LIVE THEATRE AT HPAC
Award Winning Playwright’s “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea”
by John Conway
HURLEYVILLE, May 2022 — The Hurleyvile Performing Arts Centre has announced they will be hosting three live performances at the theatre from May 13 – 15, when River Rep Theatre presents the John Patrick Shanley play, “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea” in the ballroom there.
“We are expanding our theater offerings this year,” HPAC Executive Director Erin Dudley said. “With so much talent in the area, we have no doubt theater at HPAC will continue to grow.”
“Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” which the New York Daily News has called “a wrenching love story,” stars Sadie Isseks as Roberta and Charlie McElveen as Danny, and is directed by Christopher Peditto.
“Working with Christopher has been a pleasure,” Ms. Dudley said. “We are thrilled to have him in Hurleyville, and look forward to a wonderful reception for this inaugural performance with River Rep Theatre.”
The play was written by John Patrick Shanley, an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. His play “Doubt: A Parable,” won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play. He also won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his film Moonstruck.
Publicity for the show notes that “John Patrick Shanley’s classic play, is a heartbreaking and poignant love story, set in a rundown bar in the Bronx, where two of society’s rejects, Danny and Roberta, strike up a halting conversation over their beer. He is a brooding, self-loathing young man who resorts more to violence than reason; she is a divorced, guilt-ridden young woman whose troubled teenage son is now being cared for by her parents.
“Danny, whose fellow truck drivers call him “the Beast,” seems incapable of tender emotion, while Roberta, who is still haunted by the memory of an ugly incident involving her father, is distrustful of men in general. And yet, as their initial reserve begins to melt, and they decide to spend the night together, the possibility of a genuine and meaningful relationship begins to emerge.”
The Hurleyvile Performing Arts Centre is located at 219 Main Street in Hurleyville. Tickets for the show are $30 general admission and $20 for students. They can be purchased online at hurleyvilleartscentre.org. Performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 15.