A new play by actress Brooke Adams will complete the Vineyard Playhouse’s series of Monday Night Special play readings. The dark comedy “Dystopian Daze” deals with a wayward teenage girl and her strained relationship with her parents. The play is set in the near future, where America is a police state and paranoia is a way of life.
“I had a story I wanted to tell,” says Ms. Adams. “It occurred to me that if I set it in a fascist country, it would raise the stakes. It heightened the drama a lot.”
Ms. Adams was inspired in part by the current political situation. “I’ve been terrified for a long time now — back when Trump was first running,” says Ms. Adams. “People were saying, ‘This is the greatest comedy ever.’ I didn’t see it that way. My view was this is how someone becomes a Hitler. I still see it that way. I decided I wanted to envision it.”
As described on the Playhouse website, “Dystopian Daze” takes place “in 2025, where L.A. is a police state, and Jake and Molly’s daughter Anna has bolted from home to live free from her fearful parents. When Anna returns, she brings with her a guest who makes life even scarier. A dark comedy about love and tyranny.”
Ms. Adams has enjoyed success as an actress, appearing in more than 30 films, including “Days of Heaven,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “Gas, Food Lodging,” as well as on television and on Broadway. More recently she has turned her attention to writing and painting. She has written a screenplay and a blog for the Huffington Post. Along with her sister, actress and writer Lynn Adams, she has been busy for the past two years creating a web sitcom set on Martha’s Vineyard. Episodes of the series “All Downhill From Here” are available for viewing at alldownhillfromhere.com.
This is Ms. Adams’ first play, though she mentions that theater is her first and most enduring passion. Her father ran a musical theater in Flint, Mich., where Ms. Adams had her first taste of live theater. “Theater has always been my love, ever since I was a little girl,” explains Ms. Adams. “I love to act in plays. Plays are the most satisfying, but also a lot of time and a lot of work.”
Ms. Adams and her husband actor Tony Shalhoub are seasonal residents of Martha’s Vineyard. She has appeared in a number of readings at the M.V. Playhouse.
“Dystopian Daze” will star Lynn Adams, along with two of the playwright’s actor friends, Jamie Donnelly and Alan McRae, and two young women, Allie Spetalnick and Vineyard-raised actress Anna Yukevich. The playwright is also the director.
The playhouse hosts readings every Monday night throughout the summer. The theater’s final mainstage production, the Pulitzer prizewinning play “Driving Miss Daisy” will begin previews on Friday, Sept. 8, and run through Oct. 7.
“Dystopian Daze,” a reading of a new play written and directed by Brooke Adams, Monday, Sept. 11, at 7:30 pm at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse. Tickets are $30 and are available online or at the box office.
