Four Plays: A Thought in Three Parts, Marie and Bruce, Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Fever
Shawn is best known as a small, cuddly, balding character actor who often plays little guys on the verge of personal crises. But for 20 years or so, he has been an off-Broadway playwright, penning vicious little comedies obsessed with portraying the dark side of life. InMarie and Bruce, for instance, he shows us, in one darkly funny act, a comically neurotic New York couple trapped in a decidedly sadomasochistic relationship. InAunt Dan and Lemon, he reveals in several short, powerful scenes just how much a privileged life depends on the exploitation of those lower in the food chain. Rounding out this collection of four of Shawn's better-known works are his hard-to-find early playA Thought in Three Partsand the script to his brilliant 1990 solo show,The Fever, a starkly written, harrowing journey into one man's dark night of the soul that is as searing on the page as it is on the stage.Jack Helbig