Shawn - Evening at the Talk House

OTHER WORKS BY WALLACE SHAWN SCREENPLAYS: My Dinner with Andr by Wallace Shawn and Andr Gregory Marie and Bruce by Wallace Shawn and Tom Cairns A Master Builder based on The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen TRANSLATIONS/ADAPTATIONS: The Mandrake by Niccol Machiavelli A Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht OPERA LIBRETTI: In the Dark, music by Allen Shawn The Music Teacher, music by Allen Shawn ESSAYS: Essays PLAYS: The Hotel PlayOur Late NightA Thought in Three PartsMarie and BruceAunt Dan and LemonThe FeverThe Designated MournerGrasses of a Thousand ColorsEvening at The Talk House is copyright 2017 by Wallace Shawn Evening at The Talk House is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc., 520 Eighth Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10018-4156 All Rights Reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this material, being fully protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and all other countries of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions, is subject to a royalty. All rights, including but not limited to, professional, amateur, recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are expressly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of this book by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from the authors agent: George Lane, Creative Artists Agency, 405 Lexington Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10174, (212) 277-9000. The publication of Evening at The Talk House, by Wallace Shawn, through TCGs Book Program, is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution. Library of Congress Control Numbers: 2016040003 (print) / 2016053904 (ebook) ISBN 978-1-55936-860-5 (ebook) Book design and composition by Lisa Govan Cover design by Mark Melnick Cover images: Getty Images (brick wall); iStockphoto (plaque); Getty Images (womans hand) First Edition, January 2017 ToJenny EisenbergNell EisenbergLev EisenbergAnnie ShawnHarold ShawnNoa Shawn ... after very bitter struggle, a new land, with cool mornings and peaceful evenings... FENSTER, THE BROOK Table of Contents

Contents Evening at The Talk House received its world premiere at the Dorfman Theatre at the National Theatre in London (Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre; Lisa Burger, Executive Director), in association with Scott Rudin, on November 24, 2015. The production was directed by Ian Rickson. The design was by the Quay Brothers, the costume design was by Soutra Gilmour, the lighting design was by Neil Austin, the music design was by Stephen Warbeck, the sound design was by Ian Dickinson, and the movement direction was by Maxine Doyle; the stage manager was David Marsland. premiere at the The New Group (Scott Elliott, Artistic Director; Adam Bernstein, Executive Director) in New York on January 31, 2017. premiere at the The New Group (Scott Elliott, Artistic Director; Adam Bernstein, Executive Director) in New York on January 31, 2017.

The production was directed by Scott Elliott. The set design was by Derek McLane, the costume design was by Jeff Mahshie, and the lighting design was by Jennifer Tipton; the production stage manager was Valerie A. Peterson. The cast was:

ROBERT	Matthew Broderick
NELLIE	Jill Eikenberry
JANE	Annapurna Sriram
TED	John Epperson
ANNETTE	Claudia Shear
BILL	Michael Tucker
TOM	Larry Pine
DICK	Wallace Shawn

ROBERT	perhaps sixties, tall, attractive
NELLIE	perhaps sixties, thin
JANE	perhaps early thirties, thin
TED	perhaps fifties, not tall
ANNETTE	perhaps fifties, not thin
BILL	perhaps fifties, not tall
TOM	perhaps sixties, tall, attractive
DICK	perhaps sixties, not thin

Note to anyone directing this play: While writing the play, I imagined that the characters had certain characteristics. This is how I imagined the characters. Obviously, its up to you to decide whether or not you want the age and appearance of all the characters to conform exactly to what I say in the list above, because you may have good reasons in certain cases for making a different choice.

In London in 2015 and New York in 2017, we sometimes ignored the suggestions above. The central meeting room of The Talk House, an old-fashioned, understated small club. Several armchairs, some facing away from us. There is a bar, with various bottles, where guests can refill their drinks. Robert is a tall, attractive man, perhaps in his sixties. ROBERT I got a call from Ted the other night.

That was a surprise. It had probably been five or six years since Id heard from Ted. Of course, Id never really Well, I was about to say Id never really known Ted that wellbut then who have I known well, when you get right down to it, come to think of it?so I guess I wont say that. To know someone wellI mean, thats a phrase from another time. Thats an idiotic phrase. Who have I known well? I havent known anyone well.

But at any rate, Ted, you see, had composed some incidental music for a play Id written a dozen years ago or so called Midnight in a Clearing with Moon and Starsquite nice music, actuallyand at that time, you see, when theater played a somewhat larger part in the life of our city than it does now, Ted had been rather successful, he drove a rather nice car, he wore some pretty good-looking jackets and shirts, he was doing all right, but as far as Id heard, his fortunes had declined, so it was in a way rather touching that he wanted to gather together some of the old gang from Midnight, as we called it, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of its opening night, a date I myself would never otherwise have noticed. You see, according to Ted, that play had apparently been a very happy experience for all concerned. I mean, thats what he said, and it was nice to hear that, I guess, and I suppose Id had a nice time, myself, relatively speaking, during the production of that play. Certainly it would be reasonable to call it, from many points of view, my best play, if one bothers to get involved in those invidious comparisons. Like all my plays,