Books

  1. One-Act Plays
    One-Act Plays
  2. Madame Melville
    Madame Melville
  3. Riot: Or This Bloody Crew - A Play Based on the Selbourne and Headley Workhouse Riots of 1830
    Riot: Or This Bloody Crew - A Play Based on the Selbourne and Headley Workhouse Riots of 1830
  4. Let's Go to Bethlehem
    Let's Go to Bethlehem
  5. Full House in Bethlehem: Christmas Drama
    Full House in Bethlehem: Christmas Drama
  6. Merry Wives of Windsor (Arden Shakespeare: Third S.)
    Merry Wives of Windsor (Arden Shakespeare: Third S.)
  7. Making Waves: The Quick Sketch Collection: v. 1
    Making Waves: The Quick Sketch Collection: v. 1
  8. Good News in Bethlehem: A Christmas Play for Churches
    Good News in Bethlehem: A Christmas Play for Churches
  9. Heritage (Faber StageScripts S.)
    Heritage (Faber StageScripts S.)
  10. My Kind of God
    My Kind of God
  11. The Good Church Guide
    The Good Church Guide
  12. The Rose Has Thorns
    The Rose Has Thorns
  13. The Golden Age
    The Golden Age
  14. Celebrating Light: Affirming the Christian Faith Through Drama
    Celebrating Light: Affirming the Christian Faith Through Drama
  15. Time to Speak: Peter and Pilate 30 Years On
    Time to Speak: Peter and Pilate 30 Years On
  16. Flippin' in
    Flippin' in
  17. Love's Labour's Lost (Arden Shakespeare: Third S.)
    Love's Labour's Lost (Arden Shakespeare: Third S.)
  18. Casanova
    Casanova
  19. The Dice House (Faber StageScripts S.)
    The Dice House (Faber StageScripts S.)
  20. The Promise
    The Promise
  21. Calderon and the Baroque Tradition
    Calderon and the Baroque Tradition
  22. A Carpet, a Pony and a Monkey (Faber StageScripts S.)
    A Carpet, a Pony and a Monkey (Faber StageScripts S.)
  23. King Henry VIII: Unabridged (Arkangel S.) [AUDIOBOOK]
    King Henry VIII: Unabridged (Arkangel S.) [AUDIOBOOK]
  24. The Inland Sea (StageScripts)
    The Inland Sea (StageScripts)
  25. Outlying Islands (Faber Plays)
    Outlying Islands (Faber Plays)
24 Favorite One Act Plays
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Really Useful
  • the book was useful in my classess in school.
 24 Favorite One Act Plays

Manufacturer: Main Street Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:
  1. Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays
  2. Five Comic One-Act Plays (Dover Thrift Editions)
  3. One Act Plays for Acting Students: An Anthology of Short One-Act Plays for One, Two or Three Actors
  4. One Act: Eleven Short Plays of the Modern Theater
  5. All in the Timing: Fourteen Plays

ASIN: 0385066171
Release Date: 1963-04-03

Book Description

Two dozen classic dramas by some of the finest and most famous playwrights of the last hundred years--Anton Chekhov, Noel Coward, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller, and A.A. Milne.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Really Useful.......2000-11-02

I've had this book thrust upon me as a student over the past 7 years in middle and high school from Drama, English and Language teachers. It is a really good book- the plays vary from being abstract and bizarre to being thoughtful and introspective. If you're a student looking for a good quick play, a teacher looking for something to get your students to do, if you're just looking for some quick quirky one act plays- this is it.

Totally worth it!

5 out of 5 stars the book was useful in my classess in school........1999-10-18

The book was very cool. In fact it was so kooky that I could not put it down. I was able to use it in all of my eighth grade classess. I am a language arts teacher at Turlock Junior High, and it was extremly easy to find a 'cool' play that related to what we were learning at the time. I have been using this book for about 10 years now, and I have never grown old of it. My class this year has recently used it to put on a few short plays for the rest of the school.
Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • disappointed
  • Take This Collection
  • Some solid pieces
  • Several good plays
  • Great for Students and Teachers
 Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays

Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:
  1. Take Ten II: More Ten-Minute Plays
  2. 24 Favorite One Act Plays
  3. All in the Timing: Fourteen Plays
  4. One Act Plays for Acting Students: An Anthology of Short One-Act Plays for One, Two or Three Actors
  5. Time Flies and Other Short Plays

ASIN: 0679772820
Release Date: 1997-03-25

Book Description

A ten-minute play is a streak of theatrical lightning. It doesn't last long, but its power can stand your hair on end. This splendid anthology contains enough wattage to light up a small city. For in its pages, thirty-two of our finest playwrights hone their skills on a form that has been called the haiku of the American stage. The plays that Nina Shengold and Eric Lane have collected in this volume range from monologues to an eight-character farce. Eminently producible, ideally suited for the classroom and audition, Take Ten is a marvelous resource for teachers and students of drama, as well as a stimulating read for lovers of the theatre. Contributors include: John Augustine, Cathy Celesia, Laura Cunningham, Joe Pintauro, Mary Sue Price, Megan Terry, Jose Rivera, Romulus Linney, David Mamet, Jane Martin, David Ives, and many others.

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars disappointed.......2007-03-13

Unfortunately, I ordered both of the "Ten-Minute Plays" within days. Should have waited to read one first. These plays are not appropriate for all age groups and situations. I was especially interested in finding a few plays for very Senior Citizens in rest homes. Sorry, not one of the plays in either book were appropriate for that audience. Not the books fault just wish better information was available before purchasing. Plays are good for modern audience and younger actors (in my opinion 16+).

5 out of 5 stars Take This Collection.......2006-07-02

If you are only going to own one collection of 10-minute plays, this is the one to own. The choices are well written, show variety, and are infinitely produceable in small spaces.

4 out of 5 stars Some solid pieces.......2006-02-21

Found the compilation to be useful overall. Lot's of varied story tones.

5 out of 5 stars Several good plays.......2005-09-24

I bought this book becuase I am a forensics coach. This book has several wonderful plays that can be used in the forensics competition. There are several possible duets in this piece. I have taken some of them out on the circuit and they have done very well. The plays in this book play to a variety of themes and audiences.
Some have language or character problems that are too mature for high school, but would be good for community theater.

4 out of 5 stars Great for Students and Teachers.......2004-11-15

This collection is a great resource for students who need to direct or just want to do a different 10-minute play. This is really one of the better collections out there. It is also a very diverse collection providing plays and scenes that work well in most situations. Nina Shengold's collections are always high quality and this one does not disappoint. If you are a student or faculty member add this book to your collection, you will be glad you did.
Center Stage: One-Act Plays for Teenage Readers and Actors
Average customer rating: 2 out of 5 stars
  • doesn't sound like any teens I know...
  • The plays try hard to be great but fall short.
 Center Stage: One-Act Plays for Teenage Readers and Actors

Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Similar Items:
  1. 24 Favorite One Act Plays
  2. Two-Character Plays for Student Actors: A Collection of 15 One-Act Plays
  3. Scenes for Young Actors
  4. One Act Plays for Acting Students: An Anthology of Short One-Act Plays for One, Two or Three Actors
  5. Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays

ASIN: 0064470784

Book Description

The house lights dim. The curtain begins to rise...

...on ten original one-act plays by some of today's best writers of young adult fiction; Some of the plays are funny, some serious; all offer special insights into the problems and triumphs of teenagers;


* In Alden R. Carter's Driver's Test, a boy sets a new record by flunking his driver's test even before leaving the lot;

* In Walter Dean Myers's Cages, a group of teenagers is suddenly given the chance to decide their own destinies.

* In Robin F. Brancato's War of the Words, two gangs slug it out, one group with lofty poetry, the other with slang--and the reader, actors, and audience get to supply the ending;

So settle back in your seat, and let the words of Quida Sebestyen, Lensey Namioka, Susan Beth Pfeffer, and others move and entertain you, as the lights come up on Center Stage"A fine idea generates exceptional results in this collection of ten plays . . . [that] focus on teens' courage, convictions, resourcefulness, and compassion.Among the contributors are Alden Carter, Ouida Sebestyen, Walter Dean Myers and Robin Brancato.The plays will appeal to students [and] teachers can use them in numerous ways." —SLJ.

1991 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars doesn't sound like any teens I know..........2001-02-03

The plays in this collection attempt to tackle issues important to teens and end up sounding like badly written tv screenplays where everything is "deep" but resolved way too quickly. The dialogue is unrealistic and the characters shallow. I can't see handing any of these scripts out to high school students, expecting them to take the plays seriously.

2 out of 5 stars The plays try hard to be great but fall short........1998-11-12

The moral behind most of these plays is really a great attempt to teach a valuable lesson. However, these short plays offer no true insight into the world of on stage plays. Many readers will find the plays short and direct. These plays offer very little suspense and are a bore to read. Save time and money; buy Shakespeare.
Take Ten II: More Ten-Minute Plays
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • disappointed
  • A superb gathering of "miniature worlds"
  • TERRIFIC!!
 Take Ten II: More Ten-Minute Plays
Nina Shengold
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:
  1. Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays
  2. 24 Favorite One Act Plays
  3. One Act Plays for Acting Students: An Anthology of Short One-Act Plays for One, Two or Three Actors
  4. 30 Ten-Minute Plays from the Actors Theatre of Louisville for 2 Actors
  5. All in the Timing: Fourteen Plays

ASIN: 1400032172
Release Date: 2003-11-11

Book Description

A ten-minute play is a blaze of theatrical energy. In this follow-up to their groundbreaking collection Take Ten, editors Eric Lane and Nina Shengold have put together a veritable bonfire of talent. Take Ten II: More 10-Minute Plays provides a fast-track tour of the current theatrical landscape, from the slapstick ingenuity of David Ives’ Arabian Nights to the searing tension of Diana Son’s 9/11 drama The Moon, Please, to Susan Miller’s luminous fable The Grand Design. This remarkably diverse anthology includes thirty-five short plays by such major American playwrights as Christopher Durang, Warren Leight, Romulus Linney and Donald Margulies, alongside a host of exciting new voices.

Actors, directors, producers and teachers will find Take Ten II an invaluable source of meaty roles for people of every age, ethnicity and gender; lovers of theatre will find it a richly satisfying read. These deceptively short plays throb with life in all its variety: harrowing, hilarious, and breathtakingly vital.

Customer Reviews:

1 out of 5 stars disappointed.......2007-03-13

Unfortunately, I ordered both of the "Ten-Minute Plays" within days. Should have waited to read one first. These plays are not appropriate for all age groups and situations. I was especially interested in finding a few plays for very Senior Citizens in rest homes. Sorry, not one of the plays in either book were appropriate for that audience. Not the books fault just wish better information was available before purchasing. Plays are good for modern audience and younger actors (in my opinion 16+).

5 out of 5 stars A superb gathering of "miniature worlds".......2005-11-23

"Take Ten II: More Ten-Minute Plays," edited by Eric Lane and Nina Shengold, is a follow-up to the co-editors' earlier anthology of very short plays. In addition to the thirty-five plays, the book contains an introduction by the co-editors, some biographical notes on the contributing playwrights, and an index breaking the included plays down into six categories, from one-character play to six or more characters. Interestingly, the most represented category in the book is the two-character play, with fifteen selections.

Lane and Shengold have not just assembled an anthology; they are on a mission to champion the ten-minute play as a distinctive and vital genre with its own rich history. In their introduction, they note that it's been "just over twenty-five years since the Actors Theatre of Louisville announced its first Ten-Minute Play Contest," and in their acknowledgements section they note further, "The number of theatres around the country producing annual ten-minute play festivals continues to grow." A simple Internet search revealed to me how accurate the co-editors are in their assessment of the strength of this genre.

Lane and Shengold promise "a crash course in the depth and diversity of the American theatre" in this anthology, and they more than fulfill this bold claim. Some of the most striking selections are as follows: "Antigone's Red," by Chiori Miyagawa, looks at the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. "Classyass," by Caleen Sinnette Jennings, is a comedy set at a college radio station. "The Cure," by Romulus Linney, is a one-character monologue told by a mountain midwife.

Also worthy of note: "Daniel on a Thursday," by Garth Wingfield, is a two-character encounter set in a gay bar. I really enjoyed Nina Shengold's "Emotional Baggage," a clever comedy in which actors play pieces of unclaimed baggage at an airport. "It's Not You," by Craig Pospisil," is an unsettling satire about friendship and choices set in a New York City subway car. Dael Orlandersmith's "My Red Hand, My Black Hand" is an exploration of biracial Black/American Indian identity that has dialogue written as poetry. Rich Orloff's "Playwriting 101: The Rooftop Lesson" is a deliciously absurdist piece about the art of writing a play. "The Sniper," by Anthony David and Elaine Romero, is a gripping drama about the relationship between an Israeli military sniper and a Moroccan journalist.

I found this superb anthology hard to put down. Lane and Shengold note that the best examples of the ten-minute play genre function as "miniature worlds." In this collection they have assembled a truly diverse and rewarding group of these little worlds. This book is a perfect companion for the original "Take Ten"; I recommend both anthologies enthusiastically.

5 out of 5 stars TERRIFIC!!.......2004-12-17

What a terrific collection! I loved the editors' book UNDER 30, and this one is also great. It's filled with 10-minute plays which are fun to perform in class or on an evening of short plays. Our small theater company produced 7 of them in an evening of one-acts and it was a total hit. And what's best is they cover such a wide range of styles -- from hilariously funny to deeply moving. It's an actor's dream. I've read many collections of its kind and this one is definitely the best!
Seven One-Act Plays
Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
  • One out of seven
 Seven One-Act Plays
Wendy Wasserstein
Manufacturer: Dramatists Play Service Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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  1. The Heidi Chronicles: Uncommon Women and Others & Isn't It Romantic
  2. The Sisters Rosensweig
  3. 24 Favorite One Act Plays
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ASIN: 0822217058

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars One out of seven.......2007-05-13

I am a fan of Wendy Wasserstein, but none of these scripts really showcase her skills. They are interesting pieces, with amazing subtext and storylines, but the dialogue doesn't really function. I suppose it's a good selection to add to the library, but I'd recommend Wassersteins "The Heidi Chronicles" or "Uncommon Women and Others" in preference to this selection.
One Act: Eleven Short Plays of the Modern Theater
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		One Act: Eleven Short Plays of the Modern Theater

    Manufacturer: Grove Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    Similar Items:
    1. 24 Favorite One Act Plays
    2. Five Comic One-Act Plays (Dover Thrift Editions)
    3. Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays
    4. Seven One-Act Plays
    5. Telling Tales and Other New One-Act Plays

    ASIN: 0802130534
    Telling Tales and Other New One-Act Plays
    Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    • Good for Small Scenes
    		 Telling Tales and Other New One-Act Plays

    Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

    Acting & AuditioningActing & Auditioning | Theater | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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    Similar Items:
    1. Twenty One-Act Plays from Twenty Years of the Humana Festival: 1975-1995 (Contemporary Playwrights Series)
    2. One Act: Eleven Short Plays of the Modern Theater
    3. The Back Stage Book of New American Short Plays 2004
    4. 24 Favorite One Act Plays
    5. Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays

    ASIN: 0140482377

    Customer Reviews:

    4 out of 5 stars Good for Small Scenes.......2000-06-14

    This compilation was very interesting. It lacked a little in the plays with many characters. If you are looking for a book of one acts to use for directing experience or for intermediate acting experience, then I highly recomend this book.
    25 Ten-Minute Plays from the Actors Theatre of Louisville
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      		25 Ten-Minute Plays from the Actors Theatre of Louisville

      Manufacturer: Samuel French Inc Plays
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      Similar Items:
      1. More Ten Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville
      2. Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays
      3. Take Ten II: More Ten-Minute Plays
      4. Ten-minute plays: Volume 3 from Actors Theatre of Louisville
      5. Time Flies and Other Short Plays

      ASIN: 0573625581
      Bash Latterday Plays
      Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
      • Never had I been so affected
      • An incredible play
      • Three Cutting Short Plays
      • "Latterday Greek Tragedies"
      • Important Play
      		 Bash Latterday Plays
      Neil Labute
      Manufacturer: Faber & Faber Ltd
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      Similar Items:
      1. The Mercy Seat
      2. Fat Pig
      3. This Is How It Goes: A Play
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      5. Autobahn: A Short-Play Cycle

      ASIN: 0571204910

      Book Description

      A trio of brilliantly scathing plays by the renowned writer-director of In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors.

      With the success of his first two films, In The Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors, writer-director Neil LaBute has been hailed as a first-rate dramatic talent with a caustic wit reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick. bash--a collection of three stunning one-act plays that mark LaBute's return to the New York stage after ten years--forms a trio of unforgettable personal accounts: in Medea Redux, a woman tells of her complex and ultimately tragic relationship with her grade school English teacher; in Iphigenia in Orem, a Utah businessman confides in a stranger in a Las Vegas hotel room, confessing a most chilling crime; and in A Gaggle of Saints, a young Mormon couple separately recounts the violent events of an anniversary weekend in New York City. All three are unblinking portraits of the complexities of evil in everyday life, exhibiting LaBute's signature raw lyrical intensity.

      "The most important playwright to emerge in a decade."-- John Lahr, The New Yorker

      "A transfixing evening."-- Ben Brantley, The New York Times

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars Never had I been so affected.......2007-03-07

      Never had a play truly made my stomach turn, but in the first act, in the first small play, it did just that, and pretty much continued at that rate and speed throughout. This interesting understanding of suffering and sacrifice for corporate America, for idealism, for religion, it's the plays that nearly got it's writer, excommunicated from the church. I don't see why, but I do see a great playwright, whose plays are not getting the attention they truly deserve.

      5 out of 5 stars An incredible play.......2005-04-14

      This is an incredible play. I think that the Mormon culture is fascinating--actually, I think that any sub-culture that is quirky and not accessible to everyone is fascinating. I live in Utah, and I've noticed that there isn't much media out there that develops the quirky Mormon culture. Most of the stuff available is either "faith promoting," or "bashing," and neither of those extremes really gets into any of the interesting parts of the culture.

      Enter Neil Labute--he sets some very interesting stories in the quirky Mormon culture. They aren't faith promoting--they aren't negative toward Mormons...they're just stories set in a quirky Mormon culture.

      This isn't a "slice of Mormon life." It is, as I've heard people say, "Good people who happen to do bad things," even though that grossly oversimplifies these stories. The stories are fantastic, and they have the typical Labute macabre.

      I suspected that Labute could do Mormons well after the interesting discussion of pornography that he included in "The Shape of Things." But, I was pleasantly surprised by how well he wrote Mormons in a book dedicated to them.

      Technical stuff--The book is tiny: 96 pages, and small. Two of the three plays are monologues, and the other is a two-person play. It doesn't have your typical play notes, like "[The lights dim....a bottle breaks in the background]." These "plays" are 100% dialogue.

      I knew it would be good, but after reading this book, I'm going to buy all of Labute's plays that are available on amazon.

      4 out of 5 stars Three Cutting Short Plays.......2004-11-16

      Bash is three short pieces, two monologues separated by a two hander. All three are surprising in their evolution, as each involves a gradual revelation from the characters in confidence with their "audience." The first piece, Iphigenia in Orem, is about a business man who confides in a stranger a terrible secret. This piece left me shocked and mining the logic of action and the susceptability one has to suggestion. The second piece, A Gaggle of Saints is a disturbing tale of a weekend trip to Manhatten by several Bostonians for a party, which culminates in a vile violent "night cap." The third, Medea Redux is a heart breaking story of young woman's spun world, as she speaks into a recorder inside a mental institution/asylum.
      Each piece evokes the violence and sacrifice and desparation of Euripedes plays in a modern sense. The shock and unbelievability of these peoples actions are not lost on them, as they struggle with reason or in A Gaggles of Saints case, bask in it.

      5 out of 5 stars "Latterday Greek Tragedies".......2002-06-16

      Labute in these three vignettes is remarkably daring, but in ways that in critical discussion are generally ignored. His negativity or "depressing," non-cheery outlook is all that's usually singled out. What is missed is the continuity he establishes between seemingly "cool," emotionally minimalist, postmodern Americans and those anarchic passions of vengefulness, monstrous ambition, and macho rage which motivated the characters in Greek tragedies.
      The necessary adjustments being made,the murderous Medea comes back to life in the first of these short pieces, and the equivalent of the daughter-sacrificing Agamennon does the same in the second. The third, perhaps the most shocking of all, features a mad Ajax-like murderer filled with macho rage who's hidden under the sweet-faced normality of the boy next door. Unlike the safe, conventional "American Beauty," whose gay basher was an over-the-top, stereotypical Marine, in "Bash" Labute really does "push the envelope" by making his violent homophobe an otherwise nice,comely, seemingly ideal young Mormon.
      Each week, new plays appear which are described in the papers as truly provocative, daring pieces which challenge stale convention. Most of them, however, are only meant to challenge viewers in some mythical Midwest hick town while complacently reasserting the shared assumptions of with-it audiences in the big cities. Labute, on the other hand, actually calls such procedures into question, writing works which really are subversive of complacency. It's no wonder he's currently undervalued.

      5 out of 5 stars Important Play.......2001-08-15

      I have had the opportunity to direct this play twice in the past two years (once it was just one of the three plays), and I just can't say enough about how powerful it is. Critics of Labute say he is a mental rapist who is too dark. Read the newspapers and read this play and you will see that this isn't fiction. Like much great theatre it comments on our society and gives us pause. The characters and their situations are memorable, and Labute is a talented, tight writer.
      Plays in One Act
      Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
      • Intermittently Useful
      • Deep & Wide
      • Over 40 One-Acts
      • A Lifesaver!
      • A Lifesaver!
      		 Plays in One Act
      D. Halpern
      Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      Similar Items:
      1. 24 Favorite One Act Plays
      2. One Act: Eleven Short Plays of the Modern Theater
      3. One Act Plays for Acting Students: An Anthology of Short One-Act Plays for One, Two or Three Actors
      4. Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays
      5. Twenty One-Act Plays from Twenty Years of the Humana Festival: 1975-1995 (Contemporary Playwrights Series)

      ASIN: 0880014903

      Book Description

      A dazzling collection and already a standard reference for those interested in contemporary drama, Plays in One Act is a unique compilation of plays and monologues that showcases a stunning and diverse array of work from some of the most important voices in theater.

      Forty-three modern works are collected here: from plays by important contemporary artists such as David Mamet, Wendy Wasserstein, Sam Shepard, and John Guare, to gems by masters like Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, and newer talents like Carol S. Lashof and Perry Souchuk. Leading British playwrights -- Tom Stoppard, David Hare, and John Osborne -- are also featured, along with the international voices of Václav Hacel and Kobo Abe, and works by such established wtiters as Eudora welty, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Ford, and Garrison Keilor, who are writing outside their traditional genres.

      Customer Reviews:

      3 out of 5 stars Intermittently Useful.......2002-10-18

      This book is handy if you're a playwright looking for good names to imitate. It's handy if you're examining styles popular in short plays (many of them ten minutes or less). It's a neato-jet piece of gear if you're learning the language and jargon of the playwrighting scene.

      This book is useless if you're a director looking to stage a one-act. The plays are too irregular, and many are too short unless you're running an evening of ten-minute plays. Some are radio plays, which are useless on stage. Some are cuttings or extended monologues. There is no unifying theme through the book, so it's hit-or-miss if what you find will even match any theme you may be looking for.

      If you know this going in, the book can be useful to you. Many people like it. I found it a drag.

      4 out of 5 stars Deep & Wide.......2001-06-07

      This really is, as the copy on the back claims, a "stunning and diverse" collection of one-act plays. To get familiar with authors and angles that you may not have encountered elsewhere, you can't beat these short sweet pieces. A lot of the usual suspects, big names snowing off the skills that have made them beloved of theatre-junkies across the nation, and selections by names you've never heard of before (and, for one or two of these, my bet is you will never hear of again). Really a must have collection that will give you plenty of enjoyment & ideas for your upcoming season or that as-yet-unwritten one act of your own. Why only four stars from me? I'm super stingy with the fifth...

      5 out of 5 stars Over 40 One-Acts.......2001-03-14

      Includes: Edward Albee, Finding the Sun; Christopher Durang, Naomi in the Living Room; John Guare, Four Baboons Adoring the Sun; David Hare, The Bay at Nice; Beth Henley, Am I Blue; David Mamet, A Life With No Joy In It; Arthur Miller, The Last Yankee; Tennessee Williams, The Chalky White Substance... and many more!

      5 out of 5 stars A Lifesaver!.......2000-05-21

      My Book Club has existed since 1928 but we are really a Book and Play Club. Each year we try to include drama in the form of monologues, one-act plays, readings. This collection will help immeasureably. Maybe one of our "originals" will appear in the next collection by this editor!

      5 out of 5 stars A Lifesaver!.......2000-05-21

      My Book Club has existed since 1928, but it is called the Book and Play Club. In other words, we are heavily into drama as well as books. This wonderful anthology will serve us well as several times during the club year we like to do readings, monologues, or even perform short plays... perhaps one of our "originals" will make it into the next collection by the editor!

      Books:

      1. The Price of Olives
      2. Little Heir: Play
      3. Hamlet (BBC Shakespeare on CD-ROM)
      4. Eugene O'Neill's Century: Centennial Views on America's Foremost Tragic Dramatist (Contributions in Drama & Theatre Studies)
      5. His Plays in Sicilian: v. 1 (Studies in Italian Literature S.)
      6. Toutann: A Mauritian Fantasy
      7. Macbeth: Starring Dennis Quilley & Hannah Gordon (BBC Radio Collection) [AUDIOBOOK]
      8. Paracelsus and Other One Act Plays (Studies in Austrian Literature, Culture & Thought: Translation S.)
      9. Ashes to Ashes
      10. One-Act Plays

      Books