“The Engagement Party,” a Samuel Baum play having its premiere at Hartford Stage, is a gathering of family and special guests for an important occasion. That’s true behind the scenes as well as onstage.
Baum, who has been friends with Hartford Stage Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak for decades, is the creator of the TV series “Lie to Me,” which ran for three seasons on the Fox network and starred Tim Roth as a doctor who solved crimes through interpreting body language. Though Baum is working on several new TV projects, he’s ecstatic to have found time to return to the live stage.
“I love playwriting. I love working with theater actors, theater directors,” the writer says. Baum, who was involved in casting for the play, has been in Hartford for the entire rehearsal period and has been doing some rewrites largely based on what the actors have brought to the piece.
“The roles are very specific, even physically. I’m delighted with the cast. Once the cast comes together, you can hear when a line or a piece of a scene is just not working. Hartford Stage has provided a lot of support. They gave us a two-day workshop reading in New York. I wish that in TV or film you had this kind of development time.”
Dillon, who lives in Fairfield County, received the offer to do the show just as she was setting off to travel the world with her husband Keir Dullea (who was appearing at 50th-anniversary screenings of his film “2001: A Space Odyssey”).
Dillon calls “The Engagement Party” “a wonderful play.” “Darko is brilliant. Sam is brilliant. It’s so great to have the writer and the director on the same page.” She also has high praise for her cast mate Appelman: “That was the first ‘Hamlet’ I’ve ever seen when I cried at the end. These are some of the finest actors I’ve ever worked with. These are eight actors at the top of their game.”
Also in the cast are Broadway veteran Richard Bekins, TV and film actress Beth Riesgraf (“Complications,” “Leverage”), Teddy Bergman, Brian Lee Huynh, Brian Patrick Murphy and Anne Troup.
Dillon also is enjoying the nuances of her character. Baum has “given her a sense of humor,” she says. “She’s lived a very privileged life, married to a very successful Wall Street broker, and now our daughter is getting married. It’s suggested that she’s Southern, but not really. I’ve known that type — she’s lived in New York forever, but likes to mention her Southern background.”
“Darko,” Dillon says, “likes to call this a thriller. It draws you in. But at heart, it’s a very human play. Anyone who’s spent the holidays with family will relate to it. Things come out that aren’t supposed to come out. Things get said, and some of those things are very hurtful.”
“My aim in writing this was to write a literal mystery as well as a psychological mystery,” Baum says. “”I’m very interested in the things we don’t tell the truth about, the cost of secrets and lies.” The play is so much of a mystery that he’s loathe to give too much away. “It’s an engagement party that takes a very surprising turn. It’s a wildfire, that causes every character to reevaluate their relationships.”
Creating a compelling mystery has become a special challenge, he says: “It’s getting harder and harder. Audiences are so savvy. They’re on to us as writers. It’s hard to surprise them.”
The characters in “The Engagement Party” include the engaged couple, the bride-to-be’s parents, the groom’s best friend and the couple’s college friends. The 80-minute intermissionless play “takes place almost in real time, on a single evening, in a Manhattan apartment. The set is quite sumptuous,” Baum says.
“It’s a warm, fun, delightful evening until it takes this turn into suspicion and scrutiny. It’s funny, until it’s not. I want the audience to think, feel and laugh, but maybe not in that order.
“After the fun has dissolved, it examines corrosive, untreated anger. It looks at some emotional triggers — lies and forgiveness in a post-truth world.”
The play is set in 2007, which is when Baum first started writing it, but he says “the themes of the play are all too topical for this moment. It’s ultimately a cautionary tale about concealment and denial. Trust takes a lifetime to build, but it can be shattered in a moment.”
Baum’s married with kids. So, when he got engaged …
“No! No!,” he screams. “Please! … This is not an autobiographical account!”
THE ENGAGEMENT PARTY by Samuel Baum, directed by Darko Tresnjak, is at Hartford Stage through Feb. 3. Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 2 p.m.; with added 2 p.m. matinees on Jan. 19 and 23 and Feb. 2, and added 7:30 p.m. shows on Jan. 13 and 27. Special events include a panel discussion following the Jan. 20 matinee, post-show discussions with cast members and theater staff on Jan. 22, 23 and 29, two open-captioned performances on Jan. 27 and an audio-described matinee on Feb. 2. Tickets are $25 to $90. 860-527-5151, hartfordstage.org.
Christopher Arnott can be reached at carnott@courant.com
