THE COTTAGE
by Sandy Rustin
(April 24-May 16, 2026)
Directed by Barbara Larose
Producer: Bill Hammond
About the play:
The true meaning of fate, identity, and marriage are called into question as a surprising, hilarious web of secrets unravels in this ridiculous – potentially murderous – uncharacteristically feminist, 1923 tale of sex, betrayal, and oh yes, love … when Sylvia and Beau find themselves in an English countryside cottage for their yearly rendezvous, and Sylvia knows this time it will be the beginning of their new life together. But then Beau demurs on a shared future, and their spouses arrive at the cottage. . . The Cottage has been described as a modern take on a Noël Coward comedy. It was performed at Broadway’s Hayes Theatre in 2023.
“For laughs’ sake, the situation is over-the-top. Rustin raids the comedy playbook for the pure sake of humor.”
~ New York Theatre Guide, 2023
About Sandy Rustin, the playwright:
Sandy Rustin was a Broadway actress before turning her hand to playwriting. Having started her acting career as Sandy in the National Tour of Grease, her favorite NY acting credits include Found, Modern Orthodox, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Jolson & Company, Sarah, Plain and Tall and Neil Simon’s Hotel Suite. Sandy has performed in concerts and special events all over the country. TV credits include Inside Amy Schumer, The Scariest Show on TV (Comedy Central), Law and Order; SVU, As the World Turns, All My Children and Guiding Light.
Once she started writing, she quickly became one of the most produced playwrights in America, Sandy penned the adaptation of the cult-hit film, CLUE which has enjoyed over 4,000 productions worldwide. The New York Times called CLUE “a welcome throwback to an era of physical comedy!” Other recent plays include The Suffragette’s Murder, Struck, Elijah, and Everything Seems Like Maybe.
Of The Cottage, Rustin said:
“When I set out initially to write this play, I was looking to create a show in the world of this Noël Coward-esque universe. I love those plays. [. . .] I was really looking to take that genre, and flip it on its head, and see what would happen if I tried to incorporate all those elements of those plays of days gone by, but do it through the lens of female characters who have something to say and a journey to make.”
About Barbara Larose, director
Barbara studied theatre at Concordia University and has worked as a Director, Actor, Dramaturge, and Acting Coach for many years. For Village Players she has directed A.A. Milne’s comedy Mr. Pim Passes By in 2015. Evelyn Strange by Stewart Lemoine in 2017 A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters in 2021 and of course, Tim Kelly’s Terror By Gaslight in 2024.
Directing credits elsewhere include: Shadows in the Nooks (multiple authors), String of Pearls by Michelle Lowe, Sharon Pollock’s Blood Relations, James Reaney’s The Killdeer, Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Michel Tremblay’s The Real World?, Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson, Margaret Edison’s Wit, and Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound and After Magritte, all at the Alumnae Theatre. She has also directed plays in several New Ideas Festivals and several shows at the Toronto Fringe, including Life in the Raw which she also wrote with partner, Rick Jones, and Seeking Refuge in the 2017 Fringe – a critically-acclaimed musical written by Rick.
Barbara has this to say about The Cottage: “When I read the play I laughed out loud until there were tears in my eyes. That humour really attracted me to the piece – it was like a glass of great champagne – all sparkle and effervescence. For a modern audience, it is delightful to take this kind of humour and modernize it to today’s sensibilities without losing an iota of the ‘funny’ of this genre. “
Village Players 