The Select Equity Group Series on Theater

Joe Sola and Will Eno in central Florida, 2007. Photo: Grizzly O’Connell.

I first saw Will Eno’s work in the mid-’90s at Saint Mark’s Church in the East Village. The playbill announced his new short play McDuff, Caesarean. When it was time for Will’s work to go up, there seemed to be a longer pause than necessary, and some confusion in the rustling off-stage. This was ended by the squeaky wheels of a metal cart that he was pushing gently onto the stage. On the cart was a slide projector and a can of Coke. He told the audience that the lead in his play had gotten sick at the last moment and that he’d show pictures from his recent trip to Scotland instead. Here I was, imagining some gruesome play about a botched birth. “McDuff” and “Caesarean” in the same sentence? With or without the Macbeth reference, it had to be bloody and wrong. When the lights dimmed and Will started to speak we went from being an experimental theater audience to a bunch of strangers in Will’s living room. He went on for 15 minutes about the people he met in bars, restaurants, on the train, pictures of old things, bright things, and new things. From the threat of gruesome birth and possible death to sightseeing through Will’s eyes, in a simple, transformative move. Over the years we’ve collaborated on many video projects and have sustained a conversation about the arts, sports, people, and what it’s like to be here. Here are some of those conversations.

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Issue 104 Summer 2008