“A bracing reminder of what most other shows do not do… Lingers in the memory… an unsettling descent into the writer’s inner world.” - The New York Times

 
directed by Lily James Olds, Ben Williams playing Thornton Wilder, putting on headphones

This Is the Color Described by the Time is a sound-based performance that draws from threads of Gertrude Stein’s biography living through World War II, her early works, and her letters with playwright Thornton Wilder and Vichy official Bernard Faÿ. The audience wears headphones throughout the performance and listens in on the performers’ conversations and a dense soundscape. The piece is a fractured glimpse inside the mind of this legendary avant-garde writer and examines the inextricable link between the political, personal and artistic.

“It’s bonkers brilliant.” — Nilan Johnson

“Easily the most beautiful piece I’ve seen and heard this season… A subtle meditation on intimacy, friendship, collaboration and collusion… The visual component is just as striking. It’s an extraordinary sensorium for eye, ear & nose—a dinner Alice cooks is the best thing I ever smelled in a theater—even as it exercises the head & the heart.”

— Jim Eigo

 
Stephanie Roth Haberle, playing Alice B. Toklas, holds a tomato

Still from the VR short film of This is the Color Described by the Time, directed by Lily James Olds and Judith Samper.

Actor Ben Williams, playing Thornton Wilder, sits in front of a microphone, wearing headphones

“This really does change everything.”

— Jeffrey M. Jones

"I went to Baryshnikov Arts Center to see a workshop production of Lily James Olds’ and Door 10's THIS IS THE COLOR DESCRIBED BY THE TIME. I was handed headphones as I went in, put them on as instructed, sat in my seat.... an actor way upstage chopped onions and sautéed them in a pan and the chop and sizzle entered my ears and I felt like I was handling the knife and in the saucepan, and on and on throughout the play everyday actions reverberated in my ears and it felt big and intimate at the same time.

At New Georges, we're drawn to the work we produce because it's something we've never done or seen (or heard!) before, because we're driven by our own curiosity and a desire to push our art form forward. THIS IS THE COLOR DESCRIBED BY THE TIME is a great example. Door 10 has an ambitious vision and is taking extraordinary risks.” - Susan Bernfield, Producing Artistic Director, New Georges

 

Conceived & directed by Lily James Olds
Created by Door 10
World-premiere produced by New Georges

with Stephanie Roth Haberle, Christina Rouner, Ean Sheehy, & Ben Williams

set design by Amy Rubin
costume design by Alice Tavener
sound design by Ben Williams
lighting design by Reza Behjat
associate director Jim Dawson
dramaturg Morgan Jenness
additional sound design by Christina Campanella
Door 10 producer Sarah Peterson
stage management by Elizabeth Emanuel, Molly Shea

Developed as part of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Process Space Program and through the support of the Princess Grace Foundation, New Georges, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Drama League, Stuart Foundation, Biel Fund, and individual donors.

Photos © Paula Court