Full-Length Play

Owen Griffith, dubbed "America's most important playwright," is a big advocate of open marriages—until he isn’t.

Playwright Owen Griffith erupts when a cable TV interviewer prods him to defend his well-known belief in open relationships, and the video goes viral. When he and wife Valerie discuss the video with friends Norbert and Janine, Norbert brags about the "fidelity clause" included in their pre-nuptial agreement. Soon both marriages fall apart; Owen gets involved with Janine and suddenly becomes a proponent of fidelity; Norbert tries to win Janine back; and Valerie seeks companionship in a surprising place. In the end, Owen's relationship bliss is tempered when Janine's past starts to catch up with her, and his newfound commitment is put to a test. 

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

LENGTH: 1 hour 45 minutes (plus intermission)

CAST: 3M, 3F (9 characters) 

SETTING

After an opening scene in Cleveland, OH, the play takes place entirely in Manhattan. 

TIME

2014 and beyond.

CHARACTERS

Owen Griffith. Male. 45. Playwright. Self-involved, pompous, and highly sexual. Married to Valerie.

Valerie Clarkson. Female. 55. International management consultant. Wealthy, witty, and generous. Married to Owen.

Norbert Metz. Male. 42. Lawyer. Competitive and punitive, but sometimes generous. Married to Janine. 

Janine Fiorato. Female. 40. Owner of a corporate public relations firm. Practical, sexy, and a little calculating. Married to Norbert.

Linda. Female. 37. Owen's mistress. Jittery, stressed-out, and sexually needy.

Interviewer. Male. Cable TV show host. Dense and obnoxious.

Gretchen. Female. 32. Guest at party. Attractive and flirtatious. A fan of Owen's.

Bobby. Male. 33. An actor. Hunky and flirtatious. Gretchen's cousin.

Josh. Male. Waiter. Solicitous and observant. 

PRODUCTION HISTORY

2017: READING, Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock, Manhasset, NY.

DEVELOPMENT HISTORY

The current version of THE FIDELITY CLAUSE was completed in 2025. The genesis of the play was a 10-minute play, THE BRAZILIAN DILEMMA (First Prize, McLean Drama Company, Washington DC, 2013; produced by The Collective NY, 2013 & 2015; published by The Collective NY, 2013), which was then produced as a film by Collective NY Films, screenplay by William Ivor Fowkes, (released on Amazon Prime Video, February 2019). The full-length play was developed at the Pulse Ensemble Theatre Playwrights' Lab in New York. A short excerpt, titled COFFEE BREAK, was presented in a podcast by Panglossian Productions, Williamsburg, VA, 2018, and in a staged reading at TAKE TEN: An Evening of 10-Minute Plays by the DGPG Writers at The Players Club, 2018. Another short excerpt, titled AN UBER IN THE RAIN, was presented in Zoom Productions by Turn Point Theatre, UK, 2020, and Anytime Players Ensemble, USA, 2021.