And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little

Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Zindel's brilliant Broadway success. This biting, touching and often wildly funny play probes deeply into the tortured relationship of three sisters whose lives have reached a point of crisis. "In Paul Zindel we seem to have that rarity—a playwright who can write intelligent, sensitive, entertaining plays for a wide public." —Newsweek. "It is funny and fierce and, well, absolutely extraordinary." —Boston Globe. "...he has created three parts that most actresses would trade their souls to play." —Hollywood Reporter. The Story: Their father having deserted them in their childhood, the three Reardon sisters have grown up in a house of women, dominated by their mother, who is only recently dead. But time has erased the tender closeness of girlhood; one sister has married and cut herself off; another has begun to drink more than she should; and the third, after a scandalous incident at the school where she teaches, is on the brink of madness. When the married sister comes to dinner to press the need for committing her sibling to an institution, the simmering resentments of many years burst alive and are exacerbated by the intrusion of a well-meaning but boorish neighbor couple, whose unexpected arrival impels the action towards its shattering conclusion—in which all the pathos, humor and searing honesty of the play combine with overwhelming effect.

This companion volume to Enter the Players: New York Stage Actors in the 20th Century explores the careers of over three hundred directors and choreographers who have worked in New York City, giving biographical sketches and listing directing and choreography credits through the year 2005.

Analyzes homosexual characters from YA novels published between 1969 and 1982, aiming to assess their literary quality and determine if their image of homosexual characters is negative.

In Richard Barr: The Playwright’s Producer, author David A. Crespy investigates the career of one of the theatre’s most vivid luminaries, from his work on the film and radio productions of Orson Welles to his triumphant—and final—production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Explored in detail along the way are the producer’s relationship with playwright Edward Albee, whose major plays such as A Zoo Story and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf Barr was the first to produce, and his innovative productions of controversial works by playwrights like Samuel Beckett, Terrence McNally, and Sam Shepard. Crespy draws on Barr’s own writings on the theatre, his personal papers, and more than sixty interviews with theatre professionals to offer insight into a man whose legacy to producers and playwrights resounds in the theatre world. Also included in the volume are a foreword and an afterword by Edward Albee, a three-time Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and one of Barr’s closest associates.

In 1974, a group of determined, young high school actors started doing plays under the name of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, eventually taking residence in the basement of a church in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago. Thus began their unlikely journey to become one of the most prominent theatre companies in the world. Steppenwolf Theatre Company has changed the face of American Theatre with its innovative approach that blends dynamic ensemble performance, honest, straightforward acting, and bold, thought-provoking stories to create compelling theatre. This is the first book to chronicle this iconic theatre company, offering an account of its early years and development, its work, and the methodologies that have made it one of the most influential ensemble theatres today. Through extensive, in-depth interviews conducted by the author with ensemble members, this book reveals the story of Steppenwolf's miraculous rise from basement to Broadway and beyond. Interviewees include co-founders Jeff Perry, Gary Sinise and Terry Kinney, along a myriad of ensemble, staff, board members and others.

A reference for high school theatre teachers covering both curricular and extracurricular problems – everything from how to craft a syllabus for a theatre class to what to say to parents about a student's participation in a school play.