The Violet Hour A Play

In this new play by the Tony Award-winning playwright ofTake Me Out, a fledgling (and upper-class) World War I-era publisher is trying to decide which work to choose as his imprint's first title. He has two manuscripts but lacks the funds to publish both. His difficult decision--whether to publish his lover's memoir or the novel written by his best friend--is further complicated by the arrival of a mysterious machine that produces pages predicting the future of the play's protagonists, affecting their lives and relationships in haunting and unexpected ways.The Violet Houropened on Broadway on November 6, 2003, starring Robert Sean Leonard. Richard Greenbergis the author ofTake Me Out,The Dazzle,Everett Beekinand several other plays. He is an associate artist at the South Coast Repertory and a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre. He lives in New York City. In this new play by the Tony Award-winning author ofTake Me Out, a fledgling World War I-era publisher is trying to decide which work to choose as his imprint's first title. He has two manuscripts but lacks the funds to publish both. His difficult decision--whether to publish his lover's memoir or the novel written by his best friend--is further complicated by the arrival of a mysterious machine--a machine that produces pages predicting the future of the play's protagonists, affecting their lives and relationships in haunting and unexpected ways. "[A] wonderful new work . . . of serious whimsy, of glittering style and dark substance . . . [The Violet Hour] . . . balances heights of wit with depths of feeling."--Ben Brantley,The New York Times "May just be Greenberg's finest . . . The play is continually amusing, but also deeply touching . . . A chamber piece that muses on the elusive intersections between the past, the present, and the future . . . Greenberg has concocted an ingenious time-travel story with a novel twist."--Charles Isherwood,Variety "Richard Greenberg's luminous, mysterious, emotionally churning tragicomedyThe Violet Houris a wondrous piece of work . . . This is the kind of bewitching play that makes theater a world unto itself."--Hedy Weiss,Chicago Sun-Times "Haunting . . .The Violet Houris a well-crafted play filled with wonder, a celebration of possibilities and anticipation of things to come."--Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press "[A] beguiling . . . time-machine tragicomedy [filled with] restless, gorgeously written observations about life, love and literati."--Linda Winer,Newsday "Theatergoers who lament the absence of original American plays should make a point of seeingThe Violet Hour. . . The wonder ofThe Violet Houris how it melts from clever, fantastical period pastiche into a poignant and profound portrait of how time ultimately makes fools of everyone, even visionaries determined to control their own legends."--Ben Brantley,The New York Times

Richard Greenberg is the author of The Dazzle and several other plays. He lives in New York City.