Kassar Productions and Playwrights’ Theatre of East Hampton will join forces for the fourth time at LTV Studios for a production of “The Dance of Death,” Conor McPherson’s 2012 adaptation of two plays first published in 1900-1901 by the Swedish writer August Strindberg.
Edward W. Kassar plays Edgar, a washed-up military captain, and Dena Tyler his actress wife, Alice. They are about to celebrate 25 years of marriage in the high stone tower of an isolated naval fortress, where what plays out is anything but wedded bliss. Recrimination and mutual sabotage are a way of life for the couple until the arrival of their former comrade Kurt (Matt Conlon).
Instead of ameliorating the situation, the balance of the couple’s tendentious arrangement “falls off its axis, cracks growing into canyons,” according to Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, where it had a two-month run in January and received glowing reviews.
“I think it’s an excellent play, never before produced on the East End,” said Josh Gladstone, LTV’s executive director and creative director. “How exciting to see Strindberg — who the hell does Strindberg anymore? Conor McPherson has done a very timely adaptation, it’s smart and contemporary.”
Strindberg’s 1900 work was the first naturalistic portrait of a marriage in modern drama. In a 2013 review in The New York Times, Charles Isherwood described it as “a prototypical drama of marital misery that today feels like a turn-of-the-20th-century Scandinavian template for Edward Albee’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ ”
“I love plays that have drama and comedy in them, even if the comedy is on the dark side,” said Kassar, the co-producer as well as star. He also co-produced and acted in “God of Carnage” in 2025 and “A Steady Rain” in 2024, both at LTV. “There are themes you can relate to no matter what your situation is — we’ve all had relationships. I love the idea of presenting a classic with a modern take on it. It’s a challenge, but an exciting one. It’s about more than just marriage. It’s about paths taken.”
“The writing, to me, gave me such an amazing opportunity as an actor to sink my teeth into a character,” said Tyler. “Alice is ferocious . . . like Catherine O’Hara in ‘Schitt’s Creek.’ It’s a challenge I knew I wanted.”
The production is directed by Grace Kiley, an actor, director, playwright, and acting coach who teaches film directing at N.Y.U. Tisch School of the Arts. Her recent directing credits include John Patrick Shanley’s “Four Dogs and a Bone” and Jane Anderson’s “The Baby Dance.”
After a preview Thursday, the formal opening performance will happen Friday at 7 p.m. Doors open for evening shows at 6:30. The production will run through Oct. 9, with matinees at 2 on Saturday and on Oct. 3. Tickets are $30, $35 at the door, $15 for students with ID.
