behind ‘the effect’

Lucy Prebble’s ‘The Effect’

When two volunteers for an antidepressant clinical trial start to feel the tell-tale signs - sweaty hands, thumping hearts - they know they have fallen for each other hard. Or are their bodies processing a chemical romance? The question at the heart of The Effect is one for our medicated time: is love the sum of our chemical selves or something more? Four characters, two participants in the trial and two supervising doctors with a collective past, are center stage in this investigation of the brain and mood chemistry.

About Lucy Prebble

Lucy Prebble writes for film, television, games and theater. She is probably best known for her play Enron, about the infamous corporate fraud. She often writes for TV in the U.K. and the U.S. and is the co-executive producer and writer for the HBO series, “Succession.” She was head screenwriter for Bungie’s first-person shooter video game, Destiny.

Cast & Crew

Cast

Jake Cote as Tristan Fey

Allison McCall as Connie Hall

Mark Rubin as Dr. Toby Sealey

Amanda Eaton as Dr. Lorna James

Artistic & Production Crew

Christine Marshall, Director & Prop Design

Caitlin Wold, Set Design & Construction

Chris DeFilipp, Lighting Design

Savannah Irish, Costume Design

Scott Leland, Sound Design

Keegan Perry, Stage Manager

Janice Gardner, Production Manager

Remy Dickinson, Dramaturg

From Director, Christine Marshall

"Lucy Prebble's smart and slyly witty script presents a wonderful challenge to the actors, asking them to balance and convey all the emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual intentions that can be at work in the seemingly simplest of interactions. While we as humans are always working from a simultaneous array of perspectives when we communicate, this play, by adding the possible effects of an artificial enhancement to that complicated stew, really compels us to examine just how many intentions can live within just three short words: 'I love you.’”