“My Wife’s Family” by Fred Duprez

This production took place in January 2008.

The play takes place in the 1920s at the summer home of Jack Gay and his wife, Stella. Jack and Stella are awaiting a visit from Stella’s mother, Arabella Nagg, her husband Noah and Stella’s sisters. In the well-worn mother-in-law/monster-in-law tradition, Arabella’s arrival soon turns the home into anything but peaceful and when notes passed between characters are intercepted and the hidden baby is mistaken for a piano, the consequences become excruciatingly funny. Stella’s brother, Willie Nagg, is a young penniless aspiring writer who is married in secret to his family’s servant Sally. It is their “secret” baby lurking around the house. He won’t reveal any of these details to his family until he can perform his duty as a man and provide for both of them. To do this his first book needs to be published. It is in the hands of a literary agent and he is anxiously awaiting a response.