How to Find a Husband in 37 Years or Longer

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The title of JJ Pyle’s one-woman show How to Find a Husband in 37 Years or Longer is a bit of a misnomer since by the end of her monologue she has not yet found a husband but finds she can live alone. While this one-hour story of her romantic history as well as her father’s failed marriages is diverting, it could use an editor. Director Mark Cirnigliaro does not seem to have worked that way for this show though he does keep the monologue moving along..

Pyle was supposed to attend her roommate’s wedding in India at Christmas but due to bad weather her two flights were canceled. Having taken 12 days off, she decides to go visit her family back home in Indiana, where she suspects she was fated to be. While there, she takes a car ride with her father in his pick-up truck to visit her sister’s new unfinished house. Listening to her father’s stories of his four wives (most of their names starting with the letter T) and his current girlfriend, her mind wanders and she relives her unsuccessful romantic life and a series of breakups both in New York and Los Angeles, where she pursues her acting career.

Her first boyfriend in high school was a freshman when she was a senior; he breaks up with her when she goes off to college and he finds another local girlfriend. She then recalls “Theatre Guy” in Laurel Canyon who could not stay faithful. Next there was “French Guy from Florida who Teaches Tennis at a Country Club” who breaks up with her so that he will not hurt her in the future. Finally there is “Latin Lover” from Bogota, Colombia, who finally tells her that he is already married in order to get his green card. After ten years this too runs its course. She fantasizes about Maybe Someday when she realizes that she is happy just the way she is.

Along the way, she makes lists of who not to date based on her unfortunate experiences. Her list continues to get longer. While this is amusing, the show basically has no jokes except for the ironies of her unsuccessful love life in finding husband material. The evening is punctuated by colorful slide projections on a huge screen on the back wall as well as streaming footage of the drive in her father’s car to visit her sister’s new house on snow-lined roads as this is December in Middle America. (Alessandra Cronin is responsible for the production design.)

Pyle is an engaging performer. However, not only does her story wander around but the interruptions by her father or rather her daydreams about past lovers become hard to follow due to all the disconnects. Her father follows an ex-wife to Texas from Indiana while Pyle ends up in Los Angeles from her life in New York. The message is not clear until she explicitly states that she is “in the exact right spot.” When she removes her parka, she wears a t-shirt that states: “What if it all works out?” which appears to be the take away from the evening.

How to Find a Husband in 37 Years or Longer (July 11 – 20, 2023)

2023 East to Edinburgh Festival

59E59Theaters, 59 East 59^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.59e59.org

Running time: 60 minutes without an intermission