Amelia, the proprietor of the Sad Café, throws her new husband out of their bedroom on their wedding night. Torn between anger and desire the husband finally leaves town only to return some years later to find Amelia showering all her affection on a dwarf cousin who has come to live with her. At their first meeting the dwarf is hopelessly attracted to the husband. In turn, the husband moves back into the Sad Café, threatening to run away with the dwarf if Amelia objects. The day of reckoning soon arrives and the husband and wife meet to settle their differences with their bare hands.

Adapted from Carson McCullers’s novella The Ballad of the Sad Café (1951).

Although it is a full length play, The Ballad of the Sad Café is meant to be played without an intermission.

Type: Full Length Play

Acts: One

First Performance: 30 October 1963, Martin Beck Theatre, New York

Nominations: Tony Award for Best Play, 1964.