Reston Community Players to Close 50th Season With Comedy ‘Private Lives’

Reston Community Players will put a wrap on their 50th season next month by staging the Noël Coward comedy “Private Lives.”

Coward’s 1930 play features a divorced couple who meet by chance while honeymooning with their new spouses. According to a press release from RCP:

“[The characters] reignite the old spark and impulsively elope. After days of being reunited, they again find their fiery romance alternating between passions of love and anger. Their aggrieved spouses appear, and a circle dance of affiliations ensues as the women first stick together, then break ranks, and new partnerships are formed.”

The show’s director, Adam Konowe, said the play is not as “flippant [or] even superficial” as it might appear at first glance.

“Look closer and appreciate how Coward skillfully embedded critiques in rapier-like dialogue,” he said.

The show’s cast includes Richard Isaacs as Elyot Chase, Rachel Hubbard as Amanda Prynne, Andy Gable as Victor Prynne, Caity Brown as Sibyl Chase, and Lisa Young as Louise. The creative team, headed by Konowe, also includes Suzanne Johnson, Laura Baughman, Mary Ann Hall, Eileen Mullee, Tel Monks, Michael O’Connor, William Chrapcynski, Maggie Modig, Doug Rolston, Scott Birkhead, Sara Birkhead, Bea Morse, Jerry Morse, Julie Cherundolo, Lilya Eberle and Mary Jo Ford.

Opening night for the production will be Friday, May 5 at 8 p.m. at CenterStage (2310 Colts Neck Road) at Reston Community Center. Evening performances will follow each Friday and Saturday through May 20; in addition, there will be a matinee show Sunday, May 14, at 2 p.m.

The Community Players’ 2016-17 season opened with “Gypsy,” which won five Washington Area Community Theatre Honors awards. RCP has also presented “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” and “Rock of Ages” this season.

RCP has announced its first two shows of the 2017-18 season will be “Aida” (Oct. 20-Nov. 11) and “Peter and the Star Catcher” (Jan. 19-Feb. 3).

For more information about “Private Lives” or to buy tickets, call 703-476-4500, ext. 3, or visit restonplayers.org.

Image courtesy Reston Community Players