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The Voysey Inheritance: A Play
by Harley Granville-Barker David MametThis is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
Way to Heaven
by Juan MayorgaThe heart of Europe. 1942. Children playing, lovers' tiffs, a deserted train station and a ramp rising towards a hangar. This is what you can see, but what should the Red Cross representative report say? <p><p>Way to Heaven has previously been produced at the Teatro Mara Guerrero, Madrid by the Centro Dramatico Nacional. A production of this English translation opened at the Royal Court Theatre, London in June 2005. Juan Mayorga's work has been produced in Spain and around Europe as well as the USA.
Where Do We Live and Other Plays
by Christopher ShinnThis anthology marks the emergence of one of the finest and most innovative new artists writing for the theater today. "The secret of Shinn's success is in the way he exploits the dramatic gap between what is said and that which is left unsaid . . . writing like this is rare," said the London Independent. Where Do We Live, the title play, was written shortly after 9/11 and though never referenced, it still haunts this chronicle of the struggles of several aspiring and gifted young New Yorkers on the Lower East Side. Like all his work, it is a deeply affecting story of how we define our lives and our place in the world.The Coming World "Shinn certainly looks like a shining prospect for the future."--Daily TelegraphFour "Nothing is simple emotionally. The play keeps delivering small shocks and aches that end in a standoff, or maybe in that pause between despair, resignation and a twinge of hope. Haunting."--Margo Jefferson, The New York TimesOther People "Shinn writes with graceful compassion about people trapped inside their own skins unable to make sense of their lives."--The GuardianWhat Didn't Happen ". . . is about the distance between people, and the ways in which even friends, spouses and lovers are ultimately unknowable to one another . . . a playwright to cherish."--The New York TimesChristopher Shinn's plays have been produced at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, the Vineyard Theatre in New York and often at London's Royal Court Theatre. Where Do We Live received a 2003 Olivier Award nomination for most promising playwright. His next play, On the Mountain, premieres in New York City early in 2005.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
by Edward Albee"Twelve times a week," answered Uta Hagen, when asked how often she'd like to play Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Like her, audiences and critics alike could not get enough of Edward Albee's masterful play. A dark comedy, it portrays husband and wife George and Martha in a searing night of dangerous fun and games. By the evening's end, a stunning, almost unbearable revelation provides a climax that has shocked audiences for years. With the play's razor-sharp dialogue and the stripping away of social pretense, Newsweek rightly foresaw Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as "a brilliantly original work of art-an excoriating theatrical experience, surging with shocks of recognition and dramatic fire [that] will be igniting Broadway for some time to come."
The Winter's Tale: A Commentary on the Structure
by Fitzroy PyleFirst published in 1969. Critics have in the past described The Winter's Tale as a work of "haphazard structure". More recent criticism has defended the structure of the play and this work shows that the evidence points to the fact that Shakespeare took infinite pains with the choice and disposition of the materials of The Winter's Tale. The scene-by-scene commentary considers The Winter's Tale in isolation, but prologue, epilogue and appendix place it in the context of related plays, and discuss, among others, the problem of genre as it affects the play.
The Winter's Tale (Folger Shakespeare Library)
by William ShakespeareThe authoritative edition of The Winter&’s Tale from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers.The Winter&’s Tale, one of Shakespeare&’s very late plays, is filled with improbabilities. Before the conclusion, one character comments that what we are about to see, &“Were it but told you, should be hooted at / Like an old tale.&”It includes murderous passions, man-eating bears, princes and princesses in disguise, death by drowning and by grief, oracles, betrayal, and unexpected joy. Yet the play, which draws much of its power from Greek myth, is grounded in the everyday.A &“winter&’s tale&” is one told or read on a long winter&’s night. Paradoxically, this winter&’s tale is ideally seen rather than read—though the imagination can transform words into vivid action. Its shift from tragedy to comedy, disguises, and startling exits and transformations seem addressed to theater audiences.This edition includes:-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play -Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play -Scene-by-scene plot summaries -A key to the play&’s famous lines and phrases -An introduction to reading Shakespeare&’s language -An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play -Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library&’s vast holdings of rare books -An annotated guide to further readingEssay by Stephen OrgelThe Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world&’s largest collection of Shakespeare&’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.
Wise Women
by Ron OsborneComedy / 2m, 4f / Unit set / It's almost Christmas, 1944. In Knoxville, Tennessee, a frustrated mother with a secret and a teenage daughter with a dream take in two young roomers who work at a nearby bomb-making plant. Both girls are asserting their independence, one in the company of servicemen, the other as a contestant in a Miss Bombshell U.S.A. competition, an action that puts her at odds with her father, a preacher in a small Virginia town. Along the way, the teenage daughter, who worries more about rumors of an asteroid said to be streaking toward nearby Chattanooga than a vicious war raging around the world, bamboozles her mother into allowing her to attend a Frank Sinatra concert at the local USO. When she brings home a young war-bound Marine as naive as herself, this colorful collection of characters is pulled apart, then mended with humor, romance, twists, turns and revelations. As these women struggle, grow and ultimately succeed, at least for one fragile moment in time-they remind us that we're all "family" and, in each other's company, we may find ourselves.
The World in an Orange: Creating Theatre with Barney Simon
by Jane Fox Lionel Abrahams Leila Henriques Irene StephanouBarney Simon (1932-1995) was the legendary artistic director, writer, and co-creator ofthe Market Theatre in Johannesburg, one of the most influential and distinguished theatres in South Africa and the world. He workshopped, wrote, and directed unforgettable and pertinent plays in his quest to "hold a mirror up high to society." These works stand as a testament to South Africa's recent history. Here are 80 testaments from international artists about Barney's often mysterious creative process. Barney was especially known for his famous "orange exercise." Through a single orange, he communicated lessons of detail,care, and respect. With full-color illustrations throughout, this is an essential book for students and teachers of theatrical expression, and indeed for anyone who strives to understand their own voice. With the passing of a decade of democracy in South Africa, The World in an Orange is a record of the last years of apartheid and the role of the arts community in bringing it down.
World-Wide Shakespeares: Local Appropriations in Film and Performance
by Sonia MassaiDrawing on debates around the global/local dimensions of cultural production, an international team of contributors explore the appropriation of Shakespeare’s plays in film and performance around the world. In particular, the book examines the ways in which adapters and directors have put Shakespeare into dialogue with local traditions and contexts. The contributors look in turn at ‘local’ Shakespeares for local, national and international audiences, covering a range of English and foreign appropriations that challenge geographical and cultural oppositions between ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’, and ‘big-time’ and ‘small-time’ Shakespeares. Responding to a surge of critical interest in the poetics and politics of appropriation, World-Wide Shakespeares is a valuable resource for those interested in the afterlife of Shakespeare in film and performance globally.
A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
by James S. ShapiroThose with a keen interest in Shakespeare will enjoy insight into the man, his work and his times. Shapiro knows his readership will be a motivated one and is counting on the subject material to drive them to carry on. What makes the book an engaging read is the political context it provides. We begin to understand why he wrote some of his plays and certain characters, and what pressures he would've dealt with keeping his craft "cutting-edge", but popular to the masses, as well as staying in the Queen's favor.
A Young Man's Passage
by Julian ClaryThis is Julian Clary's story, in his own words - the tale of an awkward schoolboy who became a huge worldwide success on stage and screen.After a sheltered suburban upbringing, Julian was sent to St Benedict's, where beatings from 'holy' men gave him some brutal life lessons, and other 'unholy' boys his first awakenings of sexuality. He had just one true friend and ally, Nick - to his other school peers, Julian's aloof demeanour made him an enigma or simply a figure of ridicule. In school he was just another pained adolescent, but inside Julian was a new Jean Genet or Quentin Crisp bursting to get out.Leaving St Benedict's thankfully behind him, Julian went on to college where he found his true vocation as an entertainer with a peculiar comic brand of smut and glamour. At the same time, he was finding as much sex as he could, sometimes with remarkably less-than-glamorous characters.Periods in community theatre and the singing telegram industry followed before Julian hit the big time with cabaret co-star Fanny the Wonder Dog as The Joan Collins Fan Club. Soon, the world was his oyster. But fame came at a price, as Julian struggled not only with the reality of being a high-profile gay man in the 1980s but also the pain of losing his lover to terminal illness.Far more than just another celebrity autobiography or 'funny book', this is a touching, beautifully written and wryly witty account of a unique progression from shy child to comedy icon.
A.R. Gurney: A Casebook (Casebooks on Modern Dramatists #34)
by Arvid F. SponbergThis is the first full-length study devoted to the art of A.R. Gurney, a major contemporary American playwright who has written over thirty plays, including Love Letters. This volume brings together original interviews with Gurney and four actors and a director who have worked closely with him, as well as essays by leading theater scholars on the range of Gurney's work.
Aaron Copland: A Reader: Selected Writings, 1923-1972
by Richard Kostelanetz Steve SilversteinThis book presents a selection of the best writings, of the American composer and music legend Aaron Copland, on a wide variety of topics. It features excerpts from his correspondence and recommendations he wrote for other composers.
Above the Clouds
by Kitty Higgins Anne Flounders Karen LeonPerform this script about a weather reporter's turbulent ride in a hot air balloon.
An Actor's Handbook: An Alphabetical Arrangement of Concise Statements on Aspects of Acting, Reissue of first edition
by Constantin Stanislavski Elizabeth Reynolds HapgoodThis is the classic lexicon of Stanislavski's most important concepts, all in the master's own words. Upon its publication in 1963, An Actor's Handbook quickly established itself as an essential guide for actors and directors. Culling key passages from Stanislavski's vast output, this book covers more than one hundred and fifty key concepts, among them 'Improvisation', 'External Technique', 'Magic If', 'Imaginary Objects', 'Discipline', 'What Is My System?' and 'Stage Fright'.This reissued, attractively packaged edition will be an essential book for any performer.
Acts of Authority/Acts of Resistance: Theater and Politics in Colonial and Postcolonial India
by Nandi BhatiaDespite its importance to literary and cultural texts of resistance, theater has been largely overlooked as a field of analysis in colonial and postcolonial studies. Acts of Authority/Acts of Resistance seeks to address that absence, as it uniquely views drama and performance as central to the practice of nationalism and anti-colonial resistance. Nandi Bhatia argues that Indian theater was a significant force in the struggle against oppressive colonial and postcolonial structures, as it sought to undo various schemes of political and cultural power through its engagement with subjects derived from mythology, history, and available colonial models such as Shakespeare. Bhatia's attention to local histories within a postcolonial framework places performance in a global and transcultural context. Drawing connections between art and politics, between performance and everyday experience, Bhatia shows how performance often intervened in political debates and even changed the course of politics. One of the first Western studies of Indian theater to link the aesthetics and the politics of that theater, Acts of Authority/Acts of Resistance combines in-depth archival research with close readings of dramatic texts performed at critical moments in history. Each chapter amplifies its themes against the backdrop of specific social conditions as it examines particular dramatic productions, from The Indigo Mirror to adaptations of Shakespeare plays by Indian theater companies, illustrating the role of theater in bringing nationalist, anticolonial, and gendered struggles into the public sphere.
Adult Entertainment
by Elaine MayComedy / 3m, 3f / Unit Set There is a cloud over porn queen Heidi the 'Ho's usually cheery cable TV show. Her guests are wearing armbands to mourn the passing of their employer and mentor, a legendary porn filmmaker. Tired of working for others, this motley group of adult video veterans decides to write and shoot their own extravaganza, an "art" film. The script doesn't live up to their expectations so they bring in a new writer, one who insists they read the classics to prepare for their roles. Unexpected ideas develop as the hilarity escalates bringing the play to a raucous and riotous conclusion.
Amber Waves (Full-Length)
by James StillFull Length, Drama / 3 m., 3 f. / Unit set. / This acclaimed one act about children in a struggling farm family is now available in a full length version that builds on the emotional strengths of the shorter play. See description of the one act version for more information.
And Then There Were None
by Agatha ChristieFull Length Play / Mystery Thriller / 8m, 3f / Interior Set. Ten guilty strangers are trapped on an island. One by one they are accused of murder; one by one they start to die. In this superlative mystery comedy statuettes of little soldier boys on the mantel of a house on an island off the coast of Devon fall to the floor and break one by one as those in the house succumb to a diabolical avenger. A nursery rhyme tells how each of the ten "soldiers" met his death until there were none. Eight guests who have never met each other or their apparently absent host and hostess are lured to the island and, along with the two house servants, marooned. A mysterious voice accuses each of having gotten away with murder and then one drops dead - poisoned. One down and nine to go! The excitement never lets up in this ideal play for schools, colleges, and community theatres.
Andrew Lloyd Webber
by John SnelsonAndrew Lloyd Webber is the most famous--and most controversial--composer of musical theater alive today. Hundreds of millions of people have seen his musicals, which include Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Starlight Express, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, and Sunset Boulevard. Even more know his songs. Lloyd Webber's many awards include seven Tonys and three Grammys--but he has nonetheless been the subject of greater critical vitriol than any of his artistic peers. Why have both the man and his work provoked such extreme responses? Does he challenge his audiences, or merely recycle the comfortable and familiar? Over three decades, how has Lloyd Webber changed fundamentally what a musical can be? In this sustained examination of Lloyd Webber's creative career, the music scholar John Snelson explores the vast range of influences that have informed Lloyd Webber's work, from film, rock, and pop music to Lloyd Webber's own life story. This rigorous and sympathetic survey will be essential reading for anyone interested in Lloyd Webber's musicals and the world of modern musical theater that he has been so instrumental in shaping.
Antigone
by SophoclesIn his long life, Sophocles (born ca. 496 B.C., died after 413) wrote more than one hundred plays. Of these, seven complete tragedies remain, among them the famed Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. In Antigone, he reveals the fate that befalls the children of Oedipus. With its passionate speeches and sensitive probing of moral and philosophical issues, this powerful drama enthralled its first Athenian audiences and won great honors for Sophocles.The setting of the play is Thebes. Polynices, son of Oedipus, has led a rebellious army against his brother, Eteocles, ruler of Thebes. Both have died in single combat. When Creon, their uncle, assumes rule, he commands that the body of the rebel Polynices be left unburied and unmourned, and warns that anyone who tampers with his decree will be put to death.Antigone, sister of Polynices, defies Creon's order and buries her brother, claiming that she honors first the laws of the gods. Enraged, Creon condemns her to be sealed in a cave and left to die. How the gods take their revenge on Creon provides the gripping denouement to this compelling tragedy, which remains today one of the most frequently performed of classical Greek dramas.
Antigone: A Play (The Oedipus Cycle Series #3)
by Sophocles<p>The classic Greek tragedy about a woman who valiantly defies a tyrant to honor her brother and please the gods.<p> <p>When Polynices—a military leaders in Thebes’s civil war—dies on the battlefield, Thebes’s ruler, Creon, decrees that Polynices’s body will lie unburied and left as prey for the vultures. But Antigone, the late warrior’s sister, answers to a higher authority than the state, and breaks the law to follow her conscience and bury her brother with the proper rites.<p> <p>Antigone’s act of civil disobedience urges great upheaval in this timeless play that explores the conflicts that can arise between worldly and divine law, and the questions raised by the idea of individual freedom.<p>
Anton Chekhov at the Moscow Art Theatre: Illustrations of the Original Productions
by Vera GottliebThe Moscow Art Theatre is still recognized as having more impact on modern theatre than any company in the world. This lavishly illustrated and beautifully produced facsimile edition of a Russian journal from 1914 documents, photographically, the premieres of all of Anton Chekhov's plays produced by the Moscow Art Theatre, including:*The Seagull, *Three Sisters*Uncle Vanya*Cherry Orchard*Ivanov.Edited by renowned theatre historian Vera Gottlieb, the volume also reproduces - for the first time in an English translation - introductions by Stanislavsky's collaborators Nemirovich-Danchenko and Efros. With 175 unique photographs, this is a significant contribution to our understanding of the origins of today's theatre.
Around the Clock
by Nick HallComedy / 6f / Interior / A medieval German clock with life-sized moving figures of a saint, an angel, a knight and a wicked pagan queen has been acquired by a small American town, and six women want to stage a publicity event: an enactment of the movements of this amazing clock. The relationships among the ladies are nearly as intricate as the clockworks: two have been married to the same man, the young teacher is after another's husband and, of course, the ex-show girl wants to star. Polly, who is hosting a rehearsal, finds having her bossy adult daughter living in her house again difficult. Hilarious complications arise as this explosive group works out the casting and the choreography. Beneath their laughter lurks the truth about who is an angel and who is more like the sinister queen. Fast-paced and funny with a touch of poignancy, this inventive play is by the author of Accommodations, Beside Yourself, Marriage Is Murder and other popular comedies.
The Art of Auditioning: Second Edition
by Rob DecinaLearn how to ace your acting audition from a top casting director!Casting Director Rob Decina highlights the difference between the craft of acting and the business of auditioning, and how those two worlds meet in television. Included are proven-effective preparation techniques, including asking the right questions, making specific acting choices, finding beats and beat changes, using spontaneity, and much more. Also included is advice on headshots and resumes and an examination of the difference between audition preparation and theatrical preparation as well as information on how to succeed with self-tape auditions.This updated edition will include both new and updated tips, as well as reflections on the original edition's advice. Rob's career has spanned primetime television, daytime drama, film, to casting for the one of the most prolific television studios for dramas and comedies across network, cable and streaming platforms.