Black Curtain Theatre: Perfect Arrangement

By Topher Payne

Tagline: The 50s were only fabulous when no one was looking….

September 27 & 28, 2025 Sat and Sun 7:30pm and Sun 2:00pm$12 adults, $10 students

It’s 1950 in Georgetown and new colors are being added to the Red Scare. Two U.S. State Department employees, Bob and Norma, have been tasked with identifying deviants within their ranks. There’s just one problem: Both Bob and Norma are gay, and have married each other’s partners as a carefully constructed cover-up for their own careers. Inspired by the true story of the earliest stirrings of the American gay rights movement, Perfect Arrangement merges madcap sitcom-style laughs with provocative drama as two “All-American” couples struggle to maintain their cover – and their sanity – in 1950s America.

*This production includes use of homophobic language indicative of the period.

Other quotes:

“[A] clever canapé of a comedy... Mr. Payne is a deft and witty writer.” – The New York Times

“Usually a playwright has to choose between writing a laugh-out-loud comedy and a very serious drama. Topher Payne has written both with Perfect Arrangement.” – TheatreMania

“As hiding gets harder, pitch-perfect comedy ensues: slamming doors, strange disguises, preposterous excuses... Eventually, the four must decide whether face-saving domestic lies are worth it, or whether ostracism beats living in fear. In our own era of surveillance and paranoia, their mid-century problems don’t feel so far away.” – The New Yorker