In his 1981 film collaboration with director Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn, the son of beloved New Yorker editor William Shawn, portrays a character not unlike himself. As "Wally" explains in the beginning, "I grew up on the Upper East Side. And when I was ten years old, I was rich, I was an aristocrat. Riding around in taxis, surrounded by comfort, and all I thought about was art and music. Now, I'm 36, and all I think about is money." more ›

Natasha Lyonne – remember her? – has resurfaced, and not at the morgue! In fact, the young hellion seems to be doing quite well for herself – at least that’s the portrait painted by this convivial Times profile, in which reporter Robert Simonson smokes Marlboro Lights with her on the roof of Theater Row, where she’s to appear in the new Mike Leigh play Two Thousand Years. Though off the horse, the actress isn’t all yoga and Celestial Seasonings – she’s quick to point out that she usually smokes Marlboro 72’s, because they’re “like something Robert Mitchum would smoke.” more ›

New York native Josh Hamilton has long been one of the most fun-to-watch actors working in independent film and downtown theater. Fans of Noah Baumbach’s 1995 film Kicking and Screaming remember him for his iconic performance as the anxiously intelligent Grover; he also created the role of Dennis in Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth and excelled as the coolly detached Mickey in the 2005 stage production of Hurlyburly. Hamilton can currently be seen starring in the film Outsourced and, starting October 22nd, the highly anticipated new play Things We Want, written by the preternaturally brilliant Jonathan Marc Sherman. (Read Sherman's recent Times profile here.) more ›

SCIENCE: The UnCoolKids have done it again, scoping out the science events around the city. Tonight is Café Scientifique: more ›

MOVIE: Fraternity Massacre at Hell Island is...a real movie! With a plot and everything! Wanna hear it?: "Jack Jones, a pledge in Zeta Alpha Rho Fraternity must battle homophobia and a killer clown during his fraternity's Hell Night." Sounds pretty deep. more ›

Wallace Shawn has long enjoyed a fruitful career as a character actor in mainstream movies (Clueless, Princess Bride, Chicken Little). He also happens to be one of the world’s most significant dissident writers. His plays The Designated Mourner, Aunt Dan and Lemon and The Fever – to name just a few – have garnered much praise (and controversy) for their unflinching examinations of brutality. Shawn’s plays are political but not polemical; through his writing he questions everyone’s complicity – liberal intellectuals especially – in the horrors unleashed out of sight and out of mind. more ›

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. more ›

On Sundays, Gothamist runs opinion pieces on issues relevant to life in New York. The views expressed below belong entirely to the author. more ›