Looking for a cure for the winter blues? Need a break from gray afternoons, bitter temperatures, cataclysmic nor’easters? From now until March 19, you can try Guild Hall’s production of “A Steady Rain,” a play about two police officers who morally collapse after inadvertently allowing a teenage boy to fall into the hands of a human cannibal.  

No, really, it will help. I swear.

“A Steady Rain,” a 2007 play by Keith Huff, is a tour de force for male actors. It features just two characters, Joey and Denny, Chicago policemen who have been friends since childhood. Though they work as partners, their lives couldn’t be more different. 

Joey is Irish, unmarried, and maintains a strong sense of decorum. Hoping to make detective, he follows police procedure to a T (he says “effing” for example, in place of its saltier alternative). Loneliness and the miseries of policing have taken their toll on him, however, and after a bout with alcoholism, he has become the nightly dinner guest of his friend Denny, who is trying to normalize Joey’s life and keep him off the bottle.

Denny is a rough-hewn Italian, violent, foul-mouthed, and not averse to taking kickbacks from prostitutes or selling drugs taken from dealers during busts. Denny’s nihilistic take on policing owes something to Harvey Keitel’s “Bad Lieutenant,” and he boasts a dog-eat-dog philosophy of Chicago street life that echoes the work of Frederic Nietzsche. This is not apparent at the beginning, where Denny presents himself as an affable family man who’s trying to get Joey to settle down (later, the irony of this will become tragically apparent). Denny even brags about his being a “Nielsen family” — that is, a family chosen to have its TV-viewing monitored for ratings. But Denny’s home life is a facade, and by the end of the play he will be cavorting with prostitutes and using opium.

Denny is portrayed by the actor Edward Kassar. Some may have seen Mr. Kassar in last year’s Hamptons Theatre Company production of “Lost in Yonkers,” where he charmed as the amiable gangster Uncle Louie. Here, he is asked to do something much darker, and he’s more than up to the task. He seems perfectly at ease in the skin of Denny, who speaks in a working-class Italian accent and peppers his dialogue with schoolyard vulgarities and racial slurs. Is Denny really a racist, or is he just spiritually worn down by policing in a city besieged by drugs and violence? The play doesn’t judge, and Mr. Kassar is so likeable in the part that we’re almost ready to forgive his appalling transgressions.

And Joe Pallister, who plays Joey, once again displays an actor’s rare gift for gravitas. Terrific as George in last year’s local production “Of Mice and Men,” Mr. Pallister lends Joey a quiet dignity that is a perfect foil to the verbose and colorful Denny. 

Denny’s is the showier role, and in the play’s first half, Joey comes off as a kind of misanthropic tight-ass, a monk who seems absent of humor and basic sexuality. Then, slowly and quietly, Mr. Pallister transforms the character into something much more human, allowing us to understand Joey even as he moves in on Denny’s wife and family. This actor’s solid presence always seems to ground whatever production he is in, and this performance is no exception. 

  The conceit of “A Steady Rain” is that very little is dramatized; the play is essentially two dueling monologues where each character tells his version of the story in past tense, only occasionally interacting to dramatize the tale.  It’s as if the characters are in a courtroom, pleading their case to a jury they hope will exonerate, or at least forgive, them.

The intimate staging allows the actors to make direct eye contact with the audience. Occasionally an actor will even take an empty seat in the crowd, appealing point-blank to the theatergoer next to him. This lends the play a visceral intimacy. In the performance I attended, some in the audience were actually nodding along as the actors confronted them.

But make no mistake, the aptly titled “A Steady Rain” is bleak stuff.  This is a drama that starts off gray and heads directly for midnight. By the end, the story will have covered infidelity, drug abuse, infanticide, and yes, cannibalism. Denny’s moral disintegration is like something out of Aeschylus, and those theatergoers looking for redemption and uplift will instead leave shaken and disturbed.

But also exhilarated. To hear two men speak so honestly (most of the time) about their mistakes, and to have this executed by such sterling performers as Mr. Kassar and Mr. Pallister, offers what only top-notch drama can: Catharsis.  Who among us couldn’t use a dose?

The long winter will finally be over on Tuesday, recent weather conditions notwithstanding. Regardless of the outdoor temperature on Tuesday night, those seeking a respite from winter’s bleakness and the attendant cabin fever are advised to visit Pierre’s in Bridgehampton. 

Many a winter night was considerably warmed by the sultry voice and vintage jazz of Vanessa Trouble, a vocalist who has performed there regularly for a decade. As she did on Sunday, Ms. Trouble will perform again on Tuesday, accompanied by Steve Salerno on guitar, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

Patrons of Pierre’s, as well as Wolffer Estate in Sagaponack, Manna Restaurant and Bar in Water Mill, Starr Boggs in Westhampton, and other venues on the East End have long enjoyed Ms. Trouble’s velvety timbre, impeccable phrasing, and classic repertoire. They are not alone: Tony Bennett, Julie Andrews, Alicia Keys, Melissa Etheridge, Jennifer Lopez, Jimmy Fallon, Tom Selleck, Rudolph Giuliani, and the late trumpeter Clark Terry are among the high-profile figures that have seen her perform. 

A resident of Manhattan’s Lower East Side and owner of a 1969 Nautaline houseboat docked in Riverhead, Ms. Trouble has performed at city venues including the Rainbow Room, the Carlyle Hotel, Birdland, Swing 46, and Opia, and at the United Nations, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. Farther afield, she has performed in Macau, at the grand opening of the Venetian Macao; Granada, Spain, at the Retroback classic film festival; Florence, Italy; Puerto Rico, and aboard a cruise ship, during a two-and-a-half-month engagement in the Caribbean. 

Her albums include “The Summer Sessions” and “Too Darn Hot,” and an EP with her five-piece band, the Red Hot Swing. She hopes to record another collection of songs this year. 

“Between New York and the Hamptons, I’m really lucky,” the Winona, Minn., native said. “I just do things people like to hear.” 

To some restaurant or winery patrons, her performances could be considered background music, she said. “People say, ‘How can you?’ Well, I can be in an office, or I can be singing music. And that’s where I get my singing chops: You really have to concentrate. Also, sometimes when people see you in a casual environment, they think, ‘This is great, I love the atmosphere. Would you do this for a party?’ That’s how I can make a living through restaurant work.” 

Until a few years ago, Ms. Trouble performed vintage jazz almost exclusively, a path forged in no small part from her grandparents’ record collection, particularly “Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook.” 

“I would listen continually as I was doing my homework,” Ms. Trouble recalled. “The thing about those Ella tunes is, that’s where my natural voice lies. But people try to sing music that isn’t in their key. I love singing along to the Eagles, classic ’70s music, but that’s not where I’m supposed to be singing. You can be versatile and have a super range, but people have a specific range where it suits their instrument best.”

Her mother was also a singer. “She taught, though I didn’t really take lessons from her,” Ms. Trouble said. “I took lessons minimally, as part of my theater training, but never really had a mentor vocally.” But, she added, “My grandmother had an amazing sense of style. Growing up with someone like that, and my mother too — they understood the importance of being well turned out, dressing for things, which people don’t do anymore. That’s something I have always and will always do. I collect beautiful clothes, and I use them.” 

The Ella Fitzgerald album aside, Ms. Trouble grew up immersed in the pop music of the era, and while she remains known as a jazz singer, in recent years she has broadened her repertoire to suit shifting tastes. “The most important thing for me is to connect with people,” she said. “People respond to songs they know. I was doing a lot of the standards 25 years ago. The 60, 70, 80-year-olds I was performing parties for are not going out anymore, or are not even around anymore.” Songs by Carole King, James Taylor, and the Police are now part of the repertoire. On a recent, frigid night in Bridgehampton, she demonstrated a remarkable versatility by performing, in response to a request from the audience, songs by a diverse trio of vocalists spanning many decades — Dinah Washington to Amy Winehouse to Blossom Dearie. 

In addition to Tuesday’s appearance at Pierre’s, Ms. Trouble will be there on April 9, 11, and 25. On April 28, she will sing at Centro Trattoria in Hampton Bays. On July 12, she will be at Agawam Park in Southampton. Dates in Manhattan and elsewhere are on her website, vanessatrouble.com.

As for “Trouble,” there are a few reasons she adopted the curious surname. Going simply by “Vanessa” sounds “like I would be really full of myself,” Vanessa Gernes explained. “And no one gets ‘Gernes’ right, ever. I’ve never had my name pronounced right.” 

Soon after she moved to New York, and with an imminent gig at Torch, then a popular nightclub on the Lower East Side, she sought the counsel of her then-boyfriend. “He was drunk on champagne, and said, ‘You should be Vanessa Trouble.’ “ 

“For a lark, I introduced myself as Vanessa Trouble,” she said. The response was overwhelming, and the rest is history. 

Reception at Halsey Mckay

The Halsey Mckay Gallery in East Hampton will hold a reception for its two current exhibitions, “Ted Gahl: Beaumont Sur Mer” and “Joshua Abelow: Miss You,” on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m.

Mr. Gahl’s paintings investigate the fine line between abstraction and figuration. He employs both the gestural mark and the figure, and he has stated that an interest in painting itself, rather than a definitive style, is at the core of his practice.

Mr. Abelow’s paintings and drawings, in his own words, “mock the idea of the artistic genius.” His simple yet loaded imagery often includes geometric forms, stick figures, and words, all of which look satirically at his own career.

The exhibitions will continue through April 8.

Art Exhibition

At Watermill Center

An exhibition of watercolor paintings and prints by William Stewart will open at the Watermill Center on Saturday afternoon with a reception from 2 to 4 and remain on view through June 14.

During his residency at the center, Mr. Stewart is developing a new series of monoprints. Originally from Texas and now based in New Mexico, he has allowed the unfamiliar landscape of the East End to inform his new works, which also mark a shift from the figurative to the abstract.

The center will offer tours of the facility from 1 to 2 p.m. and a performance by Physical Plastic, also from 2 to 4. All programs are free, but advance reservations are required.

Gallery Talk 

At Southampton Arts Center

Bastienne Schmidt, the artist who organized the exhibition “A Sense of Place” at the Southampton Arts Center, will be joined by other artists from the show for a free talk and gallery tour on Sunday at 3 p.m. 

The exhibition, which reflects the different ways 11 South Fork artists explore the idea of space, will remain on view through April 9.

RJD Gallery to Reopen in Bridge

RJD Gallery, whose space on Sag Harbor’s Main Street was destroyed by the December fire there, will reopen Saturday in a new, 3,000-square-foot venue on Main Street in Bridgehampton with “Urban Revival,” a group exhibition. The opening reception will take place Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. with art, cocktails, and music.

The show includes paintings by Margaret Bowland, sculpture and paintings by Alfred Conteh, assemblages and paintings by the Jamaican artist Phillip Thomas, and mixed-media works by Jules Arthur. Paintings by Arcmanoro Niles and Drew Ernst will also be on view. Mr. Thomas, Mr. Arthur, Mr. Niles, and Mr. Ernst will be present at the opening to talk about their work.

According to the gallery, the works have come together “from across urban lands to create thought-provoking expressions in a contemporary vision of revival, from the African-American experience to narrative moments of introspection.” The show will run through April 18.

Members Show Deadline

Guild Hall has set Sunday at 5 p.m. as the deadline for registration for this year’s Artists Members Exhibition. Walk-in registrations will not be accepted.on. Walk-in registrations will not be accepted.

Dawn Watson Photographs

“Natural Abstractions + Landscape Loves,” an exhibition of photographs by Dawn Watson inspired by nature on the East End, will open tomorrow at the Montauk Library with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. and continue through April.

The 18 works in the show feature two types of images: broad and expansive landscapes, and extreme, almost abstract close-ups of objects found in nature, the latter a departure from her previous work.

New at Roman Fine Art

Roman Fine Art in East Hampton will present “Gentleman’s Game: Safe Houses,” a collaboration between Brandon Friend and Jason Douglas Griffin, tomorrow through April 23.

Working together as Gentleman’s Game since 2011, the artists explore recurring themes of mythology, technology, history, and mortality. In “Safe Houses” they depict a refuge in larger-than-life trees that can be colonized by those seeking higher ground in a dystopian future.

Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor will offer refuge from the bleakness of early spring this weekend with two nights of rock ’n’ roll, a new All Star Comedy Show, and a film from the vaults of the Hamptons International Film Festival.    

Nancy Atlas and the Nancy Atlas Project return to the stage at 8 tonight with the final concert of this winter’s Fireside Sessions. Ms. Atlas’s guest will be Clark Gayton, a musician and composer who has played trombone with such artists as Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Whitney Houston, Rihanna, Prince, Stevie Wonder, and Wyclef Jean. Tickets are $25 and going fast.

A handful of tickets also remains for Saturday’s 8 p.m. performance by Eaglemania, the Eagles tribute band that has been performing for more than 40 years. Consisting of veteran musicians, the band plays all the Eagles’ hits as well as material from solo albums by Don Henley, Glen Frey, and Joe Walsh. Tickets are $35.

The comedian Joseph Vecsey of Optimum Cable TV’s “The Un-Movers” and Comedy Central’s “Comics to Watch” will host tomorrow evening’s All Star Comedy Show. This week’s guest comics are Jamie Roberts (MTV, Tidal, XM Radio, and “Law and Order”), Anthony DeVito (Comedy Central’s “Adam Devine’s House Party” and “The Jim Gaffigan Show”) and Jay Nog (Gotham Comedy Live and Sirius XM). Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are $30.

The Hamptons International Film Festival’s peripatetic 25th anniversary screenings will touch down at Bay Street on Sunday at 6 p.m. with “Heavenly Creatures,” a blend of fantasy, dark humor, and history directed by Peter Jackson. Shown at the 1994 festival, the film stars Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey in the true story of two teens convicted of murder in a 1954 court case. Tickets are $10.

The Red Door Chamber Players will perform “Sailing the Mediterranean Sea,” a concert of music by Italian, French, Greek, Turkish, and Albanian composers, on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Sag Harbor’s Masonic Temple at 200 Main Street. The doors will open at 7 for wine and refreshments.

The 11-member ensemble was formed in 2015 with the goal of performing high-quality, engaging, accessible, and educational chamber music concerts on Long Island and in New York City. Ravel, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, and Say are among the composers whose work will be performed on Saturday.

Tickets are $20 at the door, and all proceeds will be devoted to charity.

The Met Live in HD will present “Idomeneo,” Mozart’s first operatic masterpiece, on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Guild Hall in East Hampton. Set in Crete after the Trojan War, the opera is at heart a romance between Ilia, princess of the recently defeated Troy, who is a captive in Crete, and Prince Idamante, her captor.

James Levine conducts the production, which features Matthew Polenzani, Alice Coote, Nadine Sierra, and Elza van den Heever. Tickets are $22, $20 for members, and $15 for students.

In Process @ the Watermill Center, a periodic invitation to the community to engage with its resident artists, will present a performance by Physical Plastic, a Los Angeles-based theater project of Kestrel Leah and Yiannis Christofides, on Saturday between 2 and 4 p.m. 

While at the center, the duo is creating a stage performance based on security alarms. They are using the resources there to reveal the structure of the performance, create a full choreography score, and finalize design elements.

Mr. Christofides is a composer, sound artist, and sound designer from Cyprus whose work investigates the experience of space through the use of field recordings. Ms. Leah is a British actor and director working in both theater and film.

The center will also offer tours of the facility from 1 to 2 p.m. and an exhibition of works on paper by William Stewart, also from 2 to 4. All programs are free, but advance reservations are required.

“Community for the Retreat: A Night at Stephen Talkhouse” will bring G.E. Smith and Taylor Barton to the Amagansett club for an evening of rock ’n’ roll next Thursday at 7 p.m. D.J. Jack Luber will follow the live performance.

Advance tickets are $30 at the Retreat’s website, $40 at the door. Hamptons Foodie will donate refreshments; Blumenfeld and Fleming has contributed the graphic design.

The Retreat provides services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault on eastern Long Island with education programs and support in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

A cooperative pop-up gallery at the Malia Mills swimsuit boutique on Main Street in East Hampton has energized the space, previously empty in the off-season, with art exhibitions and readings. Drama will be added to the mix on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. when Chloe Dirksen and J. Stephen Brantley perform a staged reading of “May 39th,” a 40-minute play by Callie Kimball.

The dark comedy is set in the year 3006, when Sam and Louise are yearning for human contact in a future in which technology has been legislated to replace touch. Nick Gregory will direct. The performance is free; donations for Journalists for Human Rights will be welcomed.

The next production of the Hampton Theatre Company in Quogue is “An Act of the Imagination,” a mystery by Bernard Slade, which will open next Thursday and run through April 9. The suspenseful play’s protagonist is Arthur Putnam, the writer of 27 mystery novels, who has created his first romance.

The cast includes Matthew Conlon as Mr. Putnam, James M. Lotito Jr. as his friend Fred Burchitt, a police detective, and Rebecca Edana as the writer’s wife. Other performers are Jesse Pimpinella, Amanda Griemsmann, Meggie Doyle, and Cesa Pledger. 

Performances will take place Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8, and Sunday afternoons at 2:30. Tickets are $30, $25 for senior citizens (except Saturdays), $15 for those under 35, and $10 for students.

The company recently named Terry Brennan as its new general manager. Ms. Brennan, who worked for the CM Performing Arts Center in Oakdale in sales, marketing, subscriptions, and box office management, also worked in theater as a producer, director, and performer. For six years, she and her husband, Ed, ran the Airport Playhouse in Bohemia.