In “New Year” — directed by former St. Louisan Nathan Sutton — unhappily married couple Benjamin and Katherine are having one last hurrah with their closest friends before moving back to New York. Benjamin, who considers himself the most successful person in most rooms, is a playwright, famed for his play “Gifts of Truth,” and a renowned NYU acting professor. Benjamin, in fact, taught both Katherine — now a photographer — and the partygoers who have gathered for New Year’s Eve at their home. Like most friends from college, the group’s members have kept in touch over the years, but their lives have taken different courses. As the night unfolds, a clearer picture emerges about just how much their ideas about each other have changed. Those realizations are further precipitated by a manipulative and destructive game that Benjamin brings to the table called “I Love You, I Hate You,” which causes fights to break out and old friends to face hard truths. As the countdown to the New Year begins, the group is forced to deal with some increasingly harsh realities.