Ten Hour Off-Broadway Play Is One Of The Hottest Tickets In Town

In a city as go-go-go as New York, a ten-and-a-half-hour play seems almost comical. But playwrights Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper are the one sharing the last laugh. Their ten-episode show entitled “Life and Times” premiered at the Public Theater last night and tickets are already sold out for the remainder of the run.

Based on 16 hours of recordings in which one woman tells her life story over the course of 10 telephone conversations, the nearly 11-hour show has been produced throughout Europe, Japan, Canada and Singapore.

Despite the show’s popularity, sometimes the experience is too much to handle. “Well, some people walk out, obviously those are always in there,” Liska revealed to Gothamist. “We’re used to those reactions in these shows. But less people walk out, less and less, and then people are very enthusiastic, people are actually more hungry for the longer shows, for the marathon performances.”

For those audience members who fear they won’t be able to stay awake for the entire performance, not to fear, naps are encouraged. “Yeah, we were thinking about a way of allowing them to sleep during a performance or at least closing their eyes,” explained Liska. “So during episode six we will actively encourage people to actually fall asleep.”