THE MARRIAGE BED Closes at Diversionary Theatre, 2/28

Diversionary Theatre will produce the West Coast premiere of Nona Shepphard's The Marriage Bed as the fourth show of their 2009-2010 season. In The Marriage Bed, Jeni loves Val and Val loves Jeni. But is that enough reason to get married, especially when you're not sure your girlfriend is over her ex, and one of you is not out to your family? Diversionary's production will be directed by Rosina Reynolds, and feature Dana Hooley and Dré Slaman. The show will run for three weeks from February 11-28.

Once the United Kingdom approved civil partnerships in 2005, same-sex couples had to ask themselves: "Do I want to make a commitment? Do we want to make a big splash? If so, what sort of splash? Shall it be the pink limousines, or shall we walk? Shall we invite my mother? (If she says no, it will make me feel really awful and spoil the day.) Do I want to be formally tied to another person?"

The play has been seen in London, Hong Kong and New York. From an article in Time Out Hong Kong: Until writing The Marriage Bed, the notion of matrimony never even crossed Nona Shepphard's mind. "I've always steered clear of marriage really," says Shepphard, who's based in London. "Waking up one morning and saying, ‘I'm going to get married today' - my instant reaction was sort of horrified," she says with a laugh. Shepphard was first commissioned to write the play for a theatre in London, and while most ideas about marriage were foreign to her, one thing was clear: she wanted to focus on a relationship where the two characters are still very much in love. In the story, Jeni, is an Indian woman who was once married to a man, but is now contemplating tying the knot with her lover Val, a gal with a firecracker personality and feminist outlook. Val has always fought for equal rights, but since the Civil Partnership Act was passed in London, she's been struggling with the idea of a legal commitment. That irony creates a comedic undertone throughout the play, drawing out the all-too-common issues couples face before being pronounced husband and wife - or, in their case, wife and wife.

Playwright Nona Shepphard read Classics at King's College, London, specializing in Greek Drama, before she began her theatrical life as an actor back in her home town of Liverpool. She is Artistic Director of ASC, a company based in New York, for whom she has directed Measure for Measure (The Bleeker Street Theatre, New York), Hamlet (1400, Los Angeles), and her own plays Crazy Lady (Solas, New York) and The Marriage Bed (Sanford Meisner, New York). Since 1987, she has had two associations - the first at the Drill Hall, London, most notably writing and directing seven legendary all-women pantos; and secondly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she is an Associate Director.

Rosina Reynolds has directed at Diversionary several times, including Happy Endings Are Extra, The Twilight of the Golds, Beautiful Thing, Wrinkles, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and Lot's Daughters. Dana Hooley recently appeared at Diversionary in The New Century, Facing East, and The Long Christmas Ride Home, and with ion theatre company in Frozen. Dré Slaman recently appeared in Mo`olelo's production of 9 Parts of Desire and is making her Diversionary debut.

During the run, Diversionary will display Bela Dornan's 142 Days of Equality ( www.142days.com), which features pictures of same-sex couples who married during the 142 days when it was legal to get married in California.

Diversionary Theatre was started in 1986. The mission of the theatre is to produce plays with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themes that portray characters in their complexity and diversity both historically and contemporarily.

For information, call the Diversionary box office at 619.220.0097 or log on to www.diversionary.org.