I first discovered Almost an Evening when I was a senior in undergrad by accident in a bookstore. I bought it without reading it because it was the only play in the section that wasn’t Shakespeare or Death of a Salesman. I would later host a table reading of sorts with my friends during a hurricane when we had nothing else to do but eat pretzels and wait for the storm to pass and school to continue. In this way Almost an Evening launched to the top of my “if I could direct another show” list and became the natural first choice when I applied to the Independent Artist Series.
I had some reservations at first, if you didn’t notice on the poster this play come with a lot of warning labels; there’s a gun, three deaths, lots of swearing, and quite a few adult topics. But art is like that sometimes. Not everything is pleasant and unaffecting. Some art is gross or even potentially offensive. Ethan Coen isn’t being lewd for no reason he’s doing it to make you laugh, and then think about why you laughed. Then maybe laugh because you’re thinking about really silly things like a spy in a sauna.
When my friends and I read this play we climbed on my furniture, jumped from chairs and hung from my balcony trying to figure out how weird we could make it. While there’s no balconies to hang from in Hiestand 100 it’s definitely gonna get weird so, please, only sit in the front row if you’re ready. And with that happy warning aside, I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did when I first read it years ago.
Mackenzie Kirkman
Graduate Student ‘19
Tickets for Almost an Evening are available here. Tickets are free, but seating is limited.
Join us on Friday & Saturday, February 23rd and 24th, at 8pm in Hiestand Hall 100 for “Almost an Evening”!