The Weir and Other Plays


Conor McPherson - 1999
    collection of an extraordinary new voice in Irish drama.

Moonlight


Harold Pinter - 1993
    Pinter, "one of the most important playwrights of our day" (The New York Times), again proves himself a vital and innovative literary voice. Set in two bedrooms and an indefinite dark space, Moonlight is the story of a father on his deathbed, rehashing his youth, loves, lusts, and betrayals with his wife, while simultaneously his two sons - clinical, conspiratorial, the bloodless, intellectual offspring of a hearty anti-intellectual - sit in the shadows, speaking enigmatically and cyclically, stepping around and around the fact of their estrangement from their father, rationalizing their love-hate relations with him and the distance that they are unable to close even when their mother attempts to call them home. In counterpoint to their uncomprehending isolation between the extremes of the death before life and the death after is their younger sister, Bridget, who lightly bridges the gaps between youth and age, death and life.

Notes from Underground & Scenes from the New World


Eric Bogosian - 1993
    Back-in-print early work by the author of subUrbia and Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll.

Oedipus the King


Scott Hurley - 2011
    Designed to provide insight and an overview about each text for students and teachers, these guides endeavor to develop knowledge and understanding rather than just provide answers and summaries.

The Trials of Brother Jero & The Strong Breed


Wole Soyinka - 1969
    As Michael Smith describes: "Brother Jero is a self-styled 'prophet,' an evangelical con man who ministers to the gullible and struts with self-importance over their dependence on him. The play follows him through a typical day: He acts as kind of tourist guide, displaying himself to the audience, explaining, demonstrating how he manages to live by his wits. He is pursued and cursed by his aged mentor, whose territory he has taken over. He is besieged by a woman creditor who turns out to be the tyrannical wife of his chief disciple. He converts a pompous, painfully timid Member of Parliament with prophecies of a ministerial post. And all day he tries to resist the endless temptation of beautiful women, the play is delightfully picturesque and entertaining." (8 men, 6 women.) THE STRONG BREED. As outlined by Michael Smith: "The play refers to a folk tradition by which one person becomes the 'carrier' of community evil and symbolically purifies the village in an annual ritual. The hero is Eman, a stranger who has come to this particular village to act as teacher and share his education. 'Those who have much to give,' he says, 'must do so in total loneliness.' On the night of the purification ceremony he learns that Ifada, a helpless idiot boy whom he has befriended, has been selected as 'carrier' and victim; and he is driven by compassion to take Ifada's part in the ritual. The crisis brings back memories. We learn that Eman's father was a 'carrier' and that Eman has fled the family tradition of symbolic sacrifice. We also learn of Omae, the young Eman's betrothed, whom he left for many years to pursue his personal destiny and who died soon after his return.Now Eman accepts his past and discovers, 'I am very much my father's son'-one of 'the strong breed' who must take these responsibilities upon themselves-and at the end of the play is caught in a trap at the sacred trees and killed." (12 men, 5 women.)"

The 39 Steps


Patrick Barlow - 2009
    Taking place only months before the outbreak of World War One (and written during the conflict) it focuses on Hannay’s attempts to warn the government of an unfolding plot to steal Great Britain’s military plans. Throughout the book Hannay must escape from German spies and the British police, who falsely believe that he has murdered the very man who revealed the plot to him. The book would prove incredibly popular upon its release and has been cited as the first “man-on-the-run” style story which has been re-used in films in literature ever since. The novel itself has been adapted for the screen no less than four times.

The Vortex


Noël Coward - 1924
    Emotional blackmail, drug abuse and immoral relationships are observed in this early, once scandalous work from the playwright-actor, which made Coward a star. "Here is a piece which is the dernier cri in the theatrical mode, un peu shocking perhaps, but no less popular on that account," twittered James Agate in the Sunday Times.

Shakespeare in Love


Lee Hall - 2014
    Their forbidden love soon draws everyone, including Queen Elizabeth, into the drama, and inspires Will to write the greatest love story of all time: Romeo and Juliet. Based on the Oscar-winning screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare in Love has been deftly adapted for the stage by Lee Hall and has been playing to rave reviews and a sold-out theatre at the Noël Coward in London. The London production is directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod, the driving force behind the world-renowned theatre company, Cheek by Jowl. A Broadway transfer is planned for Spring 2015.

The Witch


Thomas Middleton - 1616
    The play was suppressed for over a decade, but interest in it renewed when Howard and Carr were released from imprisonment from the Tower of London in 1622.The play's scribal manuscript survives, and it was first published by Isaac Reed in 1778.This edition features an introduction, notes, and historical background by Elizabeth Schafer, a biographical sketch of Middleton by William C. Carroll, and Ian Spink's piano/vocal arrangements of the original settings two of the play's songs, "In a Maiden Time Profess'd" composed by John Wilson, and "Come Away, Hecate!" composed by Robert Johnson.

Dealer's Choice


Patrick Marber - 1995
    It won the 1995 Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy and, the Writers' Guild for Best West End Play."An exceptionally accomplished first play . . . though I know nothing about poker, I testify to the compulsive grip this play exerts and to the accumulation of meanings it ignites in your head."—Financial Times"Patrick Marber's enthralling close-up of the demons which drive compulsive gamblers is among the finest new plays in many a year."—Daily Mail

Stupid Fucking Bird


Aaron Posner - 2016
    A nubile young actress wrestles with an aging Hollywood star for the affections of a renowned novelist. And everyone discovers just how disappointing love, art, and growing up can be. In this irreverent, contemporary, and very funny remix of Chekhov’s The Seagull, Aaron Posner stages a timeless battle between young and old, past and present, in search of the true meaning of it all. Original songs composed by James Sugg draw the famously subtextual inner thoughts of Chekhov’s characters explicitly to the surface. STUPID FUCKING BIRD will tickle, tantalize, and incite you to consider how art, love, and revolution fuel your own pursuit of happiness.

Spring Awakening


Steven Sater - 2007
    Inspired by Frank Wedekind’s controversial 1891 play about teenage sexuality and society’s efforts to control it, the piece seamlessly merges past and present, underscoring the timelessness of adolescent angst and the universality of human passion.Steven Sater’s plays include the long-running Carbondale Dreams, Perfect for You, Doll (Rosenthal Prize/Cincinnati Playhouse), Umbrage (Steppenwolf New Play Prize), and a reconceived version of Shakespeare’s Tempest, which played in London.Duncan Sheik is a singer/songwriter who also collaborated with Sater on the musical The Nightingale. He has composed original music for The Gold Rooms of Nero and for The Public Theater’s Twelfth Night in Central Park.

9 Parts of Desire - Acting Edition


Heather Raffo - 2006
    Book annotation not available for this title.

Chatroom


Enda Walsh - 2007
    Scenery: A bare stageThe six teenage characters communicate only via the internet. Conversations range in subject from Britney Spears to Willy Wonka to - suicide: Jim is depressed and talks of ending his life and Eva and William decide to do their utmost to persuade him to carry out his threat. From this chilling premise is forged a funny, compelling and uplifting play that tackles the issues of teenage life head-on and with great understanding.

George Orwell's 1984: A Play


Robert Owens - 1963
    George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision of "Negative Utopia" is timelier than ever-and its warnings more powerful in this three-act adaptation.