''Becky Shaw'' is a play written by Gina Gionfriddo. The play premiered at the Humana Festival in 2008 and opened Off-Broadway in 2008. The play was a finalist for the 2009

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...

Productions

The play had its world premiere at the

Humana Festival of New American Plays Humana Festival of New American Plays is an internationally renowned festival that celebrates the contemporary American playwright. Produced annually in Louisville, Kentucky by Actors Theatre of Louisville, this festival showcases new theatrica ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

on February 29, 2008. The play was commissioned by the Actors Theatre of Louisville after the success of Gionfriddo's last play, '' After Ashley'', at the 2004 Humana Festival. Directed by Peter Dubois, the cast featured Annie Parisse. Charles Isherwood reviewed the play for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', writing: "The new play marks an impressive stride for a writer with a saw-toothed wit and a seductive interest in exploring the rewards and responsibilities of emotional interdependence...''Becky Shaw'' is a thoroughly enjoyable play, suspenseful, witty and infused with an unsettling sense of the potential for psychic disaster inherent in almost any close relationship." After the play opened to critical acclaim at the Humana Festival, it was soon announced that

Second Stage Theatre Second Stage Theater is a theater company founded in 1979 by Robyn Goodman and Carole Rothman and located in Manhattan, New York City. It produces both new plays and revivals of contemporary American plays by new playwrights and established wri ...

would play host to its Off-Broadway debut in the winter of 2008–09. Performances began at Second Stage on December 16, 2008, in previews, officially opening on January 8, 2009. This production saw the return of director Peter DuBois along with original cast members Annie Parisse (as Becky Shaw) and David Wilson Barnes. The cast featured Emily Bergl,

Kelly Bishop Carole "Kelly" Bishop (born February 28, 1944) is an American actress and dancer, best known for her roles as matriarch Emily Gilmore on the series ''Gilmore Girls'' and as Marjorie Houseman, the mother of Jennifer Grey's Frances "Baby" Housema ...

, and

Thomas Sadoski Thomas Christian Sadoski (born July 1, 1976) is an American stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for his roles as Don Keefer in the HBO series '' The Newsroom'' and as Matt Short in the sitcom television series '' Life in Pieces'' ...

. Kelly Bishop was cast as Susan, a woman with MS who hooks up with a man much younger than herself, and quite disreputable. Susan, a domineering woman, also has quite a dysfunctional relationship with her daughter Suzanna (Emily Bergl) in the play. Due to positive reception and strong box office numbers, performances were extended through March 15, 2009. Director Peter DuBois and Gionfriddo met at Brown University in the 1990s, and DuBois directed her thesis production (''U.S. Drag'') there; he has also directed her play ''Rapture, Blister, Burn''.

Regional and international

The Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania produced the play from December 30, 2009, to February 7, 2010, directed by

Anne Kauffman Anne Kauffman is an American director known primarily for her work on new plays, mainly in the New York area. She is a founding member of the theater group the Civilians.Grode, Eric"Meet the Directors"''New York Times'', January 31, 2013 Early lif ...

. The Australian premiere was produced by Echelon Productions at the MTC Lawler Studio in Melbourne opening on October 27, 2010. The production was directed by Indira Carmichael and starred Daniel Frederiksen, Amanda Levy, Alex Papps, Kate Atkinson and Judith Roberts. The

San Francisco Playhouse San Francisco Playhouse (formerly SF Playhouse) is a non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, founded in 2003 by Bill English and Susi Damilano. The theater stages nine plays yearly, including Broadway plays, musicals, and world ...

produced the play from January 24 to March 10, 2012. It was directed by Amy Glazer.

Awards and nominations

In discussing the possibilities for the 2009

, ''Playbill'' wrote: "Another contender frequently mentioned for the 2009 Pulitzer is Gina Gionfriddo's ''Becky Shaw''... as praised as that work 'After Ashley''was, many critics considered ''Becky Shaw'' — about a quartet of emotionally damaged and dependent young people — to be her most mature play to date." ''Becky Shaw'' was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama (won by '' Ruined''). Gina Gionfriddo won the 2009 Outer Critics Circle Award (John Gassner Award). The play received nominations for the

Lucille Lortel Award The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...

, Outer Critics Circle Award, and Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Play.

References

External links

* * {{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120807051447/http://crushable.com/entertainment/kelly-bishop-and-emily-bergl-in-becky-shaw/ , title=Kelly Bishop and Emily Bergl in ''Becky Shaw'' (preview photos) , date=mdy 2008 plays American plays Off-Broadway plays