This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Coastal Rep performs "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Coastal Rep director and actors impressively handle Edward Albee's sharp dialogue and challenging issues of alcoholism, depression and adultery.

Coastal Repertory Theatre is currently showing its production of Edward Albee’s "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" directed by Tim Longo, at the Main Street theater in Half Moon Bay, running through April 23.

The cast features two newcomers to Coastal Rep: Pennell Chapin as Martha and Mary Waterfield as Honey. Two veterans are Daniel Trecroci as Nick and Tom Woosnam as George. Woosnam has both acted and directed in several plays at the Rep. All four actors handle Albee’s sharp, mean-spirited — and sometimes hilarious — dialogue impressively.

Set on a fictional college campus in the town of New Carthage, the play is about two couples after a party of a faculty "meet and greet" and takes place entirely  in George and Martha’s house. Though it originally opened on Broadway in 1962, "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf" addresses issues and themes that are still challenging by today’s standards, such as alcoholism, depression and adultery.

Find out what's happening in Half Moon Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Martha is the daughter of the president of the college and George, her husband, is an associate history professor. They invite the new biology professor, Nick, and his wife Honey, for late night drinks. The blond and naive younger couple are soon trapped in George and Martha’s vicious world where they are used as props for tearing one another apart. As everyone consumes more and more (and more) alcohol, and the social “games” get worse, Nick and Honey end up participating, proving George and Martha are not the only ones with ugly personalities.

It is a nice feature that the bar lobby at the Rep is well stocked, since the characters on stage drink more than you see on an episode of Mad Men. You can even get a special “Woolf Bite Martini” with a commemorative glass, or a pack of chocolate cigarettes. The lobby is decorated appropriately like the set, and one imagines it looks just like the party the characters have been at before retiring to George and Martha’s house. This would of course be the party where some group of professors sung a parody with the lyrics “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Find out what's happening in Half Moon Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In the program’s director’s note, Longo thanks the Coastal Rep for producing a play with such challenging subject matter. He also describes the tough questions the audience contends with such as, "What is a marriage and why does it last?" and, "What happens when the lies we tell ourselves to cope with the emptiness of existence become even more fraught and devastating than the truth?”

Luckily, Albee’s Tony-award winning script provides just enough comic relief to mask the darker themes in witty banter. And you can always get another martini at intermission.    

To purchase tickets, visit http://coastalrep.com/.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?