Witness (play)

1968 play by Terrence McNally

Witness

Written by| Terrence McNally
Date premiered| November 21, 1968
Place premiered| Off-Broadway
Original language| English
Genre| one-act play

Witness is a one-act play by Terrence McNally which opened Off-Broadway at the Gramercy Arts Theatre on November 21, 1968,[1] and closed on January 26, 1969.[2]

## Production

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Witness premiered Off-Broadway at the Gramercy Arts Theatre in 1968. It starred James Coco, Sally Kirkland, Richard Marr, and Joe Ponazecki, and was paired with another McNally play, Sweet Eros. The production ran through January 26, 1969.[3]

Witness is one of McNally's earlier plays and received mixed reviews.[4][5]

## Overview

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The play depicts a man who is planning to assassinate the President of the United States from the window of a building, all the while keeping a gagged and bound victim as a witness to his sanity.[6] One of the play's major themes is loneliness.[5]

## References

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1. ^ Raymond-Jean Frontain (4 October 2019). The Theater of Terrence McNally: Something about Grace. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 328–. ISBN 978-1-68393-216-1.
2. ^ Burns Mantle; John Arthur Chapman; Garrison P. Sherwood (1969). Burns Mantle Yearbook. Dodd, Mead.Page.436
3. ^ "'Sweet Eros' Listing" Internet Off-Broadway Database, accessed August 21, 2015
4. ^ "OCC Traces McNally from Witness to Dunelawn, Los Angeles Times, February 10, 1999
5. ^ a b Zinman, Toby Silverman. Terrence McNally, A Casebook, Edited by Toby Silverman Zinman, Taylor & Francis, 1997, p. 30
6. ^ The Guide to World Drama: Witness, by Terrence McNally

## Further reading

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* Terrence McNally : 15 short plays, Terrence McNally, Smith and Kraus, Lyme, NH, c1994, ISBN 1-880399-34-2

## External links

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* Witness at the Internet off-Broadway Database

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