Melissa Center's MARRYING JAKE GYLLENHAAL to Run at Caveat
The dark comedy explores societal pressures on women, celebrity worship culture, and self-love.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz May. 07, 2024
Jake Gyllenhaal is marrying Melissa Center...in her Jewish Mom's dreams. "Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal" is a darkly comedic one-woman play with music that grapples with societal pressures on women, consequences of celebrity worship culture, and the long journey to self-love. The play is written and performed by Melissa Center ("CHICAGO FIRE," "FBI," "GREY'S ANATOMY,") an actress and storyteller known for visceral women's stories.
Tickets for this limited run opening Saturday May 11 are now on sale.
The one-woman show follows "Melissa" (played by Center and loosely inspired by her own life)- a 30-something single, broke and talented actress - as she at first rejects and then whole-heartedly embraces her Jewish mother's fantasy: marrying Jake Gyllenhaal.
"Melissa" embarks on a hilarious and heartbreaking reckoning with the BS fairy tales about love and male saviors; she comes to confront gender-based trauma and burn down the patriarchal myths that keep women and girls trapped by delusional fantasy.
In addition to writer, performer and lyricist Melissa Center, the team is spearheaded by director Jen Wineman and the composer is Jamie Buxton. The project is produced by Ember Productions, a collaboration by Tony Award winning producer Maxwell Haddad and Amber Coates and associate Katie Michelle Stahl. Ember Productions is dedicated to supporting meaningful new work.
Wineman most recently directed the extended Off-Broadway run of "FIVE" (Theatre 555), "DOG MAN" (New World Stages) & the upcoming "In The Trenches: A Parenting Musical," also produced by Ember Productions. Jamie is the book writer/lyricist for QUILLÉN, a new Chilean musical with composer Pablo Concha & co-writer of musical film MY FIRST START with Victoria Clark.
Center says, "I am thrilled to finally bring 'Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal' home to New York after a whirlwind journey - and this is just the beginning. As this play has evolved, what has surprised me most is how people come in expecting one thing but leave feeling deeply seen. I can't wait for the world to come to this very special wedding!"
"Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal" originated at the Seed&Spark Creative Sustainability Summit in Los Angeles where Melissa Center was selected as one of three "Hometown Heroes" to crack her story with actor/filmmaker Mark Duplass.
When the COVID-19 pandemic halted all live theater, Center and her team pivoted to produce the very first "one night only" live-streamed play inside The Pico, LA. She would later debut the recorded play at Edinburgh Fringe Digital and receive rave reviews in Ms. Magazine, Psychology Today, the British Theatre Guide, amongst others.
David Cunningham from the British Theater Guide wrote, "Melissa Center presents a fascinatingly flawed character. The depiction of contemporary relationships is unsparingly modern... a complex show that, while full of humor, addresses also the darker, obsessional aspects of love."
For more information about performances, please visit https://www.caveat.nyc/events/marrying-jake-gyllenhall-5-11-2024
About Melissa Center
Melissa Center is an actress & award-winning filmmaker known for visceral women's stories. As an actor, her most notable credits include roles on "FBI" (CBS), "THIS IS US" (NBC), "GREY'S ANATOMY" (ABC), MASTERS OF SEX (SHO), and more. She also originated the stage adaptation of Lois Lowry's The Giver, directed by the late Wynn Handman of The American Place Theater. Center is also the producer, co-writer, and star of the feature film, All I Want (Prime, Vudu, TubiTV, iTunes) and the co-director, writer, and star of the award-winning viral short film R.V, a narrative that anticipated the overturn of Roe vs Wade. Her short film His Name is Niv, which she wrote and directed, is inspired by her own experience with sexual assault.
About Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal
"Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal" is a darkly comedic one-woman play with music that grapples with societal pressures on women, consequences of celebrity worship culture, and the long journey to self-love. Inspired by writer/performer Melissa Center's Jewish Mom's insistence that she should marry the aforementioned star, the show follows "Melissa" (played by Center)- a 30-something single, broke and talented actress - as she at first rejects and then whole-heartedly embraces her Jewish mother's fantasy. "Melissa" embarks on a hilarious and heartbreaking reckoning with the BS fairy tales about love and male saviors; she comes to confront gender-based trauma and burn down the patriarchal myths that keep women and girls trapped by delusional fantasy. "Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal" originated at the Seed&Spark Creative Sustainability Summit in Los Angeles where Melissa Center was selected as one of three "Hometown Heroes" to crack her story with actor/filmmaker Mark Duplass. When the COVID-19 pandemic halted all live theater, Center and her team pivoted to produce the very first "one night only" live-streamed play inside The Pico, LA. She would later debut the recorded play at Edinburgh Fringe Digital and receive rave reviews in Ms. Magazine, Psychology Today, British Theatre Guide, amongst others.
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