30 DAYS OF NYMF: Day 14 My History of Marriage

Day 14 My History of Marriage
Lee Kalcheim
Book and Lyrics

The inspiration for "My History of Marriage" was, believe or not; George W Bush. When he was prez and derided Gay marriage because it wasn't sanctioned in the Bible, I thought....Marriage, as we know it, is not mentioned in the Bible. Marriage was not a religious ceremony until quite late in the game. I researched it...and of course found that the Romans' marriage ceremony was not religious....(Unless they said, I'll marry you by Jupiter" ....Marriages were about real estate. Exchange of wealth and property. And when people married (even after Christianity had been around for over a thousand years, they would meet at the central meeting place in town..which happened to be outside the church...and get married on the Church steps. The wise priests, seeing potential in making Marriage something the Church could control, invited them inside to get married....and thus the evolution to a Religious Ceremony. In the Musical we see Eleanor of Aquataine rebelling against marrying Henry the King of France in the Church. The church after all, she said, abhors fornication...which is something that takes place after marriage, why would I want them to officiate. But as we know....Marriage elided more and more into a religious ceremony...despite that fact that the underlying reason for it was always about the exchange of marriage and property. The dowry for instance. What I wanted to do was, present the facts about the History Of Marriage in a comedic way.....but needed to story..and strong character to drive that history. Thus the creation of Nan Freeman, the writer who is writing that history while, after a bad divorce, trying to sort out her feelings about marriage and love. I doubt Mr Bush will attend a performance.

To buy tickets or to learn more about My History of Marriage visit www.nymf.org/myhistoryofmarriage or call 212-352-3101