Phoenix Festival Playbill 2023 WEB - Flipbook - Page 15
DRINKS WITH DEAD POETS
Adapted by Glyn Maxwell
From his novel of the same name
Directed by Attilio Rigotti
Cast
GLYN MAXWELL……...............................................……………………Max
ELISE STONE*.......................................................................................Ashling
ANTONIO EDWARDS SUÁREZ*.............................................................Zack
Production Team
Debbi Hobson — Costume Design
Buffy Cardoza — Production Manager/Props Designer
Orsolya Szánthó — Tchnology Design
Place: A Bar. The Village of Nyack, New York, America
Run time: 70 minutes without intermission
*Member Actors’ Equity Association
Director’s Note
“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather
said. […] Something your hand touched some way, so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that 昀氀ower
you planted, you’re there.”– Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
When I 昀椀rst heard Glyn Maxwell’s play, I was sure it was a delicious
satire. The second time I read it, it felt foreboding, a clever twist on
speculative 昀椀ction. The third time, a vicious documentary of what was
going on around us. The fourth time, a mournful eulogy for the end of
literature. The 昀椀fth time, a 昀氀ame of hope for the survival of imagination.
The beauty of the piece, as with all great theatrical texts, is that it is all of
these, and more. The voices of dozens of America’s great poets are brought
