Archive for month: July, 2025

Featured in the Press Republican on Thursday July 17 – link to full story here. 

 

Robin Caudell, The Press-Republican, Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Thu, July 17, 2025

WESTPORT — “Every Brilliant Thing” director Chan Harris returns to the Depot Theatre this season to interface white-box tech in the fast-paced black comedy “Radiant Vermin,” written by Philip Ridley, an internationally acclaimed “master of the modern myth.”

North Country audiences get a preview performance tonight in Westport of the play, which premiered in 2015 at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol, before transferring to Soho Theatre in London.

Set in contemporary Britain, a young couple, Ollie (Peter Corley) and Jill (Laura Menzie), live in the Red Ocean Estates, when they receive a sticky offer from stranger Miss Dee/Kay (Emily Abruzzi) to own their dream home and leave public housing forever.

Ollie and Jill are lower-middle class, educated, not too well-connected and try too hard to be fashionable.

“It was a new play to me, but I really liked it when I first read it,” Harris said. “He’s very British. Not in a bad way, but in a really good way. The way that the Brits generally … this is kind of a gross overgeneralization, even when they speak they sound polite typically whether they are or not. Their general sense of manners is often more oppressive than the way we use manners if that makes sense. They don’t ever want to step over the lines of propriety in general. That’s not true for everyone in Britain, of course, but the general feel of the country is a lightness kind of guides a lot of things. Doing the right thing in a sense.

“If this story was to take place in America, it would be a different story than it is. There are some very heavy conditions that they don’t realize when they say yes to the house. There are some very conditions attached, but they have to figure out how to make it work.”

Link to full story on the Press Republican here as well as on Yahoo! Entertainment here. 

 

Depot Theatre Announces Cast for RADIANT VERMIN

Philip Ridley’s Savage Satire on Real Estate, Morality, and the Price of Desire

(As seen on BroadwayWorld)

Westport, NY  (July 9, 2025) — The Depot Theatre, a Professional Equity company, presents the biting and fastpaced black comedy RADIANT VERMIN, written by internationally acclaimed “master of modern myth” Philip Ridley. The play premiered in 2015 at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol, before transferring to Soho Theatre in London.

When a young couple is offered an ideal house by a mysterious stranger, it prompts the chilling question: How far would any of us go to get our dream home? What follows is a provocative, pitch-black satire that skewers our fantasies about having it all.

Directed by Chan Harris, who directed EVERY BRILLIANT THING at the Depot Theatre last season, this cutting-edge, thought-provoking comedy teeters on the brink of mayhem while shining a light on the human condition, the haves and have-nots, and the inequities of life. 

“…RADIANT VERMIN is a blithely told fable for the age of unaffordable housing… nasty and energetic fun.” —BenBrantley, The New York Times (Off-Broadway) 

“A darkly funny morality play… extraordinary.” —The Guardian

“RADIANT VERMIN is dark, devastating, and true to our times.” —Jim Catapano, ArtsIndependent (2024) 

THE CAST:

Featuring the return of a beloved Depot Theatre alum and two actors making their highly anticipated debut on our stage:

Peter Corley (Ollie) returns to the Depot Theatre after last year’s ANALOG & VINYL. Recently Peter has appeared in two Martin McDonagh plays, as Katurian in THE PILLOWMAN and Ray in BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, as well as George Bailey in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, Billy in Stoppard’s THE REAL THING, and Fred/Young Scrooge in A CHRISTMAS CAROL in Northwest NJ. Peter is a graduate of the musical theatre program at New York’s Circle in the Square, where he played Konstantin in THE SEAGULL and Cooper in ISLAND SONG. 

Laura Menzie (Jill)’s previous credits include TWELFTH NIGHT and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING with Saratoga Shakespeare Company, DOLLS HOUSE PART 2 and DOUBT with Franklin Stage Company, WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT A PRESENTATION… at Stage’s Rep, RICHARD III at Houston Shakespeare Festival and HAMLET and TARTUFFE with Titan Theatre Company in NYC. Laura has also worked locally with Adirondack Stage Rats & Pendragon Theatre. She has her MFA from the University of Houston and currently teaches acting and voice and speech at Skidmore College. She is excited to be making her Depot Theatre debut. 

Emily Abruzzi (Miss Dee / Kay)  is delighted to be making her Depot Theatre debut! Originally from Pennsylvania, Emily toured with arts-in-education programs for 10 years, including five years as company member of Mock Turtle Marionette Theatre. Emily has also toured in Taiwan with Enchantment Theatre Company (puppetry). As a dancer, she performed at Philadelphia Fringe Festival and DUMBO dance festival in NYC. More rently Emily has acted in local shows including WIT with Artistry Community Theatre, MRS. FARNSWORTH with Book & Blanket, and ANTIGONE with Pendragon Theatre. She holds a BA in Theatre and Dance and an MS in Occupational Therapy and works in early childhood services throughout Essex County. 

THE DIRECTOR:

Chan Harris grew up in the part of East Texas where it always smells like something’s burning. After graduating from The Juilliard School, he worked in professional theatre in New York, Regional Theatre, National Tours, International Tours. Other directing projects: New York: MISS JULIE (Pearl Theatre Company), OPERA FOR DUMMIES (Westbeth). National Tour:  FOREVER PLAID. Regional Theatre: A COMEDY OF TENORS, ALWAYS…PATSY CLINE, ALTAR BOYZ, CHURCH BASEMENT LADIES (1, 2, 4 AND 5), THE BIKINIS, THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES, SOCIAL SECURITY, ALONE TOGETHER, LET’S MURDER MARSHA, THE PAJAMA GAME, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, FULLY COMMITTED, HARPS & HARMONICAS (world premiere), 5/31/89: THE FLOOD (world premiere), CRAZY FOR YOU, THE KING AND I, HONKY-TONK ANGELS, 42ND STREET, MARVELOUS WONDERETTES, PUMP BOYS & DINETTES, CINDERELLA, to name a few.