Scandal-rocked producer Scott Rudin is back with another project, produced in collaboration with Barry Diller: Wallace Shawn's What We Did Before Our Moth Days. The project reunites Shawn with director and longtime collaborator André Gregory, who is directing the new work. Their artistic partnership dates back to Shawn's Our Late Night, directed at Off-Broadway's Public Theater in 1975.
What We Did Before Our Moth Days will play a 12-week run at Greenwich House Theater beginning February 4, 2026 ahead of a March 5 opening night. Pre-sale tickets are available via TodayTix, with general sales to begin September 10 at 9 AM ET at MothDays.com.
The work focuses on the many facets of love, with a father, mother, son, and the father's long-time mistress telling the intimate story of their lives. The cast will feature Hope Davis, Maria Dizzia, John Early, and Josh Hamilton.
Rudin has been largely absent from the industry since reports emerged of his abusive behavior to subordinates behind the scenes. Though such reports have been published periodically over his career, Rudin stepped away from his professional life following 2021 articles in The Hollywood Reporter and New York Magazine. Published in the wake of the #MeToo movement, both resulted in renewed calls for Rudin to be barred from the industry. Rudin ultimately announced that he would “step back” from Broadway productions and film projects and resign from The Broadway League, installing Kate Horton as executive producer of his then-developing Broadway revival of The Music Man. That revival would open at the Winter Garden Theatre in 2022 starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. News of What We Did Before Our Moth Days follows Rudin's return to Broadway producing, also with Diller: Little Bear Ridge Road with Laurie Metcalf.
Shawn and Gregory's past projects include My Dinner With Andre, Vanya On 42nd Street, Uncle Vanya, and The Designated Mourner. Shawn is also co-producing this Off-Broadway staging.
“We don't understand ourselves, and we don't know why we do what we do," says Shawn in a statement. "Ideally, then, dangerous weapons should be kept out of our hands at all times, but in romantic, sexual, and familial relationships we carry the weapon of our own feelings strapped to our chests whether we like it or not. This is a play about four intelligent and thoughtful people—mother, father, son, and father's mistress—living in a somewhat violent but sophisticated city.”
“My life in the theatre has often been my life with Wally Shawn," adds Gregory. "I have been his acting teacher, his collaborator, his director, his friend. We have done plays together and we have done films together. We have been partners for over half a century. And with his new play, What We Did Before Our Moth Days, we are continuing the tradition. We are still going strong. Together.”
The production will feature scenic design by Riccardo Hernández, costume design by Ann Roth, lighting design by Jennifer Tipton, and sound design and original music by Bruce Odland.
