How to Transcend a Happy Marriage

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

How to Transcend a Happy Marriage

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  4w, 4m

Sarah Ruhl

"This new play is a subversive enchantment. It is part absurd domestic serio-comedy, part erotic magic realism, unflinching about taboos and about questioning that, just maybe, monogamy isn’t enough." – Newsday

Image: 2017 Lincoln Center Theater Production (Kyle Froman)

How to Transcend a Happy Marriage

Request licence
Get the Script
  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 4m
  • Duration
    Duration
    120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Not Applicable
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary
At a dinner party in New Jersey, two couples discuss polyamory as brought up by the introduction of a new temp, Pip, in Jane’s office. When they invite Pip and her two male partners, discussion turns to action and the exploration of unexplored desire turns animalistic, and then Jane’s daughter sees it all. How to Transcend a Happy Marriage blurs the lines of monogamy and asks how deeply friends, lovers and strangers connect.
History
How to Transcend a Happy Marriage premiered at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York City in February 2017 under the direction of Rebecca Taichman.
Cast Attributes
Keywords
Performing Groups

JANE
MICHAEL
GEORGE (GEORGIA)
PAUL 

Four people in their late thirties or early forties. Race and ethnicity immaterial. 

PIP – A beautiful woman, named Deborah. Known to all as Pip. (She can dance and sing and slaughter animals and also play a teenager named Jenna.) 

DAVID (pronounced Dah-veed) and FREDDIE – Two men who Pip has a polyamorous relationship with. David is a mathematician. I don’t know what Freddie is but he doesn’t know either. 

I think that JANE and GEORGE are women and MICHAEL and PAUL are men but you could change their genders if you want.

  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day
  • Setting A forest.
    A living/dining room.
    A jail-- empty space with a few bars.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Drugs
    • Strong Language
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

“A subversive enchantment... part absurd domestic serio-comedy, part erotic magic realism.” – Newsday

“How to Transcend a Happy Marriage has a charming phantasmagorical finish that points out the conflict between our animal nature and the societal norms we create to control it.” – BroadwayWorld, Read More 

“Audiences are receiving a comprehensive education in the polyamorous lifestyle in Sarah Ruhl’s whimsical and spiritual domestic drama, How to Transcend a Happy Marriage... for those willing to take the ride, the play is a provocative and poetic meditation on being caught between reasonably happy domesticity and untapped, unacknowledged desires.” – AM New York, Read More 

“This new play is a subversive enchantment. It is part absurd domestic serio-comedy, part erotic magic realism, unflinching about taboos and about questioning that, just maybe, monogamy isn’t enough.” – Newsday, Read More 

“Provocative and enlightening... How to Transcend a Happy Marriage abounds with situations that lead its characters to say the most quotable things, all of which should be experienced live in the theater and not in any critic’s review. They’re that memorable.” – The Wrap, Read More 


Videos

  • Lincoln Center Theater montage of How to Transcend a Happy Marriage youtube thumbnail

    Lincoln Center Theater montage of How to Transcend a Happy Marriage

Photos

  • How to Transcend a Happy Marriage

    Image: 2017 Lincoln Center Theater Production (Kyle Froman)

  • How to Transcend a Happy Marriage

    Image: 2017 Lincoln Center Theater Production (Kyle Froman)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
  • Mandatory Music/Media Fee: £18 per performance

Scripts

Available Formats:
Get the Script

Add-Ons

Take a look below at how you can enhance your show!

Authors

Sarah Ruhl

Sarah Ruhl

Sarah Ruhl’s plays include In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, The Clean House, Passion Play, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Melancholy Play, For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, The Oldest Boy, Stage Kiss, Dear Elizabeth, Eurydice, How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, Orlando, Late ...

View full profile

Now Playing