Book picks similar to
The Falling Sickness: A Book of Plays by Russell Edson


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Torch Song Trilogy


Harvey Fierstein - 1978
    The four hour-plus play begins with a soliloquy in which he explains his cynical disillusionment with love.Each act focuses on a different phase in Arnold's life. In the first, Arnold meets Ed, who is uncomfortable with his bisexuality. In the second, one year later, Arnold meets Alan, and the two settle down into a blissful existence that includes plans to adopt a child, until tragedy strikes. In the third, several years later, Arnold is a single father raising gay teenager David. Arnold is forced to deal with his mother's intolerance and disrespect when she visits from Florida.

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.

Around the World in 80 men


Brandi Ratliff - 2013
    Her clients are gorgeous, wealthy and they know how to please a woman. This contains hot, super hot, boiling lava hot, scenes! Here's what's not going to happen: They gazed at each other longingly, desire filling them to the core. She blushed and offered her hand to his. With her head hung low, the two retreated to the bedroom for some adult time. Here's what will happen: Oh, just kidding, I can't write that here! What are you waiting for??? Click the button and follow Morgan as she goes around the world in 80 men.287,000+ word count.

Indecent


Paula Vogel - 2017
    Performing at first in Yiddish and German, the play’s subject matter wasn’t deemed contentious until it was produced in English, when the American audiences were scandalized by the onstage depiction of an amorous affair between two women. Paula Vogel’s newest work traces the trajectory of the show’s success through its tour in Europe to its abrupt and explosive demise on Broadway in 1923—including the arrest of the entire production’s cast and crew.Paula Vogel's play How I Learned to Drive received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Lortel Prize, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Critics Awards for Best Play, as well as earning Vogel her second Obie. Other plays include The Baltimore Waltz, Desdemona, And Baby Makes Seven, The Long Christmas Ride Home, A Civil War Christmas, and Don Juan Comes Home from Iraq. She has also had a distinguished career as a teacher and mentor to younger playwrights, first at Brown University and currently at the Yale School of Drama.Based on real events, a provocative new drama from a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright about one of Broadway’s greatest controversies

Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight: A Comedy in Three Beds


Peter Ackerman - 2000
    Ever been racially slurred in the sack? Ever been subjected to strangers yelling at you at 3am about the most intimate details of your life? Ever been to New York? Six characters from wildly different backgrounds make love, war and hysteria late one night in the cultural, sexual and generational smorgasbord that is Manhattan.

The Fever


Wallace Shawn - 1990
    While visiting a poverty-stricken country far from home, the unnamed narrator of The Fever is forced to witness the political persecution occurring just beyond a hotel window. In examining a life of comfort and relative privilege, the narrator reveals, “I always say to my friends, We should be glad to be alive. We should celebrate life. We should understand that life is wonderful.” But how does one celebrate life—take pleasure in beauty, for instance—while slowly becoming aware that the poverty and oppression of other human beings are a direct consequence of one’s own pleasurable life? In a coruscating monologue, The Fever is most of all an eloquent meditation on whether it is possible to live in an ethical relationship with others in the world.

Deaf Republic


Ilya Kaminsky - 2019
    When soldiers breaking up a protest kill a deaf boy, Petya, the gunshot becomes the last thing the citizens hear--they all have gone deaf, and their dissent becomes coordinated by sign language. The story follows the private lives of townspeople encircled by public violence: a newly married couple, Alfonso and Sonya, expecting a child; the brash Momma Galya, instigating the insurgency from her puppet theater; and Galya's girls, heroically teaching signing by day and by night luring soldiers one by one to their deaths behind the curtain. At once a love story, an elegy, and an urgent plea, Ilya Kaminsky's long-awaited Deaf Republic confronts our time's vicious atrocities and our collective silence in the face of them.Finalist for the T. S. Eliot PrizeFinalist for the Forward Prize for Best Collection

'night, Mother


Marsha Norman - 1983
    By one of America's most talented playwrights, this play won the Dramatists Guild's prestigious Hull-Warriner Award, four Tony nominations, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize in 1983. 'night, Mother had its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in December 1982. It opened on Broadway in March 1983, directed by Tom Moore and starring Anne Pitoniak and Kathy Bates; a film, starring Anne Bancroft and Sissy Spacek, was released in 1986.

Harvey


Mary Chase - 1944
    Dowd starts to introduce his imaginary friend Harvey, a six and a half foot rabbit, to guests at a dinner party, his sister, Veta, has seen as much of his eccentric behavior as she can tolerate. She decides to have him committed to a sanitarium to spare her daughter, Myrtle Mae, and their family, from future embarrassment. Problems arise, however, when Veta herself is mistakenly assumed to be on the fringe of lunacy when she explains to doctors that years of living with Elwood's hallucination have caused her to see Harvey also! The doctors commit Veta instead of Elwood, but when the truth comes out, the search is on for Elwood and his invisible companion. When he shows up at the sanitarium looking for his lost friend Harvey it seems that the mild-mannered Elwood's delusion has had a strange influence on more than one of the doctors. Only at the end does Veta realize that maybe Harvey isn't so bad after all.

The Rise of Nazil: Complete Epic Fantasy Trilogy: Gritty Epic Fantasy


Aaron-Michael Hall - 2019
    A war not for land, wealth, or power, but for the fate of the mortal world which hung tethered to a brittle filament, separating the Nether from the mortal. As the gods continued to weaken, the demons began their rise.What began with Mah’saahc’s awakening in Seed of Scorn, crept across Faélondul, devouring and possessing the souls of men, incessantly seeking the Blood of Oisin needed to breach the threshold between realms.The sacrifices and bonds that once held the Benoists’ together could be the catalyst which tears them apart. The darkness is coming, and once the sides are chosen, neither can win...without dying.If you love the intrigue and treachery of George R.R. Martin, the epic battles and characterization of R.A. Salvatore, and the exceptional world-building, politics, and magical systems of Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, The Rise of Nazil trilogy will captivate you from start to finish.Step away from the ordinary and immerse yourself in a unique and enthralling diverse epic fantasy. Faélondul Awaits “The Rise of Nazil is an epic fantasy that should be shelved next to the works of R.A. Salvatore and J. R. R. Tolkien. This book was the best read of 2015.” -Mudville Dames“The Rise of Nazil is a complex work, with the violence, intricate treacheries, and modern sensibilities of The Game of Thrones.” -Amazon“This is the best epic fantasy trilogy I’ve read in over a decade. The plot twists, deep characters, amazing prose, superb dialogue, and worldbuilding are mere elements in the vast tapestry Hall creates. This trilogy defies categorization.”  -Amazon“This is a complex plot at its best. The character development is perfect.” -Readers’ Favorite Books by Aaron-Michael Hall Gritty Epic Fantasy: The Rise of Nazil I Seed of Scorn II Piercing the Darkness III Science Fantasy: Rites of Heirdron I Orbs of Trenihgea II Epic Fantasy: Kurintor Nyusi Tamesa Coming Soon Shadokyn: Blood of Oisin I Keepers of Nine

The Clematis Tree


Ann Widdecombe - 2000
    He is an accountant, she the daughter of a successful businessman. They live in a comfortable middle-class village in Surrey. Then, during a party for their daughter Pippa's baptism, their son Jeremy is knocked down on the road outside. It is their worst nightmare, something they thought could never happen, and the consequences will affect each one of them more than they could possibly imagine. What is Claire's guilty secret, and can her wealthy, self-made father help? Will Mark, desperate to escape, have the nerve to leave? And how will Pippa be affected by the turmoil that began on the day of her own christening?'A compelling story about the way a family copes with a catastrophe' THE TIMES'A delight, a very polished read' CATHOLIC HERALD'An accomplished first novel' TATLER'Humane, thoughtful' HARPERS AND QUEENS

Edgar Allan Poe (Complete Poems and Tales, Over 150 Works, including The Raven, Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat Book 8)


Edgar Allan Poe - 2013
    Even more than a century on, Poe dwells in the dark corner of our literary consciousness. Reading Edgar Allan Poe’s works still feels like walking a razor’s edge between grim amusement and irrevocable madness. Introducing “Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Poems and Tales” Our aim was to prepare a perfectly-formatted collection of Edgar Allan Poe's books that was designed specifically for your e-reader device at a fantastic price. We are pleased to offer you the result of our work! This tremendous "Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Works and Tales" series comes with the following great features: • The complete original text of over 150 works by Edgar Allan Poe, including short stories and poems;• Free audiobook access to full-length recordings of Edgar Allan Poe's works;• A beautifully illustrated version of Poe's most famous work - "The Raven";• Clean formatting designed to fit any screen size;• An easy-to-use active table of contents;• BONUS - Poe's Influence - Film and Television Adaptations, Poe in Music, Literature and Comics!• BONUS - Most Famous Quotes from Edgar Allan Poe! All works by Edgar Allan Poe are included in this wonderful collection. The most famous are: Short Stories: ”The Black Cat”, "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Masque of the Red Death", "The Premature Burial", "The Purloined Letter", “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”, “Hop-Frog” and many more! Poems: "The Raven", "Annabel Lee", "The Bells", "The City in the Sea", "A Dream Within a Dream", "To Helen", "Lenore", "Ulalume" and many more! Novels: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket—Poe's only complete novelCollected Essays The readers are raving about „Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Poems and Tales”: “Finding this incredible compendium, leaves me in total disbelief. I am thrilled. Yes, this is indeed Edgar Allan Poe: Ultimate Collection, incredibly well presented, well formatted and incredibly easy to use. What a gift to Edgar Allan Poe devotees. Highly Recommended!”“The book covers everything from his influence: film and tv adaptations, to his music, comics, and more. Beautifully written. Whether you are a Poe fan, or simply looking for a comprehensive resource - you will find everything you are looking for here - and maybe even a few surprises.”“From the beautiful and classical looking cover to the well-woven story of his life into the book, the quality of this work is top notch and SO easy to navigate&l

Joe and Me: An Education in Fishing and Friendship


James Prosek - 1997
    But instead of taking off with his fishing buddy, James put down his rod and surrendered. It was a move that would change his life forever. Expecting a small fine and a lecture, James instead received enough knowledge about fishing and the great outdoors to last a lifetime.The story of an unlikely friendship, Joe and Me is a book for those who remember the mentor in their life, the one who changed the way they look at the world.

For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio


W.H. Auden - 1945
    W. H. Auden had recently moved to America, fallen in love with a young man to whom he considered himself married, rethought his entire poetic and intellectual equipment, and reclaimed the Christian faith of his childhood. Then, in short order, his relationship fell apart and his mother, to whom he was very close, died. In the midst of this period of personal crisis and intellectual remaking, he decided to write a poem about Christmas and to have it set to music by his friend Benjamin Britten. Applying for a Guggenheim grant, Auden explained that he understood the difficulty of writing something vivid and distinctive about that most clich�d of subjects, but welcomed the challenge. In the end, the poem proved too long and complex to be set by Britten, but in it we have a remarkably ambitious and poetically rich attempt to see Christmas in double focus: as a moment in the history of the Roman Empire and of Judaism, and as an ever-new and always contemporary event for the believer. For the Time Being is Auden's only explicitly religious long poem, a technical tour de force, and a revelatory window into the poet's personal and intellectual development. This edition provides the most accurate text of the poem, a detailed introduction by Alan Jacobs that explains its themes and sets the poem in its proper contexts, and thorough annotations of its references and allusions.

Without You


Anthony Rapp - 2006
     Anthony had a special feeling about Jonathan Larson's rock musical from his first audition, so he was thrilled when he landed a starring role as the filmmaker Mark Cohen. With his mom's cancer in remission and a reason to quit his newly acquired job at Starbucks, his life was looking up. When Rent opened to thunderous acclaim off Broadway, Rapp and his fellow cast members knew that something truly extraordinary had taken shape. But even as friends and family were celebrating the show's success, they were also mourning Jonathan Larson's sudden death from an aortic aneurysm. By the time Rent made its triumphant jump to Broadway, Larson had posthumously won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize. When Anthony's mom began to lose her battle with cancer, he struggled to balance the demands of life in the theatre with his responsibility to his family. Here, Anthony recounts the show's magnificent success and his overwhelming loss. He also shares his first experiences discovering his sexuality, the tension it created with his mother, and his struggle into adulthood to gain her acceptance. Variously marked by fledgling love and devastating loss, piercing frustration and powerful enlightenment, Without You charts the course of Rapp's exhilarating journey with the cast and crew of Rent as well as the intimacies of his personal life behind the curtain.