Outstanding Short Plays, Volume Two

Outstanding Short Plays, Volume Two
Author: Craig Pospisil
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Total Pages: 122
Release: 2015-01-01
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 0822231492

THE STORIES: CAMBERWELL HOUSE by Amelia Roper. Elderly neighbors Annie and Olive have been friends since they were children. At twenty, they agreed to "knock each other off" if they were still alive at seventy-five. Now they are seventy-five and one of them has changed her mind. A tale of old age, murder, and ginger nut biscuits. (1 woman.) THE CLOSET by Aoise Stratford. Kevin's dad has thrown his favorite toy, Bart Sponge, into the back of a closet. There, Bart meets a toy dinosaur and another toy he can't even begin to identify. Does a supposedly gay toy have a chance of making it out of the closet? (2 men, 1 woman or man.) CLOSING COSTS by Arlene Hutton. After viewing four hundred apartments, has Harris finally found the right co-op, or simply the right real estate agent—Alice? Harris must decide if it's time to trade in his artificial fish—and finally grow up. (1 man, 1 woman.) FREEFALLING by Aurin Squire. Two passengers and a stewardess on a falling plane give their moment-by-moment account of what happens when tomorrow is no longer certain. (2 men, 1 woman.) POISON by John Patrick Shanley. Kenny has seen the depths of Kelly's self-hatred, and he'll never date her again—unless he drinks a fortune-teller's mysterious potion, which will kill his soul as dead as Kelly's. Can Kelly convince him to drink the potion? Can she convince herself? (1 man, 2 women.) SELF-TORTURE AND STRENUOUS EXERCISE by Harry Kondoleon. Carl tells Alvin that he's in love with another woman. "Good for you," says Alvin, who refuses to accept that Carl's, Adel, wife only attempted suicide—she's still alive. The woman Carl loves is Alvin's wife, Beth. But right now, Beth is so drunk she can't get up off the floor, much less run off with Carl, and Adel comes in with bandaged wrists saying Carl has been trying to kill her. These four have some issues to work out. (2 men, 2 women.) A SINGULAR KINDA GUY by David Ives. Mitch is a young guy talking to a girl in a bar. She's nice, but he's got this sort of confession, see. There's something she ought to know—on the inside, he isn't really a guy at all. He's an Olivetti electric self-correcting typewriter. (1 man.) SOMETHING FROM NOTHING by David Riedy. A stranger's intimate gesture on a New York subway causes a couple to reexamine their relationship, and it causes one person to get punched in the face. Told from all three characters' wildly different perspectives. (2 men, 1 woman.) THERE'S NO HERE HERE by Craig Pospisil. Lance moves to Paris to follow his dream of becoming a writer, but his work goes badly. As does his relationship with Juliette, a beautiful Parisian. But a strangely familiar woman at their local bistro forces Lance to dig deeper into himself. (2 men, 2 women.) YOU HAVE ARRIVED by Rob Ackerman. Dan and Kristin are navigating their first date, and fortunately, the other woman with them knows the way through the confusion into Brooklyn. That would be Cyndi, the GPS system in Dan's car. (1 man, 2 women.)

The Best American Short Plays 2018–2019

The Best American Short Plays 2018–2019
Author: John Patrick Bray
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2021-06-01
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 1493055933

Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Paula Vogel once said that theater helps us learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable with each other. Revolving around the theme of "this is who we are," the one-act plays in this latest edition of the Best American Short Plays series (now in its ninth decade) explore the thoughtful ways in which playwrights are wrestling to make sense of our world today. The selected plays reflect how we perform our identities (private and public) and how we negotiate who we are with others who often have different perspectives, perspectives that make us uncomfortable. The theme of this collection is topical and apt—as our country continues to shore up its borders along party lines, from pride parades to strict abortion laws, from inclusivity in education curricula to children in detention centers at the US–Mexico border. Each of the plays presents a clear reflection of who we are (and who we aspire to be) as individuals and as a nation. The styles of the plays also reflect different approaches to storytelling: two characters, four characters, a single setting, multiple settings, or a utopian "nowhere." The rich and compelling characters try to work out their differences and overcome obstacles using humor and a sense of magic that comes with simple moments of human connection. This is who we are: people who are grappling with the desire to be understood, the hope to be loved and accepted, and to allow that hope to shape a larger sense of who we could be if we continue to work and listen.

Naomi in the Living Room & Other Short Plays

Naomi in the Living Room & Other Short Plays
Author: Christopher Durang
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
Total Pages: 284
Release: 1998
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780822214489

THE STORIES: NAOMI IN THE LIVING ROOM. Naomi, when visited by John and Johnna, her son and daughter-in-law, is alternately friendly and insulting. Johnna copes her best, but when John changes his clothes to look like Johnna, things start to unravel

Double Play at Short

Double Play at Short
Author: Matt Christopher
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2009-12-19
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 031609479X

Twelve-year-old Danny thinks that there is something very familiar about the girl who plays shortstop on the team he faces during the championship series, and his curiosity leads him to a surprising discovery about his own adoption.

Famous Americans

Famous Americans
Author: Liza Schafer
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 204
Release: 1994-12
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780590494748

Ben Franklin...Harriet Tubman...Lewis and Clark.... Share their inspiring stories through these fact-based, original plays. Includes background information, discussion questions, extension activities, and literature links. For use with Grades 4-8.

The Collected Short Plays of Thornton Wilder

The Collected Short Plays of Thornton Wilder
Author: Thornton Wilder
Publisher: Theatre Communications Grou
Total Pages: 308
Release: 1997
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9781559361484

Volume II of Wilder's collected plays includes "The Angel That Troubled the Waters, Our Century, The Unerring Instinct", and "The Alcestiad, or a Life in the Sun", a little-known retelling of an ancient Greek legend.

Short Plays and Monologues

Short Plays and Monologues
Author: David Mamet
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
Total Pages: 88
Release: 1981
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780822207207

These seven imaginative short theatre pieces by one of America's most inventive and highly regarded playwrights range widely in content, mood and style. The plays offer a stimulating challenge in terms of selecting, arranging, and mounting the diverse com

Eleven Short Plays

Eleven Short Plays
Author: William Inge
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Total Pages: 148
Release: 1990
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780822205692

THE STORIES: TO BOBOLINK FOR HER SPIRIT. Short play about the dedicated autograph hunters who lie in wait for celebrities outside of one of New York's famous restaurants. (1 man, 2 women, 2 boys, 2 girls.) PEOPLE IN THE WIND. Midnight, a bus statio

Luna Park

Luna Park
Author: Donald Margulies
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2012-07-25
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 1559367512

Drawing from his own, specific experience, Margulies has indeed created what he calls “a window to the world” at large. The bits and pieces and detritus of our culture have been used to construct a powerful drama about a new and devastating age of anxiety in the United States. July 7, 1994 ranks as an important work by a gifted and growing American playwright."—Chicago Tribune This new anthology by Donald Margulies collects his best short plays and monologues written over the past 24 years. Taken as a whole, the work is an extraordinary representation of a particularly American reality of the twentieth century. His language is exquisite and deceptive in its simplicity, wherein the larger questions of our daily existence emerge and are clarified. The volume contains three major one-act plays including July 7, 1994, the hit of the 1995 Humana Festival at the Actors Theatre of Louisville; Pitching to the Stars, a darkly comic look at the writers lot in Hollywood; and Luna Park, an elegiac look at the American past and the immigrant experience, based on a short story by Delmore Schwartz. The volume also includes fifteen other short plays and monologues. Donald Margulies is the author of numerous plays, including Dinner with Friends and Collected Stories, both being filmed for television by HBO and PBS. Mr. Margulies lives with his wife and son in New Haven, Connecticut, where he teaches playwriting at Yale University. Also available by Donald Margulies Dinner with Friends PB $11.95 1-55936-194-8 • USA Collected Stories PB $11.95 1-55936-152-2 • USA Sight Unseen and Other Plays PB $16.95 1-55936-103-4 • USA

Lanford Wilson

Lanford Wilson
Author: Lanford Wilson
Publisher: Smith & Kraus
Total Pages: 292
Release: 1993
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

A collection of plays by Lanford Wilson that demonstrate how his writing style has changed from the 1960s to the 1990s.