Best of
Drama

1981

Chances


Jackie Collins - 1981
    It plunges you into the reckless, dangerous world of the Santangelo crime family. It introduces you to Gino Santangelo, the street kid who makes it all the way to the top. And then brings you Lucky—his sensual, stunningly beautiful, and passionate daughter; a woman who dares to win her father’s empire for herself; a woman unafraid of taking…CHANCES.

My Dinner With André


Wallace Shawn - 1981
    Andre Gregory is an intense, highly experimental theater director and playwright in search of life's meanings and spiritual revelations. His friend, Wally Shawn, is an actor and playwright living in New York who is more preoccupied with the search for his next meal. As Andre recounts his global journeys involving esoteric theatrical experiments and mystical adventures, Wally listens with more than skepticism, as his attitudes shift among wonder, puzzlement, admiration, and anger. What finally emerges is a sensitive portrait of a friendship that survives and transcends contransting assumptions about love, death, art, and man's continuing quest for self-fulfillment.

Bread Upon the Waters


Irwin Shaw - 1981
    Far from wealthy they are still reasonably content with their life until one night when their teenage daughter helps a wealthy and lonely Wall Street lawyer. Out of gratitude the lawyer showers the family with gifts and money. The Strands find their lives altered and not necessarily for the best.

Banners of Silk


Rosalind Laker - 1981
    Louise Vemet. Raised in the slums of Paris. Coming of age around the splendor and corruption of the Second Empire. She ruled the world of fashion, clothing the most fabled women of title and of pleasure in a society where even sin had to have style. She took as her lover a nobleman she could never wed -- and gave a name to their child by entering into a passionless marriage. Sweeping from the Paris of Louis Napoleon to the England of Queen Victoria... and from the depths of despair to the heights of joy and fulfillment... this is the unforgettable saga of a woman of daring and destiny -- and the dazzling world of French haute couture she helped create....

The Collected Plays, Vol. 1: 1958-1965


Edward Albee - 1981
    This book represents one of the most exciting and bold periods in the career of one of America's most popular and imaginative playwrights.

The Pride


Judith Saxton - 1981
    However, the consequences of their love affair are terrible for Tina as she is shamed by the father she adores, and Edward is sent away. Against all the odds, Tina and Edward find each other again, and despite great hardship and tragedy, together they build a dynasty strong enough to withstand some of the worst catastrophes Britain has ever known. The Pride is a magnificent start to a stunning family saga.

Mystery at Cranberry Farm


Lynn Manuel - 1981
    Then came a letter from Aunt Daisy and everything changed. Suddenly Tory, Tritch, and Teddy were off to a farm in the Okanagan Valley.... and to a ninety year-old mystery!A story - a book of clues - a surly housekeeper - mysterious happenings at night - danger! How Tory, Tritch, and Teddy approach the mystery at Cranberry Farm will keep readers in suspense throughout this novel.

Chicago


Fred Ebb - 1981
    In roaring twenties Chicago, chorine Roxie Hart murders a faithless lover and convinces her hapless husband Amos to take the rap...until he finds out he's been duped and turns on Roxie. Convicted and sent to death row, Roxie and another Merry Murderess Velma Kelly, vie for the spotlight and the headlines, ultimately joining forces in search of the American Dream fame, fortune and acquittal. This sharp edged satire features a dazzling score that sparked immortal staging by Bob Fosse. 'A pulse racing revival that flies us right into musical heaven.-The New York Times Wildly entertaining...[with a] dazzling score.-New York Daily News

Nuts


Tom Topor - 1981
    Set in a courtroom in New York's Bellevue Hospital, the story follows a high-priced call girl incarcerated on a charge for killing a violent "john". The State, represented by a court appointed psychiatrist and an aggressive prosecutor, say Claudia Faith Draper is unfit to stand trial. As testimony from experts, physicians and her parents unfolds, with her psyche and childhood dissected, she proves to the judge that she isn't "nuts" and stands legally sane at trial for manslaughter. "[Has] the audience rooting for the good guys and hating the bad guys, as if the whole event was the most beautifully professional wrestling match you have ever seen. Nuts is a play that moves you ... you are in court watching a woman fight for what she believes is her total future."-New York Post

Nine Plays of the Modern Theater: Includes: Waiting for Godot; The Visit; Tango; The Caucasian Chalk Circle; The Balcony; Rhinoceros; et al


Harold Clurman - 1981
    What Harold Clurman has done in this seminal collection is to create for us a portrait of the progress and turmoil of the twentieth century. Ranging from the eerie realism of Pinter's sinister "Birthday Party," to the absurd literalism of Ionesco's conformist city in "Rhinoceros," to the baroque fantasy world of Genet's brothel in "The Balcony," to the tragic hilarity of Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," these nine plays, each entirely distinct, together form an incisive, compelling, and sometimes heartbreaking mosaic of our time.

On the Waterfront: The Final Shooting Script


Budd Schulberg - 1981
    The complete screenplay, directed by Elia Kazan.

The Greek Heritage in Victorian Britain


Frank M. Turner - 1981
    One of the most important and far-reaching investigations of the roots of intellectual history to be published in decades, a book to be read and reread,… to be annotated, argued with, and debated on specific issues for years to come.  It is a truly monumental achievement.”—Peter Green, Times Literary Supplement“[This book], which makes major contributions to our understanding of the intellectual life of the last century, will be of great interest to students of Victorian art, literature, and ideas in both England and America.”—George p. Landow, American Historical Review“Readable, intelligent, though, witty, and magisterial… It is the book on its subject…. Turner’s study has changed, changed utterly, the Victorian landscape.”—Richard Tobias, Victorian Poetry“Turner’s is an intelligent critical study of great value.”—Hugh Lloyd-Jones, London Review of Books

Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You & The Actor's Nightmare


Christopher Durang - 1981
    An unprepared actor in an unnamed play is forced to take the place of a leading actor.

The Antitheatrical Prejudice


Jonas Barish - 1981
    The book earned the American Theater Association's Barnard Hewitt Award for outstanding research in theater history