Download or read book The Best American Short Plays 2018 2019 written by John Patrick Bray and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Laugh Lines written by Eric Lane and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2008-12-10 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This one-of-a-kind anthology features thirty-six hilarious short plays by major American playwrights and emerging new voices, all guaranteed to send readers and audiences into peals of laughter. From the surrealistic wit of Steve Martin's "The Zig-Zag Woman" to the biting political satire of Steven Dietz's "The Spot," from Christopher Durang's wonderfully loopy "Wanda's Visit" to Shel Silverstein's supremely twisted "The Best Daddy," there's something in here to make everyone laugh. There are plays for casts of all sizes, from monologues to large ensembles, with diverse and challenging roles for actors of every age and type. Even the titles are funny: Mark O'Donnell's "There Shall Be No Bottom (a bad play for worse actors)," Elaine May's "The Way of All Fish," and Alan Ball's "Your Mother's Butt." A bonanza for theatergoers, performers, and comedy fans, Laugh Lines will bring down the house. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Download or read book The Best American Short Plays 1998 1999 written by Glenn Young and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 2001 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of one-act plays from American playwrights, which cover such themes as love, fantasy, politics, grief, marriage, crime, and deceit.
Download or read book Outstanding Short Plays Volume Two written by Craig Pospisil and published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE STORIES: CAMBERWELL HOUSE by Amelia Roper. Elderly neighbors Annie and Olive have been friends since they were children. At twenty, they agreed to "knock each other off" if they were still alive at seventy-five. Now they are seventy-five and one of them has changed her mind. A tale of old age, murder, and ginger nut biscuits. (1 woman.) THE CLOSET by Aoise Stratford. Kevin's dad has thrown his favorite toy, Bart Sponge, into the back of a closet. There, Bart meets a toy dinosaur and another toy he can't even begin to identify. Does a supposedly gay toy have a chance of making it out of the closet? (2 men, 1 woman or man.) CLOSING COSTS by Arlene Hutton. After viewing four hundred apartments, has Harris finally found the right co-op, or simply the right real estate agent—Alice? Harris must decide if it's time to trade in his artificial fish—and finally grow up. (1 man, 1 woman.) FREEFALLING by Aurin Squire. Two passengers and a stewardess on a falling plane give their moment-by-moment account of what happens when tomorrow is no longer certain. (2 men, 1 woman.) POISON by John Patrick Shanley. Kenny has seen the depths of Kelly's self-hatred, and he'll never date her again—unless he drinks a fortune-teller's mysterious potion, which will kill his soul as dead as Kelly's. Can Kelly convince him to drink the potion? Can she convince herself? (1 man, 2 women.) SELF-TORTURE AND STRENUOUS EXERCISE by Harry Kondoleon. Carl tells Alvin that he's in love with another woman. "Good for you," says Alvin, who refuses to accept that Carl's, Adel, wife only attempted suicide—she's still alive. The woman Carl loves is Alvin's wife, Beth. But right now, Beth is so drunk she can't get up off the floor, much less run off with Carl, and Adel comes in with bandaged wrists saying Carl has been trying to kill her. These four have some issues to work out. (2 men, 2 women.) A SINGULAR KINDA GUY by David Ives. Mitch is a young guy talking to a girl in a bar. She's nice, but he's got this sort of confession, see. There's something she ought to know—on the inside, he isn't really a guy at all. He's an Olivetti electric self-correcting typewriter. (1 man.) SOMETHING FROM NOTHING by David Riedy. A stranger's intimate gesture on a New York subway causes a couple to reexamine their relationship, and it causes one person to get punched in the face. Told from all three characters' wildly different perspectives. (2 men, 1 woman.) THERE'S NO HERE HERE by Craig Pospisil. Lance moves to Paris to follow his dream of becoming a writer, but his work goes badly. As does his relationship with Juliette, a beautiful Parisian. But a strangely familiar woman at their local bistro forces Lance to dig deeper into himself. (2 men, 2 women.) YOU HAVE ARRIVED by Rob Ackerman. Dan and Kristin are navigating their first date, and fortunately, the other woman with them knows the way through the confusion into Brooklyn. That would be Cyndi, the GPS system in Dan's car. (1 man, 2 women.)
Download or read book 27 Short Plays written by Christopher Durang and published by Smith & Kraus. This book was released on 1995 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Best American Short Plays 2012 2013 written by William W. Demastes and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 2014-06-01 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Applause Books). For over 70 years, The Best American Short Plays has been the standard of excellence for one-act plays in America. From its inception, it has identified cutting-edge playwrights who have gone on to establish award-winning careers, including Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and more. In this volume, the plays capture the struggle between "hot tempers and cold decrees." Humans love to think of themselves as rational beings well in control of their lives and surroundings from sunup to sundown, sundown to sunrise. We learn to follow rules of proper behavior and more than happily issue out advice to our friends who just can't get a handle on themselves. Restraint and order, after all, are the cornerstones of human society and civilization. The problem is that human nature bucks and bridles at every attempt to socialize and civilize. Shakespeare got it right when he penned the observation, "The brain may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree." In those few words he has managed to capture precisely why it is so difficult to be human; if it were okay simply to let our hot tempers prevail, life would be so much easier. But cold decrees are what prevent us from self-destruction, and so we endure the struggle.
Download or read book The Best New Ten Minute Plays 2020 written by Lawrence Harbison and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-10-15 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Best New Ten-Minute Plays, 2020 presents thirty new ten-minute plays, selected by renowned editor Lawrence Harbison. This volume is ideal for theater enthusiasts looking for new and compelling short pieces from some of the finest playwrights of our time. Selections include: Beta Testing by Jenny Lyn Bader The Fourteenth Annual Foot Puppet Festival by Holly Hepp-Galvan Glasstown by Don Nigro Incident on the Golden Gate Bridge by David MacGregor Oxycontin Follies by Steve Gold Two Artists Trying to Pay Their Bill by Lucy Wang The Scottish Loo by J. Thalia Cunningham
Download or read book Christopher Durang Explains it All for You written by Christopher Durang and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few playwrights have explored as relentlessly as Christopher Durang the pain and confusion of everyday life--or made us laugh so uproariously at the results. Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, the center of a storm of controversy for its satire of misplaced trust in religious authority," remains as powerful today as when it was originally produced. The excruciatingly funny The Nature and Purpose of the Universe asks whether Eleanor Mann's Job-like suffering is really her fault, while Titanic takes us into the heart of children's anger with their parents and parents' manipula-tion of their children. In Beyond Therapy, two horrifyingly human therapists pursue their own needs at the expense of the most mismatched couple ever to meet through a personal ad. Also including 'Dentity Crisis and The Actor's Nightmare, this collection demonstrates that laughter is the best surgery, slicing through prejudice and hypocrisy, cutting out dead beliefs and inflamed opinions. These dark comedies, lit by lightning bolts of truth and humor, are among the most illuminating in American drama, by "one of the most explosively funny American dramatists" (Newsweek). Includes: The Nature and Purpose of the Universe 'Dentity Crisis Titanic The Actor's Nightmare Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You Beyond Therapy
Download or read book 100 Neo Futurist Plays written by The Neo-Futurists and published by Agate Publishing. This book was released on 2011-11-21 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of 100 short (very short) plays from The Neo-Futurists’ acclaimed cult hit Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind was originally published by Chicago Plays in 1993. The show presents 30 plays in 60 minutes, its ensemble of writer/performers generating between two and 12 new plays each week, as dictated by a roll of the dice. The material runs the gamut of style, tone, and topic: musical, confession, agit-prop, poetic gesture, physical comedy, puppet theater, audience interrogation, folk song, sex joke, and many more. The plays are funny, moving, challenging, powerful, and occasionally just plain weird. There is no fourth wall in Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind — the show embraces the ideal that theater is created in the connection between audience and performer. Randomness, dynamism, speed, brevity, and planned obsolescence are celebrated and exploited to engage and refresh all participants. The plays stand as an entertaining document of the show's output, and they are ideal for scene study, auditions, and competitions.
Download or read book The Best Short Plays 1988 1989 written by Ramon Delgado and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 2000-05 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Applause Books). Lose yourself in a universe of forces familiar and frightening in the 21 plays presented in this exclusive volume. The playwrights included here succeed in pushing back the boundaries of conventional dramatic expression. Among them, Lanford Wilson dissects a survivor's anguish after his lover's death in A Poster of the Cosmos and Deborah Pryor spins an eerie tale of spellbinding romance in The Love Talker . Richard Greenberg plots a battle of wills between a young writer and his elusive muse, while Sheila Walsh examines the exchange of a woman's soul for her husband's fame in Molly and James . From the starkly realistic to the fantastic, these plays challenge their audiences to confront the universal from a new perspective.
Download or read book When Life Gives You Risk Make Risk Theatre written by Edwin Wong and published by FriesenPress. This book was released on 2022-02-28 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Creators, Innovators, and Theatremakers: Defy the Smallness of the Stage With the Greatness of Your Daring Wong’s first book upended tragic literary theory by arguing that risk is the dramatic fulcrum of the action. It also launched an international playwriting competition (risktheatre.com). His second book expands on how chance directs the action, both on and off the stage. Inside you will find three risk theatre tragedies by acclaimed playwrights: In Bloom (Gabriel Jason Dean), The Value (Nicholas Dunn), and Children of Combs and Watch Chains (Emily McClain). From the poppy fields of Afghanistan to the motel rooms and doctors’ offices lining interstate expressways, these plays—by simulating risk—will show you how theatre is a dress rehearsal for life. Six risk theatre essays round off this volume. In a dazzling display from Aeschylus to Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, and Arthur Miller, Wong reinterprets theatre through chance and probability theory. After risk theatre, you will never look at literature in the same way. Tomorrow, Whoever Says Drama will Say Risk
Download or read book The Best New Ten Minute Plays 2019 written by Lawrence Harbison and published by Applause Theatre & Cinema. This book was released on 2019-11-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Best New Ten-Minute Plays, 2019 presents approximately thirty of the most original and fresh ten-minute plays, selected by renowned editor Lawrence Harbison. This volume is ideal for theater enthusiasts looking for new and compelling short pieces from some of the finest playwrights of our time. Selections include: -Wild Birds by Nicole Pandolfo -The Pole at the Center by C. S. Hanson -Persephone by Jennifer O'Grady -Hercules Didn't Wade in the Water by Michael A. Jones -Avalanche by Rita Anderson -Brickwork by K. L. Snodgrass -Death Defying by Stephen Kaplan -Moths by Don Nigro
Download or read book Lanford Wilson written by Lanford Wilson and published by Smith & Kraus. This book was released on 1993 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of plays by Lanford Wilson that demonstrate how his writing style has changed from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Download or read book The Best 10 minute Plays 2012 written by Lawrence Harbison and published by Ingram. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Best American Short Plays written by Howard Stein (editor) and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Best New Ten Minute Plays 2021 written by Lawrence Harbison and published by Applause Theatre & Cinema. This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of thirty new ten-minute plays.
Download or read book The Best American Short Plays 1997 1998 written by Glenn Young and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 1999-11-01 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of one-act plays from American playwrights, which cover such themes as love, fantasy, politics, grief, marriage, crime, and deceit.
