About the Play:

Digby is a full-length comedy by Joseph Dougherty. A consistently delightful, thoroughly ingratiating comedy, Digby takes the revolutionary position that men and women can simply be friends – without the distracting factor of sex to complicate their relationship.

Digby concerns a bespectacled, rather meek young advertising copywriter to whom most women wouldn't give a second glance. Which is fine with him, as Digby believes that most modern relationships are "sex masquerading as intimacy." But his resolve meets a severe test when he is assigned by his agency to work with the much-sought-after Faye, a super-attractive young art gallery assistant who juggles several men at the same time and considers sex to be one of life's more joyous prerogatives. Shaken by Faye who, as she explains, collects men as if she were helping herself at a salad bar, Digby is even more rattled when she grows increasingly attracted to him – culminating in an hilarious episode in which Faye, Digby and her three current boyfriends (a trendy, avant-garde artist; a morose, tough-guy policeman; and a muscular but thick-headed would-be actor) all get together for an unbridled country weekend. Determined not to become just another interchangeable conquest on Faye's long list, Digby's good intentions are subverted when (despite his firm resolve) he finds himself actually falling in love – with consequences which are alternately liberating for both him and Faye but which, along the way, add immeasurably to the good-natured fun and sharply pointed humour with which the play abounds.

Digby was first produced in 1985 by the Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC), where it promptly sold out its limited run, earning Drama Desk and Critics Outer Circle nominations for Joseph Dougherty.

Cast: 2 female, 6 male

What people say:

"Dougherty's writing is sharp and funny, and his observation of human nature genial but acute." — New York Post

""…it is nearly impossible to resist Joseph Dougherty's Digby…the kind of snappy romantic comedy that writers like Jean Kerr and George Axelrod once supplied regularly to Broadway." — The New York Times

"…the best romantic comedy of this or any recent season." — BackStage

"…there is evidence of a theatrical imagination at work every step of the way…." — The New Yorker

About the Playwright:

Joseph Dougherty is an American television producer, writer and director. An Emmy and Humanitas Prize winner for his work on the groundbreaking series Thirtysomething, he has written several movies for HBO. He received Drama Desk and Critics Outer Circle nominations for his play Digby.