There is, perhaps, no piece of theatre that better reflects the present moment than The Designated Mourner , a fiercely political, deeply personal play concerning class, identity, culture, and enemies. This will be Catastrophic’s third production of Shawn’s masterwork, a late addition to our season as was our second in January 2017. The times called for it then, they cry for it now.

Through a series of monologues and short scenes, three characters walk us through a labyrinthine tale spanning the years before, during, and after a populist uprising in an unnamed country, now teetering on the edge of authoritarianism, whose government has targeted the cultural intelligentsia for imprisonment and execution. As the story unwinds, it plumbs the depths of love, contempt, privilege, enemies, beauty, envy, “the self,” and what, if anything, we are willing to sacrifice for the things we believe.Read more