Exes and Ohs: Joy Behar's Hilarious Take on Divorce Drama Comes to the WHBPAC Stage

It’s a topic that hits home with women of a certain age. No, strike that. It’s a topic that hits home with women (and many men) of any age if they happen to have a former spouse lurking somewhere in their back story.

The stories of a diverse — and hilarious — group of women coping in the wake of marriage failures and missteps are front and center in Joy Behar’s latest project for the stage, “My First Ex-Husband,” which comes to the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center this Saturday, August 2, in an 8 p.m. performance.

The play is delivered as a series of monologues, all of which are based on true stories and all of which have been given a bit of clarity and levity courtesy of Behar. The themes it explores include specific problem spots for real women who have lived in denial, seen the light, gotten divorced and, ultimately, moved on with their lives. From learning the truth about a cross-dressing husband, to enduring a stifling marriage as the wife of an Orthodox Jew, each monologue is unique, poignant and frequently very funny.

In addition to Behar herself, the cast for the WHBPAC performance includes Tony-nominated actress and singer Veanne Cox, comedian, actress and Daytime Emmy Award-winner Jackie Hoffman, and legendary actress and Daytime Emmy Award-winner Susan Lucci.

Though she is best known for her longtime role as a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” Behar, who has a home on the East End, has always enjoyed exploring her humorous side as an Emmy Award-winning comedian, actress and playwright. In a recent interview, Behar explained that, like most good ideas, “My First Ex-Husband” began as a casual conversation with a close friend. That was more than 20 years ago.

“That’s exactly how it happened,” confirmed Behar. “I started with one of my girlfriends. We went to college together, were married at the same time and both got divorced.

“We wondered, ‘What the f--- happened to us?’ We were wide-eyed and bushy tailed,” she continued. “We were both 22, so you can see that’s a problem right there. We thought, ‘Let’s put it down on tape.’”

So, Behar did exactly that and delved deeper into the topic, asking her friend pointed questions that explored the nature of her marriage and the issues that ultimately led to its demise. At some point, Behar felt there was enough promising material there to use as a piece for a writer’s workshop.

“I made it something that had a beginning, middle and end,” she explained. “I added some fictional things, but I stayed true to the story. You can hear my voice all over these monologues.”

Then it occurred to Behar that there must be countless stories about bad endings to first marriages. She expanded the project by interviewing more women in her inner circle as part of her research and the piece began to grow organically.

“It started with one. I asked another friend and another, then another friend asked another person. I never put out an ad for anybody,” she said. “I’d read a story in a workshop. Then I interviewed another woman, typed it and transcribed it myself.”

Eventually, Behar felt she had amassed enough ex-husband material to create a show for the stage. She developed the play using a format that is similar to two other works for the stage that Behar, herself, has performed in — Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” and Nora and Delia Ephron’s “Love, Loss and What I Wore,” which is based on the 1995 book of the same name by Ilene Beckerman.

And like those plays, “My First Ex-Husband” is structured so that the actors who deliver each of the show’s eight monologues do so as solo performers, which allows the cast members the flexibility to rotate as needed.

“It’s a great way for performers to come in and out of the show,” Behar explained. “They don’t have to memorize the script — they just have to know the material. And they can appear as their schedules allow.”

Going forward, the format’s flexibility will also give Behar the ability to swap stories in and out of the lineup, depending on the venue, the performers or the tone she’s looking to set for the evening.

“I have other monologues in my stash, otherwise, it could be repetitious,” she said. “It’s also important to say, all these stories are all anonymous.”

The monologues have also been given the Joy Behar treatment to enhance the humor and irony. As might be expected, throughout the piece, there are also a few well-placed political jabs.

“It’s important to get that in there,” she said of the references to current events and political figures in the show. “You can’t stifle creativity — comedians are the ones on the front lines. For them to stifle us is not going to work.”

Early feedback would indicate that “My First Ex-Husband” has certainly found its audience. The show premiered as an off-Broadway production at the MMAC Theater in Manhattan earlier this year and it also enjoyed a recent weeklong benefit run at Bay Street Theater (where Behar is a trustee on the board and in summer 2024, presented the show twice with the theater’s executive director Tracy Mitchell serving as a producer).

When asked why she thinks this show is striking a chord with audiences, Behar responded, “We don’t hear women’s voices where they are free to talk about those things. If I go to the lobbies after the show, I ask the men, ‘Do you find it to be male bashing?’ And not one of them has said ‘yes.’ They say, ‘No. We’re like that.’ Or ‘That’s not me.’

“I like to point out, the biggest laughs are the male laughs.”

Though it has gained traction in New York City and soon will go on the road to be performed at venues up and down the East Coast and even in London, “My First Ex-Husband” is a piece that, in many ways, came of age on the East End. Specifically, much of the creative energy that went into building the show was harnessed at the Springs home of Angela LaGreca, a friend of Behar’s and an Emmy Award-winning producer and writer who worked at NBC’s “Today” show and at “The Meredith Vieira Show.”

“I’ve known Angela for many years,” Behar said. “We’d meet at her house in a big room with a piano. We had salons — that’s a Gertrude Stein thing, but that’s what we would do. This is how my whole playwrighting thing started. I wrote a short play, and I wanted to hear how it sounded. Angela does shtick and stand-up; we’d invite people we know. I had two people read this short thing I wrote. That’s where it started.”

In recent months, Behar and LaGreca have taken their salon model to other locations on the East End, including The Southampton Inn, where they have presented special evenings featuring their original works in progress as well as pieces by other local creative talent.

That’s where Behar polished the monologues for “My First Ex-Husband” and recently, she has been working on a new show that she hopes to bring to an East End theater one day soon.

“My play ‘Bonkers in the Boroughs’ has to be done out here,” Behar said. “Each piece in it is set in a different part of New York. I’m trying to get it on the stage. I think it would be fun to have it done out here. I do know a couple rich people who could make that happen.”

So, stay tuned — Joy Behar is just getting started!

Joy Behar’s “My First Ex-Husband” will be performed on Saturday, August 2, at 8 p.m. at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, 76 Main Street, Westhampton Beach. Tickets are $160 to $190 at whbpac.org.