DENIAL (is not a river in Egypt)
by DS Magid
If a stranger with a cello shows up in a rainstorm claiming to be your husband’s wife, do you let her in? Agoraphobic artist Althea Emory does, and receives a mysterious big red envelope for her trouble. She’s also treated to Bea Lamartino’s wacky wordplay, swordplay, Egyptiana, food fights, melt-downs, and very strange charades. DENIAL (is not a river in Egypt) is a loopy dark comedy about love, loss, and embalming (yes, onstage, and even funnier than it is gross – which it totally is). DENIAL… it’s also about how women – especially when they have reasons not to – help each other.
- Cast Size: 2W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
Order Digital Download (Will NOT download to phones, cannot be printed)
About the Playwright
Playwright, composer, lyricist, director, Broadway performer, dramaturg, and all-round energetic sort, DS Magid (she/her) is a Fellow of both Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico and Women’s International Study Center, a former Board member of International Centre for Women Playwrights, a Cleveland Public Theatre emeritus Artist, and an alumna of the Cleveland Play House Playwrights’ Unit. Her works comprise drama, comedy, rock and chamber operas, tragedy, romcom, SciFi, verse and free-verse, pop and C&W musicals, magic realism, and, as one does, “Richard Wagner’s Entire Ring Cycle in 10 Minutes with Sock Puppets,” all of which are rampantly theatrical and focussed through the lens of the modern woman’s lot. Magid’s comparison of the techniques of wrighting a play vs. the book of a musical is published in the November-December 2018 issue of The Dramatist
Why any of the excellent comediennes over 40 – or the theatres that love them but can’t find plays worth their mettle – haven’t picked DENIAL (is not a river in Egypt) up and run with it is an absolute mystery. It’s irreverent, intelligent, heartfelt, and rolling-on-the-floor funny.
Review DENIAL.