Ed Schmidt Amazon blurb
(3 Plays by Ed Schmidt, Books We Live by, $19.99) I am pleased to announce the release of a long-overdue play collection by one of the most original talents of the New York theater scene. Brooklyn-based playwright Ed Schmidt is a revolution—albeit a micro one. Imagine having your outdated kitchen transformed into a Greek amphitheater: that’s the kind of transformation he brings to the theater world. He would be the first to say, “Theater can happen anywhere.” And so he went to war, down into the trenches, to fight his revolution in places where audiences seldom tread—or care to. Why must a play take place on a stage, proscenium or otherwise? Why not in the cramped, stuffy space of a high school locker? Or in your friend’s cluttered living room? Call it pocket, intimate, or immersive theater, one thing is certain: from his tiny corner, he will make you sit through his musings on the most profound universal and existential questions. The rule has not changed: the grain of sand still speaks on behalf of the beach. How could anyone refuse this minute sunray when it coaxes with the promise of an abundant meal?
After the resounding success of Mr. Rickey Takes a Meeting over the past two decades, Ed Schmidt returns with three sharp, percussive works in this new collection. The playwright-turned-actor-turned-character never shies from engaging his audience—posing oblique questions, spinning both reliable and unreliable tales, and demanding that you surrender your trust and full participation before the bravado, fluidity, and gentleness that only a charlatan could muster. Whether you open The Last Supper, My Last Play, or Our Last Game, Schmidt strikes bright, high-flavored notes of surprise, never without a hint of gentle provocation. You have been warned: whatever your experience, you will not regret being drawn in so intimately.
