Experience the Theatrical Magic of Truman Capote in “TRU”

The Southampton Arts Center will present some fascinating programming on Saturday, June 22 (7 p.m.) and Sunday, June 23 (3 p.m.). Will Pomerantz will direct a unique and special reading of TRU of the Jay Pressor Allen play, which will star East End icon and noted actor Patrick Christiano. Both Pomerantz and Christiano were kind enough to contribute interviews about the presentation of TRU.

TRU is a one-man show with Literary legend Truman Capote alone in his luxurious New York apartment on Christmas Eve 1975. Patrick Christiano once played Truman Capote in this one-person play, TRU, at Player’s by the Sea in Jacksonville, Florida. He fondly recalls how, after seeing this play performed at Bay Street Theater, he was fascinated enough to unsuccessfully acquire a script. The rest of the story is the gold dust that often falls on the path of an actor’s career.

Christiano said, “I couldn’t even find a copy of the script. I wanted to work on the play in my acting workshop with Zina Jasper, a Harold Clurman protégé and an Outer Critics Circle Award-winning actress. Two weeks later, I was contacted, sent the script, and asked to read it in order to audition to play Truman Capote in a production in Florida. A few months later, I was hired.”

Both Pomerantz and Christiano explained how Capote was ostracized by his NYC social circle after betraying the secrets and trust of some high-society confidantes in his then-new novel, “Answered Prayers.” The play, and thus the reading at SAC, is set in Capote’s New York City apartment at 870 United Nations Plaza the week before Christmas 1975. Capote, filled with drink, drunkenly contemplates fame, literature, and his unfulfilled life.

How about this for fate: years back, Patrick Christiano lived in that very area and one day noticed a very inebriated Capote about to be possibly hit by a vehicle while attempting to cross the street. Patrick quickly came to Capote’s aide and helped guide him on his path to his barbershop. Where when they arrived, in Christiano’s words,  “A few folks from within the shop instantly came out and gathered him to bring him in. Obviously, this wasn’t the first time he arrived there in this state.”

Director Will Pomerantz explained how Mr. Christiano asked him to assist in staging this reading. He said, “It happened because Patrick Christiano contacted me and said he was going to do this (TRU) and was wondering if I would be interested in working with him as a kind of directorial consultant.” Since this production TRU is not a full production play but just a reading, Pomerantz said they discussed the different possibilities. Then he continued, “I said sure because I have always found Truman Capote to be a really interesting character. I really like Patrick, so I said yes.”

Mr. Christiano, while also being a realtor in East Hampton for over three decades, is also a theater critic, journalist, actor, and the Publisher of TheaterLife.com, a website for Theater buffs covering Broadway and Off-Broadway Theater. He is a member of both the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle. Many on the east end know Mr. Christiano because he hosts SPOTLIGHT on the Arts, An entertainment show on LTV, channel 20 in East Hampton, where guests discuss their projects and processes. 

Patrick Christiano also said, “I hope you can mention where appropriate. Harold Clurman is an ICON of the Theater. Zina Jasper has also directed me in three plays. This January, at a party at the penthouse of the producer Riki Kane Larmimer, I was sitting on the sofa with James Morgan, the Artistic Director of the York Theater, When he suggested I put myself out there, noting that I already once had done TRU. So, he inspired me to do that, and this reading came about as a result. Also, the timely aspect of FUED Capote versus the Swans and my dog (his famous award-winning dog is named Truman) friends in the West Village.”

Tickets are available at www.southamptonartscenter.org/live