Chatham Playhouse’s Play Reading Series Presents McNally’s “Love! Valor! Compassion!” - ONE NIGHT ONLY
The Chatham Community Players is excited to present Terrance McNally, “Love! Valor! Compassion!” as a part of their successful Play Reading Series. One Night ONLY – Sunday, June 5, 2016 at 7:00 at the Chatham Playhouse, 23 North Passaic Avenue, in Chatham. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door. Amy Shera directs.
At a beautiful Dutchess County farmhouse, 8 men hash out their passions, resentments and fears over the course of three summer weekends. There's Perry & Arthur (a professional couple grown too familiar with one another, but happily so). The owner of the summer house, Gregory, in an aging choreographer who dotes on his younger lover, Bobby, who is blind. Their relationship seems solid, until an irresistible dancer, Ramon, callously flaunts his sex appeal and manages to seduce Bobby on the first night in the house. Trying to keep Ramon to himself is John, a soured ex-patriot Brit with a fast for melodrama- and cruelty. John rankles everyone around him, speaking the unspeakable in haughty nonchalance while probing the weakness of the others. The painful truth about his ire eventually becomes clear when he has to take care of his terminally ill twin brother, James. Unlike John, James inspires nothing but affection in those around him, and here lies both the crux of John's complaint and the source of the play's most blistering and revealing of monologues about the related questions of gay identity and self-esteem. Finally, there is Buzz, a maniacal lover of the musical theater. Like James, Buzz suffers from AIDS, and he has resigned himself to a life of humorous anecdotes and comforting trivial. Strange things can happen, through, and against all odds, Buzz finds himself falling in love for what may be one last summer.
The Cast:
Dale Monroe as Gregory Mitchell
Scott Tyler as Arthur Pape
Jeffrey Fiorello as Perry Sellars
Shane Jared as Ramon Fornos
Gus Ibranyi as John & James Jeckyll
Salvatore Navarro as Buzz Hauser
Adrian Rifat as Bobby Brams
Light snacks provided, patrons are encouraged to BYOB
Funding has been made possible in part by the Arts Council of the Morris Area through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.