From 'Princess Bride' Villain To Playwright

Published July 29, 2013 at 12:50 PM EDT

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From left: Wallace Shawn, Larry Pine and Deborah Eisenberg make up the cast of The Designated Mourner. Written by Shawn and directed by Andre Gregory, the Public Theater show is a product of one of the longest collaborations in the history of the American theater. (Joan Marcus/The Public Theater)

New York’s Public Theater is putting on a showcase of the work of playwright Wallace Shawn.

The name probably sounds familiar, but you might know him better for his acting roles than his intellectually-demanding and rarely produced plays.

Over the last 40 years Shawn has written a handful of plays. The Pubic Theater is presenting the American premier of his play “Grasses of a Thousand Colors” later this fall.

But the showcase opens with Shawn’s “The Designated Mourner.”

Read and hear the original piece on NPR

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Tom Vitale, contributor to NPR.