Full of brilliant satire and piercing truth, MAN AND WIFE picks up where Edward Albee and Thornton Wilder left off, telling the story of our struggling country through the parable of a struggling marriage (we even get a direct Skin Of Our Teeth shoutout, in case we were unsure of the playwright’s influences). Goldman-Sherman’s characters begin as archetypes, but over the course of 100 pages and 25 years, we begin to see the contradictions, the complexities, the cracks where humanness breaks through the molds the world has told them to fill.

This imaginative, astute two-hander has such a high level of pure theatricality that I'd designed half the play in my head before I'd finished reading - and yet the possibilities remain endless! It's absurd, it's smart, and it says so much with such simplicity - there are audiences who will see this performed and come out changed. The characterization is incredibly consistent, and yet when we finally watch these two people become "real" everything snaps together like magic - which is what a play should do and be. This play accomplishes so much my head is spinning! Fantastic!

Quite a feat to pull off 25 years of Missy and Ron's hilarious and sad journey from the top of the wedding cake! Emma Goldman-Sherman delights as she enlightens in MAN & WIFE. The plot and character twists are deployed with aplomb. And EGS's superb use of technique & theatrical instincts makes this 2-actor play feel richly populated with children and relatives. A favorite scene among many is "Mary and Joe Move In" in which Missy's parents are made completely visible to the imagination in all of their ingloriousness. Would love to see this staged with multiple sets of actors.