A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

The Late Wedding

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  6any gender (adult)

Christopher Chen

Inspired by the writings of Italo Calvino, The Late Wedding is a
fractured portrait of a fractured marriage, as told through a series of
interconnected fables, including an anthropological tour of fantastical
tribes and their marital customs.

The Late Wedding

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    6any gender (adult)
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Experimental
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary
Inspired by the writings of Italo Calvino (Invisible Cities and If on a Winter's Night a Traveler), The Late Wedding is a fractured portrait of a fractured marriage, as told through a series of interconnected fables, including an anthropological tour of fantastical tribes and their marital customs. Christopher Chen's winking second-person narrative, delivered by a six-person shape-shifting cast, deftly guides you on a wild and delightful examination of love and longing. At once an anthropological tour through marriage customs, a spy thriller, and a sci-fi love story, the mind-bending The Late Wedding is an inventive and surprising theatrical experience.
History
The Late Wedding premiered at Crowded Fire Theatre in San Francisco, California, on September 18, 2014. Directed by Marissa Wolf, the production featured Michele Leavy, Lawrence Radecker, Lauren Spencer, Michael Anthony Torres, Kathryn Zdan and Ogie Zulueta.
Cast Attributes
Keywords
Performing Groups

Opening
NARRATOR

Study One: Marriage in Memory
KEL
LEE

Study Two: Marriage in Endless Honeymoon
CURTIS
FEN

Study Three: Marriage in the Land of Death
INTERVIEWER
ADAMA
EVELYN

Study Four: Marriage of Renewals
CASEN
JAMIE

Interlude One: Betrayal at the Train Station
SPY
ELEANOR
RAYA

Interlude Two: The Inn of Faces
ELEANOR
STRANGER
INNKEEPER
STRANGER 2
STRANGER 3
STRANGER 4

Interlude Three: Life in Lockdown
ELEANOR
GENERAL
PATRON 1
PATRON 2
PATRON 3
INNKEEPER
STRANGER
MRS. WEATHERBY

Interlude Four: Through the New Sea of Stars
CAPTAIN
HAN
SAILOR

Interlude Five: The Water By Night
SAILOR
JENA
JORDA
HAN
CAPTAIN

Interlude Six: Planet of Only Shorelines/The Late Wedding
HAN
ALI

The Invisible Play
NARRATOR

Casting Note: The Late Wedding can be presented with 3 to 16 actors playing various roles as indicated throughout the play. (4-8 may be the magic range?) Double, triple and quadruple casting is encouraged.

Casting and roles are fluid and up to director's discretion. For example, different actors may shift through the role of NARRATOR throughout the play. Genders and sexual orientations can be re-imagined, regardless of name. Pronouns can be shifted, "husbands" can be changed to "wives," etc. Acting should be natural and unadorned.

  • Setting Various settings; a series of immersive, distinctive environments.
  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • Strong Language

Media

“Wild, witty... contemplative and poignant... you gotta see this funny, brilliant play.” – San Francisco Examiner

“A seductive play... a fascinating little gem... a script about the mystery and challenges of love, in all its permutations. The play is a provocative one-act composed with a unique theatrical structure... a swirling nebula of magical notions put down in a contemporary world.” – DC Metro Theatre Arts

“A comic, dramatic inquiry into human relationships – between lovers or spouses; between playwright and audience – [The Late Wedding] is another of Chen’s slyly metatheatrical, blissfully funny, whiplash-smart creations... What begins as a look at anthropological research into the marital arrangements and lore of a few odd tribes segues without warning into a political drama cum action thriller.” – SF Gate

“Bold and brainy... As The Late Wedding dips in and out of such genres as the spy caper and science fiction... it blurs the boundaries between its two strands of Calvino homage, so that the genre-sampling meta-theater begins to reflect on the bittersweet realities of marriage.” – The Washington Post

“[The Late Wedding] is about the vagaries of love and marriage, both homo- and heterosexual, and the way that we both cherish and distort the past, and about the creative process itself... you gotta see this funny, brilliant play.” – San Francisco Examiner

Licensing & Materials

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

Scripts

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Authors

Christopher Chen

Christopher Chen

Christopher Chen is an international award-winning playwright whose works have been produced across the United States and abroad. His play The Headlands received its world premiere at Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 in winter 2020. His play Passage received its world premiere at ...

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