IN THE NEXT ROOM by Sarah Ruhl

Schedule

Mon Jul 27 2026 at 07:30 pm to 09:30 pm

UTC-05:00
Location

The Understudy Coffee and Books | Chicago, IL

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A play reading of In the Next Room (or, The Vibrator Play) by Sarah Ruhl produced by Exit, Pursued by a Play Reading.
About this Event

In the Next Room or the vibrator play is a comedy about marriage, intimacy and electricity.

Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity and based on the bizarre historical fact that doctors used vibrators to treat “hysterical” women (and some men), the play centers on a doctor and his wife and how his new therapy affects their entire household.

In a seemingly perfect, well-to-do Victorian home, proper gentleman and scientist Dr. Givings has innocently invented an extraordinary new device for treating “hysteria” in women (and occasionally men): the vibrator. Adjacent to the doctor’s laboratory, his young and energetic wife tries to tend to their newborn daughter – and wonders exactly what is going on in the next room. When a new “hysterical” patient and her husband bring a wet nurse and their own complicated relationship into the doctor’s home, Dr. and Mrs. Givings must examine the nature of their own marriage, and what it truly means to love someone.


** CAST TO BE ANNOUNCED **


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Where is it happening?

The Understudy Coffee and Books, 5531 N Clark St, Chicago, United States

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Tickets

USD 0.00

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