PRODUCTION DETAILS

World Premiere

Santa Monica Playhouse
Santa Monica, California

March–May 2017

Directed by Chris DeCarlo

Open Door Playhouse Link

JOSIE AND DOLLY EXIT A BAR

A woman walks into the same bar every night and an encounter with a stranger changes her life forever.

"Bar settings work especially well in the short play format. It’s like a joke: Two strangers walk into a bar…but here, with a simple set-up title that makes more powerful sense afterwards, a twist ensues... that leaves us with much to think about."

BroadwayWorld

Sept 23

A woman walks into the same bar she retreats to every night and encounters a strange woman never seen before, sitting at the bar writing in a large book. She approaches this stranger to get her to buy a drink since she is once again out of money. The woman at the bar agrees to pay for her drinks under one condition. That she orders the exact same drink as she has in front of her. Uncomfortable that the woman could be hitting on her, she changes her mind, returning to her tried and true tricks for getting men to buy her drinks, but this time with no success. She decides to agree with the woman’s condition and her world is forever changed.

ABOUT THE PLAY

FEATURING

Kimber King as Dolly

Madelin Marchant as Josie

WRITTEN BY

Wendy Bryan Michaels

HISTORY

LOVING MATHEW

A story about tangled minds, broken families and one stolen toaster

Loving Mathew is a darkly humorous contemporary dramedy about family, addiction, mental illness, and the impossible complexity of caregiving.

After Mathew barely survives a drunken accident crossing a Miami freeway, his sister Kathy—newly separated from a controlling relationship—takes him into her condo to recover.

What begins as temporary caregiving slowly reveals something far more complicated as Kathy discovers Mathew's struggles extend far beyond alcoholism.

Smith Scripts publishes

Loving Mathew!

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

I write plays because the stories compel me to make them heard. I start with a vision of one scene in my head and begin writing the story. My life experiences inform every word on the page and I find that my most earnest tableaus exist with themes surrounding the many forms of love. I find great joy by informing an audience of truths underneath the surface within a family playing with subjects such as sexuality, homophobia and mental illness. Throwing in splashes of dark humor.