Plays

Full-Length Plays

Early Sunday Morning

After twenty years of creative and professional struggle, the American painter Edward Hopper reconnects with his old schoolmate, the artist Josephine Nivison. Merging their lives brings seismic change to both.

In the summer of 1923, Edward and Jo, both unrecognized painters in their early forties, become reacquainted at the Gloucester Artists Colony. Jo, the more established of the two, inspires Edward to try watercolor, a medium he does not use. At summer's end, they return to New York's Greenwich Village, now courting as a couple. Jo arranges for Edward to participate in a watercolor show at the Brooklyn Museum, where he wins the show's purchase prize and sells his first painting in ten years. As their relationship continues, Edward seeks more from Jo, who resists, focusing on her career. He convinces her to marry him, and newfound intimacy escalates their conflict. Jo is caught between her interdependence with Edward and maintaining her own identity as an artist. She becomes both his fiercest advocate and a deeply resentful competitor. Within a few months of their marriage, Edward attains long-awaited creative and commercial success. As his reputation skyrockets, Jo's declines.

What is the price of genius, and who pays?

The Mansard Roof, Edward Hopper, 1923 | The Brooklyn Museum

Bonds

Tensions rise as Anna Conway and her family gather for Christmas.

Her husband disappears into work, her son is consumed by his phone, her teenage daughter finds new ways to disapprove of her, and her mother holds court with demands for attention as sizable as her martinis. It’s business as usual — until Anna suddenly loses her ability to stand or speak. Although only in her late forties, Anna suffers a massive stroke.

This unflappable, elegant corporate wife now has no control over her body or her life, and her stunned family struggles to hold her and themselves together. When Mark is arrested for insider trading, Anna’s best hope for getting the help she needs rests on Helen’s willingness to rouse herself from her habitual cocktail of booze, anger, and arrogance. As Anna comes to terms with the challenges of her recovery, Helen wrestles with the chance to be the mother she never was.