Playwright Theresa Rebeck said, when her play Mauritius opened on Broadway in 2007, that her dramas “were about betrayal, treason, and poor behavior - a lot of poor behavior.”
And Mauritius, which opens at the Actors Theater Playhouse on Thursday, July 26, has all that and more.
Rebeck, has been a Pulitzer finalist and the recipient of an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writer's Guild. She knows a lot about writing about bad behavior as a producer and writer for such television staples as NYPD Blue, LA Law , and Law & Order. More recently, she is known as the creator of the hit TV series Smash.
But director Sam Pilo says that Mauritius has much more to offer.
“The play is just plain fun,” he said. “It's a 'caper' story. We are constantly asking ourselves who's going to wind up with the prize. The dialogue has a snap to it, a street-wise sense of people on the edge of another world where violence is the easiest option for survival. In this world, everyone is damaged. Everyone has to survive. Everyone has the core of their self worth tested.”
Pilo said the play has “multi-dimensional characters, wonderful dialogue, good structure and tension, plot twists, and at its center a sense of secrets we as the audience want in on. As well, it is very funny. These characters have a lot of fun and say the damndest things.”
The title comes from the island Mauritius, off the coast of Africa, which in its history issued some highly collectable stamps that are some of the rarest on the planet. Into a world of greedy, foul mouthed collectors and investors steps a young street person, Jackie, played by Emily Seymour, who has inherited a stamp album.
Her mother recently died and a half-sister, Mary, played by Abby Wicker, who has been out of the picture for many years has shown up to attend the funeral. Neither of them has much in common except a newly dead mother who left a pile of bills and a stamp collection.
The plot thickens when three men become embroiled in a series of plots to secure the stamps. They are Philip, played by Mark Ziter, a stamp shop owner; Dennis, played by Nick Bombicino, a hanger on who happens to be in Philip's shop when Jackie enters with her collection; and Sterling, played by Bob Gruen, a garish gangsterish investor in, among other things, stamps.
Pilo sees the challenge as “creating and maintaining a film noir-ish sense of fun and play, to stay within the life Rebeck creates with her language. Just like Clifford Odets had a music of his own, so does Theresa Rebeck. She creates a sense of 'overheard' dialogue you might catch on the street, or in a hallway or an elevator.”
The other challenge, Pilo said, is that there is some violence in the play “that we need to make believable but save. Also, we are issuing a warning for strong language. The dialogue is very contemporary and right off the street.”
Mauritius plays on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, July 26 through Aug. 18 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets on Thursdays are $12 (Students $6); Fridays $15 (Students $8); and on Saturdays, all tickets are $15. Reservations are strongly recommended. Contact the box office at 877-666-1855 or visit www.Actors-Theatre.info.