Director Christopher McElroen's cast includes Joseph Adams (Broadway's Come Back, Little Sheba), Laura Bonarrigo (Cassie on ABC's "One Life to Live"), Molly Ephraim (Broadway's Fiddler on the Roof, Into the Woods and the upcoming Bye Bye Birdie) and Lauren Currie Lewis (Off-Off-Broadway's The Crucible). Opening night is June 23.
Hungry Hill, Ltd., devoted to producing works about the impact of addiction and substance abuse, is producing the play, which is billed this way: "The fault lines are exposed when a seemingly picture-perfect Fifth Avenue family faces the harshest of realities — the death of their daughter. A father turns to work to drown his sorrow, while his wife drifts into a haze of pills and booze. When their surviving child Avril inexplicably drops out of her prestigious New England boarding school, her roommate Juliana arrives for a visit, determined to lure her back. Acting as a catalyst and witness, Juliana exposes the gaping cracks in the family's Upper East Side façade, forcing its three surviving members to engage with one another and the tragedy they share."
Carole Gaunt is the author of "Hungry Hill - A Memoir" (University of Massachusetts Press June 2007) and received the inaugural Anne Bancroft Memorial Memoir Writing award from the Stony Brook Southampton Writers Conference. Her book has been listed in the 2008 Association of American University Presses' "University Press Books Selected for Public and Secondary School Libraries." A graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute, she was an associate producer for the South African doo-wop musical, Kat and the Kings, which ran on Broadway for 180 performances. A former board member of the Alcoholism Council of New York, she often writes about the effects of parental addiction on the children in the family.
Director McElroen is co-founder and executive director of The Classical Theater of Harlem.
Hungry Hill, Ltd. is dedicated to "revealing the devastating effects of alcohol/substance abuse on its real victims, the family members left frantically trying to hold things together. It aims to educate through provocative works of literature and theatre." Dance of the Seven Headed Mouse has scenic design by Troy Hourie, costume design by Victoria Gaunt, lighting design by D.M. Wood, sound design by Daniel Erdberg and prop design by Morgan Eckert.
Performances will be Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM, with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM. There will be no 8 PM performance on July 4, with additional performances set for June 21 at 7 PM, June 22 at 7 PM and July 5 at 7 PM.
The Beckett at Theatre Row is located at 410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues); to purchase tickets, which are $46.25 (including the facility fee), visit TicketCentral.com or call (212) 279-4200.
