In The Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play)

Thu Apr 30, 2026 - Sun May 10, 2026

Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity 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 Catherine tries to tend to their newborn daughter and wonders exactly what is going on in the next room. When a new "hysterical" patient, Sabrina, 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.

Dealing with themes of Victorian ignorance of female sexual desire, motherhood, breastfeeding, and jealousy, the play premiered at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in February 2009, and it premiered on Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater in October 2009. The production was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and was nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Play.