BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!) by Jami Brandli

Nominated for best Playwriting for an Original Play; Los Angeles Ovation Awards.
In 2018, BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!) received a joint-world premiere with Moxie Theatre (San Diego) and Promethean Theatre (Chicago), ending with Moving Arts’ production at Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles (LA Times Critic’s Choice and Ovation Recommended).
Winner of The Great Plains Theatre Conference...
Nominated for best Playwriting for an Original Play; Los Angeles Ovation Awards.
In 2018, BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!) received a joint-world premiere with Moxie Theatre (San Diego) and Promethean Theatre (Chicago), ending with Moving Arts’ production at Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles (LA Times Critic’s Choice and Ovation Recommended).
Winner of The Great Plains Theatre Conference's Holland New Voices Award. Named on The Kilroys' THE LIST of the 46 most recommended plays written by female playwrights. Finalist for O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and The Source Festival. Selected readings at The Antaeus Company in Los Angeles, HERE Arts Center in NYC, The Hearth Collective hosted by Portland Center Stage, and a Workshop Presentation with Moving Arts in Los Angeles.

It's 1960 in North Orange, NJ. Clytemnestra and Medea are now housewives with a pill addiction, and Antigone is the teenage girl next door who is in love with a black boy. On the surface, they're seemingly blissful to follow the "rules” of Emily Post, the American author famous for writing on etiquette. But that's just the surface. Then Cassandra, a black working girl, moves into their neighborhood and all routines are interrupted. Cassandra is determined to finally break the curse of Apollo, the gorgeous and egotistical god who gave her this “gift” of prophecy but made it so no one would ever believe her. He makes it clear his curse is practically indestructible: all she has to do is convince someone to believe her. Can Cassandra convince these women they now have choices in this modern era? That they don't have to live a doomed existence? Can all four women escape their ongoing fate?
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BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!)

Recommended by

  • Shaun Leisher:
    22 Sep. 2023
    “ Such a unique take on classic tales. Fantastic roles for women. ”
  • Cheryl Bear:
    9 May. 2021
    “ A brilliant re-imagining of this classic cast of characters and the lives they will live in the modern era. Fascinating and well done! ”
  • Nick Malakhow:
    5 May. 2020
    “ What an awesomely vivid, original, and compelling theatrical universe Brandli has created here! BLISS' roots in and subversion of mythic archetypes of women are brilliantly executed. I appreciated how the original stories take on new resonance in this adaptation, and the ideas explored don't feel shoehorned to fit their mythological counterparts. Each of these women is complex and propelled by anger, sadness, and frustrations that you can't help but sympathize with. The stage pictures described are super theatrical in the ways they combine bold design ideas, movement, and song. I'd love to see this in production! ”
View all 13 recommendations

Character Breakdown (a total of 5 actors are needed):
Clementine (Clytemnestra): White, mid 30s, sarcastic, sees beyond the shiny veneer and is therefore unhappy. She's holds a grudge against her husband, an acquirer of businesses, for several reasons. She is currently in love with her doctor who supplies her amphetamines. Pill popper.
Maddy (Medea): Part Hawaiian, part white, early 30s, an overly happy, June Clever type who loves the latest kitchen gadgets and Emily Post. Therefore, she is easily swayed to the dark side when she uncovers the truth about her husband. Because she's part Hawaiian, she tries to mask it with looking as “American” as possible, like dying her dark hair super blond. Pill popper and former ukulele player in a family band.
Antonia (Antigone): White, 17, is beholden to her Uncle and is sheltered from life. A bookworm who wears thickish glasses, Antonia is full of youthful passion, but she doesn't know how to channel this passion...yet. She's also in love with a boy named Gil.
Cassandra (Cassandra): Black, early 20s, seer of past, present and future, and a typist. Clementine's husband acquired the business Cassandra worked for and she was transferred to his place of business. She is trying to break this curse laid on her by Apollo. She is desperate to convince the women they can change the course of their lives. She does not wear high heels and she does not smile.
* Apollo: Ageless and beautiful. God of many things. He's cocksure to the nth degree, but he's having trouble sleeping.
* Doctor Smith: White, mid 30s to early 40s. A widower and who is in love with Clementine and supplies her pills.
* Uncle's Voice
* NOTE: One male actor will play the parts of both Apollo and
Doctor Smith, as well as Uncle's Voice.

Production History

  • Professional
    ,
    Defunkt Theatre
    ,
    2020
  • Professional
    ,
    MOXIE Theatre
    ,
    2018
  • Professional
    ,
    Promethean Theater
    ,
    2018
  • Professional
    ,
    Moving Arts
    ,
    2018