The Wake of Dick Johnson

Although he starred in the first three runs of the play, Walker never intended to play the part of Dick Johnson. The role was initially planned to be performed by his friend, and amateur actor, Michael P. Varian. After almost a year of rehearsals, and only months before the show's planned debut, Varian text messaged Walker from a Georgia rehab clinic informing him he could no longer play the role, claiming it had caused him to have a nervous breakdown. The play had a similar effect on Walker's former girlfriend, a minor social media influencer, who reacted so violently to the show's Charlotte premiere, she interrupted a post performance musical act on microphone to publicly disavow the play. She then took a further step of ratifying her position by promoting a large-scale social media smear campaign against him. The third incident of controversy was during the third run at ps122.[10] So shocked was the theater director and manager over the graphic dialog and savagery of the character Uncle Willy, they threaten to prevent further performances unless Walker was prepared censor the entire play. Walker declined and the shows went on, but many attempts were made by the theater to prevent the remainder of shows from occurring. The third scheduled performance was canceled only hours before showtime on account of a bogus contractual loophole related to fire proofing certificates. During the remaining days, many other blatant acts of retaliation were carried out by theater management and staff including regular incidents of weaponized lighting, deliberately bungled sound and intermission cues, and frequent brazen disruptions of the performance by staff-members. Theater management also maliciously discarded thousands of dollars worth of programs and printed literature related to the show without Walker's consent. These absurd acts of sabotage were later highlighted by the revelation that paying ticket holders were blocked from entering the theater for the entire duration of the play's short run.

Although described as disturbing, grotesque,[11] and highly controversial, to date the play received unanimous critical praise, calling it profound, poetic and fearlessly bleak.[12] It was listed in Time Out New York Top-13 Halloween theater events[13][14] along-side many world renowned plays such as The Glass Menagerie, Little Shop of Horrors, and Sleep No More.