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Elephant Man: A Play (Books That Changed the World)
by Bernard Pomerance&“An enthralling and luminous play&” about the nineteenth-century man whose physical deformity doomed him to the life of an outcast: &“haunting [and] splendid&” (The New York Times). The Elephant Man is based on the life of John Merrick, who lived in London during the latter part of the nineteenth century. A horribly deformed young man, a freak attraction in traveling side shows, is found abandoned and helpless and is admitted for observation to Whitechapel, a prestigious London hospital. Under the care of a famous young doctor who educates him and introduces him to London society, Merrick changes from a sensational object of pity to the urbane and witty favorite of the aristocracy and literati. But his belief that he can become a man like any other is a dream never to be realized. After premiering in London, The Elephant Man went on to Broadway where it won the Tony for Best Play in 1979. It was later revived in a Broadway production starring Bradley Cooper. &“TheElephant Man is a moving drama. Lofted on poetic wings, it nests on the human heart.&” —Time Magazine
The Elephant Song
by Nicolas BillonAn eminent psychiatrist has vanished from his office. The last person to have seen him is Michael, a troubled patient. Dr. Greenberg, the hospital director, is determined to question Michael, ignoring the head nurse's cryptic warnings. Michael speaks of elephants and opera—with the occasional hint of murder and foul play. Fraught with mind games and verbal tugs-of-war, The Elephant Song is a cat-and-mouse game that will keep you guessing until its haunting conclusion.
Elephant's Graveyard
by George BrantWinner of the 2008 Keene Prize for Literature Winner of the 2008 David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award Characters: 10m, 3f, flexible casting (Roles may be played by any race or gender except when specified.) / Drama Elephant's Graveyard is the true tale of the tragic collision of a struggling circus and a tiny town in Tennessee, which resulted in the only known lynching of an elephant. Set in September of 1916, the play combines historical fact and legend, exploring the deep-seated American craving for spectacle, violence and revenge. "The script-based on a true story about a traveling circus that, in 1916, stumbled into gory disaster in a muddy Tennessee town-is, like the best art, microscopically specific with echoes that radiate outward across time. It conjures a world with its own atmosphere and terrible internal logic. It's mesmerizing... symphonic in its emotional variations on a tragic theme. Elephant's Graveyard buzzes with truth about the consequences of misunderstanding, the invisible but enormous gap between artists and their audiences, and the infernal beauty of vaudeville." -The Stranger, Seattle "A theatrical masterpiece." - Columbia City Paper "The most striking production in the (NSDF) festival." - Times of London "Deeply moving...has the audience in stitches at the open and tears at the close." - TheSunCoast.com
Elephant’s Graveyard – Abridged Version
by George BrantDrama / 10m, 3f -casting may vary / Simple Set Winner of the 2008 Keene Prize for Literature Winner of the 2008 David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award Elephant's Graveyard is the true tale of the tragic collision of a struggling circus and a tiny town in Tennessee, which resulted in the only known lynching of an elephant. Set in September of 1916, the play combines historical fact and legend, exploring the deep-seated American craving for spectacle, violence and revenge. This abridged version, which runs about 40 minutes in length, is perfect for high schools looking to perform the play at theatre competitions or for producers looking for a shorter version of the original script. Adapted by the author, it maintains the haunting drama of the award-winning full length play. "The script is, like the best art, microscopically specific with echoes that radiate outward across time. Elephant's Graveyard buzzes with truth about the consequences of misunderstanding, the invisible but enormous gap between artists and their audiences, and the infernal beauty of vaudeville." -The Stranger, Seattle "A theatrical masterpiece." -Columbia City Paper "The most striking production in the (NSDF) festival." -Times of London "Deeply moving...has the audience in stitches at the open and tears at the close." -TheSunCoast.com
The Elevator
by William Dean HowellsWilliam Dean Howells (1837-1920) was an American realist author and literary critic. He wrote his first novel, Their Wedding Journey, in 1871, but his literary reputation really took off with the realist novel A Modern Instance, published in 1882, which describes the decay of a marriage. His 1885 novel The Rise of Silas Lapham is perhaps his best known, describing the rise and fall of an American entrepreneur in the paint business. His social views were also strongly reflected in the novels Annie Kilburn (1888) and A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890). While known primarily as a novelist, his short story "Editha" (1905) - included in the collection Between the Dark and the Daylight (1907) - appears in many anthologies of American literature. Howells also wrote plays, criticism, and essays about contemporary literary figures such as Ibsen, Zola, Verga, and, especially, Tolstoy, which helped establish their reputations in the United States. He also wrote critically in support of many American writers. It is perhaps in this role that he had his greatest influence.
Elia Kazan: A Life
by Elia Kazan"This is the best autobiography I've read by a prominent American in I don't know how many years. It is endlessly absorbing and I believe this is because it concerns a man who is looking to find a coherent philosophy that will be tough enough to contain all that is ugly in his person and his experience, yet shall prove sufficiently compassionate to give honest judgment on himself and others. Somehow, the author brings this off. Elia Kazan: A Life has that candor of confession which is possible only when the deepest wounds have healed and honesty can achieve what honesty so rarely arrives at--a rich and hearty flavor. By such means, a famous director has written a book that offers the kind of human wealth we find in a major novel." --Norman Mailer. In this amazing autobiography, Kazan at seventy-eight brings to the undiluted telling of his story--and revelation of himself--all the passion, vitality, and truth, the almost outrageous honesty, that have made him so formidable a stage director (A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, All My Sons, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tea and Sympathy), film director (On the Waterfront, East of Eden, Gentleman's Agreement, Splendor in the Grass, Baby Doll, The Last Tycoon, A Face in the Crowd), and novelist (the number-one best-seller The Arrangement.) Kazan gives us his sense of himself as an outsider (a Greek rug merchant's son born in Turkey, an immigrant's son raised in New York and educated at Williams College). He takes us into the almost accidental sojourn at the Yale Drama School that triggered his commitment to theatre, and his edgy, exciting apprenticeship with the new and astonishing Group Theatre, as stagehand and stage manager--and as actor (Waiting for Lefty, Golden Boy) ... his first nervous and then successful attempts at directing for theatre and movies (The Skin of Our Teeth, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) ... his return to New York to co-found the Actors Studio (and his long and ambivalent relationship with Lee Strasberg) ... his emergence as premier director on both coasts. With his director's eye for the telling scene, Kazan shares the joys and complications of production, his unique insights on acting, directing, and producing. He makes us feel the close presence of the actors, producers, and writers he's worked with--James Dean, Marlon Brando, Tennessee Williams, Vivien Leigh, Tallulah Bankhead, Sam Spiegel, Darryl Zanuck, Harold Clurman, Arthur Miller, Budd Schulberg, James Baldwin, Clifford Odets, and John Steinbeck among them. He gives us a frank and affectionate portrait of Marilyn Monroe. He talks with startling candor about himself as husband and--in the years where he obsessively sought adventure outside marriage--as lover. For the first time, he discusses his Communist Party years and his wrenching decision in 1952 to be a cooperative witness before HUAC. He writes about his birth as a writer. The pace and organic drama of his narrative, his grasp of the life and politics of Broadway and Hollywood, the keenness with which he observes the men and women and worlds around him, and, above all, the honest with which he pursues and captures his own essence, make this one of the most fascinating autobiographies of our time.
Elia Kazan: A Biography
by Richard Schickel“No mere page-turner, this is a page-devourer, generating the kind of suspense that is usually the province of the playwright or novelist.” —The New York Times Book ReviewFew figures in film and theater history tower like Elia Kazan. Born in 1909 to Greek parents in Istanbul, Turkey, he arrived in America with incomparable vision and drive, and by the 1950s he was the most important and influential director in the nation, simultaneously dominating both theater and film. His productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Death of a Salesman reshaped the values of the stage. His films—most notably On the Waterfront—brought a new realism and a new intensity of performance to the movies. Kazan’s career spanned times of enormous change in his adopted country, and his work affiliated him with many of America’s great artistic moments and figures, from New York City’s Group Theatre of the 1930s to the rebellious forefront of 1950s Hollywood; from Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy to Marlon Brando and James Dean.Ebullient and secretive, bold and self-doubting, beloved yet reviled for “naming names” before the House Un-American Activities Committee, Kazan was an individual as complex and fascinating as any he directed. Noted film historian and critic Richard Schickel illuminates much more than a single astonishing life and life’s work: He pays discerning tribute to the power of theater and film, and casts a new light on six crucial decades of American history.Includes photographsA New York Times Notable Book“Magnificent.” —The Washington Post“Unsparingly thorough.” —Publishers Weekly“Remarkably insightful.” —Martin Scorsese“Vividly conveys the director’s potent personality: his exuberance, relentless work ethic, and frank assessments of the fleeting nature of fame.” —Booklist (starred review)
Elite Theatre in Ming China, 1368-1644 (Routledge Studies in the Early History of Asia)
by Grant Guangren ShenTheatre occupied a particularly important place in the life of the elite, for whom owning a theatre troupe was highly fashionable and for whom theatre performances were an integral part of formal gatherings, various rituals and ceremonies. Based on an exploration of original historical records, including comparisons with other forms of ancient theatre, Shen provides an overview of elite theatre in Ming China and examines the details of theatrical performance.
Eliza Bing Is (Not) a Star
by Carmella Van VleetHow will Eliza make it through the sixth grade? Her ADHD tends to complicate things. . . .Eliza Bing stuck with taekwondo and earned her yellow belt even though her family expected her to quit. She's tough enough to break boards with her bare hands! Next up: middle school, and hopefully a best friend. The school play turns out to be the perfect opportunity to befriend confident, stage-obsessed Annie. But can their friendship survive the spotlight? The joys and sorrows of middle school come to life in this funny and heartfelt sequel to Eliza Bing Is (NOT) a Big, Fat Quitter, recipient of the Christopher Award and four child-voted state award nominations. A Junior Library Guild selection!
Elizabeth: An Old Man's Heart
by A. Jeremy KeithElizabeth: An Old Man’s Heart is a novel of intrigue and romance. It’s the type of novel that we can identify with. It transcends the story told by an old man to a detective, in which he says goodbye to adolescence, and of course, to the myth that symbolized the love he found in his youth. It was a time when reason became a puppet of destiny, induced by emotion. The story revolves around Richard Keith, Elizabeth, and Alejandra. Richard, the main character in this story, falls in love with Elizabeth, whose beauty leaves him speechless and turns his heart into a runaway locomotive. Because that’s what happens when we fall in love: we feel like our world turns topsy-turvy. Elizabeth is the pinnacle of beauty for Richard Keith. He started to love her as a boy and always noticed her during recess. One day he gathered up his courage and wrote his first letter to her. Elizabeth, innocent in her thoughts, didn’t know what love was and she tore up the letter. Even so, the brave boy insisted until the day when she didn’t tear his letters up. However, she never replied. One day, he grew tired and stopped sending them. After a year, Elizabeth started to miss the beautiful words that Richard Keith wrote to her. In junior high Elizabeth loved him, but he wasn’t as brave as he had been as a child, though his love hadn’t changed. His self-esteem had taken a severe blow when he lost strength in his legs and started walking with a pronounced limp. Find out what happens between Richard Keith and Elizabeth, and what role Alejandra plays in their lives. What will happen when he wants to fix the past? Who will die, and who will live to tell about it? Poetic thoughts aren’t born with us, they’re provoked by destiny, which at the same time plays with our minds. The game of love is a passion that drives us crazy and hypnotizes the soul. Destiny seeks its own muse to go crazy and grow old with, but at the same time, it gives us the opportunity to know and ex
Elizabeth Inchbald's Reputation: A Publishing and Reception History (The History of the Book #12)
by Ben P RobertsonThrough an examination of her complete works and public response to them, Robertson gauges the extent of Inchbald's reputation as the dignified Mrs Inchbald, as well as providing a clear sense of what it meant to be a female Romantic writer.
Elizabethan and Jacobean Reappropriation in Contemporary British Drama
by Graham SaundersThis book examines British playwrights' responses to the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries since 1945, from Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead to Sarah Kane's Blasted and Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem. Using the work of Julie Sanders and others working in the fields of Adaptation Studies and intertextual criticism, it argues that this relatively neglected area of drama, widely considered to be adaptation, should instead be considered as appropriation - as work that often mounts challenges to the ideologies and orthodoxies within Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, and questions the legitimacy and cultural authority of Shakespeare's legacy. The book discusses the work of Howard Barker, Peter Barnes, Edward Bond, Howard Brenton, David Edgar, Elaine Feinstein and the Women's Theatre Group, David Greig, Sarah Kane, Dennis Kelly, Bernard Kopps, Charles Marowitz, Julia Pascal and Arnold Wesker.
Elizabethan Comedies: A Basic Anthology (Dover Thrift Editions)
by Inc. Dover PublicationsA new and vital form of drama blossomed in 16th-century England, blending classic Latin comedy traditions with keen satires of contemporary London life. Although Shakespeare remains the most recognizable playwright of the Elizabethan age, there were many others whose work continues to entertain and educate students of drama to this day. This anthology collects timeless comedies that both informed Shakespeare's work and took inspiration from the Bard himself.Six plays include Ben Jonson's Every Man in His Humour, the comedy that made the author's reputation; Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay by Robert Greene, a groundbreaking play in terms of multiple-plot structure; The Shoemaker's Holiday, or The Gentle Craft by Thomas Dekker, the "Dickens of English theater"; All Fools, George Chapman's sprightly romp; A Trick to Catch the Old One by Thomas Middleton, one of the era's most prolific and successful playwrights; and Eastward Ho!, a collaborative work by Chapman, Jonson, and John Marston.
Elizabethan Costume Design and Construction: (The Focal Press Costume Topics Series) (The Focal Press Costume Topics Series)
by Helen Q Huang Emily Hoem Kelsey HuntLearn how to create historically accurate costumes for Elizabethan period productions with Elizabethan Costume Design and Construction! Extensive coverage of a variety of costumes for both men and women of all social classes will allow you to be prepared for any costuming need, and step-by-step instructions will ensure you have the know-how to design and construct your garments. Get inspired by stunning, hand-drawn renderings of costumes used in real life productions like Mary Stuart as you’re led through the design process. Detailed instructions will allow you to bring your designs to life and create a meticulously constructed costume.
The Elizabethan Dumb Show: The History of a Dramatic Convention (Routledge Revivals)
by Dieter MehlFirst published in English in 1965, this book discusses the roots and development of the dumb show as a device in Elizabethan drama. The work provides not only a useful manual for those who wish to check the occurrence of dumb shows and the uses to which they are put; it also makes a real contribution to a better understanding of the progress of Elizabethan drama, and sheds new light on some of the lesser known plays of the period.
Elizabethan Grotesque (Routledge Revivals)
by Neil RhodesThe comic grotesque is a powerful element in a great deal of Elizabethan literature, but one which has attracted scant critical attention. In this study, first published in 1980, Neil Rhodes examines the nature of the grotesque in late sixteenth-century culture, and shows the part it played in the development of new styles of comic prose and drama in Elizabethan England. In defining ‘grotesque’, the author considers the stylistic techniques of Rabelais and Aretino, as well as the graphic arts. He discusses the use of the grotesque in Elizabethan pamphlet literature and the early satirical journalists such as Nashe, and argues that their work in turn stimulated the growth of satirical drama at the end of the century. The second part of the book explains the importance of Nashe’s achievement for Shakespeare and Jonson, concluding that the linguistic resources of English Renaissance comedy are peculiarly – and perhaps uniquely – physical.
The Elizabethan Mind: Searching for the Self in an Age of Uncertainty
by Helen HackettThe first comprehensive guide to Elizabethan ideas about the mind What is the mind? How does it relate to the body and soul? These questions were as perplexing for the Elizabethans as they are for us today—although their answers were often startlingly different. Shakespeare and his contemporaries believed the mind was governed by the humours and passions, and was susceptible to the Devil&’s interference. In this insightful and wide-ranging account, Helen Hackett explores the intricacies of Elizabethan ideas about the mind. This was a period of turbulence and transition, as persistent medieval theories competed with revived classical ideas and emerging scientific developments. Drawing on a wealth of sources, Hackett sheds new light on works by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Sidney, and Spenser, demonstrating how ideas about the mind shaped new literary and theatrical forms. Looking at their conflicted attitudes to imagination, dreams, and melancholy, Hackett examines how Elizabethans perceived the mind, soul, and self, and how their ideas compare with our own.
The Elizabethan Player: Contemporary Stage Representation (Routledge Library Editions: Renaissance Drama)
by David Albert MannIn this book, first published in 1991, David Mann argues for more attention to the performer in the study of Elizabethan plays and less concern for their supposed meanings and morals. He concentrates on a collection of extracts from plays which show the Elizabethan actor as a character onstage. He draws from the texts a range of issues concerning performance practice: the nature of iterance; doubling and its implications for presentational acting; the importance of clowning and improvisation; and the effects of audience and venue on the dynamics of performance. The author suggests that the stage representation of players is in part a nostalgic farewell to the passing of an impure but perhaps more vital theatre, and in part an acknowledgement of the threat the adult theatre’s growing sophistication offered to its institutional and adolescent rivals. This title will be of interest to students of Drama and Performance.
Elizabethan Popular Theatre: Plays in Performance
by Michael HattawayElizabethan Popular Theatre surveys the Golden Age of English popular theatre: the 1590s, the age of Marlowe and the young Shakespeare. The book describes the staging practices, performance conditions and acting techniques of the period, focusing on five popular dramas: The Spanish Tragedy, Mucedorus, Edward II, Doctor Faustus and Titus Andronicus, as well as providing a comprehensive history of a variety of contemporary playhouse stages, performances, and players.
Elizabethan Publishing and the Makings of Literary Culture (Studies in Book and Print Culture)
by Kirk MelnikoffElizabethan Publishing and the Makings of Literary Culture explores the influence of the book trade over English literary culture in the decades following incorporation of the Stationers’ Company in 1557. Through an analysis of the often overlooked contributions of bookmen like Thomas Hacket, Richard Smith, and Paul Linley, Kirk Melnikoff tracks the crucial role that bookselling publishers played in transmitting literary texts into print as well as energizing and shaping a new sphere of vernacular literary activity. The volume provides an overview of the full range of practises that publishers performed, including the acquisition of copy and titles, compiling, alteration to texts, reissuing, and specialization. Four case studies together consider links between translation and the travel narrative; bookselling and authorship; re-issuing and the Ovidian narrative poem; and specialization and professional drama. Works considered include Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Thévet’s The New Found World, Constable’s Diana, and Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage. This exciting new book provides both a complement and a counter to recent studies that have turned back to authors and out to buyers and printing houses as makers of vernacular literary culture in the second half of the sixteenth century.
Elizabethan Tragedies: A Basic Anthology
by Inc. Dover PublicationsAlthough Shakespeare towers over the Elizabethan period, it was a robust time in the evolution of English theater, and many plays beyond the Bard's survive to enthrall modern drama students. This original anthology collects prime examples of the era's tragedies, dramas that both informed and were influenced by Shakespeare's work.Include here are The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd; Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe; Thomas Heywood's A Woman Killed with Kindness; The Tragedy of Mariam, by Elizabeth Cary (the first work in English to be published under a female author's own name); and John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi.
Elks Opera House, The (Images of America)
by Parker Anderson Elisabeth RuffnerFor over 100 years, the Elks Opera House has been a landmark of the cultural scene in Prescott, Arizona, and the western United States. In 1904, the people of Prescott raised $15,000 toward a performance hall to be included in the Elks Building. The original structure featured opera boxes that were later removed to adapt to the demands of motion pictures, and the entire proscenium arch was covered with wood paneling. In 2010, the Elks Opera House Foundation completed major renovations to restore the original 1905 grandeur of the theater and the 1928 marquee, which was paid for by grants from local charitable foundations, Arizona historic preservation funds, and generous participation by businesses and individuals. The Elks Building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Ella Bella Ballerina and Cinderella (Ella Bella Ballerina #2)
by James MayhewCan the adorable Ella Bella Ballerina help Cinderella get to the Royal Ball?Alone on the stage after class, Ella Bella opens Madame Rosa's magical musical box and is whisked off into the world of the Cinderella ballet. But will Ella Bella be able to help Cinderella meet her perfect Prince Charming?
Ella Bella Ballerina and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Ella Bella Ballerina #5)
by James MayhewEveryone's favourite little dancer, Ella Bella Ballerina, steps out of fairytales and into the world of Shakespeare as she goes on a magical adventure in Fairyland, with Puck, King Oberon and Queen Titania. Who will the queen fall in love with when under the king's spell? And what will become of the hapless actor Bottom, transformed into a donkey?Beautifully illustrated and perfectly pitched for a young audience and all would-be prima ballerinas, and a wonderful very first introduction to the stories of the ballet and Shakespeare. From James Mayhew, the creator of the Katie series of books - featuring the hugely engaging Katie and making art an adventure for every child.
Ella Bella Ballerina and Swan Lake (Ella Bella Ballerina #3)
by James MayhewCan Ella Bella help the swan princess to be reunited with her prince? Will she help to break the wicked sorcerer's spell? Will true love conquer all? Young ballerinas will find the answer to all these questions and delight in the sheer charm of Ella Bella's world. James Mayhew has also included a page full of ballet facts to help even the keenest budding ballerina learn the story behind Swan Lake.