Aunt Dan and Lemon

by Wallace Shawn, directed by Scott Elliott at the New Group.  Featuring: Marsha Stephanie Blake, Liam Craig, Isaach De Bankole, Melissa Errico as Mother, Kristen Johnston, Carlos Leon, Emily Cass McDonnell, Brooke Sunny Moriber, Maulik Pancholy, Stephen Park, Bill Sage, Lili Taylor

This off-Broadway hit revival of Aunt Dan and Lemon won raves in the 2003-2004 season.  Set in London, the play centers on the relationship between the young, sickly Lemon (short for Leonora) and her meek mother's best friend- the brutally candid, Kissinger-worshipping Aunt Dan (short for Danielle). Through a combination of straight scenes and politically horrifying, but hilarious monologues, Shawn trains a magnifying glass on civilized society and the uncivilized things it tacitly permits its leaders to do, so that its comforts may be kept in place.  (see reviews in PRESS)