←Recommendations of Man & Wife

*Selected for 2023-24 Salon Reading Series - Angels Theatre Co.
The starting point for Emma Goldman-Sherman’s play is the top of a wedding cake. We begin full of hope, unconcerned about the road ahead. But, too quickly, the rough patches heat up and the allegory of Man & Wife starts to resemble something larger and more tenuous - The story of a marriage or a country? Goldman-Sherman is known for packing her plays with an unabashed spotlight on controversy. But their humane approach to their characters ensures that we digest the controversy humanely, with a deepened understanding.

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.

This is such a special play. Even though the couple are supposed to be a farcical representation of what it means to be "man and wife" throughout a marriage, it is fascinating to watch them grow together. Their struggles are familiar and unfamiliar but wholly relatable. This is more than just a special play. It's an important play.

What a breath of fresh air this play provides. Such a different portrayal of marriage and cisgender heteronormativity versus the transgender experience. Emma Goldman-Sherman has crafted a remarkable play that deserves to be produced.

This is a fantastic read and would be incredible to see staged. It’s an honest look at (indictment of?) modern marriages and relationships. It also treats the characters fairly and compassionately, while not letting them off the hook. Goldman-Sherman tackles much more here - transphobia, the sometimes-forgotten legacies of how we were raised, politics in our polarized world. This is a great and theatrical work!

Hilarious, theatrical, and blistering in its social critique, "Man + Wife" is an aesthetically offbeat-yet-cohesive piece that would be fun to act in, direct, or design. Reading it gave Christopher Durang meets Thornton Wilder vibes, but it's really more exciting and engaging than their oeuvres and totally its own thing at the same time. Goldman-Sherman manages to tackle a lot here--deconstructing gender roles and expectations, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia, marriage, and the socio-political zeitgeist--but it somehow doesn't feel overloaded. The focus on these two archetypes and a parable-esque format allows the big ideas to shine through.

Man & Wife turns a tale about marriage into an epic. The detail in Goldman-Sherman's characters is finely realized, with every bit of it ringing true. The play masterfully speaks to our time, with concerns about the political divide, LGBTQ and gender issues, and others. But the play also seems timeless, suggesting we're still not done with many concerns of traditional marriage. A marvelous play!

Somehow Emma Goldman-Sherman is able to write a play that is very much of our time and very much eternal. The title, which is also the list of characters, takes us through Ron and Missy's married life, from the top of their wedding cake through parenthood and into late middle-age. Like the best of Thornton Wilder, it is funny, explosive, and damning.