The Last Word . . . was porduced Off-Broadway in February of 2007 at St. Clement's Theatre on 46th Street in Manhattan.
The cast included Daniel J. Travanti and Adam Green.
The play follows a generational culture clash between Henrey Grunwald an aspiring playwright and octogenarian and the young
Len Artz his arrogant would be assistant.
The acting, direction and design were met with critical success by numerous publications and reviews.
Theatre Mania said "Lippard keeps things moving at just the right clip for the play to make its points without wearing out its welcome.
(The intermissionless show runs about 80 minutes). Set designer Michael V. Moore has provided an appropriately sparse and
dingy office for the Henry-Len discourse. Equally appropriate are Lucas Benjaminh Krech's lighting and Kirche Leigh Zeile's
costumes. Hail also to sound designer Gabe Wood for those wonderfully realistic computer noises."
Terry Teachout of The Wall Street Journal exclaimed "Good staging, good set, good everything. Welcome back, Oren Safdie!"
The play takes place in a rundown office building and demands a strict adherence to the realism of the situation. The challenge
with the design of this play became rigorously reconstructing the lighting of a room lit with fluorescents yet still providing
for the dramatic needs of the action. The design never once wanted to call attention to itself.
It was a fun challenge to spend so much attention on the detail of a flawlessly reconstructed office. The light needed the
texture and feel of fluorescents, yet that look had to be built from conventional theatrical lighting instruments. Realistic
naturalism contains its own special kind of difficulty and this was no exception. The work was rigorous and detailed and at
the same time invisible. The design was effective precisely because it receeded into the background and allowed the actors
to play out the drama uninterrupted.
Photographs courtesy Carol Rosegg
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