DIALOGUES FINDING THE POINT WHERE CHAOS SEEPS IN MARTHA WADE STEKETEE
Jasmine Batchelor (Solvay) and Joe Curnutte (Peter). Photo by Gerry Goodstein.
This piece by Martha Steketee was originally published as "Will Eno’s Theatrical Rhythms" on HowlRound Theatre Commons, on Dec 10, 2015. It has been edited with the author's permission. Small Town-ish in a Really Good Way
F
or a heady period of time in the spring of 2014, playwright Will Eno had two productions running simultaneously in New York City, which inspired a 2014 Drama Desk special award for both ensembles and for the playwright. “To the Ensembles of Off-Broadway's The Open House and Broadway's The Realistic Joneses and Will Eno,” the award inscription reads, “Two Extraordinary Casts and One Impressively Inventive Playwright.” Eno recently reflected in conversation that the Drama Desk joint ensemble award was “fun and exciting and a huge surprise and felt really sort of small town-ish in a really good way.” 10
T H E AT R E F O R A N E W A U D I E N C E 360° S E R I E S
The Open House, which in addition to the compound 2014 Drama Desk special award also received 2014 Obie and Lucille Lortel best play honors, has now joined Eno’s other TCG-published works in a spanking new 2015 TCG edition. The clustering of recognition for this play in particular, among Eno’s growing body of produced and published work, is worth some analysis and reflection. Is this a cumulative awareness of, or a giving into, Eno’s view of the world? Did 2014 reflect a kind of final critical understanding of Eno’s subject matter? Are we all finally ready to experience with him, according to his rhythms and speech patterns, the gentle devastation of small town family life? Perhaps yes to all of the above. And with his many accolades, this newly minted fifty-year-old is self-effacing and delightfully appreciative that he’s understood and his work
