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The Geffen Playhouse presents “Boston Marriage,” written and directed by David Mamet

Beginning Jan. 31, the recently renovated Geffen Playhouse in Westwood will provide its audiences with a rare opportunity. The L.A. premiere of “Boston Marriage,” written and directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, will feature three critically acclaimed actresses known principally for their work on film who are taking a turn on the stage – Rebecca Pidgeon, Alicia Silverstone and Mary Steenburgen.

The play takes place toward the end of the 19th century, when the term “Boston marriage” was a euphemism for two women living together without the apparent support or companionship of men.

Anna and Claire, two women of high society, played by Steenburgen and Pidgeon respectively, spice up their otherwise banal domestic lives with lies, deceit and seduction. These events are interspersed with the appropriately raunchy wit and verbal abuse of their maid Catherine, played by Silverstone.

All three actresses, despite their backgrounds in film, are thrilled to be working on a stage production where the rehearsal and performance processes differ greatly from film production.

“On stage, you get to keep working on the project,” Silverstone said. “You keep discovering things, it keeps changing.”

There will be ample time for the cast to work on the piece during its two-month run, until March 12.

“This has been one of the great gifts of my own career,” Steenburgen said of this particular theater experience. “I’ve started in theater, and I go back and do plays as often as I can. This time, I am working with a master director and writer that inspire me. It has been an absolutely incredible experience and I’m so glad.”

Aside from its witty humor and suspenseful plot, “Boston Marriage” also deals with several issues that are still relevant today. On the surface, the play is about two women in a sexual relationship at a time when such things were neither acceptable nor discussed.

All three actresses, however, believe that there is much more to their characters than their social positions or sexual orientation, and that it was not Mamet’s intention for them to be the focus of the piece.

“It’s about intimacy and love and about marriage,” Pidgeon said of the play’s underlying topics.

Steenburgen agrees with Pidgeon. “It doesn’t matter that they’re both women,” she said. “It is about two people who have lived together for a very long time and have a conflict bringing out the best and worst in them.”

Silverstone highlighted a slightly different topic, pointing out that during the play’s time period two women living together, whether or not they were in a sexual relationship, could be doing so as a protest against marriage.

“In this particular period, when a woman got married to a man, she was going to be his servant,” Silverstone said. “These characters are pioneers for equality for women, because they didn’t want to become servants. They were the feminists of the time.”

Although it addresses social issues, “Boston Marriage” never ceases to entertain, with a constant rapport between Anna and Claire, and Catherine’s candidly honest interjections.

The cast also relishes the opportunity to delve into the artfully constructed text, and use it to develop their characters. “David (Mamet) is known for the special way in which he uses language,” Steenburgen said. “During rehearsal, the emphasis is on deriving understanding from the language, and speaking the language. It is about what you want instead of who you are, and that takes care of developing the character.”

Pidgeon, who originated the role of Claire in the play’s 1999 premiere run, has discovered over time the uniqueness of her character among the other women.

“I realized slowly that my character is the more masculine character, and that was a challenge because she doesn’t have those classically female traits of wanting to create stability or harmony in the home,” Pidgeon said. “She wants to go out and conquer, and push her love into the world.”

Silverstone particularly enjoys using the language of the period.

“They really used language as an art form and as a diversion,” she said. “What’s really neat about performing a period piece is that you’re saying things that we never say anymore.”

The Geffen’s production of “Boston Marriage” will give its audiences the chance to watch three celebrated actresses performing a very personal piece of theater.

“It is both very professional and very intimate,” Silverstone said.