Wallace Shawn, Deborah Eisenberg step into 'What We Did Before Our Moth Days' off Broadway

Shawn, who wrote the critically acclaimed play, and his partner gave a last-minute performance in the roles played by Hope Davis and Maria Dizzia due to illness.

Summary

• Wallace Shawn and Deborah Eisenberg performed last-minute in What We Did Before Our Moth Days off Broadway after two actors got sick
• Shawn is the show's playwright and Eisenberg is his partner
• Their performances added new emotional and comic beats to the story of a family fractured by an affair
• Shawn and Eisenberg will also perform in the show on April 2

“I think most of you already know this is going to be an unusual evening.”

Three hours before the April 1 evening performance of What We Did Before Our Moth Days off Broadway, Wallace Shawn and Deborah Eisenberg fluttered in to save the day. The performance was at risk of being canceled, as two of its four actors, Hope Davis and Maria Dizzia, had fallen ill. When Shawn, who happens to be the piece’s playwright, heard, he volunteered himself and Eisenberg, his partner, to step in.

They had “just” finished rehearsals when I arrived at the Greenwich House Theater around 6:45, a publicist for the show told me in the lobby. Eisenberg and Shawn respectively read for the roles of Elle, an unfaithful author's faithful wife usually played by Dizzia, and Elaine, Elle’s husband’s mistress, played by Davis. The real-life couple will also perform the roles tonight, April 2, with scripts in hand.

Shawn addressed the audience before last night's show began, noting that this was uncharted territory for them both. The production has no official understudies, so Shawn is the de facto standby for the two male roles, played by Josh Hamilton (the author, Dick) and John Early (Dick and Elle's son, Tim). As for Eisenberg? “Deborah's contract as an understudy began today,” Shawn quipped.

He offered refunds and exchanges, and he left the audience alone for a beat after his speech in case people wanted to leave discreetly. As far as I saw, no one did. He was right that we were not in for the production exactly as director André Gregory envisioned it, but in some ways, Shawn and Eisenberg's presence added new dimensions to the story, a series of direct-to-audience monologues about how Dick and Elaine's affair, and other transgressions, corroded one well-connected New York family.

Shawn's presence added broad comedy. When Dick introduces Elaine, my audience laughed as Shawn ambled on stage with a puckish smirk, which remained on his face as Dick elaborated on Elaine's "sexiness." One particular declaration of his lust — "I wanted to take off those mannish clothes of hers" — became a laugh line at the sight of Shawn's windbreaker, dark jeans, and loafers.

Whereas Shawn, as the writer, was in on the joke, Eisenberg stood out when she seemed not to be. She seemed to give the audience a knowing look at Dick's weak denial of an affair, and she chuckled with us at Elle's offbeat descriptions of Frank, an alluring stranger who makes her question her own fidelity.

At other moments, Eisenberg hesitated as she spoke, even almost getting choked up — like when Elle, a teacher, sadly acknowledges that many of her students won't go on to succeed. It felt like Eisenberg, like us, was encountering these lines for the first time. After all, she almost was. It was a raw and quietly powerful moment, one it felt like we shared in because we knew it wouldn't unfold this way again. Faced with a story about a community being fractured when their expectations of life went sideways, the audience committed to sticking around for the ride.

Get What We Did Before Our Moth Days tickets now.

Photo credit: John Early, Wallace Shawn, Deborah Eisenberg, and Josh Hamilton at What We Did Before Our Moth Days off Broadway. (Photo by Andy Henderson)