Theater for Beginners

A unique meditation on the art and practice of theater, from one of its most original thinkers and practitioners.

"The writer and director Richard Maxwell is a stylist of the first order, which is to say that the content of what he says is equal to how he says it. When I read or think about a Maxwell text, I don't so much recall any other writer. Rather, I think about visual artists and colors, usually some gradation of gray, and as painted by Agnes Martin: a series of lines and, ultimately, grids that seduce through a visible splendor that is immediate but not florid. You have to work to meet the work's meaning." - Hilton Als, New Yorker

"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." - Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN