Our Mother's Brief Affair

Our Mother's Brief Affair on Broadway Background

Our Mother’s Brief Affair is the Broadway premiere of a new play by Richard Greenberg, whose previous works include The Assembled Parties, the stage play of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The American Plan. The play is part of the Manhattan Theatre Club’s season, going up at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. This play comes to Broadway following a successful run at the South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, California in 2009.

The director is Lynne Meadow, who is the artistic director of Manhattan Theatre Club. Meadow directed Greenberg’s play The Assembled Parties to great success in 2013, starring Jessica Hecht and Judith Light. Our Mother’s Brief Affair stars Linda Lavin, who was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in the 2012 production of The Lyons. Furthermore, Lynne Meadow has previously worked with Linda Lavin in Collected Stories by Donald Margulies in 2010, for which Lavin also received a Tony Award nomination.

What's Our Mother's Brief Affair Like?

The matriarch character, Anna, was actually introduced in an earlier Greenberg play, Everett Beekin, in the first act. Here we meet her children, who are all struggling personally though not in their professional lives. They are twins – one male one female – both of whom have turned out to be gay. Her son Seth becomes obsessed by his mother’s story of her teenage affair, which occurred while she was taking viola lessons at Juilliard. Her daughter Abby flies in from Laguna Beach to help him deal with his problems of existence.

Is Our Mother's Brief Affair Good for Kids?

This show has many adult themes, so it is not surpise that the show is most appropriate for adults and children at least over the age of 10. Children under the age of 4 are not permitted in the theatre.