In the mysterious play The Lying Lesson, Carol Kane stars as a woman who may or may not be Better Davis. Playwright Craig Lucas creates a story that is enigmatic, introspective and engaging. Lucas, who wrote Prelude to a Kiss, Reckless and The Light in the Piazza, provides an extremely funny and unsettling homage to Hollywood’s Golden Age

Synopsis

In The Lying Lesson, which is set in a remote seaside village in Maine, we meet a woman who may or may not be legendary movie star Bette Davis (Kane). Davis, A.K.A. Ruth, arrives with the intention of purchasing the home of an elderly couple. Helped by a young local woman who appears never to have heard of her, “Ruth” tries to reclaim her distant past, and engages in an ongoing contest of cat and mouse with her new “assistant.” With a plot filled with twists and turns, The Lying Lesson asks incisive questions about memory, identity and truth-telling.

Show Facts

Cast

Bette Davis Carol Kane
Missy Bodine Mickey Sumner

Creative

Written by Craig Lucas
Director Pam Mackinnon
Set Designer Neil Patel
Costume Designer Ilona Somogyi
Lighting Designer Russell Champa
Original Music and Sound Designer Broken Chord

Venue

Atlantic Theater Company
336 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011

Preview: Feb. 20, 2013 Open: Mar. 13, 2013 Status: Limited run, closing Mar. 31, 2013