Joshua Harmon’s “Admissions” Set To Premiere At Quogue Community Hall

Hampton Theatre Company (HTC) is kicking off the New Year by presenting Admissions, the second play of HTC’s 2019-2020 season.

“Admissions is a hilarious and provocative drama by Joshua Harmon,” Terry Brennan, Hampton Theatre Company General Manager, relayed.

As head of the admissions department at Hillcrest, Sherri Rosen-Mason fights to diversify the student body of the New England prep school. A feat she has largely succeeded in, with support from her husband Bill, the school’s Headmaster. However, when an Ivy League defers their only son Charlie, the family’s progressive viewpoints are challenged.

The production, which was presented at Lincoln Center in 2018, was awarded the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Play.

“Admissions is an extraordinarily useful and excruciating satire — of the left, by the left, for the left — for today,” Jesse Green wrote in a 2018 New York Times review of the Off Broadway production. “The satire is largely aimed at the kind of pieties about inclusion that are espoused by woke white liberals.”

Harmon, a New York City based playwright, also penned Bad Jews, Significant Other and Skintight.

Admissions will highlight four HTC veterans: Morgan Vaughan (Good People, Other Desert Cities) as Sherri; Hampton Bays High School senior Ian Hubbard (On Golden Pond) as Charlie; Tristan Vaughan (Deathtrap, Venus in Fur) as Bill; and HTC Artistic Director Diana Marbury as Roberta, a staffer in the Development office at Hillcrest. Minerva Perez, who plays Sherri’s best friend, Ginnie, will make her HTC debut.

Hampton Theatre Company president Andrew Botsford will direct, while Sean Marbury will take on set design, Sebastian Paczynski will spearhead the lighting design, Seamus Naughton will oversee sound, and Teresa Lebrun will helm the costumes.

HTC’s Admissions will open at the Quogue Community Hall on Thursday, January 16 and run through Sunday, February 2. Performances will take place on Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. An additional matinee performance will be offered during the final weekend of the production, on Saturday, February 1, prior to the regular 8 p.m. performance that evening. Talkbacks with the cast will be offered after the Thursday, January 23, and Friday, January 24 performances.

As the subject matter explores issues related to college admissions and diversity, and the production stars a local High School senior, HTC is offering free admission for high school juniors and seniors and their parents or guardians to the dress rehearsal on Wednesday, January 15 at 7 p.m. Parents are advised that this play does contains some profanity.

Once again, special dinner and theater packages will be available in collaboration with the Westhampton, Southampton, Hampton Bays and Quogue libraries. A special lunch and theater package is also available for the Saturday matinee on February 1, with lunch before the show at the Quogue Club at the Hallock House.

Tickets are $30. Discount tickets are available for veterans, Native Americans, under 35, students, and groups.

Quogue Community Hall is located at 125 Jessup Avenue in Quogue. For tickets, call 1-866-811-4111 or visit www.hamptontheatre.org.