton Theatre Company. He is very happy to be part of the show and the company.\r\n\n <\/div>\n

PRODUCTION STAFF<\/a><\/p>\n

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\r\nDirector – BOB KAPLAN\r\nSet Design – KATHLEEN ILACQUA\r\nLighting Design – SEBASTIAN PACZYNSKI\r\nCostume Design – TERESA LEBRUN\r\nStage Manager – JEAN PLITT\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n
\r\nSet Construction – JAMES EWING, SEAN MARBURY, JIM ILACQUA, TONY ILACQUA,\r\nBOB KAPLAN, SEAN KAPLAN, VINCENT RASULO, DOMENIC SARACENO\r\nSet Painting – PAT TONER, TONER PAINTING\r\nLighting & Sound Tech – ROB DOWLING\r\nSound Design – BOB KAPLAN\r\nProduction Graphics – JOE PALLISTER<\/a>\r\nProgram, Publicity & Box Office – SARAH HUNNEWELL\r\nHouse Manager – JULIA MORGAN ABRAMS\r\nAdvertising Sales – SARAH HUNNEWELL\r\nProduction Photographer – TOM KOCHIE\r\nOpening Night Party – NEW MOON CAF\u00c9\r\n\r\n<\/div>
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REVIEWS<\/a><\/p>\n

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‘DESPERATE AFFECTION’ IS FROTHY FUN<\/h3>\r\nby Lee Davis\r\nSouthampton Press<\/strong>\r\n\r\nBruce Graham\u2019s \u201cDesperate Affection,\u201d the current production of the Hampton Theatre Company in Quogue, has the texture of a paperback adventure novel customarily picked up in an airline terminal, read on the flight, then left behind to be instantly forgotten.\r\n\r\nThis doesn\u2019t mean that this very, very black comedy doesn\u2019t hold an audience\u2019s interest or contain some absorbing, even touching moments between its two barely believable characters. Nor does it mean that the play is not being given an excellent production, with strong acting, directing and production qualities. The bottom line is that if you like trashy stories well done, get over to the Quogue Community Hall and wrap yourself in its undeniable blandishments.\r\n\r\nSince surprise is an important element in \u201cDesperate Affection,\u201d I\u2019ll not be the spoiler to reveal the plot, except to say that it has an abundant sprinkling of moments of suspense, cruelty, romance and fun. It\u2019s about two lovers: Maddie, a likeably wacky young actress who specializes in home appliance commercials, and Richard, a man she\u2019s recently met and fallen in love with. He\u2019s the opposite of her in neatness and organization, doesn\u2019t talk much about himself and has a few odd ways of doing things, so she has some reservations. But good sex has a habit of erasing her suspicions.\r\n\r\nAs Maddie, Rebecca Edana manages to transition from goofiness to adorableness with a naturalness that\u2019s both warming and winning. It\u2019s impossible not to side with her in her wild swings of zaniness, sweetness and ultimate vulnerability. Altogether, it\u2019s a nicely controlled, always human and thoroughly credible portrayal.\r\n\r\nAnd Edward Kassar, dimming down and neatly controlling his sometime tendency toward bone-rattling bluster, creates a curious yet appealing character as Richard, the man of mystery who has taken over Maddie\u2019s heart and apartment. Always thoughtful, understanding of her sometimes screwy behavior, and obviously in love with her, he sustains this veneer even when, as the play progresses and revelations occur, it cracks like the local macadam during an earthquake.\r\n\r\nThe relationship between the two is real and reasonable and naturally expressed, thanks to the skill of the actors and the forward and inward movement of Bob Kaplan\u2019s concise, unobtrusive, mood-sustaining and intelligent direction.\r\n\r\nKathleen Ilacqua\u2019s set, poised somewhere between a black box and cluttered reality, is useful and effective. As usual, Sebastian Paczynski\u2019s lighting design and Teresa LeBrun\u2019s costume design are stories all in themselves, and constantly enhance the on-stage proceedings.\r\n\r\nIn the end, \u201cDesperate Affection\u201d will do nothing to feed your mind, soul or your memory. But it\u2019s good, suspenseful, happy and sometimes dark and guilty fun.\r\n\r\nThe Hampton Theatre Company production of \u201cDesperate Affection\u201d continues at the Quogue Community Hall on Friday and Saturday, November 19 and 20, at 8 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday, November 20 and November 21, at 2:30 p.m. Tickets range from $5 to $15. The box office number is 653-8955.\r\n

DESPERATE TO KEEP MR. RIGHT IN ‘DESPERATE AFFECTION’<\/h3>\r\nby Steve Parks<\/strong>\r\n\r\n‘To be honest, I wish you were in another line of work.” Bruce Graham’s romantic-comedy-thriller “Desperate Affection” brims with such understatement. But as directed by Bob Kaplan for the Hampton Theatre Company, each one crackles farcically. Of course, you had to be there to get the joke. Here’s what we can say without triggering spoiler alerts.\r\n\r\nMaddie is a single, not terribly successful actress. She’d love to do Shakespeare. Instead she plays a housewife in bathroom-cleanser commercials, dancing around a toilet. It pays the rent. Her apartment, rendered in all its messy Manhattan glory by set designer Kathleen Ilacqua, becomes a running sight gag.\r\n\r\nThe other character is Richard, the boyfriend – a strong, silent type. Maddie, with her checkered romantic past, isn’t anxious to rock the boat. Still, she’d like to show him off to her friends. Maybe he’d be her date to the gay wedding of her ex-boyfriend.\r\n\r\nMaddie explains to Richard that her love life always crashes once she sleeps with a guy. She and Richard recently crossed that threshold. So she’s waiting for the “other” Richard to show his face. She says the men in her life all revealed a “post-orgasm” side to their character. Something “big” – such as sexual preference for men – disqualifies them once they feel comfortable with Maddie – that is, once they’ve been intimate.\r\n\r\nMaddie, played with self-deprecating wit and outgoing vulnerability by Rebecca Edana, resorts to tricks to keep Richard happy. She tarts up with fire-engine-red lingerie and stiletto heels that kill her feet (costume design, Teresa Lebrun). She buys bakery cookies and heats them in the oven to make him think she bakes.\r\n\r\nEdward Kassar cuts a tall, brooding, not-so-cuddly figure as Richard. It’s typical that a manly type doesn’t talk much about himself. We learn, along with Maddie, why he’s chosen her, and more particularly, her apartment. Suddenly he’s Mr. Clean, scrubbing everything in sight. But that’s not his line of work. And tying her up? It may or may not be a fetish. All we can say is that teddy bears unnerve him.\r\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\r\n\r\nGallery images by Tom Kochie\r\n\r\n\n\t\t