Social Security is a play by
Andrew Bergman.
It focuses on trendy
Manhattan art gallery owners Barbara and David Kahn, whose life is upended when her
Mineola housewife sister Trudy deposits their
eccentric mother Sophie on the couple's doorstep while she and her husband Martin head to
Buffalo to rescue their sexually precocious college student daughter from a
menage a trois with two men. Barbara and David introduce Sophie to suave
nonagenarian artist Maurice Koenig, who offers to paint her portrait and soon begins to brighten her life in ways she never expected in her twilight years.
After twenty-six previews, the
Broadway production, directed by
Mike Nichols, opened on
April 17 1986 at the
Ethel Barrymore Theatre, where it ran for 388 performances. The cast included
Marlo Thomas as Barbara,
Ron Silver as David,
Joanna Gleason as Trudy,
Olympia Dukakis as Sophie,
Stefan Schnabel as Maurice, and
Kenneth Welsh as Martin. Later in the run,
Marilu Henner and
Cliff Gorman assumed the roles of Barbara and David.