Wallace Shawn’s latest play is a literary triumph—even if you never see it.
Wallace Shawn's latest play, What We Did Before Our Moth Days, has garnered significant attention in New York. The production explores themes of the nuclear family and features a cast of notable actors. In addition, Shawn is performing his monologue The Fever, which delves into systemic injustice and personal privilege.
- ▪What We Did Before Our Moth Days is Shawn's first new work in years.
- ▪The play features a cast that includes John Early, Hope Davis, Josh Hamilton, and Maria Dizzia.
- ▪Shawn's monologue The Fever examines an American tourist's struggle with privilege and systemic injustice.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
You may know him as Vizzini, the self-identified brains behind Princess Buttercup’s thwarted kidnapping. Or as Mr. Hall, the sexually frustrated Debate teacher who brings out the best in another blonde 90s icon. Younger fans may see him as Blair Waldorf’s step-dad, while the freshmen film nerds (c’est moi) first saw the twinkle during that famous dinner with André. That’s right, people. I’m talking about your favorite character actor, Wallace Shawn. Right now in New York, the man of a dozen dear faces is the toast of the town. But this time the laurels are settling on his writing. Shawn, the son of a New Yorker editor and longtime partner of a celebrated fiction writer, has been making knotty, ruminative plays about death and troubled institutions for as long as he’s been acting.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Literary Hub.
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