Actor and playwright Wallace Shawn is best known for his small comedic roles (he'll probably be forever recognized as Vizzini in The Princess Bride). But theater lovers have likely admired his disturbing, witty political plays since the late 1970s. Night Thoughts isn't drama, but it does touch on politics, pondering the meaning of modern life in the face of the destruction it has wrought.
Framed as a meditation while sitting in a hotel, Night Thoughts reflects on Shawn's youth and his erstwhile commitment to civilization. Now, in his 70s, he's well aware the benefits that he enjoyed as a white male came at a cost to others he'll never truly have to reckon with. Musing about a possible future uprising by those with little power, wealth or stature, Shawn admits he'd open his door to them, allowing them to take his home and property, none of which Shawn seems to think he really deserves. It's one thing to decry inequality, but Shawn's sanguine response to revolution is probably why Night Thoughts is being released by the radical independent publishing house Haymarket Books.
Bloody revolt aside, Shawn has a way of pulling the reader into conversation, making the experience of Night Thoughts feel like more than moving through an extended essay by an important American playwright and actor. Somewhere, as one reads it, the feeling of friendship appears, as if Shawn has known you for years, and now, late in his life, he's decided to tell you what it's all about. --Noah Cruickshank, adult engagement manager, the Field Museum, Chicago, Ill.