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Theatre of the Ridiculous by Bonnie Marranca


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The Gas Heart


Tristan Tzara - 1946
    Luft.

The Plug Next Door


Sol - 2017
    He's rich, handsome, powerful and has a heart of gold. But don't let his kindness fool you. He's the street king of New York and rules The Empire State with no holds barred. His reign, both lengthy and fierce, is one to reckon with and everyone knows it. With the type of power and respect he has, there's nothing or no one challenging enough to knock him off his game nor his throne. That is until he meets the likes of the gorgeous Dr. Vaughn. Both witty, and domineering, she whisked her way into his life unexpectedly and proved to be his biggest challenge yet. He wants her and will stop at nothing to get her, but there's one problem. He has a family, and his Queen isn’t ready to relinquish her crown just yet. Reese, aka Dr. Vaughn, both beautiful and brainy, has a booming medical career that affords her a luxurious lifestyle. The Doc has just about everything going for herself except for one thing. She doesn't have a man to call her own...not that she's looking. After having her heart broken on numerous occasions, she vowed to never love again. But then she crossed paths with her next door neighbor and he changes her life forever. Young has too much money for his age and is about as handsome as they come. His good looks and endless cash flow makes him the most eligible bachelor in New York. All the ladies love him, yet he can't seem to find the one. Being the go-to, under the watchful eye of his big brother, God, finding time for love has always been a difficult task. Then he meets the baddest chick walking, Alexa. She gives him a run for his money. But you know what they say...you can't run forever. Alexa has played the fool to her long term boyfriend in Texas for years. Once she finally walks away, she has $200 dollars in her bank account and no plan on how she's gonna get by. Along her journey back home to New York, she meets a man who turns her world upside down. Nas hails all the way from Texas and just like the Lone Star State, everything about him is big, especially his ego. His main goal for migrating up north is to find his long lost brothers. However, with less than a hundred grand to his name, he's determined to takeover the street of New York no matter who's toes he steps on in the process. But what if taking over means eliminating the brothers he never knew? In this gripping tale of street love, drugs, lies and murder; many will not make it out alive, some will find love in a hopeless place while others get caught in the crossfire. Dive into the life of women who deserve more, and find out what it’s like to date the plug next door.

At The Threshold of Love


Namita Bajaj Sonthalia - 2017
    Celebratinglove in the lives of her clients, she is unknown to the emotionherself.Only until business tycoon Ronit Malhotra arrives at her doorstepto get his wedding planned. At first sight, she experiences whatweak knees are, but is unable to come to terms with the emotionlove.As fate may have it, Ronit too cannot stay oblivious to Ahaana'scharm and charismatic magnetism.When things spiral out of control, Ahaana meets the fun-lovingstranger Soham at her cousin's wedding. As an arranged marriageis set between them, will true love and passion make way into theinevitable and re-do what destiny has already carved?Join their roller-coaster journey to find out how the mind and heartare tossed around At the Threshold of Love.

365 Days/365 Plays


Suzan-Lori Parks - 2006
    It would be about being present and being committed to the artistic process every single day, regardless of the ‘weather.’ It became a daily meditation, a daily prayer celebrating the rich and strange process of a writing life.”—Suzan-Lori Parks On November 13, 2002, the incomparable Suzan-Lori Parks got an idea to write a play every day for a year. She began that very day, finishing one year later. The result is an extraordinary testament to artistic commitment. This collection of 365 impeccably crafted pieces, each with its own distinctive characters and dramatic power, is a complete work by an artist responding to her world, each and every day. Parks is one of the American theater’s most wily and innovative writers, and her “stark but poetic language and fiercely idiosyncratic images transform her work into something haunting and marvelous” (TIME).

Eight


Ella Hickson - 2009
    From high-class hookers to 7/7 survivors these monologues paint a revelatory picture of Britain as it is today. After rave reviews at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival and in New York, "Eight" opened in London's West End in July 2009.

Dear God: Hear My Prayer


Lakisha Johnson - 2018
     He stood in the pulpit on Sundays waving the same hands that abused her at night. He glorified God with the same mouth he used to chip away her self-esteem, daily. He was a man of God who had turned her away from the same God he told people they needed to serve. He was the man who was supposed to pray for, take care of and eventually love her. Instead he preyed on, took advantage of and shattered her heart before it had a chance to truly love someone else. Now, 14 years and a son later, she finds herself needing God yet she doesn’t know how to reach Him. She longs for God but isn’t sure He can hear a sinner’s prayer until she starts to say, Dear God ...

Keeper part 2


Tiffany Evans - 2013
    Her ability to control minds in their hands could mean the destruction of the Kember and Drea race. Laced with speed, strength, and a physical ability, each Kember holds the key to not only defeat the Rygons, but to protect one Drea until death. But what happens when one who’s born to protect, hunts instead? During a heated battle with a rogue Kember, Taylee’s forced to run and let her own Kember—the man who raised her—face him alone. With the announcement of her protector’s death, Taylee’s anger and obsession regarding the mysterious murderer take over. She’s hell-bent on bringing her guardian justice, even if it means walking into the enemy’s trap.

Italian American Reconciliation


John Patrick Shanley - 1998
    He enlists the aid of his lifelong buddy, Aldo Scalicki, a confirmed bachelor who tries, without apparent success, to convince Huey that he would be better off sticking with his new lady friend, Teresa, a usually placid young waitress whose indignation flares when she learns what Huey is up to. In a moonlit balcony scene (hilariously reminiscent of Cyrano de Bergerac) Aldo pleads his lovesick friend's case and, to his astonishment, Janice capitulates although not for long. However we do learn that her earlier abuse of Huey was intended to make him "act like a man" which, at last, he does. And, more than that, he (and the audience) become aware that, in the final essence, "the greatest and only success is to be able to love" a truth which emerges delightfully from the heartwarming, wonderfully antic and always imaginatively conceived action of the play.

Kenneth Williams' Acid drops


Kenneth Williams - 1980
    The cruel bon mot which has its sting drawn from the laughter that ensues. It was Oscar Wilde who pointed out that no comment was in bad taste if it was amusing - and if for that reason alone it is worth while preserving these delightful examples of verbal dexterity.

The Young Ancients: Books I-VI


P.S. Power - 2014
     Tor Baker is a Builder. A Wizard from the Kingdom of Noram. Follow him as he rises in the world, and discovers that things aren't even close to what he thought they were. This long running epic series is a favorite of many and not to be missed.

He Who Dares


Rob Buckman - 2013
    Even the man who raised him, his paternal grandfather, was a question mark. Beyond the love, understanding, and nurturing lay the unanswered question of why a disgraced ex-Royal Naval Admiral would pulled himself out of a bottle and take upon himself to bring a one year old child home as raise him as his own. The question of why his family, the Tregallion clan, refused to come to his aid went unanswered. Even so, between them they build a life for themselves until the fateful day he died. After that, Mike fled across the stars, swearing he would never again take the responsibility for another person’s death. Fate and destiny had other ideas, plunging him into one situation after the other where he had to take command, and decide the fate of others. With war on the horizon, and the future of the free stars hanging in the balance, Mike reluctantly accepted his destiny, and the part he must play. For better or worse, he would find the answered to his question, and make those responsible pay a terrible price.

Don't You Leave Me Here: My Life


Wilko Johnson - 2016
    With ten months to live, he decided to accept his imminent death and went on the road. His calm, philosophical response made him even more beloved and admired. And then the strangest thing happened: he didn't die. Don't You Leave Me Here is the story of his life in music, his life with cancer, and his life now - in the future he never thought he would see.

Aa Maratheyum Marannu Marannu Njan: And Slowly Forgetting That Tree …


K.R. Meera - 2010
    Raped at age ten, raped again as a young collegiate, she is abandoned twice: first by her father and later by Christy who loved her, but takes her through a wedding ceremony only to leave her later the same day. When Christy returns sixteen years later, shattered and unstable, the burnt and withered roots of love bloom again. Trauma, betrayal, and loneliness are the colours that paint this picture of physical and emotional violence that Radhika endures.

Lady Bird: Screenplay


Greta Gerwig
    A teenager (Saoirse Ronan) navigates a loving but turbulent relationship with her strong-willed mother (Laurie Metcalf) over the course of an eventful and poignant senior year of high school.

Forbidden Touch


Iona Rose - 2021