Becky Shaw

Becky Shaw
2026 Broadway revival Playbill cover
Original language	English
Written by	Gina Gionfriddo
Characters	Becky Shaw Susan Suzanna Max Andrew
Genre	Comedy
Premiere
Date	2008 (2008)
Place	Humana Festival of New American Plays

Becky Shaw is a play written by Gina Gionfriddo. The play premiered at the Humana Festival of New American Plays, Kentucky, in 2008 and opened Off-Broadway in 2008. The play was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Plot

The name of the play is a reference to Thackeray's title character Becky Sharp in his 1847–48 novel Vanity Fair. The play follows a disastrous blind date gone wrong between the titular character, Becky Shaw, and a man named Max. The date is set up by Max's long-time friend and one-time romantic partner Suzanna and her partner, Andrew, which leads to chaotic results.

Productions

The play had its world premiere at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky, 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, 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, its Off-Broadway debut at Second Stage Theater's Tony Kiser Theater in the winter of 2008–09 was announced. 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, and Thomas Sadoski. 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.

Original cast and characters

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• ​Becky Shaw​ at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
• ​Becky Shaw​ at the Internet Broadway Database
• Kelly Bishop and Emily Bergl in Becky Shaw (preview photos) at the Wayback Machine (archived August 7, 2012)