Matthew Arkin, Lisa Emery, Kevin Kilner and Julie White will play the partners in Donald Margulies' Dinner With Friends, his tale of a dissolving marriage and disillusioned friends, headed for Off-Broadway's Variety Arts Theatre.
Performances there begin Oct. 21, after an Oct. 12-17 tryout at Stamford's Center for the Arts (Palace Theatre) in Connecticut.
The rueful drama about divorce and the friendships left behind, was previously seen at Actors Theatre of Louisville and (in a revised form) South Coast Repertory Theatre.
Official opening, under Daniel Sullivan's direction, is Nov. 4. The four-character, two-couple play had its world premiere in 1998 as part of the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre in Kentucky. The revised version, staged by Daniel Sullivan, was produced by South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa, CA, in October 1998.
The producers are Mark Balsam, Mitchell Maxwell, Stanley Tulchin and Victoria Maxwell. Actor Matthew Arkin appeared on Broadway in Laughter on the 23rd Floor and in Off-Broadway's You Should Be So Lucky.
Lisa Emery has appeared in New York in Far East, Burn This, Curtains and Marvin's Room.
The play charts a marriage that hits the rocks, leaving friends thrashing in the surf to ask questions about their connections to the marrieds and each other.
Designers are Neil Patel (sets), Jess Goldstein (costumes) and Rui Rita (lighting).
The Variety Arts' previous tenant was the short-lived musical revue, A Good Swift Kick.
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Margulies told Playbill On-Line that Dinner With Friends will have its Paris premiere Sept. 20 at the Comedie des Champs-Elysees. The director is Michel Fagadau who directed the successful French premiere of Margulies' Collected Stories.
The playwright also confirmed that Collected Stories will be produced on London's West End in fall 1999. Helen Mirren will star, Howard Davies (The Iceman Cometh) will direct. A four-city tour precedes its opening at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, in November. It will be Margulies' West End debut.
-- By Kenneth Jones
