Anna has received an enormous emerald from her married lover, as well as a stipend with which she intends to woo Claire, her longtime companion. But Claire is infatuated with a respectable young lady and wants to enlist the jealous Anna’s help for a rendezvous. When Claire's young inamorata appears, it sets off a crisis that puts both the valuable emerald and the women's futures at risk.

The Story

The Reason

MALINDA L. BECKHAM, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

When preparing our season, I read many plays and try to suss out the ones that challenge our organization and our artists. I look for material that is aligned with the DDTCo. mission and larger purpose: to entertain audiences, inspire artists, and honor playwrights. David Mamet’s Boston Marriage fits that bill. The play rallies on women, giving us the opportunity to taste and savor the words usually reserved for Mamet men. We are given a look at the more obtuse side of gender where women are written with characteristics usually reserved for their male counterparts. The play explores attitudes that transcend directly to today where expectations continue to meet resistance.

These three women relate to the world in which they have refused to become isolated in a time that required it to be so. They resist the boundaries of society and the restrictions of expectation. They exploit opportunities and capitalize on the weakness of others. Just like Mamet’s men. They are tender and rotten, strong and empty, longing and satisfied. They are conflicts in their own reality, standing firm in their own truth. They are who they are, and they want you to know it.

I have heard it said that Mamet wrote these women like men. I think he wrote them like women. If we look long enough, listen closely enough, and feel openly enough, we realize that women and men are equal in their depravity and joy. Our differences make us who we are as individuals, not genders.

Enjoy this very colorful, stripped down look at love and acceptance.