Playlist: Amy Rapp's Portfolio
Featured
LIFE IN A MARITAL INSTITUTION: Live from Bass Performance Hall
From Amy Rapp | 59:00
LIFE IN A MARITAL INSTITUTION: Live from Bass Performance Hall is an autobiographical dark comedy, written and performed by "This American Life" contributor James Braly, that cuts back and forth between the deathbed wedding of Braly's sister and his own tragically comic marital adventures of 20 high-conflict years...or as thirteen couples counselors called it, "a passionate, bi-polar relationship." Hailed as "never less than excellent" by The New York Times and "gaspingly funny" by Variety, Braly dives head first into a tale of attraction, repulsion, death, and the afterlife. It’s 20 years of monogamy in one terrifying hour.
<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -->
LIFE IN A MARITAL INSTITUTION: Live from Bass Performance Hall, written and performed by James Braly, directed by Hal Brooks, and produced by Meredith Vieira Productions, is a poignant, darkly humorous autobiographical comedy. Set improbably in a hospice, James sits at the bedside of his dying sister, who asks him to trade places with her. Until she realizes that would mean trading places with him...being in his marriage...a fate worse than death! The monologue cuts back and forth between the hospice, where his sister is engaged to be married, and scenes from his marriage, exploring infidelity, near?death childbirth and other high?stakes yet hilarious adventures. In the process, the comedy explores the roots of romantic love in familial love, and the notion: not only can you go home again, you can't not go home again; you can't escape your past. Until you confront it...which James does through his sister’s deathbed wedding, before returning home to confront whether his own marriage should come to an end.
<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -->
LIFE IN A MARITAL INSTITUTION premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, had sold?out Off-Off and Off-Broadways runs, and a 14-city national tour.
Hailed as a “masterpiece of storytelling” (The List, Edinburgh), "gaspingly funny" (Variety), "never less than excellent" (The New York Times), “fascinating and funny, dangerous and bizarrely heart-warming,” (Portsmouth Herald), and “simultaneously disturbing and snort-wine-out-your-nose hysterical” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram), it was a New York Times Critics’ Pick and named Best Small Tour 2013 by Theater Critic Matt Lowry.
This is an edited version of the show as performed in front of a live audience and recorded with permission of Performing Arts Fort Worth in McDavid Studio at Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth, TX.