About the Play:

Women of Manhattan has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues and Female/Female Scenes.

Women of Manhattan is a full-length comedic drama by John Patrick Shanley. Described by the author as "an Upper West Side story," Women of Manhattan is a provocative, brilliantly stylized and often very funny play that delves into the lives of three upscale Manhattan female best friends whose financial success is counterbalanced by their unmet emotional needs.

Women of Manhattan is a refreshing and humorous tale of female friendship. Rhonda, Judy and Billie are having dinner, over which they lament the fact that, while their careers are flourishing, their emotional lives are a wreck. Rhonda has just broken up with her boyfriend (but is unable to jettison the oversized sneakers still sitting in the corner of her room); Billie, "happily married," frets that she and her husband are stuck in their honeymoon phase; and sexually frustrated Judy anguishes to find a straight man. But then, in a series of sharply written, subtly revealing scenes, their situations change. Billie fixes up Judy with her ex-boyfriend, a debonair black executive who proves to be more than an adequate lover; Billie's husband gives her a black eye (which delights her because it finally proves that the honeymoon is over!); and Rhonda, still alone, summons up the courage to dispose of her boyfriend's sneakers. As the play ends, the three are hopeful about better times ahead but also painfully aware that the brittle, competitive Manhattan lifestyle disappoints as quickly as it rewards.

Women of Manhattan was first produced in 1986 by New York's celebrated Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) at the City Center Theater.

Cast: 3 female, 2 male

About the Playwright:

John Patrick Shanley is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He is the author of numerous plays, including Doubt: A Parable which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Drama Desk Award, and Tony Award for Best Play. He has also written extensively for TV and film, and his credits include the teleplay for Live from Baghdad and screenplays for Five Corners and Moonstruck, for which he won an Academy Award for original screenplay.