The Marriage of Bette and Boo

[Editor’s note: this play travels back and forth between the past and the present, with Matt’s narration interspersed throughout the action.]

ACT ONE

The Brennans and the Hudlockes are gathered for the marriage of Bette and Boo. Bette Brennan happily prepares for the ceremony with her mother, Margaret; father, Paul, who is unable to make himself understood after suffering a stroke; her sardonic, pregnant sister Joanie; and her neurotic, apologetic sister Emily. Bette is gleeful to start a family soon, and Emily is excited to be playing her cello for her sister’s ceremony. Meanwhile, the daft Soot Hudlocke congratulates her son, Boo, on having such a pretty bride-to-be, but her husband, the acerbic and cruel Karl, is more skeptical of the marriage. The ceremony begins, the couple weds, but when it is time for the song to be played, Emily panics and forgets the piece.

On their honeymoon, Bette excitedly waits in bed for Boo. She jokes that she’s already pregnant, but confesses that she