Undo

UNDO is the recipient of the 2013 Theatre Puget Sound Gregory Award for Outstanding New Play and the 2013 Seattle Theatre Writers' Award for Excellence in Local Playwriting. It was nominated for the 2013 American Theatre Critics Association New Play Awards and was a semi-finalist for the 2014 Princess Grace Award.

"The premise is so simple and brilliant—what if a divorce were a public...
UNDO is the recipient of the 2013 Theatre Puget Sound Gregory Award for Outstanding New Play and the 2013 Seattle Theatre Writers' Award for Excellence in Local Playwriting. It was nominated for the 2013 American Theatre Critics Association New Play Awards and was a semi-finalist for the 2014 Princess Grace Award.

"The premise is so simple and brilliant—what if a divorce were a public event precisely like your wedding, with guests and presents and an officiant and tons of booze?—that it threatens to overpower the show itself. But Arsenault’s sharp wit and ear for honest dialogue, which focuses on realistically mundane details and then telescopes to huge family drama, makes the concept work beautifully. Bring someone to talk it over with after; you’ll surely want to." - THE STRANGER

UNDO takes place in a universe that is exactly like our own with one important difference: in order to get a divorce, you must go through a backwards version of your own wedding ceremony.

We meet Rachel, the "bride," and Joe, the "groom," on the morning of their undoing. As their families gather, it becomes clear that the burden of the occasion is weighing on them all, drawing old wounds and secrets to the surface. A religious proscription that, though alcohol is allowed, food is not, further fuels the group unraveling. While Joe resorts to extreme measures to halt the proceedings and Rachel doubles down on questionable choices, the matriarch enlists the best man as her reluctant confessor, a long-deferred romance is rekindled, and the youngest sister emerges as the family’s moral backbone.
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Undo

Recommended by

  • Aleks Merilo:
    15 Jul. 2018
    I saw this play in Seattle a while back, and found it funny, bittersweet, and utterly unique. It was a very satisfying antithesis to the standard "Wedding Play". I very much look forward to seeing this again.
  • Katie Forgette:
    15 Dec. 2015
    This play has a very clever "hook," but it's much more than that. Bleak and funny and weirdly romantic.
  • Diane Brewer:
    27 Sep. 2015
    I happened upon this script last night, and I love the way it asks us to look at true love and sacrifice through the lens of a divorce ritual.

Character Information

  • THE CHILD WITH THE GLASS
    8,
    Jewish
    ,
    Any
    Just a child
  • SIOBHAN DOYLE
    25,
    Any
    ,
    Female
    Hannah’s girlfriend, Irish, raised Catholic
  • RACHEL MENDELSSOHN PFEIFFER
    30,
    Jewish
    ,
    Female
    The wife, American and Jewish
  • NAOMI MENDELSSOHN
    14,
    Jewish
    ,
    Female
    Rachel’s younger sister, American and Jewish
  • MELITA JOHNSON
    26,
    Any
    ,
    Female
    Ari’s ex-girlfriend, American, raised Unitarian Universalist
  • JOE PFEIFFER
    30,
    Jewish
    ,
    Male
    The husband, American and Jewish
  • JOAN WOLOFSKY MENDELSSOHN
    49,
    Jewish
    ,
    Female
    Rachel’s mother, American and Jewish
  • HANNAH MENDELSSOHN
    32,
    Jewish
    ,
    Female
    Rachel’s older sister, American and Jewish
  • ARI GLASSMAN
    30,
    Jewish
    ,
    Male
    Joe’s best friend, American and Jewish
  • ADINE WOLOFSKY
    60,
    Jewish
    ,
    Female
    Rachel’s aunt, Joan’s sister, American and Jewish
  • ABE PFEIFFER
    60,
    Jewish
    ,
    Male
    Joe’s father, American and Jewish

Development History

  • Reading
    ,
    Seattle Office of Arts & Culture @ Seattle Rep
    ,
    2011

Production History

  • Professional
    ,
    Parade Productions @ The Studio at Mizner Park
    ,
    2015
  • University
    ,
    The Theatre School at DePaul University
    ,
    2015
  • Professional
    ,
    Annex Theatre
    ,
    2013

Awards

Semi-Finalist
,
Princess Grace Award
,
2014
Winner
,
Gregory Award for Outstanding New Play
,
Theater Puget Sound
,
2013
Winner
,
Gypsy Rose Lee Award for Excellence in Local Playwriting
,
Seattle Theatre Writers
,
2013