Publisher Description

"Annie Baker's John is so good on so many levels that it casts a unique and brilliant light... By not rushing things-by letting the characters develop as gradually and inevitably as rain or snowfall-Baker returns us to the naturalistic but soulful theatre that many of her contemporaries and near-contemporaries have disavowed in their rush to be 'postmodern.'"
New Yorker
"John, like any great play, raises a lot of questionsnot just about the human experience, but also about the state of contemporary theater, it doesn't provide many answers; it is not the playwright's responsibility to do so.... In John she co-opts the viewer for her own aesthetic use, heightening the tension onstage and deepening the quiet relationships between her characters. Through John, she displays an understanding that the audience is part of the theatrical experience, an inevitability as certain as a Chekhovian gun." Slate
The week after Thanksgiving. A bed & breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A cheerful innkeeper. A young couple struggling to stay together. Thousands of inanimate objects, watching.
The description by the playwright of the setting is simple, but Annie Baker's compelling new work is revolutionary in theme and structure and challenges the boundaries of what theatre can be. A kind of magical super-realism permeates throughout this quietly evolving tale, with both the actors and the audience fully vested together in a mesmerizing exploration of the frailty and loneliness of human experience.

Author Biography

Annie Baker is a leading American playwright whose plays include John, The Flick (Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Obie Award for Playwriting), Circle Mirror Transformation (Obie Award for Best New American Play, Drama Desk nomination for Best New American Play), The Aliens (Obie Award for Best New American Play), Body Awareness (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play/Emerging Playwright), and an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival).Her plays have been produced at over 150 theatres throughout the U.S., and have been produced internationally in over a dozen countries. Other recent honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, Hull-Warriner Award, Steinberg Award, and the Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library.

Review

'John is positively gothic—mysteries within mysteries, ghost stories on top of ghost stories—without losing Baker's power to zoom in on the peculiarities in the oblique and blunt ways of real people.' * Newsday *
'John is a haunting and haunted meditation on topics Baker has made so singularly her own: the omnipresence of loneliness in human life, and the troubled search for love and lasting connection.' -- Charles Isherwood * New York Times *
'Annie Baker's John is so good on so many levels that it casts a unique and brilliant light... By not rushing things—by letting the characters develop as gradually and inevitably as rain or snowfall—Baker returns us to the naturalistic but soulful theater that many of her contemporaries and near-contemporaries have disavowed in their rush to be 'postmodern.'' * New Yorker *
'Baker's true masterpiece: an examination of the murkiness of human relationships in which one of those relationships is the one between an audience and a playwright… In John, Baker co-opts the viewer for her own aesthetic use, heightening the tension onstage and deepening the quiet relationships between her characters.' * Slate *

Long Description

"Annie Baker's John is so good on so many levels that it casts a unique and brilliant light... By not rushing things--by letting the characters develop as gradually and inevitably as rain or snowfall--Baker returns us to the naturalistic but soulful theatre that many of her contemporaries and near-contemporaries have disavowed in their rush to be 'postmodern.'" - New Yorker " John , like any great play, raises a lot of questions-not just about the human experience, but also about the state of contemporary theater, it doesn't provide many answers; it is not the playwright's responsibility to do so.... In John she co-opts the viewer for her own aesthetic use, heightening the tension onstage and deepening the quiet relationships between her characters. Through John, she displays an understanding that the audience is part of the theatrical experience, an inevitability as certain as a Chekhovian gun." - Slate The week after Thanksgiving. A bed & breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A cheerful innkeeper. A young couple struggling to stay together. Thousands of inanimate objects, watching. The description by the playwright of the setting is simple, but Annie Baker's compelling new work is revolutionary in theme and structure and challenges the boundaries of what theatre can be. A kind of magical super-realism permeates throughout this quietly evolving tale, with both the actors and the audience fully vested together in a mesmerizing exploration of the frailty and loneliness of human experience.

Review Quote

"John, like any great play, raises a lot of questions-not just about the human experience, but also about the state of contemporary theater, it doesn't provide many answers; it is not the playwright's responsibility to do so... In John she co-opts the viewer for her own aesthetic use, heightening the tension onstage and deepening the quiet relationships between her characters. Through John, she displays an understanding that the audience is part of the theatrical experience, an inevitability as certain as a Chekhovian gun."--Slate

Competing Titles

Vermont Plays Annie Baker 9781559363891 18.95 Theatre Communications Group 06/12/2012 6085 Flick Annie Baker 9781559364584 14.95 Theatre Communications Group 09/30/2014 10191

Description for Sales People

Annie Baker won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2014 for her play The Flick. Baker's recent honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Steinberg Playwright Award and a New York Drama Critics Circle Award. She is a resident playwright at Signature Theatre. John premiered Off-Broadway at Signature Theatre Company in New York in 2015 in a production directed by frequent collaborator and award-winner Sam Gold. The original production was extended and received wide critical acclaim, including being a New York Times Critics' Pick.

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