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Love, incest, mental illness and murder. A 25th anniversary revival of the wickedly entertaining black comedy that became a cult classic indie film. As a violent hurricane swirls outside the Pascal’s Kennedy estate-adjacent home in McLean, VA, the storm of the century — brewing since JFK's assassination — is about to erupt inside. Mrs. Pascal, daughter Jackie-O and younger son Anthony await the arrival of Jackie’s twin brother for the holiday. But when Marty brings along his new fiancée, secrets unravel and the family’s elegant veneer begins to crack. The Pascals are an unabashedly self-centered lot, stricken with Kennedy envy, ...Read More
Love, incest, mental illness and murder. A 25th anniversary revival of the wickedly entertaining black comedy that became a cult classic indie film. As a violent hurricane swirls outside the Pascal’s Kennedy estate-adjacent home in McLean, VA, the storm of the century — brewing since JFK's assassination — is about to erupt inside. Mrs. Pascal, daughter Jackie-O and younger son Anthony await the arrival of Jackie’s twin brother for the holiday. But when Marty brings along his new fiancée, secrets unravel and the family’s elegant veneer begins to crack. The Pascals are an unabashedly self-centered lot, stricken with Kennedy envy, dwindling resources and a fondness for guns. Lesly has breached their bizarre household; they respond with sex and violence, even as they struggle for impossible normalcy.
|“I think we have this fascination with public violence, and a sexual attraction to Jackie and Jack,” playwright Wendy MacLeod stated in an interview. “What happened in the country after the assassination — that loss of innocence — is like what happened to these characters. They were a normal upper-class family till the day the father left. Then everything went terribly wrong.”
“This is exactly the kind of play I love to direct,” says director and Zephyr producing artistic director Lee Sankowich. “Everyone has a secret, and the audience can’t put its finger on the truth right away. It’s funny, shocking, twisted and highly theatrical.”
The House of Yes premiered at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, then played Los Angeles’ Las Palmas Theater in 1990. In 1995, it opened at New York’s SoHo Rep with Allison Janney as Mrs. Pascal, prompting Ben Brantley to write in The New York Times, “Incest inspired by images of assassination is, as far as I know, an entirely new kink in absurdist comedies about dysfunctional families… a warped Freudian Gothic.” In 1995, the play was made into a Miramax film starring Parker Posey that earned a Special Jury Award at Sundance, and it remains a cult favorite to this day.
The House of Yes opens on Saturday, May 9, continuing through June 14 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Two low-priced preview performances take place on Thursday, May 7 and Friday, May 8, each at 8 p.m. General admission is $25, except previews which are $15. The Zephyr Theatre is located at 7456 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046 (between Fairfax and La Brea). For reservations and information, call (323) 960-5563 or go to www.plays411.com/houseofyes.
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