MARRYING JAKE GYLLENHAAL Will Make New York City Premiere This May

Written and performed by Melissa Center, composed by Jamie Buxton, directed by Jen Wineman, and produced by Ember Productions, "Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal" will make its New York City Premiere in May. The production is a dark musical comedy that grapples with the growing pains of womanhood, consequences of celebrity worship culture, and the long journey to self-love. This is everyone's official invitation to the wedding of the year at NYC's Caveat on 5/11, 5/21, 6/2, and 6/12. Tickets for this limited run range from $20 to $25 and are on sale now.

The one-woman show follows Melissa - a 30-something single, broke, and desperate actress - as she attempts to fulfill her crazy Jewish mother's fantasy: marrying Hollywood heartthrob Jake Gyllenhaal. To win Jakey's handsome heart, Melissa embarks on a hilariously heartbreaking reckoning with the bullshit 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.

"I am thrilled to finally bring Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal home to New York after a whirlwind journey - and this is just the beginning," Center says. "As this play has evolved, what has surprised me most is how people come in expecting one thing but leave feeling deeply seen."

"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.

"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," David Cunningham from the British Theater Guide said.

Is Melissa's mother's vision truly crazy...or just crazy enough? What if Jake really is her soulmate? And what if she could actually meet...and marry...Jake Gyllenhaal? Save the date for a show you do not want to miss.

For more information about performances, please visit https://www.caveat.nyc/events/marrying-jake-gyllenhaal-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.

Jamie Buxton (Composer)

Jamie Buxton is a music theatre writer, performer, and educator. Writing credits include book and lyrics for QUILLÉN, a new Chilean musical with composer Pablo Concha (Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, New York Theater Festival); MY FIRST START, short film co-written/directed by Tony winner Victoria Clark, Amazon Prime premiere; THE FOX with composer Lucy O'Brien, London's Bishopsgate Institute; and Melissa Center's MARRYING Jake Gyllenhaal as composer, Edinburgh Festival Fringe (online). Performing credits include TOURS: A CHORUS LINE, HAIR, and the RADIO CITY CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR; REGIONAL: 42ND STREET, ME AND MY GIRL, HAIRSPRAY, and GYPSY; OFF-BROADWAY: PIRATES OF PENZANCE, IOLANTHE. A member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, NATS, and the Dramatists Guild, Jamie holds an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU and is an Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at Milligan University.

Jen Wineman (Director)

Jen is a Brooklyn-based director and choreographer. Selected NYC: FIVE (Currently running at Theater 555); Dog Man (New World Stages/Lucille Lortel Theatre); Retraction (TheatreRow); Less Than 50% (59E59); My Heart is in the East (La Mama); Fable (NYMF); F#%king Up Everything (Elektra Theater). Selected regional: As You Like It (American Shakespeare Center); Tiny Beautiful Things (Merrimack Rep); Game On (Pittsburgh CLO); Shakespeare in Love (Virginia Rep); Baskerville (Dorset Theatre Festival); The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Asolo Rep & Miami New Drama); Sweeney Todd (Playmakers Rep). Tours: Dog Man (National tours: US, Canada, Australia); Twelfth Night and Midsummer (Asolo Rep). Up next: the world premiere of Nicholas Griffin's Dangerous Days at Miami New Drama. B.A. Vassar, M.F.A Yale School of Drama.

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