Levin thriller to chill audiences at the Rivoli

SOUTH FALLSBURG, NY — The Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop will present Ira Levin’s thriller, “Veronica’s Room,” as the final show of its 2005 season, with six performances in the Nartoff-Wells Auditorium of the Rivoli Theatre. The cast includes Rebecca Robbins of New Paltz, Tom DelFavero of Livingston Manor, John Klemeyer of Shohola, PA, and The River Reporter’s own columnist Cass Collins.

In the early 1970’s, The New York Times ran several articles regarding the disappearances of young college girls in the Boston area. This piqued the interest and imagination of playwright of Ira Levin (of “Rosemary’s Baby” fame) who sat down and penned his idea as to why and where these girls were disappearing. The result was Veronica’s Room—a thriller in two acts—in which Levin envisions a sheet-shrouded Victorian bed-sitting room that has been frozen in time. Into the room enters a kindly old couple ushering a young woman and her boyfriend whom they just met at a restaurant that evening. All they want is a small favor from the young college girl. But things aren’t always as they seem and before she knows it, the young girl is trapped in a vicious spider web.

“As a college coed in Boston in the 70’s, I remember the mystery surrounding those disappearances,” says Collins. “Levin’s play manages to invent a plausible, if frightening, solution—one that even my fellow college thespians could not have imagined!”

Under the capable direction of Lori Schneider-Wendt of Hurleyville, Veronica’s Room is an intricate, planned series of surprises and shifts that seems to question the nature of reality and illusion, of memory and fabrication, of sanity and insanity. It is a story of past and present torment, and only after a succession of shocks has played out does one realize how subtly and carefully Levin has planted clues to what lay beneath the startling revelations.

Performances are scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays, October 7, 8, 14, 15 at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays, October 9 and 16 at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $15 for general admission, $12 for senior citizens and students 16 and under. Due to mature content, this production is not suitable for young children.

For more information call 845/ 434-7232.