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A gender-bent Albee examines marriage

A gender-bent adaptation of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' is part of art4artillery's 'The Marriage Play(z) by Edward Albee' at Detroit's Russell Industrial Center beginning Aug. 21.

After the personal and professional success of its production of "Angels In America," art4artillery Theatre Company began the search for what would be the subject of its next performance. Founder Kyle Holton and company members decided to discuss a topic that is very pertinent to the current political landscape of our country: marriage and gender roles – and there is no better playwright and scholar to discuss this topic than the strongly opinionated Edward Albee.
So on Friday, Aug. 21, art4artillery Theatre Company will present a special preview performance of "The Marriage Play(z) by Edward Albee" at Detroit's Russell Industrial Center, Building 4, third floor. Performances will continue Thursday, Aug. 27 through Sunday, Aug. 30. All performances are at 8:30 p.m.
In Albee's vast body of writings there are three plays that stand out as discussing the state of marriage.
Since Albee prides himself on a diverse subject matter for his writings, why would he choose to write three plays, at three different stages of his life, about husband and wife? The answer: because it is something our society largely accepts as a standard of living, and maybe that gold standard is a quickly dissolving facade.
The debate over marriage laws, the divorce rate and the quickly changing opinions of the American people have created a dichotomy of the importance of marriage. In his writings "Everything in the Garden," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "The Marriage Play," Albee sets out a landscape of marital unions in peril. Seemingly perfect marriages self destruct, reach a breaking point, and are consumed by the lies that they find at their foundation.
The cast attempts to explore the roles that men and women provide in marriage by deconstructing the marriages and the genders in order to reconstruct them with a new perspective. The pieces, adapted by Holton, will be presented simultaneously and told through the rose tinted looking glass of perfection.
All performances are free; admission is by donation.

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