Wives / The Academy

Theater for the New City will present the world premiere of a new play by Mario Fratti, Wives, in a double-bill with his breakthrough play, The Academy. Taken together, the two plays illustrate the changing nature of the battle of the sexes between the postwar period and now. The two-part evening is directed by actor/director Stephan Morrow, who plays the instructor of a school for gigolos in The Academy.

In The Academy, it’s 1950 Venice and amid the postwar nihilism and defeat, a reactionary professor has organized an ‘academy’ to teach young Italian men how to seduce and exploit American women.
Wives, offers a contrasting view of American women. Instead of being victimized by an opportunistic man, they are firmly in control and even vengeful in their role as women scorned.