An exuberant, darkly humorous novel by the National Book Award–nominated author of Fieldwork.
Celebrated stage actress Mona Zahid wakes up on Thanksgiving morning to the clamor of guests packed into
her Manhattan apartment and to a wave of dread: her in-laws are lurking on the other side of the bedroom
door; she’s still fighting with her husband; and in just a few weeks she will begin rehearsals as Shakespeare’s
Cleopatra, the hardest role in theater. In an impulsive burst, Mona bounds out the door with the family dog in tow
(“I forgot the parsley!” is her lame excuse) to find her estranged mentor, Milton Katz, who was recently forced
out of the legendary theater company he founded amid accusations of sexual misconduct. Mona’s escape
turns into an overnight adventure that brings her face-to-face with her past, with her creative power and its
limitations, and ultimately, with all the people she has ever loved.
Beguilingly approachable and intricately constructed, at once funny and sad and wise, Mona Acts Out is a novel
about acting and telling the truth, about how we play roles to get through our days, and how the great roles
teach us how to live.
