The Chemistry of Change (New Theater Wing)
- Written by Marlane Meyer
- Directed by Lisa Peterson
Marlane Meyer lives in Hollywood, California. She’s been writing plays for thirty-five years. Her produced plays include Etta Jenks, The Geography of Luck, Kingfish, Moe’s Lucky Seven, The Mystery of Attraction and The Chemistry of Change, the latter for Playwrights Horizons. Her other productions include The Royal Court Theatre, The Public Theater, The Magic Theater, Steppenwolf Theater and others. She has also been a writer/producer for television. These shows include “Nothing Sacred,” winner of a Peabody Award, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” She has also been a recipient of the Kesselring Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. (As of March 2013)
Recent NY credits include An Iliad, written with Denis O’Hare (NYTW- 2012 Obie Award, Lortel Award, Drama Desk nominations); Shipwrecked by Donald Margulies and Motherhood Outloud by 15 writers (Primary Stages); The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek by Naomi Wallace, Slavs! (Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness) by Tony Kushner, Traps by Caryl Churchill, The Waves adapted from Virginia Woolf by Peterson and David Bucknam (Drama Desk nominations) and Light Shining in Buckinghamshire by Caryl Churchill (Obie Award for Directing), all at New York Theatre Workshop; The Fourth Sister by Janusz Glowacki and The Batting Cage by Joan Ackerman (Vineyard Theatre); The Poor Itch by John Belluso, The Square by 16 writers, and Tongue of a Bird (The Public); Collected Stories by Donald Margulies (MTC); Birdy adapted from the William Wharton novel by Naomi Wallace (Women’s Project); The Chemistry of Change by Marlane Meyer (Playwrights Horizons/WPP); The Model Apartment by Donald Margulies (Primary Stages); and Sueno by Jose Rivera (MCC). Lisa has directed regionally at the Mark Taper Forum (where she was Resident Director for 10 years), La Jolla Playhouse (Associate Director for 3 years), Guthrie, Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, Arena Stage, McCarter, Actors’ Theater of Louisville, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Huntington, Dallas Theater Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and California Shakespeare Theater. She is a Usual Suspect at NYTW, a member of Ensemble Studio Theater, and on the executive board of SDC.
Co-produced with Women's Project Theater at Theatre Four.
Calculating matriarch Lee provides for her family by temporarily marrying men of means and living off the divorce settlements. On her way to marry husband number 10, she meets a mysterious stranger and falls in love -- for the very first time. Is it destiny or evolution? A biting, comic look at the chemistry of love and the chaos of change.
Featuring
Carlin Glynn
Christopher Innvar
Hamish Linklater
Larry Pine
Barry Del Sherman
Jodi Thelen
Brenda Wehle
Playwrights: The Busy World is Hushed, Recent Tragic Events. Broadway: Seminar. Off-Broadway: Cymbeline, Much Ado About Nothing, Comedy of Errors, Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Winter’s Tale (The Public); Posterity (Atlantic). Nominated for Drama Desk, Lortel, Outer Critics, and Drama League Awards. Obie recipient for School for Lies (CSC). Film: The Big Short, Magic in the Moonlight, 42, The Future. TV: “Legion,” “Newsroom,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” “Fargo.” Upcoming: Unicorn Store, “Tell Me Your Secrets.
(Updated Mar 2019)
Playwrights Horizons debut. Broadway: The Big Knife, Come Back Little Sheba, Pygmalion. Off-Broadway: The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide… (Obie Award), The Grand Manner, Stuff Happens (Drama Desk Award, Best Ensemble), Cycling Past the Matterhorn, Talking Heads, Spinning into Butter, Waste, The Chemistry of Change. Film/TV: American Beauty, Winter’s Tale, Soldier, Bug, “Mildred Pierce,” “Malcolm in the Middle.”
Creative Team
Zhanna Gurvich & Christopher Barreca
Scenic DesignerKatherine Roth
Costume DesignerKevin Adams
Lighting DesignerLaura Grace Brown
Sound DesignerBryan Scott Clark
Production Stage ManagerPhoto of Larry Pine and Hamish Linklater by Martha Holmes.