100 Greatest American Plays

100 Greatest American Plays

Author: Thomas S. Hischak

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2017-03-06

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 1442256060

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Theatre in America has had a rich history—from the first performance of the Lewis Hallam Troupe in September 1752 to the lively shows of modern Broadway. Over the past few centuries, significant works by American playwrights have been produced, including Abie’s Irish Rose, Long Day’s Journey into Night, A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, A Raisin in the Sun, Fences, and Angels in America. In 100 Greatest American Plays, Thomas S. Hischak provides an engaging discussion of the best stage productions to come out of the United States. Each play is discussed in the context of its original presentation as well as its legacy. Arranged alphabetically, the entries for these plays include: plot details production history biography of the playwright literary aspects of the drama critical reaction to the play major awards the play’s influence cast lists of notable stage and film versions The plays have been selected not for their popularity but for their importance to American theatre and include works by Edward Albee, Harvey Fierstein, Lorraine Hansberry, Lillian Hellman, Tony Kushner, David Mamet, Arthur Miller, Eugene O’Neill, Sam Shepard, Neil Simon, Gore Vidal, Wendy Wasserstein, Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, and August Wilson. This informative volume also includes complete lists of Pulitzer Prize winners for Drama, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for American Plays, and the Tony Award for Best Play. Providing critical information about the most important works produced since the eighteenth century, 100 Greatest American Plays will appeal to anyone interested in the cultural history of theatre.


The Methuen Drama Book of New American Plays

The Methuen Drama Book of New American Plays

Author: David Adjmi

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2013-03-28

Total Pages: 526

ISBN-13: 1472503430

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The Methuen Drama Book of New American Plays is an anthology of six outstanding plays from some of the most exciting playwrights currently receiving critical acclaim in the States. It showcases work produced at a number of the leading theatres during the last decade and charts something of the extraordinary range of current playwriting in America. It will be invaluable not only to readers and theatergoers in the U.S., but to those around the world seeking out new American plays and an insight into how U.S. playwrights are engaging with their current social and political environment. There is a rich collection of distinctive, diverse voices at work in the contemporary American theatre and this brings together six of the best, with work by David Adjmi, Marcus Gardley, Young Jean Lee, Katori Hall, Christopher Shinn and Dan LeFranc. The featured plays range from the intimate to the epic, the personal to the national and taken together explore a variety of cultural perspectives on life in America. The first play, David Adjmi's Stunning, is an excavation of ruptured identity set in modern day Midwood, Brooklyn, in the heart of the insular Syrian-Jewish community; Marcus Gardley's lyrical epic The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry deals with the migration of Black Seminoles, is set in mid-1800s Oklahoma and speaks directly to modern spirituality, relocation and cultural history; Young Jean Lee's Pullman, WA deals with self-hatred and the self-help culture in her formally inventive three-character play; Katori Hall's Hurt Village uses the real housing project of "Hurt Village" as a potent allegory for urban neglect set against the backdrop of the Iraq war; Christopher Shinn's Dying City melds the personal and political in a theatrical crucible that cracks open our response to 9/11 and Abu Graib, and finally Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal, an inter-generational play spanning eighty years, is set in the mid-west in a generic restaurant and considers family legacy and how some of the smallest events in life turn out to be the most significant.


The Best American Short Plays 2018–2019

The Best American Short Plays 2018–2019

Author: John Patrick Bray

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-06-01

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 1493055933

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Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Paula Vogel once said that theater helps us learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable with each other. Revolving around the theme of "this is who we are," the one-act plays in this latest edition of the Best American Short Plays series (now in its ninth decade) explore the thoughtful ways in which playwrights are wrestling to make sense of our world today. The selected plays reflect how we perform our identities (private and public) and how we negotiate who we are with others who often have different perspectives, perspectives that make us uncomfortable. The theme of this collection is topical and apt—as our country continues to shore up its borders along party lines, from pride parades to strict abortion laws, from inclusivity in education curricula to children in detention centers at the US–Mexico border. Each of the plays presents a clear reflection of who we are (and who we aspire to be) as individuals and as a nation. The styles of the plays also reflect different approaches to storytelling: two characters, four characters, a single setting, multiple settings, or a utopian "nowhere." The rich and compelling characters try to work out their differences and overcome obstacles using humor and a sense of magic that comes with simple moments of human connection. This is who we are: people who are grappling with the desire to be understood, the hope to be loved and accepted, and to allow that hope to shape a larger sense of who we could be if we continue to work and listen.


Best Black Plays

Best Black Plays

Author: Chuck Smith

Publisher: Northwestern University Press

Published: 2007-07-27

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0810123908

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Three winners of the nation's most distinguished award for African American playwriting.


The Best American Short Plays 1996-1997

The Best American Short Plays 1996-1997

Author: Glenn Young

Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation

Published: 2000-02

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9781557833174

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A collection of one-act plays from American playwrights, which cover such themes as love, fantasy, politics, grief, marriage, crime, and deceit.


The Best American Short Plays 2006-2007

The Best American Short Plays 2006-2007

Author: Barbara Parisi

Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation

Published: 2010-04-20

Total Pages: 413

ISBN-13: 1557837473

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(Best American Short Plays). Applause is proud to continue the series that for over 60 years has been the standard of excellence for one-act plays in America. Our editor Barbara Parisi has selected the following 16 plays: DEBOOM: WHO GIVES THIS WOMAN? , by Mark Medoff; And Then , by Amelia Arenas; The Cleaning , by Zilvinas Jonusas; Breakfast and Bed , by Amy Fox; The News from St. Petersburg , by Rich Orloff; Double Murder , by Scott Klavan; Running in Circles Screaming , by Jeni Mahoney; Witness , by Peter Maloney; Asteroid Belt , by Lauren Feldman; Glass Knives , by Liliana Almendarez; Hearts and Minds , by Adam Kraar; In Conclusive Woman , by Julie (Pratt) Mollenkamp; Mixed MeSSages , by Mike Pasternack; Amoureque and Arabesque , by Victor Gluck; and The Birth of Theater , by Jules Tasca.


The Best American Short Plays 1989

The Best American Short Plays 1989

Author: Ramon Delgado

Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation

Published: 1989-08-01

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 9781557830456

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(Best American Short Plays). A collection of eleven short plays from 1989. Includes: "The Author's Voice" Richard Greenberg; "San Antonio Sunset" Willy Holtzman; "There Is No John Garfield" Ernest A. Joselovitz; "The Mask of Hiroshima" Ernest Ferlita; "Penguin Blues" Ethan Phillips; "Haiku" Katherine Snodgrass; "Chemical Reactions" Andrew Foster; "Dolores" Edward Allan Baker; "April Snow" Romulus Linney; "Trout" William R. Lewis; "A Poster of the Cosmos" Lanford Wilson.


The Best American Short Plays 1991-1992

The Best American Short Plays 1991-1992

Author: Howard Stein

Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 9781557831125

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A collection of one-act plays from American playwrights, which cover such themes as love, fantasy, politics, grief, marriage, crime, and deceit.


Best Plays of the Early American Theatre, 1787-1911

Best Plays of the Early American Theatre, 1787-1911

Author: John Gassner

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 788

ISBN-13: 9780486410982

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Sixteen works from American theater, 1787 1911: "Charles the Second" (1824); "Fashion "(1845); "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852); "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1883); "The Mouse-Trap" (1889); "The Great Divide" (1906); more. Background essay. "