High finance, family dysfunction, death and laughs. The world premiere of “Dinner at Home between Deaths,” a pitch-black comedy by Andrea Lepcio, directed by Stuart Ross and presented by Indie Chi Productions, opens as a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre on Saturday, April 2.
Inspired by the Bernie Madoff scandal and other Ponzi schemes before and since, Lepcio’s comedy examines the American dream and American identity in the face of eroding ethics.
The Indie Chi production stars, in alphabetical order, Amielynn Abellera, Diane Cary (NBC mini-series V), Andrea Evans (three decades on One Life to Live as Tina Lord) and Todd Waring (ABC Family series Chasing Life).
“Most people don’t think they have the knowledge to manage their own money, so they find someone to take care of it for them,” says Lepcio, who has worked as an analyst for Solomon Brothers and Chase Manhattan Bank. “How do we know who we can trust? Whether as grand an offense as a Ponzi scheme or a more middling mismanagement of funds, far too often the people we put our faith in turn out to be crooks.
“What fascinates me about Madoff in particular, being Jewish myself, was how he was so willing to hurt Jewish charities and the state of Israel. It was an affinity crime, which put it so completely over the top.”
In Dinner at Home, Sean Lynch (Waring) is a high-powered financier who’s made his a fortune on the backs of his investors – more specifically, on the back of the charity run by his sister-in-law, Kat (Evans). As the reckoning draws near, he fantasizes about running away to Ireland, but his unsuspecting wife Fiona (Cary) is not having any of that. Meanwhile Lily (Abellera), Kat’s step-adopted daughter who works for Sean’s firm, has gone missing.
“What distinguishes this as a crime story is that all the repercussions dramatized take place within the family,” suggests Cary. “It’s about how families will pull together to protect the skeletons in their closets.”
Performances of Dinner at Home Between Deaths will be Fridays and Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 2, April 2 through May 8.
There will be two preview performances on Thursday, March 31 and Friday, April 1, both at 8. All tickets are $30 (reserved seating) except previews, which are $15. The Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles. For reservations and information, call 323. 960.4429 or see www.plays411.com/dinner.
Ms. Pollak may be contacted at lucy@lucypr.com