Hampton Theatre Company’s 39th Season Opens with Neil Simon’s “Rose and Walsh”

The Hampton Theatre Company will launch their 39^th Season with a production of “Rose and Walsh.” This romantic comedy is the work of playwright, screenwriter and author Neil Simon. This show will be the start of the Theatre Company’s 2023-2024 season. Performances will run from October 19 through November 5 at the Quogue Community Hall.

Terry Brennan, the General Manager of The Hampton Theatre Company explained for Hampton.com that in 1985, the HAMPTON THEATRE COMPANY began its life on a shoestring and a dream at the Westhampton Beach Middle School. Their first production was, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. The company has come a long way since its founding in 1984 by James Irving and June Ewing. At that time the company had no theater, no audience, no board of directors and no capital. Shows were performed in such dramatic venues as a tent pitched behind the Masonic Temple on Montauk Highway. One time in the midst of an August hurricane.

Ms. Brennan went on to say, “Thanks to the generosity of the Village of Quogue, in 1987 the company found a permanent home at the beautiful Community Hall. There and at other venues, the company has produced more than 100 plays by a wide variety of major playwrights…. The Hampton Theatre Company today fills a unique niche in the Long Island performing arts landscape.”

 From its start it has been a small community group bound together by a love of live theatre, it has grown into a successful professional company, one that is still dedicated to the original dream of the founders and still proud to draw its talented performers and technical expertise primarily from the surrounding area in order to present the very best in live theater in the fall, winter and spring on Long Island’s East End.

The Hampton Theatre Company’s four-member cast of “Rose and Walsh” includes a familiar pair of HTC veterans, both of whom starred in last season’s production of “The Portuguese Kid.”  Rosemary Cline  plays Rose, with Andrew Botsford portraying Walsh. Making their HTC stage debuts will be Alaina Manzo and Alexander Massaad as Arlene and Clancy. 

The beloved and admired George Loizides will direct the show. Roger Moley is the producer. Set design is by Mr. Loizides, Ricky Bottenus and Meg Sexton; lighting design by Sebastian Paczynski; sound by Seamus Naughton; and costumes by Teresa Lebrun.    

Performances of “Rose and Walsh” will run from October 19 through November 5 on Thursdays and Fridays at 7, Saturdays at 8, and Sundays at 2:30. An additional matinee performance will be offered during the final weekend of the production, on Saturday, November 4, at 2:30, prior to the regular 8 p.m. performance that evening.

 Tickets are $36, $31 for seniors, and $20 for students 25 and under, and are available at the Hampton Theatre Company website at hamptontheatre.org or by calling 631-653-8955.  Patrons can also purchase season subscriptions and individual tickets for the theatre’s 2023-2024 season; details available on the HTC website. 

In summing up why the Hampton Theatre Company is  so unique, Terry Brennan said, “There are a lot of reasons: our longevity (we’ve been around for close to 40 years); our passion (many of our actors and board members have been committed to our theater for years, some for decades); our professionalism (we adhere to strict standards in evaluating, casting and producing our plays); our traditional use of locally based talent whenever possible, both onstage and off; our symbiotic relationship with the mayor and administration staff of the Village of Quogue, which has generously allowed us to lease our beautiful theater space for over 25 years; and our faithful audience core from all over Long Island, many of whom return again and again for each new season.”

She is correct. There is a magic cohesiveness of community and theater in every Hampton Theatre Company production. It one has never sampled a show, one is missing out on one of the special things that makes east end theater, enjoyable, affordable and successful.