Show - Lips Together, Teeth Apart

Lips Together,
Teeth Apart
by Terrence McNally

Oct. 15 - Nov. 6, 1993
Directed by Ron Martin

A gay community in Fire Island provides an unlikely setting for two straight couples who are discovered lounging poolside, staring out to sea. Sally, married to Sam, a New Jersey contractor, has inherited the house from her brother who died of AIDS. Sam's hyperkinetic sister, Chloe, and her smug, aristocratic husband, John, have come out for the Fourth of July weekend.

Amidst the seemingly mundane activities, it becomes apparent that the two men despise each other because John has had an affair with Sally; Sally is panicked and melancholy because she is pregnant and fears miscarriage; and Chloe seems determined to drive them all mad with her incessant babble and enthusiasm for musical comedies

Through monologues unheard by the others, the characters reveal a desperate sense of individual isolation. The only people these four characters find more alien are the gay men partying in the houses on either side of them. As they divert themselves from their own mortality with food, cocktails, the New York Times crossword puzzle, fireworks, charades, and biting jabs at each other and the boys next door, Sally and Sam and John and Chloe find little to celebrate about themselves or their country on its birthday.

THE CAST			Memories of LIPS TOGETHER... "Aside from the devastating dramatic action of LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART - I remember that the show was quite complicated from a technical standpoint. There was a working shower and swimming pool onstage. The pool was at the edge of the stage and had a clear glass front so you could see inside as Sally waded in it. During the first act, Chloe cooks hamburgers onstage. We had cooked patties hidden on the grill and she carried out rice cakes painted to look like raw patties - she then switched them out with the real burgers as she served them. In the second act, McNally emphasizes bits of dialog with the harsh sound of a bug zapper. At strategic points in the dialogue, I was stationed backstage with a stun gun and would set it off to make the sound effect." - Don Lusk, Asst. Stage Manager
Chloe Haddock		Linda Parrish
Sam Truman		Steve Vann
John Haddock		Ben Hall
Sally Truman		Rhonda Clark

THE CREW
Director		Ron Martin
Set Design		Roger Drummond
Consultant		Nick Backes
Stage Manager		Dedra Dahl
Asst Stage Mgr		Don Lusk
Sound Design		Randall Etherton
Properties		Sally Noakes
Lights		Nick Backes
Scenic Painting		Nick Backes
Technician		Joe Daleo
Understudies		Renee Preftakes Nick Backes
	.
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Nick & Renee Preftakes - Gil & Janet Mitchell, Gil's - Nicky Thomason - Dr. Ann Frankland, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma - Phil Carlton - Doug Getzoff - Renee Taylor - Rhonn Evans - Craig Miller - Julie Brown - Douglas McCord - Lilli Bassett - William Brackeen, Sound Warehouse Special Note: The setting for LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART was designed by Roger Drummond, Associate Professor of Drama at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, and was built by Professor Drummond and his students at the University of Chickasha. The set was used for their production - November 17-21, 1993
Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Originally produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club on May 28, 1991.