Marital unrest is the main course of Donald Margulies' Dinner With Friends, opening Off-Broadway Nov. 4 at the Variety Arts Theatre. Matthew Arkin, Lisa Emery, Kevin Kilner and Julie White, who sat down for the production's appetizer tryout in Stamford, CT, Oct. 12-17, continued their roles in New York City (previews began Oct. 22).
The author of Collected Stories has cooked up a serious comedy drama about a dissolving marriage and the disillusioned friends left behind. Daniel Sullivan (The Heidi Chronicles, I'm Not Rappaport) directs.
The rueful comedy about divorce and unsure friendships, was previously seen at Actors Theatre of Louisville and (in a revised form) South Coast Repertory Theatre.
The world premiere of the four-character, two-couple play (a pair of successful food writers, and an artist and a lawyer) was part of the 1998 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre in Kentucky. The revised version was staged by Sullivan at South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa, CA, in October 1998.
Designers are Neil Patel (set), Jess Goldstein (costumes), Rui Rita (lighting).
Actor Arkin appeared on Broadway in Laughter on the 23rd Floor and in Off-Broadway's You Should Be So Lucky. Emery has appeared in New York in Far East, Burn This, Curtains and Marvin's Room. Kilner starred in The Glass Menagerie opposite Julie Harris in New York. White appeared in Off-Broadway's The Family of Mann, Spike Heels, Lucky Stiff and more. She was Nadine on TV's "Grace Under Fire" for four years.
The Variety Arts Theatre is at 110 Third Ave. at 13th Street. Call (212) 239-6200 for ticket information.
-- By Kenneth Jones
