Press Releases

September 8, 2003
Michael Nader Leads Cast in Jim Larocca’s Compelling War-Time Play

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Darren Johnson
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Vietnam War Drama Was Rescheduled Because of August Power Blackout

Southampton, NY — Veteran television and film actor Michael Nader ("Dynasty," "All My Children") will lead a powerful ensemble cast in a special staged reading of award-winning playwright James L. Larocca’s poignant Vietnam War-based drama "Penang" at East Hampton’s John Drew Theater on Sunday, September 14^th at 6 p.m. The play had previously been cancelled due to last month’s power failure. August tickets will be honored at Sunday’s performance.

The professional ensemble cast includes Damon DiMarco, Ben Hersey, Chuck Novatka, Laura Conroy and Jeffrey Schaeffer. In a special appearance, Bonnie Grice, the voice of NPR’s WLIU/WCWP, will narrate. The play is being produced by PatriciaWatt, a veteran of many East End productions, who also produces at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. "Penang" is being directed by Rob Fruchtman, who is presenting new films on Showtime and HBO this winter.

Larocca is a resident of Sag Harbor. He served two combat tours in river patrol as a naval officer at the height of the war in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam — the inspiration for the two-act play. He has been outspoken in opposition to the war in Iraq. But "Penang" is not a political play; rather it is a deeply personal exploration of the effects of war on those who are made to fight it. "It is especially compelling and timely today, because it examines the same issues our troops are facing in Iraq," according to the playwright. "Indeed, they are the same issues that young people have faced in war throughout history."

"There are many parallels between Vietnam and the war in Iraq — and those parallels are becoming clearer every day," Larocca said. "As the United States becomes bogged down in Iraq and the human and economic costs continue to grow, the sad reality is that the tragic lessons of Vietnam seem already to have been lost."

The play tells the story of the intense relationship between two young U.S. soldiers in Southeast Asia in the late 1960s: After surviving more than a year of highly dangerous river patrol duty in the Mekong Delta, inexplicably, on the day he is to leave Vietnam for home, Tim Riordan, a young Naval officer, tries to kill himself. Under treatment at a psychiatric hospital back in the states, he begins to tell the story of his experiences in the war, particularly his extraordinary, complex relationship with a young Army officer (Richard DeLuca) he meets on RandR in Malaysia. Gradually we come to understand the toll that the war and events back in the states have taken on this young man, and ultimately we learn about the shocking events that lead him to his desperate attempt to take his own life.

"Penang" won the Playwrights First Award at the Players in New York City in 1997. Larocca’s play "44 Sunset Park" was presented by Naked Stage in Southampton in 2001, and is scheduled for a reading at Bay Street this fall.

Larocca, a member of the Dramatists Guild, has become one of the East End’s best-known renaissance men. The former Dean of Southampton College, he holds the Keyspan Distinguished Chair in Public Policy, teaching at Southampton College and at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. Larocca has had a rich and varied career in government and politics, business, the law and academe. A lawyer, he served in the cabinets of two New York governors (as Commissioner of Energy and Transportation) and as President of the Long Island Association, the region's largest business and civic organization. He currently serves as Chairman of the Long Island Nature Conservancy, the major environmental preservation organization. In 1998 he was a candidate for nomination for Governor of New York.

Tickets are available by calling the Guild Hall box office at 324-4050 or at the door.