Bates student players present David Ives' 'Red Address'

The Robinson Players, the independent student theater group at Bates College, presents six performances of David Ives’ play The Red Address from Oct. 25 through Nov. 3 (8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays,. 2 p.m. Sundays) at The Ronj, the student-run coffeehouse on Frye Street. The performances are open to the public at no charge, although seating is extremely limited; no reservations will be accepted.

The play is intended for mature audiences due to violent language, adult themes and partial nudity.

A playwright known for dazzling wordplay and quirkiness, Ives made a sharp turn into drama with The Red Address. It’s the story of E.G. Triplett, a middle-class businessman who leads an outwardly respectable, all-American-male existence until a mysterious rival threatens not only to take over his business but to reveal his sexual secret. The play traverses transvestism and murder on its course to a disturbing conclusion .

The Red Address . . . is a balancing act, and what holds its themes together is Ives’ keen sense of irony, his shrewd theatricality,” a critic for the New York Daily News wrote. “This play abounds in verbal felicities.”

“I discovered the script by accident, in the library at Bates. After reading it through once I was completely hooked,” says director Matteo Pangallo, a Bates senior from Salem, Mass. “David Ives’ tale kicked me in the gut and broke my heart.”

He adds, “I knew right away that Bates needed a play that was this strong and moving. Some will find its politics offensive, others will find its strong language and violent themes inappropriate, and others will object to partial nudity on a college stage. But for me, the point of theater is to be disturbing.”

The all-student cast includes Scott Partenheimer, a senior from Haddonfield, N.J., as Triplett; Jayme Hennessy, a sophomore from Loomis, Calif., as Lady Triplett; Larry Handerhan, a sophomore from Wellesley, Mass., as Triplett’s friend Dick Braverman; Ari Goldmann, a senior from Lexington, Mass., as Joe Driver; Michelle Gomperts, a sophomore from Pepperell, Mass., as Ann; Kristin McCarthy, a senior from Cranston, R.I., in the dual roles of the Prostitute and the Waitress: and Brad Oriel, a first-year student from Newton, Mass., in the dual roles of the Soldier and the Maitre d’.

Founded more than 80 years ago, the Robinson Players are the oldest theater company in Lewiston-Auburn and one of the first student theater groups in the nation.

For more information, call the Bates College Concierge at 207-786-6255