MAINSTAGE 1999 - PREYING ON PURITANS

Preying On Puritans is a drama about a group of young, upper class
New Yorkers who try to pull off a literary scam involving a brilliant,
unpublished novel by a recently deceased author.

Cast
Jeff Benninghofen - Jay Coveney
Andrew Friedman - Grant Stillfrane
Lynda Lenet - Erin Franklin/Sonya Mayer
Gerald McClanahan - Howard Crave
Linda Miller - Agnes Rich/Eileen Rowen
Jane Ray - Eve Coveney
Thérèse Tinling - Josephine Shayle

Production Staff
Produced for Sacred Fools by Gerald McClanahan & Detra Payne
Written by Joshua Rebell
Directed by David P. Moore
Asst. Director - Kate Rosen
Asst. Director/Stage Manager - Lisette Bross
Set Design by Jennifer Vogt
Costume Design by Lori Kay
Lighting Design by Aaron Francis
Sound Design by Tom Roddy
Original Music by David Rodwin
Props Mistress - Michelle Philippe
Light Operators...Shelley Wenk & Quinn Sullivan
Sound Operator - Donovan Williams
Set Construction - David Moore, David Holcomb, Jeff Benninghofen,
Aldrich Allen, Mark Lifrieri, Donovan Williams

Jane Ray and Jeff Benninghofen

Gerald McClanahan, Lynda Lenet & Linda Miller

David P. Moore, Jeff Benninghofen, Gerald McClanahan, Andrew Friedman, Lisette Bross
Lynda Lenet, Linda Miller, Jane Ray, Thérèse Tinling, Kate Rosen
Josh Rebell

LA WEEKLY *Pick Of The Week

When cynical lawyer Howard (Gerald McClanahan) stumbles onto the manuscript of a brilliant novel, written by an elderly Vermont recluse who has just died, he decides to claim authorship and reap the profits. But the old writer was not entirely reclusive: A waitress in a local diner (Linda Miller) befriended him, saw him working on the manuscript and wants to know what's become of it.

To protect his own backside, Howard hires a dupe - a naive and nerdy high school teacher (Andrew Friedman) - to pose as the author, and, if necessary, take the rap. Playwright Joshua Rebell keeps us fascinated by refusing to show his hand. Is this a superior sitcom, or a fable about the destructive power of greed? A comic caper, a social satire, or a tale of nihilism and urban anomie? Will the teacher be the fall guy or the worm that turns? Director David P. Moore underlines the play's cool ambiguities, a fine cast fleshes them out with style, and Jennifer Vogt's handsome abstract set, ornamented with Jackson Pollack drippings, makes clever use of the thrust stage.