When the late New Yorker movie writer, Lillian Ross, revealed the story of her affair with the magazine’s fabled editor, it blew the minds of the literati.
Now the late William Shawn’s son, actor and writer Wallace, has written a play about his father’s secret, scandalous affair.
“What We Did Before Our Moth Days” is coming to off Broadway, produced by the notorious Scott Rudin and the less-so Barry Diller.
What makes this even more interesting is the director, Andre Gregory. You may recall how Shawn and Gregory once starred in the cult film, “My Dinner with Andre.” Gregory is a snappy 91 years old.
I knew Lillian Ross in her later years. She published her memoir telling the whole story about her long subterfuge with Shawn in 1998. She died in 2017 at almost 100 years old. The romance was as sharply observed as he countless stories and her many books about the inner workings of Hollywood, although she was far from glamorous. She was actually very cute, which must be what attracted Shawn.
In the play, Josh Hamilton will be “Mr. Shawn,” and Hope Davis, Maria Dizzia, and John Early are all featured. “Moth” is set for a 12-week run at the Greenwich House Theater starting Feb. 4th, with an opening night March 5th.
Wallace Shawn — who is Jewish but just signed a letter boycotting the Israel film community — said in a statement: “We don’t understand ourselves, and we don’t know why we do what we do. Ideally, then, dangerous weapons should be kept out of our hands at all times, but in romantic, sexual, and familial relationships we carry the weapon of our own feelings strapped to our chests whether we like it or not. This is a play about four intelligent and thoughtful people – mother, father, son, and father’s mistress – living in a somewhat violent but sophisticated city.”
We shall see.
