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The Open House

Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy  /  2w, 3m

People have been born into families since people started getting born at all. Playwrights have been trying to write Family Plays for a long time, too. People have been trying nobly for years and years to have plays solve in two hours what hasn't been solved in many lifetimes. This has to stop.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 3m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Not Applicable
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades
  • WINNER! 2014 Lucille Lortel Award - Outstanding Play
    WINNER! 2014 Obie Award - Playwrighting (Will Eno) & Direction (Oliver Butler) 
    WINNER! 2014 Drama Desk Special Award

Details

Summary
People have been born into families since people started getting born at all. Playwrights have been trying to write Family Plays for a long time, too. And typically these plays try to answer endlessly complicated questions of blood and duty and inheritance and responsibility. They try to answer the question, "Can things really change?" People have been trying nobly for years and years to have plays solve in two hours what hasn't been solved in many lifetimes. This has to stop.
History

The Open House premiered in New York City at the Signature Theatre in February of 2014, under the direction of Oliver Butler. 

FATHER
MOTHER
DAUGHTER
SON
UNCLE
  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day, New Millennium/21st Century
  • Setting The family room.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • No Special Cautions

Media

REVIEWS

"Mr. Eno...has established himself as one of the most vital, distinctive voices in the American theater over the past decade. Once encountered, his style is not likely to be forgotten: Wryly humorous and deeply engaged in the odd kinks and quirks of language and its fuzzy relationship to meaning, his plays are also infused with a haunted awareness of, and a sorrowful compassion for, the fundamental solitude of existence." - The New York Times, Read More

"FOUR STARS! Will Eno's play about family dysfunction has plenty of wit and insight." - New York Daily News, Read More

"The Open House is a play you feel as much as intellectualize. And the feeling is rather haunting." - NorthJersey.com, Read More

"
[Will Eno's] work combines studied banality, sneaky weirdness and formal ingenuity. His deadpan allegory The Open House surveys the petty animosities and deadening routines of a suburban everyclan" - Time Out New York, Read More

RELATED ARTICLES ON BREAKING CHARACTER

A Family Feuds in THE OPEN HOUSE
by Julia Izumi
March 12, 2015

Videos

  • Will Eno on The Open House youtube thumbnail

    Will Eno on The Open House

  • THE OPEN HOUSE by Will Eno youtube thumbnail

    THE OPEN HOUSE by Will Eno

  • Oliver Butler on THE OPEN HOUSE youtube thumbnail

    Oliver Butler on THE OPEN HOUSE

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
    This title may have restrictions in place for London based productions. Please submit a licence request to confirm specific availability.

Scripts

Available Formats:

Authors

Will Eno

Playwright Will Eno recently completed the Residency Five Fellowship at the Signature Theatre, which premiered his play Title and Deed in 2012,  The Open House in 2014, and Wakey, Wakey in 2017. Will’s play The Underlying Chris premiered at 2nd Stage Theatre in October 2019, ...

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