Feiffer - A funny thing happened on the way to the gynecologic oncology unit at memorial sloan kettering cancer center of New York city: a play

CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that performance of the Play is subject to payment of a royalty. The Play is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America, and of all countries covered by the International Copyright Union (including the Dominion of Canada and the rest of the British Commonwealth), and of all countries covered by the Pan-American Copyright Convention, the Universal Copyright Convention, the Berne Convention, and of all countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations. All rights, including without limitation professional/ amateur stage rights, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound recording. all other forms of mechanical, electronic and digital reproduction, transmission and distribution, such as CD, DVD, the Internet, private and file-sharing networks, information storage and retrieval systems, photocopying, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are strictly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed upon the matter of readings, permission for which must be secured from the Authors agent in writing. Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to ICM Partners 730 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10019.

Attn: Di Glazer. This edition first published in the United States in 2018 by
The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc. 141 Wooster Street New York, NY 10012 www.overlookpress.com For bulk and special sales, please contact ,
or write us at above address. Copyright 2018 by Halley Feiffer All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast. ISBN 978-1-4683-1716-9

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY UNIT AT MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER OF NEW YORK CITY A daring romantic comedy Feiffer is one funny playwright.

Charles McNulty, Los Angeles TimesFunny Thing makes a convincing case that hard laughter is an absolutely appropriate response to those moments when life seems like too bad a joke not to respond otherwise an exposed nerve of a script. Ben Brantley, The New York Times Feiffers work always has guts powerful But for all the farcical, caustic humor in the piece, this lovely play really is about a coming together in the spirit of shared humanity. Chris Jones, Chicago TribuneIM GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD Viciously funny brutally effective. Feiffer takes a tough look at the forces that can bring us to our knees. Adam Feldman, Time Out New York A bone-chilling punishing drama. Charles Isherwood, The New York Times Blistering, blackly funny.

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News One minute youre laughing, the next youre cringing the play sticks in your head like a crazy nightmare. Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post Funny, scary, and completely over the top in its own right goes straight for the jugular through the heart. Robert Hofler, The Wrap Provocative, sensitive, shocking and often very unsettling polished and probing. One of the best plays Ive seen this season. Rex Reed, New York Observer Exhilaratingly toxic. Joe McGovern, Entertainment Weekly A hard-hearted stunner.

Michael Schulman, The New Yorker Halley Feiffers ferocious, explosive dialogue in Im Gonna Pray For You So Hard is in a class of its own. Lee Kinney, TheEasy.com Its a fearless piece of work, riveting and hilarious. Robert Feldberg, Bergen RecordHOW TO MAKE FRIENDS AND THEN KILL THEM Ms. Feiffer is building a reputation for fearlessness. Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times Thank God for the warped creative mind of playwright/actress Halley Feiffer, who harnesses the weird to full, gory effect in How to Make Friends and Then Kill Them, an uproarious and deeply unsettling new dark comedy Equally laugh-out-loud funny, jaw-droppingly gross, and thoroughly sad Feiffers unique, refreshing voice is one to which attention should be paid. David Gordon, Theatermania Disturbingly funny.

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News Feiffer has a commendable eye for the absurd. The New Yorker A wicked comedy Feiffer is an expert comic actor with an appealingly skewed sensibility. Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post Theres great stuff here dark and weird. Helen Shaw, Time Out New YorkHALLEY FEIFFER is a writer and actress. Plays include Im Gonna Pray For You So Hard (World Premiere Atlantic Theater Company, Outer Critics Circle Nomination), Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow (World Premiere Williamstown Theatre Festival, MCC Theater), How To Make Friends and Then Kill Them (World Premiere Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), The Pain of My Belligerence (World Premiere Playwrights Horizons) and this play (World Premiere MCC Theater), the West Coast premiere of which she starred in at the Geffen Playhouse. Her plays have been produced around the country and in the UK.

Acting credits include the Broadway revivals of The Front Page and The House of Blue Leaves (Theatre World Award) and numerous off-Broadway productions including Tigers Be Still (Roundabout, Drama League Nom.). TV & film includes recurring roles on HBOs Mildred Piece and Bored to Death and the films The Squid and the Whale, Gentlemen Broncos and Hes Way More Famous than You, which she also co-wrote. TV writing credits include The One Percent (Starz), Purity (Showtime), Mozart in the Jungle (Amazon) and original pilots for FX and TNT. She is a producer on the Showtime series Kidding, starring Jim Carrey. How To Make Friends and Then Kill ThemIm Gonna Pray For You So Hard

Its technically spring but it feels like winter. That terrible time of year when the holiday decorations are long since gone and the ever-increasing afternoon light fools you into feeling hopeful that the blood-chilling cold will fade overnight like magic, as it sometimes does.

But it hasnt yet. And Im home from college not because Im on break, but because my mother has cancer. Im twenty-one years old. Emotionally, Im oh, eleven? I dont know it yet but Im an alcoholic. (Ill make this fun discovery and get sober three years later.) At this point, Im drinking a bottle of cheap wine by myself every night just to make the very cruel voices in my head go to sleep. Luckily, I fall asleep with them.

I wake up every morning and the voices are back. Luckily, I know I can drink again that night. Its a good system, I think. Or, good enough. Reliable, anyway. Oh, who am I kidding? Its all I know.

Im in an impressive amount of denial about how unhealthy I am, how basically doomed I am, how Im swapping out my dreams for $7 lukewarm ros that comes in a box. (Dont knock it til youve tried it!) (Actually, knock it dont try it.) My mother has the best sense of humor of anyone I know an uncanny ability to find the funny in almost any situation, the darker the better. One time she threw a Stalag 17 theme party. No occasion she just loves the movie Stalag 17. She made a cake with a POW camp on top, complete with barbed wire and little toy soldiers standing guard as other toy soldiers try to scale the fence and escape into war-ridden Germany. She invited her friends and my friends.