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Evening at The Talk House Reunion Reading
by Wallace Shawn
November 30, 2020
This Reunion Reading was available to stream until April 25, 2021.
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Overview
Remember when we felt we could do anything, when there was still nothing to fear? Yes, things have changed a bit, havenât they? In Wallace Shawnâs Evening at the Talk House, everyoneâs invited to join the company of Robert (Matthew Broderick)âs under-appreciated masterpiece, Midnight in a Clearing with Moon and Stars, at a get-together to raise a toast on the 10th anniversary of its opening night. To recall that wonderful creative atmosphere, which we all miss so much, Nellie (Jill Eikenberry) will host this celebration at the old haunt, the Talk House (which, despite everything, remains open). Please come. We need each other.
Reunion Readings, part of The New Group Off Stage slate of projects, are digital broadcasts of play readings featuring the original casts from plays produced in The New Groupâs first 25 years.
Original Creative Team
Opening Night: February 16, 2017, New York City, Original Scenic Design by Derek McLane, Original Costume Design by Jeff Mahshie, Original Lighting Design by Jennifer Tipton, Original Casting by Judy Henderson, CSA, Original Direction by Scott Elliott
Cast
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Matthew Broderick
CastTwo-time Tony award-winning stage actor and instantly recognizable film presence, Matthew Broderick was last seen on screen in Shawn Snyderâs To Dust, which won the Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award for Narrative Feature, and the animated comedy Wonder Park. He recently starred in Rules Donât Apply, directed by and starring Warren Beatty, as well as Manchester by the Sea. Broderickâs recent stage credits include The Starry Messenger at Wyndhamâs Theatre, The Seafarer with the Irish Repertory Theatre, The Closet at the Williamstown Theater Festival, The New Groupâs Evening at the Talk House and Shining City with the Irish Repertory Theatre, earning Obie Awards for both performances. Additional theater credits include Torch Song Trilogy, for which he was honored with an Outer Critics Circle Award, Sylvia, Itâs Only a Play, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Odd Couple, The Foreigner, The Producers, which was adapted into a feature film, Brighton Beach Memoirs, which earned him his first Tony Award, and the playâs sequel, Biloxi Blues. Broderick won his second Tony in the Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. On-screen, Broderick has starred in You Can Count on Me, Election, Ferris Buellerâs Day Off, Glory, War Games, and The Lion King, as the adult voice of Simba. Additional credits include The American Side, Dirty Weekend, Tower Heist, Margaret, Bee Movie, Then She Found Me, Deck the Halls, The Last Shot, The Stepford Wives, Inspector Gadget, Godzilla, Addicted to Love, The Cable Guy, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, The Night We Never Met, The Freshman, Family Business, and Max Dugan Returns. On television, Broderick was last seen in Netflixâs âDaybreakâ, Foxâs musical event âA Christmas Story Live!â, âModern Familyâ, â30 Rockâ, Showtimeâs âMaster Harold. . . and the Boysâ, and received an Emmy nomination for the TNT production of David Mametâs âA Life in the Theaterâ. Broderick will next star in the Broadway revival of Neil Simonâs Plaza Suite alongside his wife, Sarah Jessica Parker.
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Jill Eikenberry
CastBroadway: Moonchildren, All Over Town, Summer Brave, Watch on The Rhine, Onward Victoria. Off-Broadway: Evening At The Talk House, Uncommon Women and Others, Lemon Sky (Obie Award), Life Under Water (Obie Award), A Picasso, Enter Laughing, The Kid (Drama Desk nomination), Be A Good Little Widow, Jericho, Fern Hill by Michael Tucker. Regional: The M Spot by Michael Tucker. Film: âArthurâ, âHide in Plain Sightâ, âButch and Sundance, the Early Daysâ, âThe Manhattan Projectâ, âSomething Borrowedâ, âYoung Adultâ, âIn Reality.â  TV: âL.A. Lawâ (5 Emmy nominations, Golden Globe Award), âAn Inconvenient Woman,â âChantilly Lace.â Documentary Film Producer: âDestined to Liveâ (Humanitas Award), âEmile Norman by his Own Design.â
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John Epperson
CastJohn Epperson (aka LYPSINKA) was born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Film actor: Black Swan, Witch Hunt with Dennis Hopper, Wigstock: The Movie, Angels in America, Kinsey, Vampireâs Kiss and Another Gay Movie. Theatre actor: Wallace Shawnâs Evening at the Talk House (Off Broadway, 2017), Once Upon A Mattress (Off Broadway, 2015), John Epperson: Show Trash; Lypsinka! The Trilogy (both 2014), I Could Go On Lip-Synching; Now It Can Be Lip-Synched; Lypsinka! A Day In The Life (2 Drama Desk nominations); As I Lay Lip-Synching; Lypsinka Must Be Destroyed!; Lypsinka IS Harriet Craig!; Lypsinka! The Boxed Set  (Washington, D.C. Helen Hayes Award Outstanding Non-Resident Production; L.A. Weekly Theatre Award Best Solo Performance; Drama Desk nomination); The Stepmother in NYCO production of Rodgers and Hammersteinâs Cinderella at Lincoln Center; The Passion of the Crawford, a fantasia on the persona of Joan Crawford. Guest curator of the Club 57 film series âYou Are Now One Of Usâ at the Museum of Modern Art 2017 â 2018. Film lecturer for The New School, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and MoMA. www.lypsinka.com
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Larry Pine
CastBroadway credits include Casa Valentina, The Royal Family, The Seagull, End of the World, Roy Cohn in Angels in America, Bus Stop. Off-Broadway credits include Evening at the Talk House, Buried Child, The Women of Lockerbie for The New Group; Billy & Ray, An Unauthorized BiographyâŚof Walt Disney,  Stuff Happens, Enemy of the People, The Designated Mourner, Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Chemistry of Change, Uncle Vanya, Alice In Wonderland. Regional credits include Kreutzer Sonata, (adaptation by Larry & Margaret Pine), Carol Mulroney, Light Up the Sky, Heartbreak House, Night of the Iguana, A Life in the Theatre, Joe Egg, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing. Film includes Wes Andersonâs Grand Budapest Hotel, MoonRise Kingdom, and The Royal Tenenbaums; A.D. Project, OutSourced, TransBeMan, Sweet Flame, Empire Falls, Door in the Floor, Particles of Truth, Maid in Manhattan, A Foreign Affair, The Shipping News, Sunday (Sundance Grand Prize winner), Vanya on 42nd Street, Dead Man Walking, Addicted to Love, Stranger in the Kingdom, and Woody Allenâs Melinda and Melinda, Small Time Crooks, and Celebrity. Television includes âHostages,â âSuccession,â âHouse of Cards,â âHomeland,â âThe Good Wife,â âPerson Of Interest,â âGilmore Girls,â âOz,â âNew York Undercover,â multiple âLaw & Orders,â and much, much more.
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Wallace Shawn
CastWallace Shawnâs plays include Marie and Bruce, The Music Teacher (opera with Allen Shawn, composer), Aunt Dan And Lemon, The Fever, The Designated Mourner, Grasses Of A Thousand Colors, and Evening at the Talk House. As an actor, he has appeared on stage in David Rabeâs Hurlyburly and many of his own plays. He appeared in Manhattan, Radio Days, My Dinner With Andre, Clueless, Vanya on 42ND Street, A Master Builder, and Rifkinâs Festival, among other films, and on television he appeared in The Cosby Show, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Gossip Girl, Mozart In The Jungle and Young Sheldon.
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Claudia Shear
CastClaudia Shear started her career with the much acclaimed Blown Sideways Through Life, where she won an Obie award and which was made into a film for PBS, where it won the Montreux Rose dâOr, and was optioned for television by Steven Spielberg. A double TONY nominee (best actress and best play) for her Broadway play Dirty Blonde, she also wrote and starred in the acclaimed Restoration, which is in process of being produced in London. Her musical Tuck Everlasting was on Broadway and is currently being produced around the country.
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Annapurna Sriram
CastAnnapurna Sriram just wrapped a recurring role on the second season of the Netflix series âBonding.â She can currently be seen starring in the independent film Feral for director Andrew Wonder, and next in Jordan Gallandâs feature LEAVE NOT ONE ALIVE opposite Melissa Leo. She recently wrapped a lead role in Nadine Crockerâs independent feature CONTINUE opposite Emily Deschanel and Analeigh Tipton. Previously, Annapurna shot the TNT pilot âConstanceâ for Team Downey and director Jesse Peretz opposite Elisabeth Shue. Prior to that, she was seen in recurring roles in Showtimeâs âBillions,â Huluâs âThe Path,â and ABCâs âThe Blacklist.â Annapurna was first discovered leading Jesse Eisenbergâs off-Broadway play âThe Spoils,â which she later reprised on the West End in London. She was most recently seen leading Jordan Jaffeâs off-Broadway play âWhirlwind.â Previously on the stage, Annapurna starred in Wallace Shawnâs US premiere of âEvening at the Talkhouse.â
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Michael Tucker
CastMichael Tucker is an actor and a writer most recently seen on stage in Evening at the Talk House by Wallace Shawn at the New Group and The M Spot, a play of his own devising, at the New Jersey Repertory Company. Before that he danced and sang in Enter Laughing at the York Theater. Most of his other stage work was in the last century â on, off and off-off Broadway, Lincoln Center, The Delacorte, MTC, Roundabout, etc. TV and film: âLA Lawâ for eight years; films by Woody Allen, Barry Levinson, and many others. He has written three memoirs, a novel and three plays, including Fern Hill, which debuted at the New Jersey Repertory Company and then played at 59 E. 59th St Theater.
Creative Team
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Wallace Shawn
PlaywrightWallace Shawnâs plays include Marie and Bruce, The Music Teacher (opera with Allen Shawn, composer), Aunt Dan And Lemon, The Fever, The Designated Mourner, Grasses Of A Thousand Colors, and Evening at the Talk House. As an actor, he has appeared on stage in David Rabeâs Hurlyburly and many of his own plays. He appeared in Manhattan, Radio Days, My Dinner With Andre, Clueless, Vanya on 42ND Street, A Master Builder, and Rifkinâs Festival, among other films, and on television he appeared in The Cosby Show, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Gossip Girl, Mozart In The Jungle and Young Sheldon.
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Scott Elliott
DirectorScott Elliott is the founding artistic director of The New Group theater and New Group Off Stage, a multi-media division of the company. He most recently directed Jessica Goldbergâs Babe, featuring Arliss Howard, Gracie McGraw and Marisa Tomei. Other recent productions include the world premieres of The Seven Year Disappear by Jordan Seavey, The Seagull/Woodstock, NY by Thomas Bradshaw, and the musical Black No More by John Ridley and Tariq Trotter.
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