The Pain of My Belligerence
- Written by Halley Feiffer
- Directed by Trip Cullman
(Playwright/Cat). Playwrights debut. Plays include I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Atlantic, OCC nomination), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York City (MCC), How To Make Friends and Then Kill Them (Rattlestick), and Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow (Williamstown, MCC). Acting credits include A Funny Thing Happened… at the Geffen; Broadway revivals of The Front Page and The House of Blue Leaves (Theater World Award); Tigers Be Still (Roundabout, Drama League nomination); and films like The Squid and the Whale, Gentlemen Broncos and He’s Way More Famous Than You, which she co-wrote. TV writing includes “Kidding” (Showtime), “Mozart in the Jungle” (Amazon), and pilots for FX and TNT.
(Updated Mar 2019)
Playwrights: The Pain of My Belligerence, Assistance, The Drunken City, Manic Flight Reaction, A Small Fire (Drama Desk nomination). Broadway: The Rose Tattoo, Choir Boy, Lobby Hero, Six Degrees of Separation, Significant Other. Select off-Broadway: The Mother, I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Atlantic); Days of Rage, The Layover, Lonely I’m Not, The Substance of Fire, Some Men, Bachelorette, Swimming in the Shallows (Second Stage); Punk Rock (Obie Award), Yen, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Gynecologic Oncology Unit..., Moscow... (MCC); Significant Other (Roundabout); Choir Boy, Murder Ballad (MTC); The Hallway Trilogy: Nursing, The Last Sunday in June (Rattlestick); Dog Sees God (Century Center); Roulette (EST); US Drag (stageFARM); and several productions with The Play Company. London: The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, PA (Tricycle). Select regional: Geffen, Alliance, Old Globe, South Coast Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Bay Street, Williamstown Theatre Festival.
(Updated Mar 2019)
Playwrights Horizons Commission
World premiere
GUY
I just wanted to see what it'd feel like to tell you to shut up.
Twenty-something and brilliant, Cat is a journalist at the top of her game: tack-sharp and ambitious, and rapidly establishing her place in the field. Until she meets Guy — magnetic, devilishly charming, and married — and the attrition begins. Charting their spiky relationship over eight years, following a rapidly changing America, Halley Feiffer’s harrowing comedy sheds light on how we perpetuate our roles within a patriarchal culture, and the promise of a new paradigm.
Featuring
Halley Feiffer
Cat
Vanessa Kai
Yuki
Hamish Linklater
Guy
Keira Belle Young
Olive
Phoebe Young
Anzu (recorded voice)
(Playwright/Cat). Playwrights debut. Plays include I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Atlantic, OCC nomination), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York City (MCC), How To Make Friends and Then Kill Them (Rattlestick), and Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow (Williamstown, MCC). Acting credits include A Funny Thing Happened… at the Geffen; Broadway revivals of The Front Page and The House of Blue Leaves (Theater World Award); Tigers Be Still (Roundabout, Drama League nomination); and films like The Squid and the Whale, Gentlemen Broncos and He’s Way More Famous Than You, which she co-wrote. TV writing includes “Kidding” (Showtime), “Mozart in the Jungle” (Amazon), and pilots for FX and TNT.
(Updated Mar 2019)
Playwrights debut. Off-Broadway: KPOP (Lortel nomination, Ars Nova/Ma-Yi/Woodshed Collective), Henry VI (National Asian American Theater Company), Somebody’s Daughter (Second Stage), Architecture of Becoming (WP). Regional: Top Girls (Huntington), Brownsville Song (B-Side for Tray) (Seattle Repertory Theatre), Far East (Award for Outstanding Debut by the Connecticut Critics Circle, Stamford TheaterWorks). TV: “New Amsterdam,” “Orange Is the New Black,” “Gotham.” vanessakai.com
(Updated Mar 2019)
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 debut. National Broadway Tours: The King and I (Princess Ying Yaowalak). Credits: Peter Pan, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, as well as various commercials. Concerts: “Holiday Experience Broadway Star Project” (Acorn Theatre). Love and thank you to Mom, Dad, Phoebe, John Mara Jr., Halley Feiffer, Trip Cullman, and Playwrights for this new adventure! Instagram: @thekeirabelle
Playwrights debut. Off-Broadway: Oliver! (NAAP, Signature Theatre). Regional: The Oskaloosan (Civilians R&D Group Finding Series). Concerts: “Tribute to Grandparents” (Carnegie Hall), “Broadway Against Bullying” (Feinstein’s 54 Below), “Holiday Experience Broadway Star: Project” (Acorn Theatre). Film: Weightless, A Bite (Best Performance, Damn Film Series NYC). Love and thank you to Mom, Dad, Keira, John Mara Jr., Paradigm, Halley Feiffer, Trip Cullman, and Playwrights for this exciting opportunity! Instagram: @phoebeyoungatheart
Creative Team
Mark Wendland
Scenic DesignPaloma Young
Costume DesignBen Stanton
Lighting DesignElisheba Ittoop
Original Music and Sound DesignKatie Ailinger
Production Stage ManagerLisette Velez-Cross
Assistant Stage ManagerPlaywrights: Fly By Night, The Patron Saint of Sea Monsters. Broadway: Peter and the Starcatcher (Tony Award); Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Tony nomination); Bandstand (Drama Desk nomination); Time and the Conways; Lobby Hero. Other Off-Broadway: Natasha, Pierre… (Kazino, Lucille Lortel Award); Recall (Colt Coeur); Permission (MCC); BrooklynBabylon (BAM). Regional: ART, Dallas Theatre Center, South Coast Rep, Arena Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, among others. MFA: UC San Diego. @secondpigeon, palomayoung.com
Ben is a lighting designer for theater, concerts, dance, installations, and events. He is a five-time Tony Award nominee as well as an Obie, Lortel, IRNE, and Ovation Award winner. Ben is currently represented on Broadway by Maybe Happy Ending at the Belasco Theater. Recent Broadway credits include The Notebook at the Schoenfeld Theater; Mary Jane starring Rachel McAdams; Days of Wine and Roses Starring Kelli O'Hara & Brian Darcy James; Goodnight, Oscar starring Sean Hayes; The Collaboration Starring Paul Bettany & Jeremy Pope; Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Featuring Jefferson Mays; The Rose Tattoo starring Marisa Tomei; Derren Brown: SECRET at the James Earl Jones Theater; Regina Spektor: Live On Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater; Ayad Akhtar’s JUNK at the Vivian Beaumont; Six Degrees of Separation starring Allison Janney, Corey Hawkins, and John Benjamin Hickey; Deaf West Theater’s Spring Awakening at the Lena Horne Theater; Fully Committed starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson; and Fun Home (Broadway, Off-Broadway, 1st National Tour, London).
Please note that this play features nudity and strong sexual content.
The Pain of My Belligerence is a Playwrights Horizons Commission with the support of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.
Perfectly cast, beautifully acted, fluidly directed by Trip Cullman, and astutely designed. Halley Feiffer’s performance is smart, brave, and unsparing.
Editor’s Pick! “In her 75-minute jaw-dropper, Feiffer delivers a performance that matches the brutal honesty of her writing.”
