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Four Major Plays, Volume I
By Henrik Ibsen, Rolf Fjelde, Joan Templeton. 2006
Four Major Plays: Volume IA Doll HouseThe Wild DuckHedda GablerThe Master BuilderAmong the greatest and best known of Ibsen's works,…
these four plays brilliantly exemplify his landmark contributions to the theater: his realistic dialogue, probing of social problems, and depiction of characters' inner lives as well as their actions. Rich in symbolism and often autobiographical, each of these dramas deals convincingly and provocatively with such universal themes as greed, fear, and sexual hostility, and confronts the eternal conflict between reality and illusion. These Rolf Fjelde translations have been widely acclaimed as the definitive versions of the major works of the father of modern theater.Translated and with a Foreword by Rolf Fjeldeand a New Afterword by Joan TempletonWhy the Chimes Rang: A Play in One Act
By Elizabeth Apthorp Mcfadden. 2015
Why the Chimes Rang' is a beautifully written story based on an old legend. It has wonderful evocative symbolism, the…
old church with a bell tower soaring into the sky, touching the clouds waiting for a perfect gift for the Christ child, a perfect gift of love.Three Sisters
By Anton Chekhov, Paul Schmidt. 1992
That Summer
By David French. 2000
It's Memorial Day, 1990, and Margaret Ryan has returned from Vermont to the Ontario cottage country where, thirty-two years before,…
she had vacationed with her disintegrating family at a lakeside resort. For herself and her sister Daisy, it was a time of awakening, a time of discovery. Both of the girls fall in love with two of the local boys. Daisy, on the lookout for action, cruising the dances at the resort, can't deal with what she initiates, and falls victim to her own confusion and naiveté. Not even the neighbour, the eccentric, bourbon-drinking, cigar-smoking Mrs. Crump, who knows all the fairy-tale spells to capture the heart of a lover, can save Daisy from drowning in her own misadventure. At the same time, Margaret, bookish and withdrawn, inhabiting a universe defined by poets and novelists, is seduced in spite of herself. As Margaret, the narrator, watches Maggie, her younger self, relive the innocence and beauty of that summer, the play moves inexorably back to the heartbreak of a headlong surrender to experience, both won and lost in a single day. Cinematic in its feel and pacing, recalling the 1950s genre of Dirty Dancing and My American Cousin, That Summer is a meditation on what endures of fleeting moments over time. Cast of 5 women and 2 men.The Acorn-Planter: A California Forest Play
By Jack London. 2012
Jack London was an American novelist, journalist, social-activist and short-story writer whose works deal romantically with elemental struggles for survival.…
At his peak, he was the highest paid and the most popular of all living writers. Because of early financial difficulties, he was largely self educated past grammar school. London drew heavily on his life experiences in his writing. He spent time in the Klondike during the Gold Rush and at various times was an oyster pirate, a seaman, a sealer, and a hobo. His first work was published in 1898. From there he went on to write such American classics as Call of the Wild, Sea Wolf, and White Fang.The Albany Depot: A Farce
By William Dean Howells. 2012
1892. Howells was an American realist author. He wrote for various magazines including Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine. His career…
blossomed after the publication of his first realist novel, A Modern Instance. The Albany Depot begins: Mrs. Roberts, with many proofs of an afternoon's shopping in her hands and arms, appears at the door of the ladies' room, opening from the public hall, and studies the interior with a searching gaze, which develops a few suburban shoppers scattered over the settees, with their bags and packages, and two or three old ladies in the rocking-chairs.Julius Caesar
By Stephen Orgel, Douglas Trevor, William Montgomery, A R Braunmuller, William Shakespeare. 2000
The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes…
an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare's time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used. Updated by general editors Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, these easy-to-read editions incorporate over thirty years of Shakespeare scholarship undertaken since the original series, edited by Alfred Harbage, appeared between 1956 and 1967. With stunning new covers, definitive texts, and illuminating essays, the Pelican Shakespeare will remain a valued resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals for many years to come. This edition of Julius Caesar is edited by William Montgomery with an introduction by Douglas Trevor.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.From the Trade Paperback edition.The Creation of the World and Other Business
By Arthur Miller. 1973
A master dramatist's humorous retelling of the biblical creation story as a parable for our time Breathing new life into…
timeless biblical tales, Arthur Miller charmingly reimagines the Book of Genesis from the temptation of Adam and Eve to the fraternal tragedy of Cain and Abel. In the beginning, God, generally satisfied with his creation, is nonetheless perplexed by Adam and Eve--why won't they multiply? It takes wily Lucifer to interest them in anything more than playing handball in the Garden of Eden, but their new knowledge comes at a price. The first family is exiled from paradise--just as Lucifer is banned from heaven--and a fallen, morally ambiguous state becomes the destiny of humankind. Though The Creation of the World and Other Business was Arthur Miller's first Broadway comedy, it is full of the searching insight and sparkling dialogue that distinguish his best dramas.The Archbishop's Ceiling
By Arthur Miller. 1985
A masterful mix of art, sex, and politics behind the Iron Curtain, by America's greatest dramatist In an unnamed Eastern…
European capital, four writers gather in what was once an archbishop's palace. There is Adrian, a successful American author struggling with questions about a novel he has set in the city, and Marcus, a once-imprisoned radical who has become a darling of the current regime. Finally, there is Sigmund, perhaps the country's greatest living writer, who refuses to compromise his artistic integrity to appease the regime. Between them all is Maya, a poet and actress who has been a mistress and muse to each man. The ornately decorated ceiling above them may or may not be bugged, and the group carefully watches their words as they discuss the play's central dilemma - should Sigmund stay and resist the oppressive state, or should he defect and pursue his art in freedom? Their conversation poses crucial questions about mass surveillance, morality, and the authenticity of art, and remains as relevant today as it was during the height of the Cold War.Do American Dream De Sofia E Outras Coisas
By Ronyfer, Anabela Alves Lopes Afonso Romão Pinto. 2012
Prince Friedrich of Homburg: A New Translation For The American Stage
By Frederick Peters. 1978
Prince Friedrich of Homburg is the indisputable dramatic masterpiece of Heinrich von Kleist 1777-1811 a leading figure…
along with Goethe and Schiller among early German Romantics Available until now only in verse translation it has been newly rendered for the American stage by Diana Stone Peters and Frederick G Peters A work of profound psychological insight Prince Friedrich of Homburg probes with passionate intensity questions fundamental to civilized behavior Prince Friedrich the hero of the historic battle of Fehrbellin 1675 against the invading Swedes receives not laurels for his victory but the sentence of death for disobeying orders in the field Faced with certain execution his mood swings from abject terror to high-minded exultation as first he challenges and then accepts the rule of law and subservience to the state The action moves relentlessly in the near-frenzied pace characteristic of Kleist Intended as a paean to a Prussia triumphant in the Napoleonic wars the play was ironically censured and never produced in Kleist s lifetime In our own day Prince Friedrich of Homburg has been both denounced as a protofascist work and lauded as a supreme metaphysical disquisition Whatever the merits of such intellectualization it remains one of the most moving and performable plays available for the modern stageBordertown Café
By Kelly Rebar. 2003
Seventeen-year-old Jimmy faces the archetypal Canadian dilemma: stay home in Canada, with all its obvious flaws, or go south (young…
man) to the Land of Opportunity. Should he stay with his mother at the Bordertown Café or haul off with his trucker father? Family history is the border's story writ large. Cast of 2 women and 2 men.The Taming of the Shrew
By William Shakespeare, Stephen Orgel, A. R. Braunmuller. 2000
The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes…
an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare's time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used. Updated by general editors Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, these easy-to-read editions incorporate over thirty years of Shakespeare scholarship undertaken since the original series, edited by Alfred Harbage, appeared between 1956 and 1967. With stunning new covers, definitive texts, and illuminating essays, the Pelican Shakespeare will remain a valued resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals for many years to come.This edition of The Taming of the Shrew is edited with an introduction and notes by series editor Stephen Orgel.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.From the Trade Paperback edition.The Man Who Had All the Luck
By Arthur Miller. 1989
A new Penguin Plays edition of the forgotten classic that launched the career of one of America's greatest playwrights It…
took more than fifty years for The Man Who Had All the Luck to be appreciated for what it truly is: the first stirrings of a genius that would go on to blossom in such masterpieces as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. This striking new edition finally adds Miller's first major play to the Penguin Plays series--now in beautifully redesigned covers. Infused with the moral malaise of the Depression era, this parable-like drama centers on David Beeves, a man before whom every obstacle to personal and professional success seems to crumble with ease. But his good fortune merely serves to reveal the tragedies of those around him in greater relief, offering what David believes to be evidence of a capricious god or, worse, a godless, arbitrary universe. David's journey toward fulfillment becomes a nightmare of existential doubts, a desperate grasp for reason in a cosmos seemingly devoid of any, and a struggle that will take him to the brink of madness.From the Trade Paperback edition.The Merchant of Venice
By William Shakespeare, Stephen Orgel, A. R. Braunmuller. 2000
The acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series edited by A. R. Braunmuller and Stephen Orgel The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative…
and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare’s time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used. Updated by general editors Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, these easy-to-read editions incorporate over thirty years of Shakespeare scholarship undertaken since the original series, edited by Alfred Harbage, appeared between 1956 and 1967. With definitive texts and illuminating essays, the Pelican Shakespeare will remain a valued resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals for many years to come. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. From the Trade Paperback edition.The American Clock
By Arthur Miller. 1992
A bold, vibrant panorama of the Great Depression by "the moral voice of the American stage" (The New York Times)…
Capturing a cross-section of American life in the throes of the Great Depression, The American Clock presents what Miller called "a mural for theatre," based loosely on Stud's Terkel's oral history, Hard Times. It is the story of a single family, Moe and Rose Baum and their son Lee, who lost everything in the crash of '29. When Lee leaves Brooklyn and travels west in search of work, he comes face to face with the true scope of the Depression's devastation and encounters a tapestry of interlocked stories unfolding across a nation in crisis. In a series of vignettes, a vast ensemble of characters sets the Baums' struggles in relief: a shoeshine man, a corporate tycoon, a dispossessed farmer, a struggling prostitute, a young songwriter, and a communist comic-strip artist, among many disparate American identities. All the while, the clock ticks towards a new era in history, and time is running out for the Baums and the America they know.Amphitryon
By Molière, Richard Wilbur. 2010
"Richard Wilbur's translations of classic French drama are among the undiscovered treasure of our recent literature."-The Hudson ReviewMolière's late, elegant…
comedy, based on Plautus' Roman version, alludes to the love affairs of the French king. This is the fourth and final volume of Theatre Communication Group's series (with cover designs by Chip Kidd), completing trade publication of these vital theatrical works. ncludes Richard Wilbur's translation notes.Richard Wilbur is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and a former poet laureate of the United States. His verse translations of Molière's plays have been performed for audiences throughout the world.Rodney's Wife
By Richard Nelson. 2006
"A full emotional geography of a family . . . Seemingly light conversation scrapes the skins of the characters in…
this sharply etched study of dislocation, loneliness and sexual betrayal."--Ben Brantley, The New York Times"Nelson is a master of the quiet detail, of the oblique rhythm that transforms emotional diffidence into fascinating character."--Linda Winer, Newsday"The early scenes proceed with the closely observed simplicity of Chekhov, whereas the later more wrenching moments evoke the eloquent bitterness of Albee."--David Cote, TimeOut New YorkA new work by leading American playwright Richard Nelson, who for more than 25 years has written prolifically, and with fine detail, on the perplexities of everyday living. In Rodney's Wife, a fading American actor in Rome for the filming of a 1960s spaghetti Western gathers with family and friends at a rented villa. Over the course of one booze-soaked summer night, jealousies and secrets are revealed that crumble the foundations of their relationships. Inspired by Euripides, the play is a tragedy of exiles who continue to need each other, even as they push away.Richard Nelson won Britain's Olivier Award for Best Play for Goodnight Children Everywhere, and the Tony Award for Best Book for his musical James Joyce's The Dead. His plays have been widely produced in the U.S. and Great Britain. He is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Chair of the Playwriting Department at the Yale School of Drama.The Greek Plays
By Tony Kushner, Ellen Mclaughlin. 2005
From The Persians"Defeat is impossibleDefeat is unthinkableWe have always been the favorites of fate.Fortune has cupped usIn her golden palms.It…
has only been a matterOf choosing our desire. Which fruitTo pick from the nodding tree."This chilling passage is from Ellen McLaughlin's new adaptation of The Persians by Aeschylus, the earliest surviving play in Western literature, an elegy for a fallen civi-lization and a warning to its new conqueror. As Margo Jefferson wrote in the New York Times, "The play is a true classic: we see the present and the future right there, inside the past. And when writers give us a 'new version' (a translation or adaptation) of a classic, they both serve and use it. They serve the playwright's gifts by refusing to simplify. But they can't just imitate. Every age has its own rhythms and drives. The classic must make us feel the new acutely. Ellen McLaughlin serves and uses The Persians with true power and grace."Also included in this volume: Iphigenia and Other Daughters (from Euripides and Sophocles); The Trojan Women (Euripides); Helen (Euripides); and Lysistrata (Aristophanes), all powerfully realized and as relevant today as when they were first performed.Ellen McLaughlin's plays include Days and Nights Within, A Narrow Bed, Infinity's House and Tongue of a Bird, which have been widely produced. She is a past finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was the co-winner of the Great American Play Contest. Also an accomplished actor, Ms. McLaughlin is most known for having originated the part of the Angel in Tony Kushner's Angels in America, appearing in every U.S. production through its Broadway run.The Bungler
By Molière, Richard Wilbur. 2010
"A mischievous new translation by the poet Richard Wilbur, [The Bungler] is great good fun and should open the gate…
for the play to be presented with the regularity it deserves."--Bruce Weber, The New York Times"My notion of translation is that you try to bring it back alive. Speak-ability is so important. . . . I came to see that a line that simply says 'I love you,' at the right point in the show, is entirely adequate, that a great deal of verbal sophistication is not necessarily called for."--Richard WilburPoet Richard Wilbur's translations of Molière's plays are loved, renowned, and performed throughout the world. This volume is part of Theater Communications Group's new series (with cover designs by Chip Kidd) to complete trade publication of these vital works of French neoclassical comedy. The Bungler is Molière's first recognizably great play, and the first to be written in verse. The charming farce is set in Sicily and born of the great Italian tradition of the commedia dell'arte: Loyal valet Mascarille schemes to win the lovely Celie away from rival Leadre, and into the arms of his master Leslie. Molière himself originated the role Mascarille, self-described as "the rashest fool on earth," who naturally bungles the job along the way.Richard Wilbur is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and a former Poet Laureate of the United States. His publications include six volumes of poetry and two collections of selected verses, a collection of prose, and two books for children.