About the Play:

If Men Played Cards as Women Do is a one-act comedy by George S. Kaufman. Don't expect any beer-drinking, smoking, swearing, poker-playing guys. This well-known gender-bending satire by George S. Kaufman speculates out loud how men might play a bridge game with a suspiciously feminine line of conversation. Often paired with If Women Worked As Men Do as a full evening of theatre, it can also be presented independently with equal effectiveness.

If Men Played Cards as Women Do is about men playing playing cards in a most unusual manner. The fun is derived from the fact that a group of men at the poker table speak, behave, and think in the manner in which women are supposed to conduct a bridge game. It seems like a typical scenario: a group of men getting together and playing cards, but it's the conversation that's NOT so typical. The four men, whose personalities are all over- the-top, try to "one up" each other during their usual card game. Hilarity ensues and trumps the evening!

If Men Played Cards as Women Do, originally written as a Vaudeville sketch, premiered in 1923 at Irving Berlin's third Music Box Revue at his Music Box Theatre on Broadway in New York City. The play has been performed in regional repertory, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 4 male

About the Playwright:

George S. Kaufman (1889-1961) was an American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. After brief periods studying law and as a salesman, he began to contribute humorous material to newspapers; by 1915 he was writing for the theatre section of the New York Tribune, moving to the New York Times (1917-30). He wrote forty-five plays and musicals in his career. The vast majority were hits and two of his collaborations won the Pulitzer Prize.