The Lincoln Center Theater production of How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, in which married couples flirt with the idea of polyamory, opened March 20 Off-Broadway. Directed by Rebecca Taichman, the newest play from Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl stars Tony Award winner Lena Hall and Oscar winner Marisa Tomei.
Rounding out the cast are Brian Hutchison, David McElwee, Naian González Norvind, Omar Metwally, Austin Smith, and Robin Weigert. Performances began February 23 in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center and continue through May 7.
Set in New Jersey, How to Transcend a Happy Marriage sees two couples (Tomei and Metwally, and Weigert and Hutchison) invite a young polyamorous woman, played by Hall, and her two live-in boyfriends to a dinner party on New Year’s Eve. Throughout the course of the evening, the limits of friendship, marriage, and parenthood are tested.
Read what critics had to say about Ruhl’s newest play:
AM New York (Matt Windman)
Deadline (Jeremy Gerard)
Entertainment Weekly (Breanne L. Heldman)
Newsday (Linda Winer)
The Hollywood Reporter (Frank Scheck)
The New York Times (Ben Brantley)
NY Daily News (Joe Dziemianowicz)
New York Magazine (Jesse Green)
Time Out New York (David Cote)
Variety (Marilyn Stasio)
The Wrap (Robert Hofler)
Ruhl’s plays include In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist); The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize); The Oldest Boy; Dead Man’s Cell Phone; Eurydice; For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday; Stage Kiss; Dear Elizabeth; Passion Play, a cycle (Pen American Award, The Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from The Kennedy Center); Melancholy Play; and Orlando.
How to Transcend a Happy Marriage features sets by David Zinn, costumes by Susan Hilferty, lighting by Peter Kaczorowski, sound by Matt Hubbs, and original music by Todd Almond.
Tickets are available at the Lincoln Center Theater box office, Telecharge.com, and lct.org.
