Support Adult Relationships this fall!

The theatermaking collective Meucci & Bell
(Layla Khoshnoudi, Jess Barbagallo, Ben Gassman & Tara Elliott)
behind 2021's botte di ferro
is raising 9.5k for the world premier production of our second play.

Adult Relationships will premier this November at The Collapsable Hole.

We are making this play for about $30,000, with generous material support from a number of partners. We have made our primary goal paying our brilliant team of human collaborators (full team listed at bottom).

Our human payroll is $23,500. And this $9,500 will secure the balance. 
All funds raised here go directly to paying artists! 
Any donation of $10 or more will get you a free drink at the show. 

THE PLAY: 
Adult Relationships follows two former lovers, Negeen & Noah, brought together by the death of a troubled mutual friend. Grief and mourning infuse this mostly naturalistic play, a sense of guilt lingers at the periphery, and in seeking to understand the person they’ve both lost—alternately threatening and capable of extraordinary empathy—the central characters look to rituals that come from their respective faiths, Islam and Judaism, pulling the story into the surreal through choreography. Density, difference, danger, possibility. Dark, but a comedy.

MEUCCI & BELL BACK STORY: 
Our first production, botte di ferro, was staged in the back patio of a Covid-shuttered restaurant in Red Hook in 2021, taking advantage of outside seating to provide a safe space for audiences and using the back facade of the building as the primary set piece for the play. It was about a pair of on again off again lovers who couldn’t settle for each other and couldn’t let go of each other. Layla Khoshnoudi and Jess Barbagallo played the lovers, Tara Elliott directed, Ben Gassman wrote the script. It was a magic moment of making a world together and sharing it after a cultural drought of a year. The Tank helped us make the magic safely off site. Adult Relationships is a follow up to Botte di Ferro. Layla Khoshnoudi & Jess Barbagallo reprise their roles, but are spit forward into middle age.

When/Where:
Our last play jumped around in time, and we couldn't perform it in the rain... 
this play moves forward in time, and will happen rain or shine indoors at The Collapsable Hole in the West Village this November. 

Cast: 
Jess Barbagallo 
Lena Engelstein
Layla Khoshnoudi
& the voice of Greg Keller

Ben Gassman (Playwright)
Tara Elliott (Director)
Cate McCrea (Scenic)
Normandy Sherwood (Costumes)
Johnny Gasper (Sound)
Olivia Mermagen (Stage Manager)
Iman Louis-Jeune (Production Manager)