Shimmer

Jud Meyers in Shimmer

by John O’Keefe
directed by David Elliott

Presented by the Irish Repertory Theatre, NYC

starring Jud Meyers

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In this solo performance piece, Jud Meyers tells O’Keefe’s biographical story by brilliantly becoming each character in turn. The play, set in 1956 Iowa, is a story of two boys who befriend one another in the harsh Midwestern juvenile detention home where they have been forced to live. To survive the brutal environment, they create their own fantasy world, in which the movement of streams and breezes becomes a language that travels between dimensions, a language the boys call “shimmer.” Ultimately, in a journey to find his real home and mother, the two boys carefully plan and carry out an escape in the steamy heat of an Iowan summer night.

This was my first time directing Off Broadway, and the first of two times I would work with the brilliant actor, Jud Meyers. Shimmer would later open in Los Angeles, where, slightly reworked, it enjoyed a nice run at the Lee Strasberg Theatre.

“a good old fashioned ripping yarn, a sort of Boy’s Own version of growing up in a children’s home in 1950s Iowa… sharp & enjoyable.” - The New York Times

“[even] without author John O’Keefe as actor in Shimmer, the piece still shines. Jud Meyers makes the autobiography his own.” - The L.A. Times

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