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PAST SHOWS

The Last Supper
Honest-to-God dinner theater, w
ritten, performed, directed, cooked, ushered, and cleaned up by Ed Schmidt .

410 16th Street, Brooklyn, New York (2002-3)
154 West 27th Street, Apartment #5W, New York City (2003-4)
Bonn (Germany) Bienalle (2004)
Philadelphia Live Arts Festival (2004)


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Photo by Thilo Beu

"The hottest new show in New York!" - NBC's "Today Show"

"Thoroughly disarming and highly theatrical piece of anti-theater ... you should be prepared to have your every expectation of theater subverted." - Bruce Weber, New York Times. Read the review.
 
"A wandering mix of Andy Kaufman-style performance art, cerebral stand-up comedy and Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding ... It's not hard to see why audiences fall for Schmidt; Supper ... has a warmth and humor largely absent from downtown's hipster theater." - Jason Zinoman, Time Out New York. Read the review.

"Schmidt is the ultimate postmodern chef - an unreliable narrator whose falsifications carry truth, and whose half-faked cookery culminates in actual nourishment." - Michael Feingold, Village Voice. Read the review.

Brings to mind both Julia Child and Spalding Gray ... a surprisingly spirited attempt at making the Host palatable to contemporary audiences." - The New Yorker. Read the review.
 
"One of the city's most unusual, uh, worship services ... one of [the] most extraordinary theater experiences." - New York Post. Read the review.
 
"A wonderfully offbeat event ... unusually entertaining ... as thoughtful as it is funny ... intimate and unique ... theater of unusual distinction." - Michael Sommers, Newark Star-Ledger. Read the review.
 
"Schmidt [plays] his part with a surefooted spontaneity that keeps the audience unsure of where the show ends and real life begins." - Newsday. Read the review.
 
"The Rev. Ed Schmidt's voice cracks like incoming thunder as he preaches from his pulpit at the Church of Universal Life." - Christian Science Monitor. Read the article.
 
"A canny examination of the way that religious events, including miracles, come about through the consent of the congregation ... You leave Schmidt's company feeling surprisingly well nourished." - Adam Feldman, Time Out New York. Read the review.
 
"Defies just about every dramatic convention ever employed ... By the end of the evening, the audience has the kind of we're-all-in-this-together feeling only achieved in terrible disasters or communal celebrations ... At a time when a great deal of experimental theater is mostly trying, sometimes actually tormenting, it's really nice to see someone creating something - theater, dinner, standup comedy? - that's actually fun." - Brooklyn Papers. Read the review.

"Schmidt bounces existential curve balls around the apartment, where angst-ridden lives are questioned, mocked and rhapsodized. He pokes the human psyche, digressing into everything from Greek tragedy to twists on Agatha Christie." - Associated Press. Read the review.
 
"He reminds us that even when everything appears lost in theater, we never lose faith in it." - John Heilpern, New York Observer. Read one of the strangest reviews you've ever read. Heilpern "gets" the play completely and, at the same time, has no clue.
 
"The Last Supper has earned rave reviews and had a 1,000-person waiting list." - Joel Stein, Show People. Read the article.
 
"A creative act of discussion that is sorely missing from most theatergoing experiences." - Performance Review. Read the review.
 
 "An Off-Off-Off Broadway sensation." - New York Observer. Read the article.
 
"Pure magic ... Fine thoughtful, funny entertainment ... very orginal." - New York Film and Video Monitor

"One of the most unorthodox, fast-paced, tangent-jumping and funny plays I have seen." - New York Amsterdam News. Read the review.

"The most Pirandellian theatrical experience currently available to New York theatergoers." - Curtain Up. Read the review.

"The finest American play of the last half century" - I swear to God that's what it says. Read the review and see for yourself.


My Last Play

In which each audience member left with one of my 2000 theater books, until the shelves were bare. 

 29 4th Place, Brooklyn, New York (2010-11)
powerHouse Areana, Brooklyn, New York (2011)

 


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"I'd like to recommend it to every single person I've ever met." - newyorker.com. Read Elizabeth Minkel's "The Book Bench" post here.

"I feel like every time I see a play I say it has changed my life in some way, but in the case of Ed Schmidt's 'My Last Play,' it's absolutely true. The man is a life-changer." - USA Today. Read Whitney Matheson's review here.

"Bizarre and truly bold experiment in form and manipulation ... its elaborate artifice is built on rock-solid truths." - New York Times. Read Jason Zinoman's review.

"One-of-a-Kind Theatre You Don't Want to Miss!" - New York Magazine. Read Scott Brown's review.

"A sly boots of a playwright and a gifted dissembler." - New York Times. Read Bruce Weber's article.

"Located somewhere between Andy Kaufman and Waiting for Guffman, Schmidt has turned the ruins of his (authentically) failed career into a charming, thought-provoking monument to the persistence of art." - Time Out New York. Read David Cote's review.

"Ed Schmidt is a fairly ordinary-looking middle-aged white guy with thinning hair [and] a little bit of a gut." - The New Yorker. Hilton Als's Critic's Notebook piece, though positive, was based only on other critics' articles and reviews, since Hilton Als has neither seen nor read any of my plays nor met me. Read this extraordinary example of armchair journalism here.

Watch the WNYC Meet Your Neighbors video, shot by Jennifer Hsu, here.


 

Ed Schmidt's Dumbolio
A monthly variety show, emceed by Ed Schmidt.
 
powerHouse Arena, Dumbo, Brooklyn (2007)
 

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Performers included Jonathan Ames, Kevin Devine, Taylor Mac, Howard Fishman, Joshua Foer, One Ring Zero, Jessica Delfino, Rachelle Garniez, Jed Distler, Ben Greenman, Aldo Perez, Scotty the Blue Bunny, the World Famous *BOB*, and Bargainland.
 
View Dumbolio videos here.

Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting
A play about the integration of Major League baseball.

Ironbound Theater (1990)
Directed by Gregg Thomas

Chicago Theater Company (1991)
Black Theatre Troupe (1997)
Directed by Douglas Alan-Mann
 
Old Globe (1992)
George Street Playhouse (1994)
L.A. Theatre Works (1995)
Pasadena Playhouse (1997)
Directed by Sheldon Epps
 
Sacramento Theater Company (1997)
Directed by Michael Evan Haney
 
Lookingglass Theater (2012)
Directed by J. Nicole Brooks

 

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Photo by Chris Drew

3 and 1/2 Stars (out of 4). "Exceptionally lively and engaging production ... a very commercial property that should attract a broad audience ... It's a show that is never boring for a moment, that goes beyond the usual sports-drama cliches." - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune. Read the review here.

"A grand slam ... You will never witness a fiercer, more competitive championship game on any field." - Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times. Read the review here.

"A brilliant piece of work ... Do not miss this." - Alan Bresloff, Around the Town Chicago. Read the review here.

"A timeless message about the dynamics of change and social justice ... a piece that deserves to be seen." - Zach Freeman, NewCity Stage. Read the review here.

"Humorous, thought-provoking and truthful ... A terrific play - don't miss it! Highly Recommended" - Tom Williams, ChicagoCritic. Read the review here.

"Go see this play ... It is a smart, heart breaking, beautiful show." - Oona O'Leary, Centerstage. Read the review here.

"It's a game-changer!" - Katy Walsh, Chicago Now. Read the review here.

"The most provocative play ever produced about sports, society and race ... brilliant drama." - Sacramento Bee

"An out-of-the-park home run." - Sacramento News & Review

"Theatrically arresting." - New York Times

"Thought-provoking and entertaining." - Chicago Sun-Times

"Schmidt's play is less about sports than it is about how these men felt about a system in which a white man held the power to give Robinson the chance he craved." - Los Angeles Times. Read the article.

"A profound theatrical experience." - That's Entertainment

"Easily earns five out of five stars." - State Hornet

"An amazing little play" - Phoenix New Times. Read the review.

 

Published by Samuel French, Inc.
Available on CD as an audio book, directed by Sheldon Epps and starring Ed Asner, at www.latw.org


The Gold Standard
Text by Ed Schmidt, music by Jed Distler.

Cornelia Street Cafe (2006)
Directed by Arnold Barkus
 
"An amusing clown act." - Anne Midgette, New York Times
 
 

 

The Shuffle of Things

A never-quite-finished monologue, based on the life of Francis Bacon. (Not really.)

Cornelia Street Cafe (2005)

Watch an excerpt  here.


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The Walter Winchell Show

Workshop production starring Jonathan Hadary, produced by Jeffrey Richards.

 The Kennedy Center (1999)
Directed by Ethan McSweeney

 

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Cost of Living
Feature film starring Edie Falco (1997)

Screenplay by Ed Schmidt and Steven Schmidt, directed by Stan Schofield.

American Film Institute Festival Studio Prize
American Film Institute Festival Best Actress Award - Edie Falco
Cinequest San Jose Film Festival Maverick Spirit Award (nomination)
Available on DVD


34 Scenes in the Life of Morton V.
A perfect twenty-minute play. Honestly.

West Bank Cafe (1993)
Directed by Earl Hagen
 

 

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I'll Dance at Your Wedding

The lead actor had a heart attack during previews. The play never opened.

 
Belmont Italian-American Playhouse (1992)
Directed by Alex Simmons
 


A Love Story
Short film (1988)
Directed by Stephen Wertimer and Steven Schmidt


Chicago Film Festival - Special Jury Prize


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The Two-Headed Man
A one-act play about a bearded lady.

 West Bank Cafe (1987)
Directed by Jeff Zinn
 

 

A Bedtime Story
A violent but charming children's play

Camp Dudley (1985)
Directed, rather hamfistedly, by the playwright.
 


Home, Sweet Home

A promotional play, based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House on the Prairie" series.

Published by HarperCollins.
 

 

Paradox Falls
Unproduced, but, goddamn it, not for lack of trying.

During rehearsals for MR. RICKEY CALLS A MEETING at the Old Globe in 1991, Jack O'Brien told me, "Whatever you write next, we'll produce."

So I went home and wrote PARADOX FALLS, a 43-character play about a small town in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. Needless to say, Jack changed his mind.

After the completed play had sat unopened for several years on my agent's shelf, I wrote to tell him that "The fact that 'Paradox Falls' has not been produced is the biggest disappointment of my professional life." I also offered my opinion that "'Paradox Falls' is as good as any American play written in the last forty years." Which only proves that I'm an idiot. But I am prouder of "Paradox Falls" than I am of anything I've ever written, with the possible exception of "The Last Supper."


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The Quack and the Hypochondriac
Unproduced translation/adaptation of Moliere's "Le medecin malgre lui" and "La malade imaginaire"


 

Haymarket
Unproduced screenplay, based on the Chicago Haymarket riots of 1886.

After completing HAYMARKET, it took my New York agent three months to read the script. He sent it to the agency's L.A. office. Nine months later, my L.A. agent's only comment was, "It's too long." At which point, I slipped my head through the noose.
 

 

The Black Watch
Unproduced, but, I'll be honest, deservedly so.