About the Play:

For Better has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues and Male Monologues.

For Better is a full-length comedy by Eric Coble. In this plugged-in world of email, text-messaging and camera phones "Do a bride and groom really need to be in the same country to go on a honeymoon?" A romantic comedy for the digital age, For Better is a hilarious farce that pokes fun at our over-dependence on the gadgets in our lives.

For Better opens with a "Fugue for Cell Phones", a rapid chorus in which Karen calls her family and friends with news: She's engaged! Her fiancée is a location scout for new Starbucks franchises, Karen is the Quality Control Director for aging Hometown Buffet Restaurants, and they met at the International Retail Foods Conference in Tampa. Karen has always been insecure, never having a long-term relationship, but now she’s in constant online and cell contact, working out all the traditional wedding details as they careen around the globe, pencilling in the one date when their jobs will let them both be in the same city at the same time for the nuptials. But between them and wedded bliss are a blizzard of intercepted emails, naughty text messages, online bridal gown shopping, and lost cell signals. Can love conquer all? Can you hear me now?

For Better premiered in 2007 at Curious Theatre in Denver, Colorado, with productions that same year, at the New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, and Southern Rep in New Orleans. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has been performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 3 female, 3 male

What people say:

"Clever and sharp, with witty lines that give pause over the role electronic communications play in our lives. Cross-hatching with six characters never sounded so good and made so much sense." — Variety

"Eric Coble's hilariously funny, psychologically astute portraits hit home with rib-tickling acuity." — The New York Times

"Coble's work is a tour de force with physical and verbal comedy to spare." — The New Yorker

"A Playwright to Watch: An unqualified original with rich and idiosyncratic works A spirit of playful invention pervades Coble's repertoire." — American Theatre Magazine

"Coble's comedies are, of all things, genuinely funny." — New York Newsday

About the Playwright:

Eric Coble is an American playwright and screenwriter. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. Before turning to playwriting, he received his BA in English from Fort Lewis College in Colorado, and his MFA in acting from Ohio University. He is a member of the Playwrights' Unit of the Cleveland Play House.