Book picks similar to
The Labor of Life: Selected Plays by Hanoch Levin


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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.

The Odyssey


Derek Walcott - 1993
    Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea, the giant Cyclops, Circe and her revellers, ghosts, and mermaids are among the cast. With its vast sweep and richly figurative language, The Odyssey confirms that Derek Walcott is as compelling a playwright as he is a poet.

Betty's Summer Vacation - Acting Edition


Christopher Durang - 2000
    But Betty's luck turns to delicious lunacy when this sensible Everywoman gets drawn into the chaotic world of some very unsavory housemates - her friend Trudy, who talks too much; the lewd, seminaked Buck, who tries to have sex with everyone; and Keith, a serial killer who hides in his room with a mysterious hatbox. With sand between her toes, walking a thin line between sanity and survival, poor Betty will leave her summer vacation more terrorized than tan.

Fish in the Dark: A Play


Larry David - 2015
    This sidesplitting play, a testimony to David’s great writing talent, is also his first time on Broadway—in fact, his first time acting on stage since eighth grade. In Fish in the Dark Larry David stars as Norman Drexel, a man in his fifties who is average in most respects except for his hyperactive libido. As Norman and his family try to navigate the death of a loved one, old acquaintances and unsettled arguments resurface with hilarious consequences.Fish in the Dark has its world premiere at the Cort Theatre on Broadway on March 5, 2015, starring Larry David.

Kiss of the Spider Woman and Two Other Plays


Manuel Puig - 1994
    This is convincing proof that Manual Puig was one of our most talented writers - no matter what the medium. Puig is the author of seven novels, translated into fourteen languages.

The Long Night Box Set: The Complete The Long Night Series - Books 1-6


Kevin Partner - 2019
     Modern technology designed to heal has been sabotaged, leaving hundreds of millions dead. For the survivors, each day brings new horrors as the world descends into madness, all while powerful forces seek to take advantage of the turmoil. One man will stand apart in the chaos, seeking to reunite with his family as he becomes embroiled in a desperate attempt to save those few who survived The Long Night. From #1 best-selling post-apocalyptic author Mike Kraus comes a brand new, never before seen take on the end of the world, ripped straight from the headlines. When the leader of the largest healthcare company in the world drops dead on national television, over ninety percent of the civilized world follow in his wake. Health tracking implants called BonesWare were supposed to predict disease, prolong life and lead to a healthier, more robust society. Until they didn't. Now, for the few who remain alive, the question of their continued survival rests on the shoulders of one unlikely man. Solly Masters is having a rough night. He lost his job, his marriage is on the rocks and his wife and son are halfway across the United States on the eve of the holiday season. After witnessing The Long Night, when nearly every living soul around him drops dead at the same moment, his fleeting troubles suddenly become unimportant and one goal coalesces in his mind: get to his family, no matter the cost. Raw survival turns into something more when he comes across a man who claims to know what happened - and predicts that the rest of the survivors will soon follow in the footsteps of those who already died. Thrust into a pit of intrigue, corporate sabotage and greed, Solly must weigh his responsibility to his family with the knowledge that he just might be the key to preventing The Long Night from leading to the extinction of the human race. The Long Night is a collaborative work between Kevin Partner and Mike Kraus. A unique take on the apocalypse and on the post-apocalyptic genre, The Long Night box set is the complete post-apocalyptic series in one convenient box set.

Macbeth: A Dagger of the Mind


Harold Bloom - 2019
    Macbeth is a distinguished warrior hero, who over the course of the play, transforms into a brutal, murderous villain and pays an extraordinary price for committing an evil act. A man consumed with ambition and self-doubt, Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most vital meditations on the dangerous corners of the human imagination. Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom investigates Macbeth’s interiority and unthinkable actions with razor-sharp insight, agility, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character: Just as we encounter one Anna Karenina or Jay Gatsby when we are seventeen and another when we are forty, Bloom writes about his shifting understanding—over the course of his own lifetime—of this endlessly compelling figure, so that the book also becomes an extraordinarily moving argument for literature as a path to and a measure of our humanity. Bloom is mesmerizing in the classroom, wrestling with the often tragic choices Shakespeare’s characters make. He delivers that kind of exhilarating intimacy and clarity in Macbeth, the final book in an essential series.

Freud's Last Session


Mark St. Germain - 2010
    

Rebus: Long Shadows


Ian Rankin - 2018
    And after the daughter of a murder victim turns up outside his flat, he's going to need them at their sharpest.Enlisting the help of his old friend DI Siobhan Clarke, Rebus is determined to solve this cold case once and for all. But Clarke has problems of her own, problems that will put her at odds with her long-time mentor and push him into seeking help from his age-old adversary: 'Big Ger' Cafferty.This haunting story takes Rebus to places he has never been before, sets him and his long-time foe on a collision course and takes us deeper into one of the most satisfying conflicts in modern fiction.Featuring an introduction from Rankin himself, a Q&A between writers Ian and Rona, an interview with the director, and behind-the-scenes production materials, this book is one Rebus fans will not want to miss out on.

Comedians


Trevor Griffiths - 1976
    Telling jokes for money offers an escape from the building site or the milk round. But the humour is a deadly serious business that also involves anger, pain and truth.' Financial Times'Trevor Griffiths has not shown his brilliance as a writer more clearly than in Comedians.' Daily Telegraph

Hell Razor Honeys


Eyone Williams - 2008
    Vida is young, sexy and naive. That is until she grows tired of Samara, the leader of The Come Back Honeys using her body to entertain local hustlers. When Vida refuses to play the whore, Samara reacts and kicks her out of the crew. Alone, Vida stands firm and decides she will not be pushed around even if it means taking a few beat downs. On the sidelines, Tia, also a loaner decides she ll help Vida stand up against Samara even though it s not her battle. Their unity starts the beginning of a new gang they call, The Hell Razor Honeys. Only two girls strong, eventually they meet up with Ice, nicknamed because of her white skin and innocent nature. Her innocence quickly disintegrates once she becomes a member of the infamous crew. Despite a few fights, the Hell Razor Honeys were only known for tucking razors in their mouths and slashing a few faces. That is until they meet Tec. Under his watch, he teaches the girls a new hustle which includes murder, mayhem and larceny. Even though they go harder than most men, one look under their skirts would prove they re all women. But when Vida s grandmother begs her to get out of the streets, she complies vowing to change her life. But how can she when the friends she calls family maintain their hold? Take a journey with Vida, Tia and Ice as the rip through the streets of D.C., cruise through the city of New York and land on the L.A. Hollywood scene on a mission. Hell Razor Honeys reads like a fast paced car chase! This novel is one to die for, one bloody slice at a time!

An Experiment with an Air Pump


Shelagh Stephenson - 1998
    1999 - In a world of scientific chaos, cloning and genetic engineering, the cellar of the same house reveals a dark secret buried for 200 years.

Gasping


Ben Elton - 1990
    A satire on big business, the media and product exploitation. Designer air proves to be the marketing phenomenon of the decade, but as demand outstrips supply, Lockheart Industries plunders the Third World for resources. The world is starting to gasp, and only the biggest suckers survive.Lockheart Industries are making big money - if God wanted to buy into their stock he'd have to think twice and talk to his people. They have a profit curve wound so far round the room that it looks like a "Blue Peter" Christmas appeal. But they want more.

Leaving Home


David French - 1972
    The first part of what has come to be known as the Mercer Series, Leaving Home tells the story of a Newfoundland family that has emigrated and lost all sense of its place in the world.Leaving Home was named one of the "100 Most Influential Canadian Books" by the Literary Review of Canada.

Women's Minyan


Naomi Ragen - 2006
    The community's 'modesty squad' tries in vain to force her to go back, and her friend is physically attacked. The rabbi's wife is punished by being cut off from her children, against her will.