Wallace Shawn to Present THE FEVER in Repertory at the Greenwich House Theater
Shawn's Obie Award-winning solo masterwork, The Fever, will run with his play What We Did Before Our Moth Days.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jan. 22, 2026
Wallace Shawn will embark on a theatrical double venture this winter at the Greenwich House Theater: performing his Obie Award-winning solo masterwork, The Fever, in repertory with the previously-announced world premiere of his latest play, What We Did Before Our Moth Days. Shawn, will perform in The Fever two times a week, Sunday and Monday evenings, beginning Monday, February 16, while What We Did Before Our Moth Days — directed by Shawn’s longtime collaborator André Gregory — runs concurrently.
In The Fever, a nameless narrator, confined to a squalid hotel room inside a poor nation, lies feverish as political repression takes place just outside his window. While he recovers, he starts to question his own privilege and in particular his complicity, as he grapples with the stark realities of inequality and human suffering.
The Fever was first performed in friends’ living rooms, followed by the play’s premiere at The Public Theater in 1990 (winning the 1991 Obie Award for Best Play). Since then, it has been performed regularly in both theaters and unconventional spaces throughout the world including London’s Royal Court, the Avignon Festival, and at the ARCUB in Bucharest. In recent years, The Fever has been performed by such varied and acclaimed actors as Cate Blanchett (BBC, 2025), Lili Taylor (Off-Broadway, 2021), and Tobias Menzies (London, 2015), among many others. In 2004, the work was also adapted into an HBO film starring Vanessa Redgrave and directed by Carlo Gabriel Nero. This winter's programming marks a rare theatrical convergence: a playwright both performing his most enduring solo work while simultaneously unveiling his latest ensemble play— offering audiences two distinct perspectives on Shawn's evolving moral and political inquiries.
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