Richard Maxwell

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Richard Maxwell is an experimental director and playwright in New York City. He and his company, The New York City Players, have produced 14 plays as of February 2007.[1] Maxwell is known for a pretentious anti-style writing and directing, in which the actors' are asked to repress emotions, creating a static, grating, and sometimes humorous result. As The New York Times writes, "Maxwell is the author and director of a series of acclaimed plays whose most defining characteristic is characters who speak, argue, and even laugh in an unwavering monotone."[2] He is originally from West Fargo, North Dakota.

[edit] Productions

Maxwell's plays have been performed in New York at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, HERE Arts Center, P.S. 122, The Kitchen, and in theaters in cities throughout the world, including London, Berlin, Dublin, Vienna, Brussels, and Columbus, Ohio.[3]

  • Burger King chronicles the work days of several employees at the hamburger joint, and was produced in Williamstown and New York in 1997.
  • Flight Courier Service centers around a flight courier who becomes entangled with two members of the Malaysian mafia. It was performed at the Ontological Theater in 1997, and in 2006, director Jamie Poskin produced Maxwell's script at Stanford University.[4]
  • The End of Reality. Maxwell's latest show follows the day to day events of a security guard. The Times wrote an article about the playwright as he prepared for the opening of The End of Reality. The show is currently on tour until May 2007 at the Kunsten Festival in Brussels, Belgium.[5]

[edit] Publications

  • Plays Volume 1 was published in 2000 by TCG, and includes Maxwell's works from 1996-2000.[6]
  1. ^ The New York City Players website
  2. ^ The New York Times
  3. ^ Richard Maxwell's production history
  4. ^ Flight Courier Service (Stanford production)
  5. ^ Kunsten Festival
  6. ^ Plays, Volume 1