THEATERWORKS HARTFORD EXPOSES YOU TO "FEVER DREAMS"

Mark Twain famously said “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything” and “A mine is a hole in the ground with a liar on top.” It would have been prudent if the trio of characters, Zach, Addie and Miller, in Jeffrey Lieber’s intriguing and suspenseful “Fever Dreams” had heeded that warning. Enter at your own risk to TheaterWorks Hartford’s latest offering in honor of their 35th anniversary season of intoxicating theater, until Sunday, November 3 with “Fever Dreams (of animals on the verge of extinction).

Luke Cantarella’s set design of a lovely cabin in the woods, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, complete with exposed beams, an enclosed screen porch and a canoe, gives no clue, except for a broken cabinet door, that any one or any thing is amiss. That is deceptively untrue. Three decades ago Doug Savant’s Zach and Tim DeKay’s Miller were best buds and college roommates, until Lana Young's Addie asserts her sensual self into their midst. She ends up marrying Miller and carrying on a clandestine affair with Zach for thirty years, meeting infrequently in the inviting cabin in the woods.

There are many secrets lurking in their chosen sanctuary, too many secrets that are bubbling up to the surface just waiting to be exposed. As an environmentalist, Addie weaves her tale of animals, from bears to beetles, on the verge of extinction into her complicated relationship with both men. The level of danger is heightened when Miller suddenly makes his appearance. Will all three survive the encounter? Can they resolve their now revealed deceptions? Will the rules of reality destroy their fragile connections? Rob Ruggiero directs this convoluted triangle of friendship that is tested to the last degree.

For tickets ($33-78), call TheaterWorks Hartford, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford at 860-527-7838 or online at twhartford.org. Performances are Tuesday to Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Be sure to explore the photographs in the gallery and treat yourself to a cup of Mezzie’s delicious ice cream in the lobby.

Discover how life can hang by a thread, how friendships can be undone, why relationships are so fragile, and how a gun can complicate any situation so quickly and irrevocably.