Grasses of a Thousand Colors at The Public Theater

Shawn’s most outlandish work to date, Grasses of a Thousand Colors, is a disturbing and anomalously beautiful play that touches on almost every imaginable form of sexual expression while spinning a dystopian fantasy about ecological disaster. Ben, the play’s central character, is a doctor who believes he has solved world hunger when he figures out how to rejigger the metabolisms of animals to tolerate eating their own kind. He ends up ruining the global ecosystem. Yet Grasses of a Thousand Colors is no mere social drama. Instead of exclusively dwelling on social disaster, it also explores the riotous sexual imaginations of Ben, his wife, and his lovers.

Grasses of a Thousand Colors which had its world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in 2009, will have its American Premiere at The Public’s Shiva Theater next fall with Shawn, Emily McDonnell and Jennifer Tilly repeating their roles in this acclaimed production.

Tickets are being held for Public Theater Members and will go on-sale in the spring of 2013.

Authors

• Wallace Shawn