HTC Tackles “Clever Little Lies”
“Clever Little Lies”—an adult comedy by Joe DiPietro about love and marriage, in and outside the bonds of matrimony—will be the first play of the Hampton Theatre Company’s 2017-2018 season, opening on October 26 at the Quogue Community Hall and running through November 12.
Sensing from her husband that something is wrong in their son’s marriage, Alice invites the young couple over for a cocktails and cheesecake interrogation. As one set of lies threatens to unravel a relationship in this dramatic comedy about falsehoods and infidelity, Alice offers an object lesson by spinning a new web of fanciful deceit about her own marriage. Or is she telling the truth?
Characterized as both “shattering and hilarious,” the play was described by The New York Times as “good old-fashioned comfort food for theatergoers … a blend of comedy and sentiment, with maybe just a hint of a sting.”
The cast of “Clever Little Lies” features four Hampton Theatre Company veterans—Ed Brennan, Carolann DiPirro, Terrance Fiore, and Diana Marbury.
The family matriarch, Alice, is played by HTC Artistic Director Diana Marbury, last seen on the HTC stage in “4,000 Miles” last winter. Terrance Fiore, last on stage in Quogue in “Other People’s Money” in 2013, has the role of Alice’s husband, Bill Sr.
Ed Brennan, last on stage in Quogue as Inspector Goole in “An Inspector Calls” in 2015, has the role of the couple’s son, Billy. His wife, Jane, is played by Carolann DiPirro, who played Anne Frank in the very first production of the company in 1985.More recently on the East End, she played Goodwife Doolittle in the 2016 Literature Live production of “The Scarlet Letter” at Bay Street Theater.
Although he won the Tony Award for Best Book for a Musical in 2010 for “Memphis,” American playwright, lyricist and author Joe DiPietro is perhaps best known for writing the book and lyrics for the long-running Off-Broadway show “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” which opened in 1996 and ran for 12 years Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre. His 1998 comedy ”Over the River and Through the Woods” played the John Houseman Theatre for 800 performances over two years.
HTC board president Andrew Botsford directs. Set design is by Sean Marbury; lighting design by Sebastian Paczynski; and costumes by Teresa Lebrun.
Following its successful introduction last year, an additional Saturday matinee performance will be offered on the final weekend of the production, on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 2:30 p.m. HTC and the Quogue Club at the Hallock House are offering a lunch and theater package for the additional matinee.
“Clever Little Lies” runs at the Quogue Community Hall from October 26 to November 12 with shows on Thursdays and Fridays at 7, Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 2:30, with the additional matinee on November 11.
Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for seniors 65 and up (excluding Saturday evenings), $20 for young adults under 35, $10 for students under 21 and $20 for theater industry members and veterans.
To purchase tickets, visit www.hamptontheatre.org, or call OvationTix at 1.866.811.4111.
