Alum Andy Manjuck 05F’s Puppet Play, a New York Times “Critic's Pick,” is on Tour
Bill's 44th, a comedy co-created with collaborator Dorothy James, was described as “poignant” and “as much about the ingenuity of the mind as it is about loneliness.”
The play, which took years to develop, center's on the character's birthday party, for which he is amply prepared to receive guests who never arrive.
“Perhaps they had been to one of Bill’s shindigs before,” wrote the Times. “They might have anticipated the forlorn tray of crudités, with celery sticks browning at the ends. Or foreseen that he would spike the punch to near-lethal levels, then want to bust some disco moves. With his bald papier-mâché head and thick Tom Selleck mustache, Bill is not, truth be told, the suavest of men.”
The wordless 55-minute show has received high praise from numerous journals and has been honored with nearly a dozen awards. “This isn’t the birthday that Bill had hoped to have,” the Times concluded. “But for the audience, his 44th is a gift.”
Bill's 44th opened in early 2021 at Dixon Place in New York City, and has been performed internationally since. This summer, the play will be traveling through New York and Edinburgh. In early 2025, Bill will celebrate his birthday in North Carolina.
Photo by Richard Termine.
Article Tags
