Theater at REDCAT
May 11, 2017, 8 pm
May 12, 2017, 8 pm
May 13, 2017, 8 pm
May 14, 2017, 3 pm
May 16, 2017, 8 pm
May 17, 2017, 8 pm
May 18, 2017, 8 pm
May 19, 2017, 8 pm
May 20, 2017, 8 pm
May 21, 2017, 3 pm
“Essential, Illuminating, and Not-To-Be-Missed! The Designated Mourner makes the definitive case for Wallace Shawn as one of the most complex and uncompromising moralists of the American theater.”
– The New York Times
“Wallace Shawn’s play is about intellectuals grappling with their country’s slide into fascism. Sound familiar?”
– New Republic
As their rapidly changing country slips into totalitarianism, three artist-intellectuals try to make sense of their changing lives in this searing and prescient drama re-staged at REDCAT by the celebrated team of writer Wallace Shawn and director André Gregory. The same dynamic cast that Gregory directed in the acclaimed New York production in 2000 — Shawn, Deborah Eisenberg and Larry Pine — recreate their roles as a famous poet-intellectual, his daughter, and her husband. When their government brutally cracks down on anyone suspected of subversion, the three observe the flagrant transformations of everyday life, public affairs and personal relationships, realizing they are each made of very different moral fiber despite their shared highbrow background. Audiences marveled at the remarkable relevance of the 1996 play when it was revived during the George W. Bush years. Now the artists revisit the work, which is frequently heralded as a masterpiece of political theater, during the first months of a new and controversial U.S. administration.
Running Time: 180 minutes, including intermission.
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