Bright Half Life

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Fresh Takes Reading

Bright Half Life

by Tanya Barfield
Directed by Gina Kaufmann

Sunday, June 5, 2022
2 pm (in person)
7:30 pm (digital stream)

Run Time: approx. 80 minutes

at Club B10, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA

Presented in partnership with MASS MoCA and the Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition

“If these women, these maybe soul mates, could somehow suddenly see what the years will bring, would they still go out on that first date?” – The New York Times

A kaleidoscopic play about love, heartbreak, skydiving, and the infinite moments that make a relationship. Hailed by The New Yorker as a “well-written portrayal of smart women finding, losing, and finding themselves and each other again,” Bright Half Life follows the deep and complicated love story of Vicky and Erica. Pause. Rewind. Fast forward. And hold on!

BRIGHT HALF LIFE is presented at Club B10, MASS MoCA, 1040 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA 01247.

Run Time: approx. 80 minutes, followed by a talkback with the artists.

By popular demand, WAM Theatre’s Bright Half Life performance will be available as a digital stream (in addition to the live event). The digitally streamed performance goes live at 7:30 pm EDT on Sunday, June 5, 2022. Individual or household viewing tickets now on sale. Access to the streaming link 48 hours in advance.

WAM Theatre’s Fresh Takes Play Reading Series presents ground-breaking stories that are imaginative and thoughtful explorations of complex issues affecting women and girls. Featuring local professional actors and directors, the Fresh Takes play readings continue WAM’s commitment to connecting Berkshire audiences to female playwrights who are contributing to national and international theatre conversations. Each reading will be followed by a brief discussion with the artists.

  • Gina Kaufmann

    I fell in love with Bright Half Life because it is about two women who feel real to me and who I can wholly root for. The play asks whether love, even huge soulmate love, even love that includes family and kids, is enough to give our lives meaning.”

    Gina KaufmannDirector

What they're saying about BRIGHT HALF LIFE…

  • “BRIGHT HALF LIFE, a sixty-five minute chronicle of a deeply committed lesbian relationship, is contemporary as a play could be but the theme is classic and timeless. Legal gay marriage has occupied merely a nanosecond of our existence, but the presentation of the highs and lows of coupledom, as exampled in this piece, defy the ages.”

    - Huffington Post

  • “This well-written portrayal of smart women finding, losing, and finding themselves and each other again, is profound…past, present, and future are contained in each moment, and every one of them feels full.”

    - The New Yorker

  • “Most relationships develop in one of two ways—they endure or they don’t. Ms. Barfield’s variegated structure complicates this simple either/or, showing the volatility in a long-term partnership, the joy and desolation, the hurt and help—all intermingled, all at once. If these women, these maybe soul mates, could somehow suddenly see what the years will bring, would they still go out on that first date?”

    - The New York Times

  • “It may sound fatalistic to accept that every relationship has a half life—that true love is not an infinite resource destined to endure for eternity. It certainly defies the institution of marriage, whose romantic reputation hinges on this concept of ‘foreverness.’ True, it’s no fairy tale story, but Tanya Barfield’s new two-hander BRIGHT HALF LIFE sacrifices none of its head-over-heels romance, even as its central couple spirals towards extinction.”

    - TheaterMania.com

BRIGHT HALF LIFE Blogs