[1][2] Theatre critic Ben Brantley, writing in The New York Times, called its production Gatz starring Scott Shepherd "The most remarkable achievement in theater not only of this year but also of this decade.
During its first 15 years, the company worked "with found texts or improvised, anything that wasn't literature" as director John Collins pointed out in an interview.
[2] These pieces included Language Instruction (1994), inspired by Andy Kaufman and "How To Speak Dutch" LPs; Cab Legs (1997), referencing Tennessee Williams; and Total Fictional Lie (1998), which drew on documentary films as its source material.
For the first play, Gatz, based on the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (first published 1925), ERS performed every word of the book in a production that lasted over six hours.
It was directed by ERS Artistic Director John Collins, with co-direction and dramaturgy by Scott Shepherd who also plays Buck Mulligan and Blazes Boylan.