Hampton Theatre Company's 2015-16 Season to Continue with DEAD ACCOUNTS

"Dead Accounts," Theresa Rebeck's darkly comic take on the chasm that divides Americans in the Midwest from their countrymen living in New York, will be the second play of the Hampton Theatre Company's 2015-2016 season, opening on January 14 at the Quogue Community Hall and running through January 31.

New for this production, the HTC has scheduled an audience talkback with members of the cast and the director following the performance on January 21.

"Dead Accounts" tells the story of Jack Leonard, a native son of Cincinnati, Ohio, who returns unexpectedly after a brief career in high finance in New York, and his sister Lorna, who is now living at home and helping their mother, Barbara, take care of their ailing father. The homecoming is rendered more fraught by questions about what has become of Jack's wife and how he managed to become an overnight millionaire.

As much as the play examines the different values of the heartland and the East Coast, it is also very timely in its focus on the challenges of trying to live in the ever-widening gap between the middle class and the 1 percent.

Calling the 2012 Broadway production "an exceedingly interesting night at the theater" in which "the laughs don't stop," Terry Teachout described "Dead Accounts" in The Wall Street Journal as "a dead-serious comedy about what happens to people who, like Jack and Lorna, wake up one morning and realize that their lives haven't lived up to their dreams."

The cast of "Dead Accounts" features four Hampton Theatre Company veterans and one newcomer, Mary McGloin, in the role of Lorna. Playing Jack is John Carlin, who made his debut with the HTC last winter in "Time Stands Still." The siblings' mother, Barbara, is played by HTC Artistic Director Diana Marbury, last seen on the stage in last spring's "Hay Fever."

Rebecca Edana, last seen in Quogue in last season's "Clybourne Park," has the role of Jenny, Jack's wife. Peter Connolly, who appeared in the HTC's 2010 revival of "Bedroom Farce," plays Jack's high school friend Phil.

Theresa Rebeck-who was born in Kenwood, Ohio, and went to high school in Cincinnati-is a playwright, television writer and novelist. In addition to "Dead Accounts," New York productions of her plays include: "Seminar," "Mauritius," "The Understudy," "The Scene," "The Butterfly Collection," "The Family of Mann" and "Spike Heels," among others. Her play "Omnium Gatherum," co-written with Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2003.

For television, she has written for shows ranging from "Smash," which she created, to "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "L.A. Law," "Dream On" and "NYPD Blue," for which she won a Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award and a Writers Guild of America Award, along with other honors.

Andrew Botsford directs. Set design is by Peter-Tolin Baker; lighting design by Sebastian Paczynski; and costumes by Teresa Lebrun.

"Dead Accounts" runs at the Quogue Community Hall from January 14 through 31 with shows on Thursdays and Fridays at 7, Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 2:30. The performance on Thursday, January 21, will be followed by a talkback with members of the cast and the director.

The Hampton Theatre Company will again be offering special dinner and theater packages in collaboration with the Southampton, Westhampton Beach, Hampton Bays, and Quogue libraries. Information about the dinner and theater packages is available on the company website, www.hamptontheatre.org, or through the libraries.

To reserve tickets, visit www.hamptontheatre.org, or call OvationTix at 1-866-811-4111.

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