Drawing exclusively from audio recordings of David Foster Wallace (readings he gave of his short fiction, essays, and an extensive interview he did for German television), director Daniel Fish and an ensemble of 5 actors seek to re-create the amazing presence Wallace brought to everything he wrote about, be it professional tennis, a boy’s thirteenth birthday, or America’s obsession with entertainment. Individual listening devices serve as functioning props, delivering the text live to the actors in performance. The selection, order, and tempo of the recordings are mixed live. Wallace is not a character in the piece. Rather, his work as translated by the performers is like the garment of a dear, dead friend: an artifact that simultaneously and dramatically evokes his presence and his absence, asking us: How present can we be? How generous in the way we experience the cacophony of our world?

Directed by Daniel Fish. Set Design by Laura Jellinick. Lighting Design by Thomas Dunn. Costume Design by Andrea Lauer. Sound Design by Daniel Kluger. Performed by John Amir, Efthalia Papacosta, Therese Plaehn, Mary Rasmussen, and Jenny Seastone Stern.

Produced with the permission of the David Foster Wallace Literary Trust. Developed in residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center and University of Rochester International Theatre Program.

“When the Voice in Your Head Just Keeps Talking” – Claudia La Rocco, New York Times

“Volleys of Words From a Writer of No Brevity” – Charles Isherwood, New York Times

“Learning that you are about to watch a two-and-a-half-hour performance with no intermission tends to focus the mind.” – Helen Shaw, Time Out New York