Formerly part of the World Dramatists series of play collections by classic and modern playwrights, including foreign works in workable and accurate translations, this title and seven others are reissued in a new format under the heading, World Classics.

    "What Lenny Bruce was to the 1950s, Bob Dylan to the 1960s, Woody Allen to the 1970s--that's what Eric Bogosian is to this frightening moment of drift in our history."--Frank Rich, The New York Times

    Although most of the currently popular guides contain useful ideas, they all suffer from the same problems: poor organization; quirky, idiosyncratic advice; and abstract theorizing on the nature of art. As a result, they fail to offer any concrete information or useful guidelines on how to construct a well-written play. Out of frustration, Spencer wrote his own. The result, The Playwright's Guidebook, is a concise and engaging handbook full of the kind of wisdom that comes naturally with experience. Spencer presents a coherent way of thinking about playwriting that addresses the important principles of structure, includes invaluable writing exercises that build upon one another, explores the creative process, and troubleshoots recurrent problems that many playwrights face.

    Growing up in the streets of North Memphis, they've all vowed to make something of themselves. Bianca can't seem to shake her ex, Tay. After all the games he has played in the past, she has finally had enough. Tay, on the other hand, refuses to let go. A familiar hood superstar by the name of Q comes along and effortlessly steals her attention. However, she can't help but wonder if he will be the real thing. Afraid that this Q is just another Tay, Bianca tries to escape his grasp. But, is it too late? Tee has been through more than the average person could even imagine. With a heroin addicted mother and a molester for a father, she was destined for failure. However, with the help of Bianca and Kara she came out of her situation on top. No one knows what she does in her spare time except the two people who accompanies her on every mission. With time, though, everything will be revealed. And one mission will hit too close to home. Kara, the life of the party, has had her own share of loss and grief. But things really become interesting when a random trip to the gas station lands her in the arms of a rich and powerful drug dealer. Jamison, the best friend of Q, sweeps Kara off of her feet. Being broken for so long, she finally feels complete—until one perfect night turns deadly… When jealousy is taken to the extreme and lives hang in the balance, who will be left to settle scores?

    

    Includes: Accident Waiting to Happen * Bride's Lament * Cold Feets * I Am Aldolpho * I Remember Love * Show Off * Toledo Surprise * and more.

    In a critical preface, Bentley finds all four works to be a Gogolian treatment of love - or the lack of love - and by the same token, thoroughly original works of dramatic art. Also includes a piece on Gamblers by the eminent Polish critic Jan Kott.

    Williams- Al Young

    Jody is in his forties and runs a map store. Not one for the outside world, he stays in his store all the time. His friend, Carl is in his late thirties and has been bringing chairs of dead friends into Jody's store and leaving them there. When Jody needs to take an AIDS test, Carl tries to convince him it is not only okay to leave the store, but also that he must take responsibility for his life. If he doesn't, he will join the set of chairs that Carl has taken great pains to place in the right spots around the store. Jody finally leaves the map store to take his HIV test and return to find Carl sitting in a chair of his own. With this gesture, we know that Carl has joined the many of their friends who have died, but now Jody must take Carl's place as the caretaker.

    Only two characters appear on stage; Hughie, the third and most important one, is dead. It is Hughie's innocence, gullibility, and need to believe in a far more exciting existence than he ever knew which gives some kind of purpose to the shabby lives of the two who remain. O'Neill here again writes of the defeated and the courage that comes by way of illusions reflecting still other illusions in a world that needs them all.Hughie, the only surviving manuscript from a series of eight one-act monologue plays that O'Neill planned in 1940, was completed in 1941.

    “Silver Rights is pure gold!” (Julian Bond). Introduction by Marian Wright Edelman.

     Honesty, Loyalty, Reality and Killian were raised by Khalil, a single father that hustled with a ‘get it by any means necessary attitude’ over the years to make sure that they had everything that their hearts desired. After sending them to the best colleges, the streets of the Westside of Atlanta called them and they answered. Honesty and Killian have hooked up with a family friend Gorgeous and now they have money coming in hand over fist. Loyalty and Reality are blessed with men that spoil them. But all the money in the world cannot stop the green eye of jealousy that has reared its ugly head or the ghosts from the past that are coming back to haunt their father Khalil. The person least expected is plotting on the family and everyone they are connected to and turning their world upside down. Trained to go and always prepared for the double cross, there was nothing that could ever ready Khalil for the triple cross that was going on right under his nose. With one foot in the streets and one foot out, he finds out ‘What da Lick Reads?’ as he searches for who is terrorizing everyone around him.

    Book by McLure, James

    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.

    Six cities. A thousand stories.Newsroom, political platform, local hot spot, confession box, preacher-pulpit and football stadium. For generations, African men have gathered in barber shops to discuss the world.