The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) is launching its 40th anniversary season with the premiere of Lucy Prebble’s new play, The Effect.
“I can’t imagine a better or more electrifying play to start The Gamm’s 40th season. The Effect is one part love story on dopamine, one part search for identity, and two parts belly-laughs, all mingled with the struggles of clinical depression. Four daring and talented actors play perfectly imperfect characters whose safety nets have been stripped away,” Kidd said. “This small story addresses some of the biggest bioethical questions of our time. Its themes are simple yet complex, intimate yet global. It’s the kind of theater this company was built on 40 years ago, and it will prove to be the foundation of its legacy.”
A writer for the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Succession, Prebble interrogates the biology of desire and love with rapid-fire dialogue and razor wit. The Effect opens in previews on September 26.
The show follows Connie and Tristan, a young couple who fall in love during a drug trial of an antidepressant. Gabrielle McCauley (Honey in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) and Anthony T. Goss (Lincoln in Topdog/Underdog) play Connie and Tristan, respectively. Jeanine Kane (Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) plays Dr. Lorna James, the study’s administrator.
The Gamm’s Producing Director Kidd says, “I can’t imagine a better or more electrifying play to start The Gamm’s 40th season. The Effect is one part love story on dopamine, one part search for identity, and two parts belly-laughs, all mingled with the struggles of clinical depression. Four daring and talented actors play perfectly imperfect characters whose safety nets have been stripped away. This small story addresses some of the biggest bioethical questions of our time. Its themes are simple yet complex, intimate yet global. It’s the kind of theater this company was built on 40 years ago, and it will prove to be the foundation of its legacy.”
The Effect runs from September 26-October 13 at The Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, RI. Tickets: $60-$70; preview performances (September 26-29) are $50. Information about rush tickets, as well as discounts for seniors, students, groups and more at gammtheatre.org/discounts. Tickets: 401-723-4266 or gammtheatre.org/effect
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.
