Death of the Author by Steven Drukman
Geffen Playhouse
David Clayton Rogers and Austin Butler photo: Michael Lamont
Austin Butler and Lyndon Smith photo: Michael Lamont
David Clayton Rogers and Orson Bean photo: Michael Lamont
David Clayton Rogers and Austin Butler photo: Michael Lamont
World premiere at the Geffen Playhouse, May 2014
"Bart DeLorenzo puts another notch in a career gun that’s rather notch-filled by this point. His swirling staging, around various offices and dorm rooms, is often witty and always reflective of character dynamics. He brings out all of Rogers’s Paul Rudd–like charm, which is considerable, and establishes Smith as both grounded and ethereal, sexy and smart. He gets an accomplished, subtle, increasingly layered performance out of young Butler, who has stepped on many sound stages but never a legit one before, though you’ll have trouble believing that. Most memorably of all, DeLorenzo has wisely cast Bean as the play’s comedy relief and conscience, a sly, miraculous turn by this amazing veteran." -- Bob Verini, Arts in LA