“WHAT WE DID BEFORE OUR MOTH DAYS produces the kind of rush you get in looking down from the top of a very tall building after you’ve forgotten for a while that you’re not on solid ground. It’s an exhilarating spiritual dizziness. Wallace Shawn's MOTH DAYS is revelatory and heart-wrenching.” Sara Holdren, New York Magazine “NYT CRITICS PICK. WHAT WE DID BEFORE OUR MOTH DAYS is purgatory done right. Wallace Shawn and André Gregory are together again, delivering a sumptuous set of interlinked monologues about life, death and betrayal.” Helen Shaw, New York Times “WHAT WE DID BEFORE OUR MOTH DAYS is explosive. A penetrating meditation on the allure of a bad life and the trap of a good one. I was swept away by its candor and depth, its merciless generosity. ou want to listen to this quartet forever.” Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker “Wallace Shawn slips the knife in so gently and deftly that only later do you look down and notice that you’re bleeding.” Adam Feldman, Time Out “What We Did Before Our Moth Days is beautiful. It is not about the pain of heartbreak but about the suffering felt by someone who has fallen out of love, and it has a stillness that calls the listener to lean in. It is mesmerizing. Wallace Shawn has a rare and complicated gift for empathy. He understands the deep vulnerabilities of anyone trying to be human.” Susan Dominus, T Magazine “Wallace Shawn may be the most dangerously seductive storyteller in American theater. I felt as I did as a child listening to a Grimm’s fairytale, which would hook, enchant and then devastate me with its serene, cruel wisdom.” Ben Brantley

WHAT WE DID BEFORE OUR MOTH DAYS
by Wallace Shawn, directed by André Gregory.
Starring Hope Davis, Maria Dizzia, John Early, and Josh Hamilton
WHAT WE DID BEFORE OUR MOTH DAYS by Wallace Shawn, directed by André Gregory. Starring Hope Davis, Maria Dizzia, John Early, and Josh Hamilton

What We Did Before Our Moth Days is beautiful. It is not about the pain of heartbreak but about the suffering felt by someone who has fallen out of love, and it has a stillness that calls the listener to lean in. It is mesmerizing. Wallace Shawn has a rare and complicated gift for empathy. He understands the deep vulnerabilities of anyone trying to be human.”
Susan Dominus, The New York Times

Set in an urban world of intelligent and somewhat gentle middle-class people, a father, mother, son, and the long-time mistress of the father tell the intimate story of their lives. Wallace Shawn, a student of morality whose plays have brought us frank truths about politics and sexuality, here takes on the subject of love — suffocating and freeing — and the kaleidoscopic journeys we make through remorse, sorrow, resentment, and joy. Shawn and legendary director André Gregory have created a work that is as strange, and at times hilarious, as their earlier collaboration, My Dinner with André.

Cast

Hope Davis (Elaine)
Maria Dizzia (Elle)
John Early (Tim)
Josh Hamilton (Dick)

Creative Team

A New Play by Wallace Shawn
Scenic &
Costume Designer
Riccardo Hernández
Lighting Designer Jennifer Tipton
Sound Designer &
Original Composition
Bruce Odland
Projection Designer Bill Morrison
Production
Stage Manager
Melanie T. Morgan
Stage Manager &
Assistant Director
Lucas Kane
Company Manager Erika K. Foley
Public Relations DKC/O&M
Press Consultant Lee Abrahamian
Advertising & Marketing ARTHOUSE
Artwork Development BLT Communications, Inc.
Production Manager Aurora Productions
General Management DR Theatrical Management
Produced in Association With Wallace Shawn
Directed by André Gregory

Wallace Shawn performs THE FEVER Sunday and Monday nights Wallace Shawn performs THE FEVER Sunday and Monday nights

In "The Fever," a nameless narrator, confined to a squalid hotel room inside a poor nation, lies feverish as political repression takes place just outside his window. While he recovers, he starts to question his own privilege and in particular his complicity, as he grapples with the stark realities of inequality and human suffering.

Ticket Calendar

Ticket Calendar

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Note: Tickets to "What We Did Before Our Moth Days" and "The Fever" need to be purchased in separate transactions.

In Person

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Greenwich House Theater
27 Barrow St
New York, NY 10014

Show Info

"What We Did Before Our Moth Days" has a run time of 3 hours with 2 intermissions.
"The Fever" has a run time of 1 hour and 50 minutes with no intermission.
Recommended for Ages 12+