Full-length play

A Play by William Ivor Fowkes

Full script available at the National New Play Network's New Play Exchange (NPX). Click here.

LENGTH: 90 minutes

CAST: 3M, 1F (playing 10 roles + one voice)

SYNOPSIS: On the verge of committing suicide, a college student who fears he might be gay decides to marry his girlfriend instead. Eight years later, Chip and Sally Miller seem to lead a perfect life in Manhattan, but a secretly tormented Chip considers walking out on their marriage until Sally announces that she's pregnant and convinces him to move out to Bronxville, far away from the city's temptations. As the Miller clan grows over the years, so do Chip's despair and desperation as he secretly acts out in increasingly dangerous ways. MARRIAGE is told through excerpts from the therapy sessions they attend when the marriage starts to fall apart.   

PRODUCTION NOTE: MARRIAGE is a "standalone" full-length play that may be performed on its own or together with the other 2 plays (ROOMMATES and AFTERMATH) that make up THE BRONXVILLE TRILOGY, or Marriages of Inconvenience. (MARRIAGE is the second play in the trilogy and includes a PROLOGUE when performed with the other 2 plays.)

SETTING

Cornell University; Manhattan; and Bronxville, NY

TIME

1977 to 1997

CHARACTERS

Chip Miller. Senior executive at a packaged goods company. Ages from 19 to 39.

Sally Miller. Chip's wife. Good at taking charge of things. 19 to 39.

Franklin Mancuso. Openly gay. Charming real estate agent. 35, then 36.

Will Dent. Chip's work colleague. 40.

Dr. Devlin. Chip's junior high school principal. 48.

Officer Johnson. Police officer. 33.

Leo Schwartz. Family man with a double life. 40.

Tony. A rough but sexy man in great shape. 30.

Mr. Miller. Chip's father. 40.

Bouncer. 32.

Therapist (Voice).