Richard Maxwell / New York City Players: The Evening
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Richard Maxwell / New York City Players: The Evening

Out There 2015 kicks off with the world premiere of a new Walker-commissioned work from award-winning playwright/director Richard Maxwell, known for his minimalist, unaffected direction. Tragic, comic, and unexpected, the elegiac and musical work probes the lives, desires, and dreams of three denizens of a dive bar—a fighter past his prime, his manager, and a bartender. The Evening unfolds with monologue, fiction, and live music as the story itself transforms into a living, breathing, autonomous thing.

Although rich with sublimated humor and magnified nuance, Maxwell’s theater works are noted for their non-emotive acting style coupled with an extreme form of neutrality in direction. Circular conversations, fractured silences, and dead-pan absurdity permeate his works, yet one never suspects lurking parody or satire. Instead, the result is a sophisticated, surprisingly moving rendering of the human condition laid bare.

World Premiere/Walker Commission

Meet the Artists

Postshow Reception

Thursday, January 8
Meet the artists after the show at a reception in the McGuire Theater’s Balcony Bar.

Postshow Q & A

Friday, January 9
Stay after the show for a Q&A with the artists and performing arts curators.

SpeakEasy

Saturday, January 10
After the performance, head to the Balcony Bar to join a discussion or just listen in as others hash it out. SpeakEasy conversations are hosted by a tour guide and members of the local performing arts community.

Funding

  • Richard Maxwell is the recipient of the 2014 Spalding Gray Award from the commissioning consortium of PS 122, the Andy Warhol Museum, On the Boards, and the Walker Art Center. Support provided by the William and Nadine McGuire Commissioning Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Producers’ Council members Leni and David Moore, Jr. /The David and Leni Moore Family Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Kunsten FESTIVAL des Arts, Greene Naftali Gallery, and The Kitchen.