Arcadia received the Evening Standard, the Oliver, and the Critics Awards and The Real Thing won a Tony Award.

    Surely one of the most acclaimed and beloved plays of all time, this modern classic is honored for the first time in a lavishly illustrated book. Here is the complete musical book by Joe Masteroff and all the words of the songs written by John Kander and Fred Ebb. It is illustrated with more than 100 photographs and drawings (including 74 in full color) of the original cast of the Roundabout 's smash Broadway production by Joan Marcus, never-before- published backstage photographs by Rivka Katvan, and archival photos of past productions. The accompanying text explores the evolution of the play in all its incarnations, from the 1930 stories of Christopher Isherwood to two films and three stage adaptations. Here are all the fantastic artists who have brought this play to life: Julie Harris (the original Sally Bowles), Joel Grey, Liza Minnelli, Natasha Richardson, Alan Cumming, Ron Rifkin, and directors Hal Prince, Bob Fosse, Sam Mendes, and Rob Marshall. Also featured are original drawings by costume designer William Ivey Long and set designer Robert Brill. For theatre lovers and film fans, for those who've seen the play and those who haven't, this book is an exclusive insider's glimpse into a stage and film phenomenon, one of the most astonishing artistic achievements of our time.

    Through a bureaucratic error, though, Marx is sent to Soho in New York, rather than his old stomping ground in London, to make his case.Zinn introduces us to Marx's wife, Jenny, his children, the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, and a host of other characters.Marx in Soho is a brilliant introduction to Marx's life, his analysis of society, and his passion for radical change. Zinn also shows how relevant Marx's ideas are for today's world.Historian and activist Howard Zinn is the author of the bestselling A People's History of the United States and numerous other writings. He recently received the Eugene V. Debs and Lannan Foundation awards for his writing and political activism. He is also the author of Emma, a play about Emma Goldman, in the anthology Playbook (South End Press).Praise for Marx in Soho:"An imaginative critique of our society's hypocrisies and injustices, and an entertaining, vivid portrait of Karl Marx as a voice of humanitarian justice - which is perhaps the best way to remember him."-Kirkus Reviews"A cleverly imagined call to reconsider socialist theory... Zinn's point is well made; his passion for history melds with his political vigor to make this a memorable effort and a lucid primer for readers desiring a succinct, dramatized review of Marxism."-Publishers Weekly"Even in heaven it seems, Karl Marx is a troublemaker. But in the deft and loving hands of activist/author/historian Howard Zinn, the historical figure... is also a father, a husband and a futurist possessing a grand sense of humor."-ForeWord"A witty delight that will engage both new and old acquaintances of the Marxian corpus.... Even conservatives will find Zinn's [book]... an intelligent and diverting read. Recommended for academic and public libraries alike."-Library Journal

    collection of an extraordinary new voice in Irish drama.

    The plays included are Dancing at Lughnasa, Fathers and Sons, Making History, Wonderful Tennessee and Molly Sweeney. The collection is introduced by Christopher Murray.

    This fourth volume of Tom Stoppard's work for the stage brings together five of his most celebrated translations and adaptations of plays by Arthur Schnitzler (Dalliance and Undiscovered Country), Ferenc Molnar (Rough Crossing), Johann Nestroy (On the Razzle) and Anton Chekhov (The Seagull).

    and Richard Loeb -- abducted and killed fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks, horrifying a nation. Never the Sinner is John Logan's brilliant documentary play about the infamous Leopold and Loeb case, known in its time as the "crime of the century" and still one of the most notorious.Leopold and Loeb were richer than most, and smarter. They knew every hot topic of the day, from Freud to Nietzsche; they were also lovers. Considering themselves Nietzsche's "supermen, " they decided to commit the "perfect murder, " just for the thrill of it. But they proved to be considerably less than supermen, and within a matter of hours police questioners cracked their alibis. In the ensuing sensational trial, they were defended by the legendary Clarence Darrow, who got them life sentences rather than the expected execution.

    The plays are funny, erudite, poetic, transgressive, erotic, moving, and so theatrical they seem the Platonic ideal of everything we mean when we use that word. The plays are the sublime expressions of what Ludlam insisted was not an aesthetic, but a moral vision: anti-Puritan, unsentimentally utopian, sexually destabilizing—a transporting, a transcendence by means of deflation, a joyous and subversive, even dangerous revelry leading to revelation, a wise and ecstatic celebration of the world.” –Tony Kushner (from his Preface)Artistic director, playwright, director, designer and star of New York's acclaimed Ridiculous Theatrical Company, the late Charles Ludlam ransacked theatrical and literary history in an evolutionary quest for a modern art of stage comedy. His more than 30 plays are among the most thought-provoking entertainments in the modern repertoire. As Ludlam himself put it, "This is farce, not Sunday school." This collection includes an introduction by Tony Kushner alongside Ludlam's most famous and celebrated works for the stage:The Mystery of Irma Vep: Ludlam's most famous play, this is a hilarious send up of Daphne de Maurier, Jane Eyre and Victorian cross dressing. One of the most produced plays in the United States, The Mystery of Irma Vep is “the most perfect expression of Ludlam’s approach to theatre: a play that simultaneously provokes terror, laughter and a grotesque mockery of all gender, literary and special boundaries” (Village Voice).Camille: based on La Dame aux Camélias, this satirical take on the tubercular courtesan brings any audience “to unexpected heights of pathos and laughter” (San Francisco Chronicle).Galas: the life of opera singer Maria Callas imagined as a modern tragedy, in which Ludlam himself assayed the part of the diva.Stage Blood: Ludlam's take on Shakespeare, with actors putting on Hamlet both on stage and back stage; somehow, in this tragedy, everything comes out for the best.Bluebeard: somewhat based on H.G. Wells' Island of Dr. Moreau, Bluebeard tells the story of a mad vivisectionist in search of a third sex.Charles Ludlam: Artistic director, playwright, director, designer and star of New York’s acclaimed Ridiculous Theatrical Company. During his twenty years with the Ridiculous, he won Obie and Drama Desk awards as well as playwriting fellowships from the Guggenheim, Rockefeller and Ford foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts. His more than thirty plays are among the most thought-provoking entertainments in the modern repertoire and continue to be widely performed throughout the world.

    His dialogue--abrasive, rhythmic--illuminates a modern aesthetic evocative of Samuel Beckett. His plots--surprising, comic, topical--have evoked comparisons to masters from Alfred Hitchcock to Arthur Miller. Here are two screenplays demonstrating the astounding range of Mamet's talents.         The Spanish Prisoner, a neo-noir thriller about a research-and-development cog hoodwinked out of his own brilliant discovery, demonstrates Mamet's incomparable use of character in a dizzying tale of twists and mistaken identity. The Winslow Boy, Mamet's revisitation of Terence Rattigan's  classic 1946 play, tells of a thirteen-year-old boy accused of stealing a five-shilling postal order and the tug of war for truth that ensues between his middle-class family and the Royal Navy. Crackling with wit, intelligent and surprising, The Spanish Prisoner and The Winslow Boy celebrate Mamet's unique genius and our eternal fascination with the extraordinary predicaments of the common man.

    

    There are many ways to categorize me and my work. But for myself, I would most like to be considered a playwright. - Theresa Rebeck, Introduction

    

    His parents retired and moved to Florida. That doesn't mean his family isn't still in Jersey. In fact, he sees both sets of his grandparents every Sunday for dinner. This is routine until he has to tell them that he's been offered a dream job. The job he's been waiting for - marketing executive - would take him away from his beloved, but annoying, grandparents. He tells them. The news doesn't sit so well. Thus begins a series of schemes to keep Nick around. How could he betray his family's love to move to Seattle for a job, wonder his grandparents? Well, Frank, Aida, Nunzio, and Emma do their level best, that includes bringing the lovely - and single - Caitlin O'Hare as bait.

    Kaufman and Moss Hart. Beginning with its short run on Broadway and continuing through various rewritings and restagings over the years, Merrily may be the most-discussed, least well-known work in Sondheim's canon. The musical has an unusual, and unusually intriguing form, following the careers of three theatre artists from the present day back through time to the days when they were starting out, young and idealistic. This homage to the Broadway musical is considered by many to contain one of Sondheim's most ebullient and tuneful scores.

    The third volume of Smith and Kraus publication of the complete works of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, this book includes:The Hot L Baltimore, Serenading Louise, The Mound Builders, and Angels Fall.

    Set in the 1920's - 1930's, in multiple locations we follow the childhood of Tuc (in the dreams of the adult Tuc) in a moving prequel to Zeder's acclaimed MOTHER HICKS. Time is memory. 10 men, 1 woman, 2 deaf actors needed. Multiple locations.The play takes place in the mind and memory of the adult Tuc as he journeys through his childhood from the fever dream that took his hearing, to the language of nature which he shares with his beloved father, to the Deaf school where his mind explodes with the discovery of sign language. Along the way Tuc meets the mysterious Nell Hicks who heals with herbs and singing spells. He also meets Rosecoe who gives Tuc his name-sign and cultural identity, and Maize, a wild child of Deaf parents, teenaged and pregnant with a head full of movie palace dreams. After the death of his father, Tuc must navigate the perilous path of loss, love, and language as he struggles to weave a family out of wishes, and explores the moral ambiguities of our times and the cultural complexities of Deafness, with humor and compassion.

    Hired by the dissolute Smith family to murder the matriarch for insurance money, "Killer Joe" takes the daughter to bed as a retainer against his final payoff which sets in motion a bloody aftermath as the "hit man" meets his match.

    I find that unforgivable and suddenly it's a millennium and I stink of the past century, but what can I do?Rose is a survivor. Her remarkable life began in a tiny Russian village, took her to Warsaw's ghettos and a ship called The Exodus, and finally to the boardwalks of Atlantic City, the Arizona canyons and salsa-flavoured nights in Miami beach.The play is both a sharply drawn portrait of a feisty Jewish woman and a moving reminder of some of the events that shaped the century.Rose, written by the celebrated author of Bent, premiered in May 1999 at the Royal National Theatre London.

    Included in this collection are three of the most significant plays of this century plus three brilliant plays which will be new to Western audiences:Death and the King's Horseman - A masterpiece from the Nobel-prize-winning Nigerian writer Wole SoyinkaWoza Albert! - A skilful and devastating political satire from South Africa by the writers/performers Percy Mtwa and Mbongeni Ngema and Market Theatre director, the late Barney SimonAnowa - A powerful tale from Ghana which tells of a woman's plight and oppression by Ama Ata AidooThe Chattering and the Song - An ingenious radical drama from the popular Nigerian playwright Femi OsofisanThe Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco - A witty political allegory about post-colonial Zimbabwe, by Andrew WhaleyThe Other War - An extraordinary insight into Africa's longest liberation war, by the Eritrean playwright Alemseged TesfaiThe only current anthology to survey the rich variety of contemporary African dramaThe plays included in this volume are: Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka; Anowa by Ama Ata Aidoo; The Chattering and the Song by Femi Osofisan; The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco by Andrew Whaley; Woza Albert! by Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema and Barney Simon; and The Other War by Alemseged Tesfai.Contemporary African Drama brings together some of the best writers writing from an African viewpoint today.

    Yes! Yet another brilliant young Irish playwright makes his debut.

    Yet, even in The Power Plays, Walker is still exploring the ironic and dramatic possibilities of the stereotypes (albeit, by this time, home-grown ones) that continue to provide the fertile ground of contemporary North American sensibilities.With his creation of the Governor General’s Award winning Criminals in Love (1984); the Chalmers Award winning Better Living (1986); and Escape from Happiness (1991), Walker embarked on a whole new direction in his evolution as a playwright. Much less of his comic irony now relied on the recognition of character, much more now relied on the creation of character. In a very real way, George Walker had freed himself to “come home.” Set in what is transparently a single neighbourhood, the East End of Toronto, these three interrelated plays were quickly collected in a volume called, naturally, The East End Plays, in 1988. From here, George Walker moved in two related directions: to a further exploration of the margins of contemporary urban life in the global village with the three plays now collected in The East End Plays Part 2 (1999); and to the continued exploration of linking plays around a single location with the wildly successful six-part Suburban Motel (1998). The original three East End Plays are here published in a completely new and revised Talonbooks edition now called The East End Plays Part 1.

    During his visit, he traveled around the country, and his discussions with Jewish settlers encompassed the idealism, contradictions, and paranoia at the heart of modern Zionism in the wake of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. In the play that resulted-written to be performed by the author himself-Hare offers a meditation on this extraordinary trip to both Israel and the Palestinian territory, questioning his own values as searchingly as he examines the powerful beliefs of those he met.Accompanying Via Dolorosa is Hare's lecture "When Shall We Live?," which also focuses on questions of art and faith-the same questions that have been interwoven throughout all of his extraordinary plays and have placed him in the first rank of dramatists writing today.

    He has been called "a major new playwright" who has "mastered the art of telling a simple story with such grace and skill that it becomes startlingly new" (Fintan O'Toole, New York Daily News). Greenberg's plays have developed a reputation for being "intelligent, whimsical, always powerful pieces of theatre that are profound without being pretentious and that speak about the very basic longing of human beings" (Amy Schaumberg, Drama-Logue). Collected in this volume are Greenberg's most important plays, including his latest, Hurrah at Last, which Laurie Winer in the Los Angeles Times called "funny, acerbic and delightfully straightforward about falsehoods and bargains of intimacy."

    As the characters talk of love, sex, war, the English, de Valera, and the Yanks, "Dolly West's Kitchen" becomes a deeply moving evocation of the fantasy and the reality that was Ireland in the 1940s, filled with the richness of character and sense of place that have always marked Frank McGuinness's writing.

    

    This first ever anthology of Belizean drama is a part of the rediscovery of some of the wonderful local material written and performed in the past. The works range from the humourous to the tragic, are based in myth and real life, and have been created by some of the country's best known writers, artists and performers.

    

    The texts, including facsimiles of period documents, conduct literature, county records, reports of court entertainments, and Queen Elizabeth’s speeches, contextualize the play’s treatment of popular and royal festivity, communities of women (including Amazons, gossips, and nuns), marriage expectations, and the supernatural. Editorial features designed to help students read the play in light of the historical documents include an intelligent and engaging general introduction, an introduction to each thematic group of documents, thorough headnotes and glosses for the primary documents (presented in modern spelling), and an extensive bibliography.

    But Abby may have to sacrifice everything to prove that Truth and Justice do not always go hand in hand.

    Since the appearance of Volume 1 in 1982, theatre and Holocaust studies have undergone astonishing transformations. In Volume 2, Skloot presents six plays acknowleding the most recent theatrical forms in our post-modern age.

    This anthology includes not only some of his best known plays but also a group of secondary, brief plays.

    The Eldest Son is also about injustice - one law for the rich, another for the poor; The Skin Game, Galsworthy's first commercial success, presents class conflict; while Loyalties, 'a crime drama', is about division and prejudice. John Galsworthy is a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

    As the main character, Albert’s secure and straight world begins to unravel, so does the structure of the language, leaving words and images to fly away from and into each other like Escher’s black birds. It is a play which proposes that of all the possible fantasies one could have indulged in, the neo-con vision of the ’90s emerged victorious because it had the invincible virtue of being the simplest (and the most stupid). Subtitled ‘nine lives,’ MacDonald describes Divinity Bash as ‘a play in three acts for five men, three women and a hermaphrodite.’ It is a play where gender and social place shift and rebuild like sand dunes in a desert-as if the nine Muses threw a party at which Cassandra was the only guest.Divinity Bash is a play in which everything, and therefore nothing, is sacred: sterile aliens abduct the unemployed while their boyfriends leave their wives and pour out their grief and longing by singing sentimental pop music at Karaoke bars. It struts and frets its absurdities on a stage of collapsing and colliding walls; between the hell that is the here and now of the late 20th century and the possibility of a heaven far off at the horizon where the sea meets the sky like the converging pages of an open book: the edge of the margin one can always see, always move toward, but never get to. Divinity Bash is a damn good way to say goodbye to the century.

    Areas covered include violence as an integral part of dramatic text and performance, facets of the staging of violence, and examples of theatrical violence at the fringes of social acceptability.

    A collection of plays from the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Belorussia, and Yugoslavia.

    

    This year's plans to celebrate Verdi's birthday with a concert are not going to plan. In "Equally Divided", two grown-up sisters must confront their childhood rivalry.

    (1 man.) In THIS LIME TREE BOWER, three young men from a Dublin seaside town tell their overlapping recollections of one fateful night that included a rape, an embarrassing episode at a college lecture, and a robbery done for retribution that ties it all together. (3 men.) In the sobering one-man play RUM AND VODKA, a young alcoholic recounts the events that follow after he loses his job from the feud with his wife to the bender that might finally help him realize what's important in life. (1 man.) THE GOOD THIEF is another one-man play wherein a ruffian reveals the remorse and regret he feels after a botched job leads to murder, kidnapping, and finally a desperate flee that results in unfortunate casualties and imprisonment. (1 man.)

    In a future, denatured world, a young woman, Rachel, searches for what is missing in her life and the sterile world she inhabits. De Groen uses the lessons of a repressive, torturous chapter in history to illuminate an imagined sterile, artless future where the muses and gods of literature and science have virtually sunk without trace. In a world where a 'poet' means a man who researches poetry in the archives, where there is no nature or wildlife and the moon and stars are seen only in a virtual room created by accessing the science archives, Rachel becomes a dispossessed Akhmatova. When the literary archives, which are seldom accessed any more, are about to be switched off and the 'poets' de-listed, Rachel risks her life to save the poetry archives for future generations.