1 Photo
Esmeralda Cabrera (as Patty Dragonetti), David Cardali (as Freddie Imbrossi), Vay David (as Fausta Dragonetti), Andrew Botsford (as Barry Dragonetti) and Rosemary Cline (as Atalanta Lagana) in rehearsal for Hampton Theatre Company's production of “The Portuguese Kid.” DANE DUPUIS
The Hampton Theater Company’s final show of the season opens on May 25 at Quogue Community Hall. “The Portuguese Kid,” by John Patrick Shanley, is an adult comedy, involving love and loss.
The play is set in In Providence, R.I., and it follows a newly widowed Greek woman, Atalanta Lagana (played by Rosemary Cline), who goes to visit her childhood friend, the chaotic lawyer, Barry Dragonetti (Andrew Botsford) to settle her late husband’s estate.
Instead of attending to business, feelings of the past surface and Lagana, after much pestering, forces the lowly Dragonetti to imagine what could have been. Also in the mix are Dragonetti’s Croatian mother, Fausta (played by Vay David), his young Puerto Rican wife, Patty (played by Esmeralda Cabrera), and Freddie Imbrossi, (played by David Cardali) Lagana’s younger boyfriend.
Bob Kaplan, who has directed HTC productions in the past, returns to direct this play. Laurie Atlas, who recently was seen on stage in HTC’s “The Lifespan of a Fact,” is producing for the first time, with an assist from Botsford, who explained that the responsibilities of producing and acting can be a difficult balance.
“To be focused on one or the other is okay, but to have to do both can be a little distracting,” he said. “Now, we’re getting down to the finish line and I’m really having to focus more than anything else on the acting part and having it come together the way it should and living up to my responsibilities in the cast, which is doing a fantastic job.”
The cast and crew came together, in part, thanks to Botsford, who serves on the artistic committee for the company. The director gets the final say, but the committee advises. Botsford has worked with Kaplan in the past, several times.
“He’s a talented director with a lot of experience in places other than the Hampton Theatre Company,” Botsford said. He has also worked in the past with Day and Cline, but Cabrera and Cardali are new to the company. Cardali came from his home in Los Angeles to take the part. Botsford and Cline were precast, but several read for the role of Freddie. Cardali blew the committee away, even on a Zoom audition from the West Coast.
“David and Esmeralda were clear, head and shoulders better than anything else we saw,” Botsford said. “They were just fantastic. They’re just so perfect for the parts. It’s kind of scary.”
Set design is by Kaplan and Ricky Bottenus and the set for the show is unique, with four scenes: Dragonetti’s office and backyard, and Lagana’s bedroom and backyard. To accomplish the required set changes, Kaplan designed a cube sitting on a turnstile that rotates in between scenes.
“The Portuguese Kid” was first produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club in September 2017. It was a welcome relief for members of the Hampton Theatre Company, and the surrounding community, in the early days of the pandemic, when HTC hosted socially distanced readings outdoors.
“We couldn’t do any theater anywhere,” Botsford said. “And we didn’t know what to do.”
Botsford had seen the show in Manhattan, and thought it was “hysterically funny.” He and Cline even read the script out loud together on the train going into the city. Wanting to bring some levity in the midst of the pandemic, the company got a cast together who rehearsed outdoors, and did a reading six feet apart. About 40 people showed up for that reading and the play was so well received, they did it twice more.
“At that time, we said, ‘Well, when we get back in action, let’s do this as a real play because it really, really, it really works,’’ Botsford said. “And so that’s exactly how I got interested in it. And that’s how we’re doing it now.”
John Patrick Shanley, who wrote this play, also wrote the movie film “Moonstruck.” The works are similar, in terms of sociocultural themes.
“Some of the themes are the same, sort of an obsession with moonlight and the moon, and romantic entanglements and confusions are very much the same as in Moonstruck, but with a different set of characters, a different set of circumstances, and all at the same time,” said Botsford. “It’s very, very funny and at the same time touching.”
But be forewarned. This play is strictly an adult comedy, due to adult romances and some strong language.
“Some of that goes to the humor of it,” Botsford said.
Performances of “The Portuguese Kid” will run from May 25 through June 11 at Quogue Community Hall, 25 Jessup Avenue, Quogue. Shows are Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. An additional matinee performance will be held Saturday, June 10, at 2:30 p.m. Two “talkbacks” with the cast will be held at the June 2 and June 9 performances. Lighting design is by Sebastian Paczynski; sound is by Seamus Naughton and costumes are by Teresa Lebrun. Tickets are $36 ($31 for seniors, $20 for students 25 and under) at hamptontheatre.org or 631-653-8955.
