FOOL’S PARADISE

Set in an unnamed city in a country ruled by philistines, Wallace Shawn’s The Designated Mourner should be just as relevant for today’s silly-cat-video–loving culture as it was when it first premiered in London in 1996. The story follows Jack, whose marriage is on the rocks as he struggles between joining the intellectuals (who include his poet father-in-law) or the anti-elitist mob. The Theatre for a New Audience and Public Theater co-production reunites director André Gregory of the 2000 New York production with the original stellar three-member cast: Shawn (as Jack), Larry Pine (as his father-in-law), and Shawn’s wife, Deborah Eisenberg (playing Jack’s wife).

Mondays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Starts: June 21. Continues through Aug. 25, 2013