Desire knows no bounds. Tommy Heleringer as "Anthony" and Hilary Bettis as "Lesly" in Heathcliff Entertainment's "The House of Yes."
Photo Credit: Mark Krieger
Sweet young Marty brings his ingenuous doughnut-shop waitress girlfriend, Lesly, home to meet his family at their opulent Washington D.C. mansion. But the Turkey Day goings-on are considerably less than wholesome, as Lesly discovers the moment she meets Marty's decidedly dysfunctional family, including his asylum-reject twin sister, Jackie-O, whose hobbies include incest and reenacting the JFK assassination with prop blood and her brother as victim.
“The House of Yes” is a dark comedy directed by Brandt Reiter with incestous themes produced by Heathcliff Entertainment and appearing at the Access Theater . Twenty something Marty brings home a new girlfriend Lesly (Hilary Bettis), a donutshop waitress from New York to meet the family during Thanksgiving. His mother, Mrs. Pascal ( Marcia Everett), sister Jackie-O (Zoe Swenson) and younger brother Anthony (Tommy Heleringer) are aflutter with curiosity about the woman. You see, Marty has never brought a girlfriend home to meet the family, and Marty has some interesting emotional entanglements with his family and especially his sister who just was released from the asylum. Jackie-O and Marty are twins and have been were very close growing up. Their brother is stunted socially and their mother is wacky in her own right. The play inspired the movie the award winning Miramax film of the same name starring Parker Posey in 1997.
There is a momentary reference to the next door neighbors, The Kennedy's, and the play is set in Washington DC, but other than that, there is no resemblance to Jackie Kennedy. What Kennedy's the playwright is referring to, perhaps, Ethel, is undisclosed. What is disclosed is that Mrs. Pascal had a tragic moment while watching the Kennedy assassination and for thereafter, Jackie-O has re-enacted the scene with her brother.
Of the cast of five, Zoe Swenson and Tommy Heleringer are standouts in challenging roles created by playwright Wendy MacLeod. Zoe is also an Executive Producer of the play which is the first production of her new company. It will be interesting to see what Heathcliff tackles next.
House of Yes
Access Theater
380 Broadway, 4th Floor
New York, NY,
Tickets $18 can be purchased through Theatermania or by calling 212-352-3101