QTC favorite Audrey Cefaly’s THE GULF receives rave reviews at Signature Theatre

For an evening of thought provoking drama, see Quotidian Theatre Company alum and playwright Audrey Cefaly spread her wings with her latest play, The Gulf, at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA. Cefaly’s play portrays two lovers drifting along in a spare boat, adrift in the middle of a backwoods Southern river delta, as they sort through their six-year relationship, realizing that moving forward may well mean moving in different directions.

The Gulf has drawn rave reviews for its ability to portray the joys and heartbreak of love. As John Stoltenburg of DCMetro Theatre Arts observes, “Audrey Cefaly’s The Gulf is as memorable as anyone’s own first broken heart and as enduring as anyone’s longing for lasting love.”

According to Amanda Gunther of Theatre Bloom, Cefaly’s story is “profoundly crafted with a striking emotional core. [She] articulates her work with nuance and finesse while doing so in the practiced patois of the gulf vernacular” and is “practically a poet with the give and take, push and pull, ebb and flow of the way these two women interact.”

The acting is also first rate. Ryan Taylor of DC Theatre Scene observes, “Maria Rizzo and Rachel Zampelli make a cracking pair, evoking a couple that has been together long enough to know each other inside and out, just enough to effectively wound in argument, with full knowledge that both have a killing blow stored, just in case.”

Jeffrey Walker of Broadway World proclaims that Cefaly is “an exciting new voice for the theatre,” and he adds that Rizzo and Zampelli give “two of the most riveting performances I have seen this season so far.”

David Siegel of DC Metro Theatre Arts agrees, enthusing “The portrayals by Maria Rizzo and Rachel Zampelli will be talked about beyond DC, as they should. They set a high bar for those who come after them, when The Gulf becomes a play produced through[out] the United States, as I am sure it will be.”

Further accolades come from Peter Marks of the Washington Post for director Joe Calarco, who ensures “the 85-minute comedy-drama is invested with an assured, soulful intimacy.”

The Gulf is a play that is not to be missed!

Tickets, $40-$89. Through Nov. 6 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Visit sigtheatre.org or call 703-820- 9771.

Rachel Zampelli and Maria Rizzo in The Gulf. (photo by Margot Schulman)

Maria Rizzo and Rachel Zampelli in The Gulf. (photo by Margot Schulman)

Rachel Zampelli and Maria Rizzo in The Gulf. (photo by Margot Schulman)