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The Boomerang Effect

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  4w, 6m

Five bedrooms. Five couples. One chain of well-intentioned disasters in this new comedy that peeks under the covers...

The Boomerang Effect

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 6m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary

The Boomerang Effect is a comedy consisting of five interrelated short plays that peeks into the sex lives of five different couples in various bedroom scenarios. It explores the many universals that occur in every relationship, while examining the trickier issues that can test a couple’s durability such as secrecy, infidelity, power struggles, miscommunication, and sexual incompatibility. While wrestling with their individual predicaments, each couple also unknowingly ends up exacerbating the tensions of the other relationships, until their seemingly innocuous interferences come back to smack them in the face. As one of our characters puts it, "Every decision we make becomes just another link in this endless chain of well-intentioned disasters we call life."

History
The Boomerang Effect premiered at The Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles, in 2012, under the direction of Dámaso Rodriguez. 
JULIE
ANDREW
MARCUS
JANETA
NICK
STEPHANIE 
ALEXANDER
RENEE
PAUL
DAVID
  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day, New Millennium/21st Century
  • Setting A bedroom. 
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • Intense Adult Themes

Media

"Not unlike Neil Simon with his zippy one-liners coming at you fast and furious, Matthew Leavitt has fashioned a very uptempo ultra-modern comedy about relationships in The Boomerang Effect that manages to slip in a substantial message or two whilst tickling the funny bone." - Broadway WorldRead More 

“Leavitt has a sharply incisive sense of humor.  It’s as though Neil Simon rediscovered his early knack for skewering contemporary affairs of the heart while being inspired to pay homage to Schnitzler’s “La Ronde.” –BackstageRead More

“Leavitt's sex comedy is undeniably well-written, entertaining and amusing with lots of honest insight into the disillusionment that comes with being young, educated, and underemployed. “ – Laist.comRead More

"Playwright Matthew Leavittʼs The Boomerang Effect is...a triumph. Hilarious, intelligent, and bordering on realism, the play follows five couples through the various loopholes and pitfalls of love." - The Examiner, Read More 

"Leavitt’s crisp dialogue boasts plenty of resonant zingers...[and grants] the simpler pleasure of watching engaging characters grapple with comedic contemporary dilemmas." - Frontiers LA, Read More

"A sort of 'La Ronde' for millennials, the play is a somewhat retro sex comedy about the romantic travails of five couples...[The Boomerang Effect] delivers plenty of uncomplicated fun." - LA Times, Read More

“The writing is quite good…engaging, and the twist in the order keeps us involved. Genuinely funny jokes here.” – Talkin’ BroadwayRead More

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

Available Formats:

Authors

Matthew Leavitt

Matthew Leavitt, a lifelong Los Angeles native, is an award-winning playwright, director and librettist. He is also the co-artistic director of the classical theatre company The 6th Act. After a summer of studying playwriting at Harvard University, he was a semifinalist in th ...

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