Wallace Shawn, 82, Revives 2 Plays as He Defends Pro-Palestine Views

2 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 18

At 82, Wallace Shawn is simultaneously performing his new play, "What We Did Before Our Moth Days," and reviving his 1990 monologue "The Fever" at New York’s Greenwich House Theater through May 24.
"The Fever" pushes him to "the absolute limit" physically, Shawn said, as the two-hour anti-capitalist monologue revisits themes of class predation, U.S. power in Central America and moral complicity.
Shawn said screen success across more than 200 credits solved his finances but did not bring the range of roles he wanted, arguing many in the industry still do not fully respect him as an actor.
On politics, Shawn sharply criticized Columbia University and the Trump administration over responses to pro-Palestinian student protests, calling Gaza a genocide and saying there have been consequences to his political awareness.
The stage run comes as Shawn balances activism with mainstream work, including a voice role in Toy Story 5 and a turn as Buckminster Fuller in the upcoming drama "The Man Who Changed the World."

Wallace Shawn's new play exposes his own father's affair. Why is he staging this deeply personal family secret now?

He funded his radical plays with Hollywood money. Does this compromise his anti-capitalist message or make it more powerful?