The Best Plays Theater Yearbook 2003 2004

Contains a collection of essays, facts and figures for Broadway and off- Broadway productions and synopses of the ten best plays of the year.

Contains a collection of essays, facts and figures for Broadway and off- Broadway productions and synopses of the ten best plays of the year.

(Applause Acting Series). Culled from the finalists for the prestigious Steinberg/American Theatre Critics New American Play Award from the years 2008-2012, Scenes and Monologues from Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Finalists, 2008-2012 presents some of the finest, sharpest, and most immediate scenes and monologues from contemporary American drama. The book is divided into male-female, male-male, female-female scenes as well as male and female monologues and multiple character scenes. Actors, teachers, students of drama, as well as theater lovers will be thrilled by entries from such recent hits as Time Stands Still , Superior Donuts , Detroit , Water by the Spoonful , and Dead Man's Cell Phone , as well as material from such lesser known-but soon to be widely celebrated plays as 9 Circles , Becky's New Car , Perfect Mendacity , Splinters , and On the Spectrum . All are superbly constructed dramas told with ferocity, passion, wit, and supreme insight. Collectively, these scripts by our most promising and creative playwrights including Sarah Ruhl, Tracy Letts, Lee Blessing, Rebecca Gilman, Donald Margulies, Naomi Iizuka, Bill Cain, Rinne Groff, Quaira Alegria Hudes, and Yussef El Guindi reflect a collective vision of today's America that is startling in its ability to reveal the pressing circumstances and realities, the diverse characters and conflicts, and the "forms and pressures" of our emerging millennial era.

"Here in this 86th edition of The Best Plays Theater Yearbook are all of the many features that have long distinguished this indispensable reference work on the American theater. What makes the series unique is its unequaled depth and breadth of information on the season under review and its record of the key achievements in theater over a multitude of earlier seasons: detailed listings of all plays produced on and Off Broadway, and hundreds Off Off Broadway, between June 2004 and May 2005; essays by distinguished theater critics and commentators on all 10 of the chosen plays; listings of the longest-running plays and of the winners of the notable theater awards, in many cases ever since those awards were established; and the full membership of the Theater Hall of Fame." "But the scope of this book extends far beyond New York, recognizing as it does the vitality and the innovative contributions of resident theaters throughout the country. The invaluable survey of the season around the United States includes the American Theatre Critics Association's Steinberg New Play Award and Citations, plus a directory of more than 300 new play productions and readings at resident theaters everywhere." "As always this compendious book is illustrated with scores of photographs of productions in New York and around the United States." --Book Jacket.

Nominated for Pulitzer, Tony and Obie awards, among others, Lee Blessing has shaped American theater over the last 40 years. Tackling subjects like child abuse, racism, sexism and war, as well as baseball, love and religion, Blessing has dedicated himself to investigating and dramatizing both the triumphs and evils of contemporary society. This book examines for the first time all 44 of his plays, and includes one of his unpublished scripts, providing a definitive text on a playwright whose thought-provoking work has been performed around the world.