The Wager has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male/Male Scenes.

The Wager is a full-length comedy by Mark Medoff. In the play, a wager between a cynical graduate student and his college roommate sets off mayhem in their lives, as well as the lives of their neighbours, a cerebral Microbiology professor and his statistician wife, who is not at all what the three men presume her to be. The Wager is a brightly inventive comedy that blends verbal eloquence and needle-sharp characterizations.

The Wager is about two pairs of ill-assorted roommates who are living in a high-rise apartment on a Northern California campus. There is Ward, a Phys-Ed major who scores as often off as on the field, sharing digs with Leeds, a brainy, tart-tongued graduate student who can only win with wit. Right next door lives another student Honor, the young wife of their Professor, Ron. When Ward boasts that he can seduce Honor, Leeds raises the stakes by betting if Ward is successful, Ron will kill him within 48-hours. Ward accepts the wager. Thereafter, as can be expected, the situation grows progressively more complex, with fun and fear brilliantly juxtaposed. Soon, Ron, Honor, and Ward find themselves as pawns in Leeds game resulting in comical chaos for everyone. The acerbic Leeds does his best to manipulate circumstances to his own advantage, while narcissistic Ward, bored Honor and bumbling Ron all fall victim to his stratagems. Laughter, gunplay and some philosophical musings about love and madness ensue. In the end, the result is not tragedy but pure, bubbling comedy, laced with wit and filled with revealing insights into the natures of our four singular and attractive principals.

The Wager premiered in 1974 at the Eastside Playhouse Off-Broadway in New York City and enjoyed a successful run of over 100 performances. The author's second consecutive hit, it was the only off-Broadway play to be selected as Best Play of the 1974 season. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is regularly performed in regional repertory and college theatre productions.

Cast: 1 female, 3 male

What people say:

"…a dexterous and extraordinarily witty playwright. His quartet of academics is beautifully drawn with a knowing and loving hand." — New York Times

"…a scornful, crisply funny comedy-drama … carefully, cannily shaped to control your attention, to keep you in suspense." — Village Voice

"This is a pinwheel of a comedy, shooting off sparks of wit, menace and surprise at a fast clip." — Time Magazine

About the Playwright:

Mark Medoff (1940-2019) was an American playwright, screenwriter, film and theatre director, actor, and professor. He wrote 30 plays and wrote, produced or directed 19 movies. He found his greatest success with his play Children of a Lesser God, which received both the Tony Award and the Olivier Award, as well as Outer Critics and Drama Desk awards. He was nominated for an Academy Award for the film script of Children of a Lesser God and a Cable ACE award for his HBO premiere movie Apology. He received OBIE, Outer Critics and Drama Desk awards for When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?. He was Dramatist in Residence and Professor Emeritus of Theatre Arts at New Mexico State University, where he served on the English and Theatre Arts faculties for twenty-seven years.