A staged reading of “The Big Chill,” the 1983 film directed by Lawrence Kasdan that received three Oscar nominations including best picture, will be held at Guild Hall on Monday at 7 p.m. The event is a benefit for the Center at West Park (CWP), a community performing arts center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Tickets, available from the center’s website, start at $1,000.
The star-studded cast includes Marisa Tomei, Matthew Broderick, Ayo Edebiri, Amy Brenneman, Spencer Garrett, Frederick Weller, and Ilana Levine, as well as Jumaane D. Williams, the New York City Public Advocate. Additional cast members will be announced.
Directed by David Saint, the reading is produced by Julianne Hoffenberg with Debby Hirshman, the center’s executive director, and Madelyn Paquette, its resident producer.
“The Big Chill” features a group of college friends from the 1960s, who gather 20 years later for the funeral of one of their closest friends, who took his own life. The group spends a weekend confronting the truths, sacrifices, and betrayals that have left them disenchanted. (Factoid: The hands seen in the casket during the opening credits belong to Kevin Costner, whose other scenes were cut from the final version of the film.)
The event continues CWP’s summer tradition at Guild Hall. Last year. its staged reading of “All the President’s Men” starred Alec Baldwin, Andy Cohen, Robert Downey Jr., Nathan Lane, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, and Gwyneth Paltrow, among others.
“It’s a tremendous privilege for the Center at West Park to serve audiences across New York and to continue our summer performance tradition in East Hampton at Guild Hall,” said Hirshman. “We’re thrilled to return with ‘The Big Chill’ — a timeless film whose humor, heart, and unforgettable characters continue to resonate.”
The Center for West Park, based in the West Park Presbyterian Church at 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, is an incubator for emerging artists as well as an infrastructure for arts and culture and community groups that don’t have the resources to showcase their work.
A conversation with the cast and creative team will follow Monday night’s performance.
