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Eight


Ella Hickson - 2009
    From high-class hookers to 7/7 survivors these monologues paint a revelatory picture of Britain as it is today. After rave reviews at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival and in New York, "Eight" opened in London's West End in July 2009.

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman


Peter L. Hays - 2008
    It has received worldwide productions, whether as a study of parent-child relationships, as in its landmark 1976 production directed by Miller in Beijing, or as a critique of Western capitalism and has been filmed once for television and twice for movies.

Anatomy of Gray


Jim Leonard - 2006
    At first, the new doctor cures anything

The Son


Florian Zeller - 2018
    Believe me. I don't know what's happened, but something has. He's changed. He . . . And I'm wondering if . . . To be absolutely honest with you . . . I'm even wondering if . . . Nicolas, just two years ago a smiling boy, is going through a difficult phase after his parents' divorce. He's listless, skipping classes, lying. He believes moving in with his father and his new family may help. And a different school, a fresh start. When he doesn't feel comfortable there, when he senses he isn't wanted, he decides that going back to his mother's may be the answer. But at some point, options are going to dry up. And then what?I'm telling you. I don't understand what's happening to me. Florian Zeller's The Son forms the final part in a trilogy with The Mother and The Father, all of which are translated by Christopher Hampton. The Son premieres at the Kiln Theatre, London, in February 2019.

Early Works: Actos / Bernabe / Pensamiento Serpentino


Luis Valdez - 1990
    EARLY WORKS: ACTOS, BERNABE AND PENSAMIENTO SERPENTINE is three books in one: 1) a collection of one act plays by Valdez and the famous farmworker theater, El Teatro Campesino, 2) one of the first fully realized, full-length plays by Valdez alone, and 3) an original narrative poem by Luis Valdez. In the first part are collected the original, improvised works of El Teatro Campesino that deal with the exploitation of Mexican farm labor in the California fields, the discrimination found by Mexicans in the schools, and Mexicans being turned into cannon fodder by the U.S. Army in Vietnam. Bernabe is a touching, Lorcaesque poetic drama about a town fool's enchantment and ultimate unity with the earth. Pensamiento serpentino is a long, philosophical poem, based on Mayan thought and cosmology, which analyzes the cultural, religious and political circumstances of Mexican Americans and prepares a metaphysical framework for their future.

The Yellow Boat


David Saar - 1997
    They sailed far out to sea. The blue one returned to the harbor. The red one sailed home too. But the yellow boat sailed up to the sun." Benjamin always concluded his bedtime ritual by saying, "Mom, you can be the red boat or the blue boat, but I am the yellow boat." This remarkable voyage of Benjamin was extensively developed and widely produced in America for several years, always to ovations. Cast of 4 men and 3 women.THE YELLOW BOAT is based on the true story of David and Sonja Saar's son, Benjamin, who was born with congenital hemophilia, and died in 1987 at the age of 8 of AIDS related complications. A uniquely gifted visual artist, Benjamin's buoyant imagination transformed his physical and emotional pain into a blaze of colors and shapes in his fanciful drawings and paintings. The story of THE YELLOW BOAT Is a glorious affirmation of a child's life, and the strength and courage of all children. Recommended for children of age 8 and older, parents, families and adults.

I Am a Camera


John Van Druten - 1952
    For the most part, it concerns itself with the mercurial and irresponsible moods of a girl called Sally Bowles. When we first meet her, she is a creature of extravagant attitudes, given to parading her vices, enormously confident that she is going to take life in her stride. She is fond of describing herself as an 'extraordinary interesting person,' and she is vaguely disturbing. As we get to know her, as we watch her make frightened arrangements for an illegal operation, seize at the tinseled escape offered by a rich and worthless American playboy, attempt to rehabilitate herself and fail ludicrously, we are more and more moved, more and more caught up in the complete and almost unbearable reality of this girl. [The author has] placed a character named Mr. Isherwood on the stage He serves both as narrator and as principal confidant to Sally Bowles. He is the camera eye of the title, attracted to Sally, yet dispassionate about her." Though Sally is the chief point of interest, the plight of the Jew in Germany in the early '30s is brought within focus in a few touching scenes.

Splendor in the Grass


William Inge - 1961
    But both Bud and Deanie are disturbed by the powerful feelings that have grown between them, and which are turned into torture by the restraints of proper conduct. Mindful of the bad example of his own debauched sister, Bud wants to marry Deanie immediately and go to agricultural school a hope that is destroyed by his father's ambitions to put Bud through Yale and into the family oil business. Bud and Deanie promise to wait, and Bud decides that it is better for them to see less of each other in the meantime, a turn of events that plunges the unstable Deanie into an emotional crack-up and then commitment to an institution. By the time she is released their world has turned over. The stock market crash has destroyed the Stamper empire and led to suicide for Bud's father; Bud has left Yale and married a young waitress from New Haven; and Deanie has become engaged to a young man she met in the hospital. The time has come for both to start life anew, but to do this means to come to terms with the past, and this Bud and Deanie do in a final, touching scene where old ties are gently broken and each gains the sureness and strength to move on from disturbing memories to better hopes for what lies ahead.

The Country Wife and Other Plays


William Wycherley - 1971
    This edition includes Love in a Wood, The Gentleman Dancing-Master, The Country Wife, and The Plain Dealer. The texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is a scholarly introduction, a note on staging, and detailed annotation.

Oh What a Lovely War


Joan Littlewood - 1967
    It was ground-breaking, not only for its blatant denounciation of the incompetence of political leaders during World War I, but also for its unusual theatrical style and development. Created organically through a process of improvisation which was then scripted, Oh What A Lovely War is a colorful and innovative exercise in ensemble theatre and acting.It recalls the horrors of World War I through the humor and frivolity of a seaside pier show, mixing famous British war songs (often with alternative words) with gags and dances, and sets hilarious clowning against shocking factual documentation of the war's casualties. An exhilarating ensemble piece, Joan Littlewood's theatrical creation is a lesson in Brechtian theatre, in its self-conscious theatricality, and uses humor to present human tragedy.It received the acclaim of London audiences and critics. It won the Grand Prix of the Théâtre des Nations festival in Paris that year and has gone on to become a classic of the modern theatre. In 1969 a film version was made which extended the play's popular success. This new version of the play, as edited by Joan Littlewood, returns the script to its original version.Includes a new photo section of the original production, and an Afterword by Victor Spinetti.

Evam Indrajit: Three-act Play


Badal Sircar - 1975
    

The Living Room


Graham Greene - 1954
    Graham Greene's first play (1953), dealing with sin and salvation, illustrates Shaw's line, "You can't make a man a Christian unless you first make him believe he is a sinner."

Master Class


Terrence McNally - 1995
    Inspired by a series of master classes the great diva conducted at Juilliard toward the end of her career, this drama puts Maria Callas at center stage again as she coaxes, prods, and inspires students—"victims" as she calls them—into giving the performances of their lives while revealing her own. As she slips off into memories, we experience her days at La Scala, her marriage to Meneghini, and her great doomed love for Aristotle Onassis. But the dazzling theatricality comes from Callas's emotional explosions, her cutting wit, and the soaring music as each student sings an aria that exposes the Divina's vulnerabilities ... and her genius.

Italian American Reconciliation


John Patrick Shanley - 1998
    He enlists the aid of his lifelong buddy, Aldo Scalicki, a confirmed bachelor who tries, without apparent success, to convince Huey that he would be better off sticking with his new lady friend, Teresa, a usually placid young waitress whose indignation flares when she learns what Huey is up to. In a moonlit balcony scene (hilariously reminiscent of Cyrano de Bergerac) Aldo pleads his lovesick friend's case and, to his astonishment, Janice capitulates although not for long. However we do learn that her earlier abuse of Huey was intended to make him "act like a man" which, at last, he does. And, more than that, he (and the audience) become aware that, in the final essence, "the greatest and only success is to be able to love" a truth which emerges delightfully from the heartwarming, wonderfully antic and always imaginatively conceived action of the play.

Jasper Jones


Kate Mulvany - 2016
    Overseas, war is raging in Vietnam, Civil Rights marches are on the streets, and women’s liberation is stirring – but at home in Corrigan Charlie Bucktin dreams of writing the Great Australian Novel. Charlie’s 14 and smart. But when 16-year-old, constantly-in-trouble Jasper Jones appears at his window one night, Charlie’s out of his depth. Jasper has stumbled upon a terrible crime in the scrub nearby, and he knows he’s the first suspect – that goes with the colour of his skin. He needs every ounce of Charlie’s bookish brain to help solve this awful mystery before the town turns on Jasper. Kate Mulvany’s adaptation of Craig Silvey’s award-winning novel is wise and beautiful. A coming-of-age story, Jasper Jones interweaves the lives of complex individuals all struggling to find happiness among the buried secrets of a small rural community.Whether you know the book or not, this piercing adaptation is very much worth seeing for the way it depicts – and shows ways across – some of the deep and enduring divides in our society." - Jason Blake SMH