My Wife's Family - Spring 1957

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.