The Shrinking Wife
Tragic-Comedy 2F, 1M unit Full length
Sex is more important to Van Nuys than ever before now that he is healthy again. However, his wife is weakening in health due to natural aging. A kind neighbor becomes the target of his obsession.
After a coronary bypass, Van is ready to live the life he once led when he was in his younger days. However, Mabel cannot keep up with his pace because while he was healing, she started failing in health. Van, somewhat accepting his wife’s inability to perform, starts to flirt with an unsuspecting neighbor fifty years his junior. This neighbor, Ana Cabrillo-Sherman, is new to the area, having escaped the big city with her doctor husband for a rural, calmer life. As Ana misinterprets Van’s ‘craziness’ Mabel appears to be shrinking from being ignored and pushed aside.
Staged reading with Mutt Rep at the Producer’s Club in New York, staged reading at Chicago Dramatists Workshop