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Plays / Theatre
The Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami burst onto the international film scene in the early 1990s and was widely regarded as one of the most distinctive and talented modern-day directors. His major features - including Through the Olive Trees (1994), Taste of Cherry (1997) and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) - are relatively modest in scale, contemplative and humanist in tone. In 2002, with 10, Kiarostami broke new ground, fixing one or two digital cameras on a car's dashboard to film ten conversations between the driver (Mania Akbari) and her various passengers. The results are astonishing: though formally rigorous, even austere, and documentary-like in its style, 10 succeeds both as emotionally affecting human drama and as a critical analysis of everyday life in modern Tehran.
In his study of the film, Geoff Andrew considers 10 within the context of Kiarostami's career, of Iranian cinema's renaissance, and of international film culture. Drawing on a number of detailed interviews he conducted with both Kiarostami and his lead actress, Andrew sheds light on the unusual methods used in making the film, on its political relevance, and on its remarkably subtle aesthetic. He also argues that 10 was an important turning-point in the career of a film-maker who was not only one of contemporary cinema's most accomplished practitioners but also one of its most radical experimentalists.
In 10-Minute Plays for Kids, young thespians will find terrific plays by some of our most prominent playwrights - such as Sharyn Rothstein, Alex Broun, Jenny Lyn Bader, Claudia I. Haas, and Mark Harvey Levine, and by others less well known but equally terrific such as Sharai Bohannon, Suzanne Bailie, and Shirley King. The characters and situations portrayed are perfect for the kid actor. Some of the plays explore relatable tales of friendship and family, while others allow the actors to take on the personas of nonhuman characters, such as fish and chess pieces! 10-Minute Plays for Kids is ideal for theater students, youth groups, and acting classes.
The unique format of this book will get students talking whether they're actors or not! Duologs are not scenes for two people; rather, they are a pair of monologs about the same subject but from different viewpoints. Likewise, triologs offer three perspectives on the same topic, without the actors ever interacting. These can be great tools for opening up subjects for discussion or debate. Even the standard single monologs including in this creative collection touch on issues ripe for discussion for middle and high school students. The subject material of all these monologs, ranging from one to three minutes maximum, is honest and true to life. Best of all, you don't have to worry about inappropriate language or situations. These monologs don't skirt important issues that teens face today, but each situation is handled in a way that allows the actor, not the language, to be center stage. Monologs range from light-hearted topics -- blind dates, babysitting blues, and fender benders -- to more sensitive ones such as family problems, drunk driving, and suicide.
"A gem of a book... Lucy Kerbel has done hard-working directors and artistic directors, of spaces large and small, a great service." - Kate Mosse, from her foreword. Lucy Kerbel's 100 Great Plays for Women is an inspiring guide to a hundred plays that put female performers center stage, dispelling the myth that 'There just aren't any good plays for women'. With a foreword by Kate Mosse. Women buy the majority of theatre tickets, make up half the acting profession, and are often the largest cohort of any youth theatre or drama club. And yet they have traditionally been underrepresented on stage. 100 Great Plays for Women seeks to address this gap by celebrating the wealth of drama available for women to perform. Theatre director Lucy Kerbel's myth-busting book features compact and insightful introductions to 100 plays, each of which has an entirely or predominantly female cast, with the female characters taking an equal or decisive role in driving the on-stage action. Also included are ten plays for solo female performers. The result is a personal but wide-ranging reappraisal of the theatrical canon, a snapshot of the very best writing - from ancient times right up to the present day - that has female protagonists at its heart. A fascinating mixture of familiar and less well-known works dealing with a broad range of themes, it is an essential resource for all directors and producers looking for plays to stage, writers seeking inspiration and actors trying to track down a new audition piece. It is also an exciting provocation that will have readers, both male and female, championing their own personal favorites. The book is the culmination of a project by Tonic Theatre and the National Theatre Studio. Tonic Theatre was founded by Lucy Kerbel in 2011 to support the theatre industry in achieving greater gender equality in its workforces and repertoires; it partners with leading theatre companies around the UK on a range of projects, schemes and creative works. The National Theatre Studio provides support and resources for both emerging and established theatre-makers of outstanding talent, and contributes to the National's ongoing search for and training of new artists.
This collection of 100 short (very short) plays from The Neo-Futurists' acclaimed cult hit Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind was originally published by Chicago Plays in 1993. The show presents 30 plays in 60 minutes, its ensemble of writer/performers generating between two and 12 new plays each week, as dictated by a roll of the dice. The material runs the gamut of style, tone, and topic: musical, confession, agit-prop, poetic gesture, physical comedy, puppet theater, audience interrogation, folk song, sex joke, and many more. The plays are funny, moving, challenging, powerful, and occasionally just plain weird. There is no fourth wall in Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind -- the show embraces the ideal that theater is created in the connection between audience and performer. Randomness, dynamism, speed, brevity, and planned obsolescence are celebrated and exploited to engage and refresh all participants. The plays stand as an entertaining document of the show's output, and they are ideal for scene study, auditions, and competitions.
In reaction to the extraordinary events of the first hundred days of the presidency of Donald J. Trump, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks has created a unique and personal response to one of the most tumultuous times in our recent history--a play diary for each day of the presidency, to capture and explore the events as they unfolded. Known for her distinctive lyrical dialogue and powerful sociopolitical themes, Parks's 100 Plays for the First Hundred Days is the powerful and provocative everyman's guide to the Trumpian universe of uncertainty, confusion, and chaos.
This book is a guide to one hundred plays addressing the most urgent and important issue of our time: the climate crisis
100 Plays to Save the World is a book to provoke as well as inspire--to start conversations, inform debate, challenge our thinking, and be a launchpad for future productions. Above all, it is a call to arms--to step up, think big, and unleash theatre's power to imagine a better future into being.
Each play is explored with an essay illuminating key themes in climate issues: Resources, Energy, Migration, Responsibility, Fightback, and Hope.
100 Plays to Save the World is an empowering resource for theatre directors, producers, teachers, youth leaders, and writers looking for plays that speak to our present moment.
Originally written for drama teachers working with students aged 9 to 18, this collection of short, snappy theater dialogues makes the perfect short break activity in any classroom, camp, or youth group situation. Students get much more out of these dialogues than just acting practice: they increase alertness, cultivate curiosity, boost literacy, and improve school attendance. The one-to-one dialogue format facilitates friendships and allows shy students to demonstrate new skills. Written by a family of drama experts, each dialogue centers around a theme related to young life: food, parents, hobbies, movies, even falling in love, to name just a few. Each dialogue is introduced with brief notes suggesting different ways of playing them at different ages and tips for adapting the dialogues to different age groups and situations. 101 Dialogues, Sketches, and Skits is part of the SmartFun Activity series from Hunter House, which includes over 25 titles that have sold more than 200,000 copies to date.
Having surveyed post-war British drama in State of the Nation, Michael Billington now looks at the global picture. In this provocative and challenging new book, he offers his highly personal selection of the 101 greatest plays ranging from the Greeks to the present-day. But his book is no mere list. Billington justifies his choices in extended essays -- and even occasional dialogues -- that put the plays in context, explain their significance and trace their performance history. In the end, it's a book that poses an infinite number of questions. What makes a great play? Does the definition change with time and circumstance? Or are certain common factors visible down the ages? It's safe to say that it's a book that, in revising the accepted canon, is bound to stimulate passionate argument and debate. Everyone will have strong views on Billington's chosen hundred and one and will be inspired to make their own selections. But, coming from Britain's longest-serving theatre critic, these essays are the product of a lifetime spent watching and reading plays and record the adventures of a soul amongst masterpieces.
From high school drama students to community theater actors, performers everywhere are looking for inexpensive material to entertain audiences. This collection of a dozen royalty-free, one-act plays provides the perfect solution.
Classic dramas include Aristophanes' The Birds, J. M. Synge's Riders to the Sea, and Eugene O'Neill's The Moon of the Caribbees. Other works include August Strindberg's The Stronger, Susan Glaspell's Trifles, Louise Saunders' The Knave of Hearts, and Oscar Wilde's A Florentine Tragedy, in addition to plays by Molière, Anton Chekhov, William Butler Yeats, James M. Barrie, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Classic dramas include Aristophanes' The Birds, J. M. Synge's Riders to the Sea, and Eugene O'Neill's The Moon of the Caribbees. Other works include August Strindberg's The Stronger, Susan Glaspell's Trifles, Louise Saunders' The Knave of Hearts, and Oscar Wilde's A Florentine Tragedy, in addition to plays by Molière, Anton Chekhov, William Butler Yeats, James M. Barrie, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Thirteen plays by the Oscar-winning author of Moonstruck. Includes: "The Big Funk " "Savage in Limbo " "Danny & The Deep Blue Sea " "Welcome to the Moon " "The Red Coat " "Down & Out " "Let Us Go Out Into the Starry Night " "Out West " "A Lonely Impulse of Delight " "Women of Manhattan " "The Dreamer Examines His Pillow " "Italian-American Reconciliation " and "Beggars in the House of Plenty." Also includes an introduction by the author.
In 25 10-Minute Plays for Teens, young thespians in high school and middle school will find terrific plays by some of our most prominent playwrights, such as Don Nigro, Wendy MacLeod, Jeff Goode, Bekah Brunstetter, and Constance Congdon; and equally terrific plays by such exciting up-and-comers as Chad Beckim, C. S. Hanson, Merridith Allen, Sharyn Rothstein, and Kayla Cagan. The characters are teens, and the subject matter will be of interest to aspiring young actors, making it easy for them to connect with the characters and situations. Ideal for theater students, youth groups, and acting classes.
![3 Plays [Exit the King]](https://www.bookcellarinc.com/sites/bookcellarinc.com/files/imagecache/product_list/isbn_images/9780802151100.jpg)
Exit the King is a highly stylized, ritualized death rite unfolding the final hours of the once-great king Berenger the First. As he dies, his kingdom also dies. His armies suffer defeat, the young emigrate, the seasons change overnight, and his kingdom's borders shrink to the outline of his throne. At last, as the curtain falls, the king himself dissolves into a gray mist.
Contains one scene with monologue from 18 of Shakespeare's plays, every scene abridged for performance by students or amateur adults.
"Suzan-Lori Parks is one of the most important dramatists America has produced."--Tony Kushner "The plan was that no matter what I did, how busy I was, what other commitments I had, I would write a play a day, every single day for a year. It would be about being present and being committed to the artistic process every single day, regardless of the 'weather.' It became a daily meditation, a daily prayer celebrating the rich and strange process of a writing life."--Suzan-Lori Parks On November 13, 2002, the incomparable Suzan-Lori Parks got an idea to write a play every day for a year. She began that very day, finishing one year later. The result is an extraordinary testament to artistic commitment. This collection of 365 impeccably crafted pieces, each with its own distinctive characters and dramatic power, is a complete work by an artist responding to her world, each and every day. Parks is one of the American theater's most wily and innovative writers, and her "stark but poetic language and fiercely idiosyncratic images transform her work into something haunting and marvelous" (TIME).
On January 19, 2009, Chicago teacher and playwright Joe Janes decided to write a comedy sketch a day for a year. He did that. When he was done, Don Hall of the WNEP Theater Foundation decided to produce them. All of them. In June of 2010, Don and Joe gathered together over 200 Chicago actors and directors and over eleven nights presented 26 shows each featuring two weeks worth of sketches (although one has 15 scenes). Yep. Crazy. All 365 comedy sketches are collected in this book along with a complete list of directors and actors from the Strawdog shows. Joe teaches comedy writing at The Second City and Columbia College.
4.48 Psychosis was written throughout the autumn and winter of 1998-99 as Kane battled with one of her recurrent bouts of depression. On February 20, 1999, aged 28, the playwright committed suicide. On the page, the piece looks like a poem. No characters are named, and even their number is unspecified. It could be a journey through one person's mind, or an interview between a doctor and his patient.
5-Minute Plays is the latest collection from veteran editor Lawrence Harbison, a man who has spent his career championing new and established playwrights by bringing their work into print. What's the story behind this one? In keeping with the spirit of the book, we'll give it to you in five. 1. On any given day, freely circulated viral videos make waves across our society -ÿand we take the time to consume them. The top trenders boast an average length around five minutes. 2. Needless to say, an average play runs far longer (and costs much more). Accordingly, we don't have the time (or money) for theater. 3. Variety is the spice of life - perhaps that's why the passive consumption of digital media runs rampant. Sometimes you feel like something melodramatic; sometimes you feel like something comedic. Sometimes you crave the firm grounding of realism; sometimes you crave the sweet escape of surreality. Sometimes you desire each of these things in rapid succession within the course of a half hour. Whatever your mood, bite-sized bits of entertainment keep you covered. 4. At long last, the world of theater has caught up with the digital realm. Five-minute plays and festivals abound - you can now plow through a full-fledged performance in less time than it takes a busy barista to make your grande chai latte, skim, with whip. 5. Seems you suddenly do have time for theatre. Whether you're an actor looking for a quick warm-up, an instructor scrounging for tight scene exercises, or an everyday reader eager to speed-date some of today's most talented playwrights, 5-Minute Plays provides all the theater you need without killing all the free time you have. Why not give it a whirl?
Paperback Fiction
Hardcover Non-Fiction
Hardcover Fiction
