new play just dropped!!

"I’m always learning about / Your / company management."

Author

Tristan Willis
December 15, 2021

The Great Impresario Boris Lermontov Would Like To Invite You To Dinner

Two actors meet onstage and flip a coin to decide who plays which character in this performance. One takes on the role of Boris Lermontov, the boisterous and boastful impresario of a popular ballet company, while the other plays his employee Noa, an unappreciated dancer who’s been tasked with serving dinner to Lermontov and his guest (that’s you, the audience).

The façade of the dinner party quickly starts to crumble as tensions rise between impresario and dancer, revealing the faulty hierarchical structures inherent to such working relationships. As the actor playing Lermontov tries to show the effects of such power imbalances can be solved with the Right Person in the role of impresario, they fall further and further into a trap they’ve created for themself.

I wrote a new play this year and after a reading with pals and a lot of work with dramaturg (and pal) Joan Cummins, it’s finally ready to go out into the world!!

I’m proud of this piece in a way that feels lasting. A rarity, as usually the moment I’m done writing something it somehow, without warning, becomes the worst thing I’ve ever written.

This, I can say with certainty, is much better than the worst thing I’ve ever written. In fact it’s pretty damn good, and I’d love for you to read it! But you don’t just have to take my word for it.

“A wonderfully ambitious and lyrical work. Willis channels a unique, charming, and devastating voice in this piece challenging the audience to find the humor, wit, and humanity in the characters. Reminiscent of the best of the Absurdists, Willis' work demands the attention of the reader and flows beautifully. ” 

-Maxwell Johnson

“Wow… Tristan has devised a brilliantly meta-theatrical play that spotlights both oppressive bosses and how and why we as workers so often find ourselves exploited—especially in the arts! And they do it in a way that allows the actors agency. The metaphor of performers as cutlery is genius and haunting. This is a piece that will discomfit audiences and theatres alike, and [should] be produced everywhere RIGHT NOW!”

-John Bavoso

If you have access to New Play Exchange, you can download (and recommend it! 👀) there. If not, you can just reply to this email and ask me to send you a pdf.

If you enjoy it, I hope you’ll tell others about it, especially rich contacts interested in becoming patrons of My Arts, and theatres looking for pieces that blatantly drag them. But also just cool people who might like it.

It’s only ten days until Christmas and, from what I’ve heard, any presents you buy now might not get there on time. So if you’ve forgotten someone, lost a gift, found out they already had it, or received a gift that you now suddenly feel the need to reciprocate might I HUMBLY suggest checking out my tabletop games, which are currently 10% off OR $20 for all of them in a bundle!

They’re digital files, ensured to arrive on time, and they look hot printed as well.

If you’ve enjoyed any of my games previously, I also hope you’ll consider giving them 5 stars on itch.io - it’s an easy way to support my work. You can find an easy list of all games you’ve purchased but not yet rated here.

Last bit of news - Superstars: Racing Icons was recently translated into French. So excited more people will have access to the game! Vroum vroum!

Thanks as always for following, y’all! <3