Stop Kiss


Diana Son - 1999
    Son's story is deceptively simple: two young women in New York meet, talk about their boyfriends, feel a growing, unspoken attraction for each other, and finally kiss. And that one innocent kiss sets off a savage gay-bashing. But even as Stop Kiss confronts the reality of physical violence, Son's imaginative, moving, and surprising comedy brings audiences -- and her principal characters -- to unexpected places.Callie is holding down a job as a radio traffic reporter when she meets Sara, a midwesterner who, against her parents' wishes, has moved to the city to teach third-grade students in the Bronx. Both have boyfriends, but as they get to know each other, their shared experiences and sense of humor create a strong bond. The tragic consequences of their kiss -- the center of this powerful drama -- serve as both an indictment of hatred and a moving study of the perils inherent in living life fully.

Speed-the-Plow


David Mamet - 1988
    "By turns hilarious and chilling....the culmination of this playwright's work to date....Riveting theater."-Frank Rich, New York Times; "A brilliant black comedy, a dazzling dissection of Hollywood cupidity and another tone poem by our foremost master of the language of moral epilepsy... On its deepest level it belongs with the darker disclosures of movie-biz pathology like Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon. In a sense Speed-the-Plow distills all of these to a stark quintessence: there's hardly a line in it that isn't somehow insanely funny or scarily insane... [It is a] scathingly comic play."-Jack Kroll, Newsweek

Middle School Millionaires


Roderick J. Robison - 2013
    But when the other schools and town facil-ities ask for recycling barrels too, their businesstakes off. They earn much more than pocket change.And the funny thing is, nobody but the janitors knowthe recycling barrels are owned by the two young en-trepreneurs. The money rolls in…but trouble follows.The principal suspects they’re up to something. Theeighth grade bully tries to capitalize on their new-found wealth. And the competition, the town’s largestrecycling contractor—tries to put them out of business.Their real trouble begins though, when the principal,superintendent of schools, and mayor learn the recyclingbarrels are owned by two middle school students. Theythink they’ve been misled; a suspension hearing ensues.Everything Kirk and Tommy have worked so hard for isin jeopardy. They’re on the brink of loosing it all—but ifthey can survive the ordeal, they just might become…Middle School Millionaires.

From Victim to Hero: The Untold Story of Steven Stayner


Jim Laughter - 2010
    Steven’s story inspires and exemplifies the goodness and strength within the human spirit. The trauma experienced by the family is shared, giving insight of the impact on the marriage, children, and friends. Whether in abuse or abduction, From Victim to Hero portrays the grooming, lying and strategies used by predators to convince and coerce their victims into compliance. This book reiterates the three principles victims must realize – 1. Nobody has the right to hurt you. 2. It’s not your fault. 3. You don’t have the right to hurt others. Buy this book. Share it with your children. Keep them safe.Ed Smart (father of kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart)President, Surviving Parents CoalitionIn this book, From Victim to Hero, Jim Laughter expresses Steven’s heart and brings to light the extraordinary spirit of a young man that endangered himself because he believed rescuing Timmy White was the right thing to do.Diane L Brown, Founder/DirectorSafety Kids, Inc.

Choir Boy


Tarell Alvin McCraney - 2012
    Not on this earth but elsewhere . . .Determined to make his mark like those before him, Pharus is hell-bent on being the best choir leader in the school's fifty-year history. First he must gain the respect of his peers, but he's an outsider in a world steeped in rites and rituals, a community that demands he conform.Tarell Alvin McCraney's piercing new play set in an all boys, all black American prep school scores a gospel refrain of the politics of minority and masculinity.Choir Boy premiered at the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court, London, in September 2012. It was commissioned by, and is a co-production with Manhattan Theatre Club and was supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Surviving the Collapse: A Tale Of Survival In A Powerless World- Book 2


James Hunt - 2017
    Millions of Americans are left to fend for themselves, struggling to survive in the harsh elements of winter. But even more dangerous than the weather, or the terrorists roaming the country, could be each other. In a world without power, there are those that seek to take advantage of the situation, and those that fight to improve the situation of others. Captain Kate Holloway hopes that she finds the latter.

Next to Normal


Brian Yorkey - 2009
    "A brave and breathtaking musical."--The New York Times

The Great God Pan


Amy Herzog - 2013
    Ms. Herzog writes with keen sensitivity to the complex weave of feelings embedded in all human relationships, with particular attention to the way we tiptoe around areas of radioactive emotion." - New York Times"Whatever the ideal contemporary American drama is, it has to look a lot like The Great God Pan. It is provocative and subtle, slowly, carefully revelatory, sweetly moving, thought-provoking, funny and insightful." - New York Observer"An intelligent, delicately articulate writer." - Village Voice"A moving and unsettling look at the nature of identity and the vagaries of memory. With subtlety and compassion, Herzog contemplates how well we can really know ourselves." - BackstageJamie's life in Brooklyn seems just fine: a beautiful girlfriend, a burgeoning journalism career, and parents who live just far enough away. But when a possible childhood trauma comes to light, lives are thrown into a tailspin. Unsettling and deeply compassionate, The Great God Pan tells the intimate tale of what is lost and won when a hidden truth is suddenly revealed.Amy Herzog's plays include 4000 Miles (Pulitzer Prize finalist), After the Revolution and Belleville. Ms. Herzog is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Whiting Writers' Award, an Obie Award and the Helen Merrill Award for Aspiring Playwrights.

Crimes of the Heart


Beth Henley - 1982
    Set in a small Mississippi town, the play examines the lives of three quirky sisters who have gathered back home. During the course of the week the sisters unearth grudges, criticize each other, reminisce about their family life, and attempt to understand their mother's suicide years earlier.

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman


Eric J. Sterling - 2008
    The topics include feminism and the role of women in the drama, the American Dream, business and capitalism, the significance of technology, the legacy that Willy leaves to Biff, and Miller's use of symbolism. The authors of the essays include prominent Arthur Miller scholars such as Terry Otten and the late Steven Centola as well as young, emerging scholars. Some of the essays, particularly the ones written by the emerging scholars, tend to employ literary theory while the ones by the established scholars tend to illustrate the strengths of traditional criticism by interpreting the text closely. It is fascinating to see how scholars at different stages of their academic careers approach a given topic from distinct perspectives and sometimes diverse methodologies. The essays offer insightful and provocative readings of Death of a Salesman in a collection that will prove quite useful to scholars and students of Miller's most famous play.

hang (NHB Modern Plays)


debbie tucker green - 2015
    In her hands. A shattering play about one woman’s unspeakable decision. hang premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2015, in a production directed by the author, and featuring Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Claire Rushbrook and Shane Zaza.

Colder Than Here


Laura Wade - 2005
    There are boilers to be fixed, cats to be fed, and the perfect funeral to be planned. As a mother researches burial spots and biodegradable coffins, her family is finally forced to communicate with her and each other as they face up to the future. A dark comedy about death and life going on.

A Feminine Ending


Sarah Treem - 2009
    But at the moment, she's living in New York City and writing advertising jingles to pay the rent while her fiancé, Jack, pursues his singing career. So when Amanda's mother, Kim, calls one evening from New Hampshire and asks for her help with something she can't discuss over the phone, Amanda is only too happy to leave New York. Once home, Kim reveals that she's leaving Amanda's father and needs help packing. Amanda balks and ends up (gently) hitting the postman, who happens to be her first boyfriend. They spend the night together in an apple orchard, where Amanda tries to tell Billy how her life got sidetracked. It has something to do with being a young woman in a profession that only recognizes famous men. Billy acts like he might have the answer, but doesn't. Neither does Amanda's mother. Or, for that matter, her father. A Feminine Ending is a gentle, bittersweet comedy about a girl who knows what she wants but not quite how to get it. Her parents are getting divorced, her fiancée is almost famous, her first love reappears, and there's a lot of noise in her head but none of it is music. Until the end. "Ending′ is a promising beginning...the playwright has a sense of humor that brings to mind a budding Wendy Wasserstein and a liberated sense of form that evokes a junior Paula Vogel."-Los Angeles Times "Darkly comic. FEMININE ENDING has undeniable wit." -New York Post. "Appealingly outlandish humor." -The New York Times. "Courageous. The 90-minute piece swerves with nerve and naivete. Sarah Treem has a voice all her own." -Newsday.

Anna in the Tropics


Nilo Cruz - 2003
    . . there are many kinds of light.The light of fires. The light of stars.The light that reflects off rivers.Light that penetrates through cracks.Then there’s the type of light that reflects off the skin.—Nilo Cruz, Anna in the TropicsThis lush romantic drama depicts a family of cigar makers whose loves and lives are played out against the backdrop of Depression-era America. Set in Ybor City (Tampa) in 1930, Cruz imagines the catalytic effect the arrival of a new "lector" (who reads Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina to the workers as they toil in the cigar factory) has on a Cuban-American family. Cruz celebrates the search for identity in a new land.Reviews: "The words of Nilo Cruz waft from the stage like a scented breeze. They sparkle and prickle and swirl, enveloping those who listen in both specific place and time . . . and in timeless passions that touch us all. In Anna in the Tropics, Cruz claims his place as a storyteller of intricate craftsmanship and poetic power."—Miami Herald“Deeply engrossing.” –Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle“Earnestly poetic…Mr. Cruz has created a work as wistful and affectingly ambitious as its characters. Anna in the Tropics reaches for the artistic heavens -- specifically, that corner of eternity occupied by the plays of Anton Chekhov, where yearning is an existential condition.” –Ben Brantley, New York TimesNilo Cruz is a young Cuban-American playwright whose work has been produced widely around the United States, including the Public Theater (New York, NY), South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA), Magic Theatre (San Francisco, CA), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, McCarter Theater (Princeton, NJ) and New Theatre (Coral Gables, FL). His other plays include Night Train to Bolina, Two Sisters and a Piano, Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams, and Anna in the Tropics (Winner of 2003 Pulitzer Prize). Mr. Cruz teaches playwriting at Yale University and lives in New York City.

The Highlander's Braw Lass (Romance in the Highlands Book 1)


Fiona Grant - 2017
    Mairi makes no secret of the fact that she would rather be out taking down a wild pig with her childhood friend Iain, the fletcher’s son, than plying a needle with the women. Her mother despairs of her, and never stops comparing her to her beautiful and successfully married sister Una. Her father, tired of her rejection of one suitable match after another, finally presents her with an ultimatum: Marry Alastair Maclean or spend the rest of her life in the priory. Mairi knows that she would never survive in a priory, locked away from her beloved outdoor pursuits. But nor can she endure the thought of a loveless marriage to Alastair, who has never stopped mourning the loss of his adored first wife Madeline in childbed. Left without choices, Mairi becomes Alastair’s wife. Life is every bit as bad as she feared. Alastair’s sister Rhona clearly does not want to see her brother married to the Chisholm wildcat, and Alastair himself is as cold as the frigid wind that blows across the Highlands. Mairi resolves to resign herself to the demands of the marriage bed, and devote her life to raising bairns with the love she was never shown. But one day, she finds herself in more danger than she has ever known… and everything changes.