"A Steady Rain," a two-actor play about a pair of Chicago policemen whose dramatic story is told mostly through monologues, will have six performances at LTV Studios in Wainscott, Wednesday through Oct. 4, and Oct. 8 and Oct. 9. All shows start at 7:30 p.m.
The play stars Edward W. Kassar and Joe Pallister, and is directed by Stephen Hamilton, three artists with deep ties to the theater of the East End. Mr. Kassar also produced the play, in association with Playwrights' Theatre of East Hampton.
Written by Keith Huff, an award-winning graduate of the Iowa Playwrights Workshop, the play premiered in Chicago in 2007 and went to Broadway two years later, where it had a sold-out run with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig sharing the stage.
Joey (Mr. Pallister) and Denny (Mr. Kassar) have been friends since kindergarten, and after working together for several years as policemen, they are practically family. During a domestic-disturbance call, the two return a frightened Laotian 14-year-old to a man who claims to be the boy's uncle. The uncle turns out to be a serial killer (modeled after the real-life Jeffrey Dahmer). In the aftermath, the characters' trust and loyalty struggle for survival against a backdrop of criminal lowlifes.
The play is sometimes referred to as a duologue, as from its inception and through its many subsequent productions, it consists primarily of monologues, delivered by the two characters in a minimalist staging. The set at LTV will have one chair.
Mr. Kassar had never seen "Steady Rain" until he and Mr. Pallister performed it eight years ago at Guild Hall. "Steve Hamilton is directing this production, and we're very fortunate to have him with us," said Mr. Kassar during a conference call. "Our characters are telling the same story, but our recollections of events differ. We sometimes speak as if the other person can hear us, at other times as if they can't. We address one another in actual scenes and we also address the audience."
The conceit is that the audience could be internal affairs or a judge and jury.
Mr. Pallister had seen a previous production. "I just thought it was so freaking interesting to watch," he said. "It was really moving, very intense, and very simple on the surface as far as depth goes."
Both actors and the director noted the challenges of a play in which the performers address the audience more than each other. "When you're doing a scene with another actor onstage you obviously feed off their energy and what they're giving back to you," said Mr. Pallister. "Listening, paying attention, it helps drive the action. When you're just speaking to an audience, you really don't know what you're going to get back from them."
Actors, he remarked, are inherently "insecure," and "when you're doing a three-page monologue, you begin to second-guess what you're saying, the choices you're making. It can be very disconcerting. It's fun to do, but it's scary as hell."
Mr. Hamilton has never directed "A Steady Rain" before. Did it present any challenges?
He chuckled. "Other than the usual challenges of working with Eddie Kassar and Joe Pallister, which are formidable?"
"There's very little dialogue between the two characters," he went on. "So, helping the actors find variation within that, helping them to find the textures within that, is the real challenge to me. And discovering the textures of the story as it unfolds.
Joey and Denny are essentially telling the story from different perspectives. During the rehearsal process, "What we're trying to find for each character is the reason why they're telling the story, why it's so important for the audience to hear the story and to hear their side of the story," Mr. Hamilton said.
In a review of a 2011 production at Theatre Royal Bath in England, Lyn Gardner wrote in The Guardian, "This play is, most of all, a tale of friendship, loyalty and betrayal that keeps you guessing about where guilt truly lies to the final line." A review of a 2017 Los Angeles production by Dale Reynolds called the play "amazing" and went on to say, "Huff's insight into how cops navigate the shoals of negative public perception and citizen protests is wonderfully explored in his drama."
Mr. Hamilton co-founded Bay Street Theater in 1991 with his wife, Emma Walton Hamilton, and Sybil Christopher. Among the countless productions he has directed there and elsewhere are Arthur Miller's "All My Sons," starring Alec Baldwin and Laurie Metcalf; the world premiere of Ira Lewis's "Gross Points," also starring Mr. Baldwin; Neil LaBute's "The Furies," Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," and Martin McDonagh's "The Cripple of Inishmaan."
Mr. Kassar's theater credits include "God of Carnage" and "The Pillowman," which he starred in and produced with Josh Gladstone at LTV, as well as "The Zoo Story," "Of Mice and Men," "Art," "Other People's Money," and many others. His film work includes "Mulligan Farm," "Scallop Pond," "Sushi Bar," and "If I Didn't Care."
Mr. Pallister has appeared onstage in "A Raisin in the Sun," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Diary of Anne Frank," "The Crucible," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and "A Streetcar Named Desire," to name a few. Television credits include "The Flight Attendant," "The Blacklist," "Quantico," and "FBI."
Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door, and $45 for cafe table seating, which includes a drink.
This article has been changed from its original and print versions to include two additional performances announced after the issue went to press.
