Bøger udgivet af BROADWAY PLAY PUB INC (NY)

Betsy Fullbright keeps hearing someone outside, or down the hall, call out yoo hoo. The television seems stuck on a program where people are burning flags. A goat seems to have been left out on the lawn and there may be a leopard prowling nearby. Meanwhile, the retirement home staff have vanished and most everyone else is away on a picnic. A silent black man, who arrived the night before, now sits in a wheelchair and stares at her. Could this be someone she knew once upon a time in Kenya? Did this person somehow follow her here after all these years? "A haunting, deeply compassionate play. With a beguiling mixture of playfulness and brutal honesty, Russell Davis explores the truths of culpability that often lurk just beyond our conscious reach." -David Strathairn "Russell Davis imagines the peaceful, even dull, domain of a contemporary retirement home. In THE DAY OF THE PICNIC, Julius Nkumbi pays a visit to Betsy Fullbright, a visit from her past in a distant land, a visit full of foreboding and hope. Quietly, spookily, Julius conflates past and present, a mysterious and sinister physical presence that brings today's violent headlines into historical perspective and immediate reality. That he's confined to a wheel chair only enhances our sense of his powers. Julius suggests a world in which our sense of the 'real' has little meaning and less effect. The play creates that world and its geographical and metaphysical borders poetically, in dramatic action, without lecturing, or preaching, or rhetoric. As spectators we're brought into a weirdly real confrontation with a deeply alien sensibility. Julius Nkumbi, without fanfare or mumbo jumbo, rolls into Betsy Fullbright's hitherto safe and satisfied life, forcing her to rethink that life and her self. And, entering her life, he enters our own, inviting us to do our own rethinking." -Abigail Adams, Artistic Director, People's Light & Theatre Company

SINCE AFRICA chronicles the relationship between a Dinka refugee from Southern Sudan and three Americans - a North Shore socialite, her daughter, and an African American Deacon - who help him acclimate to Chicago's unfamiliar urban surroundings. A look at American culture through the eyes of an African, this play explores the tensions between blacks and whites, Africans and African Americans, the devout and the non-religious. "... a play of culture shocks and culture clashes, has you reexamining the everyday patterns of the America you take for granted ... many flashes of radiance but a subtle through-line." -Howard Shapiro, The Philadelphia Inquirer "McCullough uses the characters' relationships with Ater to explore such big themes as cultural imperialism, the persistence of ritual and the human cost of both social isolation and the need to belong." -James Hebert, The San Diego Union Tribune "McCullough has written a sensitive and deeply thoughtful play." -Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

"LaBute, in his most ambitious an best play to date, gets inside the emptiness of American culture, the masquerade and the evil of neglect. THE DISTANCE FROM HERE, it seems to me, is a new title to be added to the short list of important contemporary plays." -John Lahr, The New Yorker "LaBute's skill, and the shortness of the scenes, are compelling ... [his] excellent writing generates an exact depiction of empty soulless, thoughtless lives." -Hal Jensen, Times Literary Supplement

A brutally funny modern tragedy, ELECTRA IN A ONE-PIECE re-imagines the bloody Greek tale for our digital era. When Elle discovers that her mother has murdered her father and is burying him in the backyard, she sends for help the only way she knows how: the internet. Armed only with a video camera, she videotapes the gruesome scene and posts it on YouTube to alert her brother stationed in Iraq, inadvertently becoming an overnight YouTube sensation. Urged on by the chatter of anonymous commenters clamoring for more, Elle and her family saturate the internet with videos, stirring controversy and piquing the interest of a savvy television producer with plans for a camera-ready bloodbath. "... no joke is left behind in ELECTRA IN A ONE PIECE, the debut play from lively newcomer Isaac Oliver ... But Oliver's ELECTRA isn't some respectfully calibrated "update"; it's a great screaming goof, a liberating and heedless mash-up of tossed-off poesy, FunnyorDie.com irreverence, and, every so often, a flash of sincere despair. The burlesque is Oliver's mode here, with more than a dash of South Park ... an atmosphere that's somehow ominous, numinous, and hilarious, all at once. This being a sort of Oresteia, it's hard to keep up with the body count ... Oliver's impetuous young voice combines Joss Whedon sass with Nicky Silver savagery, and succeeds ... it's an impressive debut from a monstrous new talent, and proof that depths and shallows can occasionally be found at the same end of the pool." -Scott Brown, New York Magazine "Greek tragedy gets a suburban makeover in Isaac Oliver's ELECTRA IN A ONE-PIECE, a brash rewrite for the YouTube age, which transports an ancient bloodbath to a backyard pool - with results that are clever ..." -Miriam Felton-Dansky, The Village Voice

Carlotta is not afraid to search with eyes open for the first time, inspired by Saint Teresa of Avila and her publisher, Becky, a Jewish lesbian from New York. Carlotta is resolute on resolving her marital uncertainties with Andrés, a Catalan artist living in Barcelona, where the women make a stopover on their way to Avila. Carlotta is uncovering her own sense of self while further investigating the life of this impassioned revolutionary female of the sixteenth century. Santa Teresa de Avila was an empowered mystic, feminist heroine who defended divine law above man's law. During a time when the Inquisition was in its fervor, and the Saint's spirituality could easily have been interpreted as heresy, this woman of Jewish ancestry, singlehandedly reformed a branch of the Catholic church, the Discalced Carmelite Order, to its strict original intentions of fraternity, silent prayer, and service. Teresa also founded over a dozen monasteries and wrote some of the greatest classical Spanish literature. Becky's independent spirit illuminates Carlotta's view of a persistent dysfunctional dynamic that she has been willingly exchanging with her estranged husband, Andrés. Carlotta arrives with intentions of working things out but the charming, stimulating banter and fiery provocations now dissatisfy her starving heart. The two women return from Avila with a clear allegiance of passion and understanding, but Andrés, who all along repudiated authority and moral restrictions, now proves otherwise. "Beware of having unintended spiritual epiphanies. Begonya Plaza's new play, TERESA'S ECSTASY, is about the unexpected influence of Saint Teresa of Avila, a 16th-century Carmelite nun, on modern-day Carlotta, a Spanish writer ... The well-written, touching and often funny drama ..." -Jennifer Farrar, Associated Press "... TERESA'S ECSTASY, a sumptuous three-person comic drama about sex, love and spirituality ..." -Erasmo Guerra, New York Daily News

Virginia is getting married. As her wedding day approaches, unwanted ghosts of her mother's past appear, unearthing a shocking past she never knew - nor wanted to. A comic nightmare about the mysterious hollows between parents and children and things that may be better left unsaid. "... from the delightful opening pantomime, set to a recording of Frank Sinatra singing 'If I Had You, ' of a young couple meeting, courting, and deciding to marry, it's clear that a refreshingly original sensibility is at work. Mitnick has a lot more on his mind than obvious laughs in this consistently inventive and surprising comedy-drama." -Erik Haagensen, Backstage "Mitnick seems to be the rare young playwright more interested in his elders than in his contemporaries." -Alexis Soloski, Village Voice "Mitnick displays classy wit, gentle humanity, and flashes of formal innovation." -Scott Brown, New York

An affectionate, irreverent roller-coaster ride from fig leaves to Final Judgment, tackling the great theological questions: Did Adam and Eve have navels? Did Moses really look like Charlton Heston? And why isn't the word "phonetic" spelled the way it sounds? Whether you're Catholic or Atheist, Muslim or Jew, Protestant or Purple People Eater, you will be tickled by this romp through old-time religion. "... There is no doubt about it, these three lads are in a league of their own when it comes to vivid originality in the show ... They have sublime moments of surreal theatricality ... Sly minds are at work throughout. Posing the theological question: Does God have a sense of humor? They prove that undoubtedly he has. Why else would he have left the Children of Israel to wander the Middle East for forty years and then give them the only bit of land with no oil on it?" -Jack Tinker, Daily Mail (London) "... That apocalyptic roller-coaster of sex, violence, murder and miracles - the Bible - has been abridged by three American sinners. And verily this blasphemous, hilarious zip through the Old and New Testaments will henceforth be proclaimed as THE BIBLE: THE COMPLETE WORD OF GOD (ABRIDGED) ... Not even the most somber, uptight Scientologist could take offense at this snappy, slick and utterly entertaining show ..." -Sunday Express (London) "'In the beginning, ' a godlike voice informs us, 'there was chaos.' But why stop there? The disorder continues throughout the middle and end of THE BIBLE: THE COMPLETE WORD OF GOD (ABRIDGED) until the neat rows of audience have dissolved hysterically into the aisles. In spoofing the book they call 'the greatest story ever accepted as fact, ' The Reduced Shakespeare Company combines shtick, wordplay, physical humor, sight gags, audience participation and jokes so old ... gleefully give in to the giggles and the guffaws and, indeed, the buffoonery is hard to resist ..." -Ron Weiskind, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "In the beginning there was THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED). And it was good. And SHAKESPEARE begat THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF AMERICA (ABRIDGED). And that was good, too. And now AMERICA has begat (begotten?, begetted? ... whatever) THE BIBLE: THE COMPLETE WORD OF GOD (ABRIDGED), and damned if it isn't the funniest of the lot ..." -Bob Mondello, City Paper (Washington)

Two imprisoned young women, one African American and the other white, form a perilous bond. As they serve time they forge a plan for survival. They practice hard. If they don't get it right they'll lose everything: the outside world is even more dangerous to their friendship than the jail itself. Exploring the fierce dreams of youth and the brutal reality of adulthood in 1950's segregated America. "Unmissable ... an exquisitely understated examination of female friendship and unspoken love. It's a truly American tragedy about two women who want so little and get nothing except from each other, yet it is leavened with humour. Wallace's devastating, moving play is entirely without extravagance and artifice and is completely grounded in the harshness of the real world." -Lyn Gardner, The Guardian "Naomi Wallace's short, painful prison drama uses the backdrop of racially segregated '50s America to weave a tale of the hope that can blossom behind bars, and the despair that can destroy a life outside them." -Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out "In just 75 minutes on a tiny, almost bare stage, playwright Naomi Wallace conjures a compelling picture of friendship against the odds in the segregated America of the Fifties." -Fiona Mountford, London Evening Standard "AND I AND SILENCE is a play that takes on big themes in a very small way and has the ability to be both powerful and touching, leading to an unforgettable dénouement." -Philip Fisher, The British Theatre Guide "A former MacArthur genius fellow and Obie winner, Wallace is one of the most subtle and politically engaged American playwrights of her generation. Once again, the question arises: Why isn't this superb writer more widely produced? ... Thanks to Wallace's delicate touch and generous imagination, AND I AND SILENCE unfolds into a story of love whose unexpected emotional power sideswipes the audience." -Karen Fricker, Variety

MERCY STREET is Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Anne Sexton's only play and incorporates many of the themes that infuse her poetry, the deeply personal, the nature of madness, and the subjectivity of truth. "Anne Sexton, a fine poet with an astounding knack for incorporating the ugly and immediate vocabulary of the pressing workaday world into lyrics that nevertheless remain lyrics, is the author of MERCY STREET ... The play is constructed quite literally to resemble the Offertory in Anglican or Roman Catholic mass ... Miss Sexton's initial use of ritual is striking ... The exploration, in rotating flashbacks, produces some riveting line-images ..." -Walter Kerr, The New York Times "... This is Miss Sexton's first play. She is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, and the tone of her poems has always been laceratingly personal. In some she seemed like a latter-day, neurotic Emily Dickinson. The poems have a voice of their own, and a way with imagery. MERCY STREET is the story of a woman searching her way home from the valley of madness ... Miss Sexton has written a play to be considered rather than dismissed ..." -Clive Barnes, The New York Times

"Today and pre-1492 Spain come into collision in a twist on a Romeo & Juliet story (here Latina Catholic meets devout Muslim) in the highly poetic and beguiling PALOMA by Anne García-Romero." Ross Haarstad, Ithaca Times "At its core, PALOMA is a love story. But Paloma also touches on topics such as religious conflict, coexistence and peace. They are noble ideas presented in cleverly poetic metaphors... García-Romero defies the usual gender dynamic with a female pursuer and a reticent male, and it proves a good decision." Graham Gentz, New Mexico Daily Lobo "The evolving love between Ibrahim and Paloma is tender and true. Likewise, the underlying difficulties are also authentic... This is a powerful play that gets under the skin of religious tensions." Rob Spiegel, Talkin' Broadway

In this merciless but affectionate satire, The Reduced Shakespeare company sets its comic sights on the lunacy of sports. The result is a tour-de-farce of vaudevillian physical comedy that will delight every non-sports fan in the family. "It's a deceptively exhaustive tour, its intellectual rigor leavened by silliness of the first degree." -Variety "A comical analysis of sports' childish side. [This] parody of E S P N's 'SportsCenter' ... is pitched directly and proudly at the juvenile in sports fans of all ages." -New York Times "A fast-moving and deeply funny farrago, a neo-vaudevillian sendup that manages to be both merciless and affectionate." -Boston Globe "Hysterical! [These] world champs of lampooning reduce sports to its hilarious basics." -San Jose Mercury News

A passionate retelling of the Daniel Bell incident, in which a black man was shot and killed while running from police officers. "The Daniel Bell incident twice was a major story in Milwaukee. In 1958, the 22-year-old black man was shot and killed while running from a pair of uniformed Milwaukee policemen. In the late 1970s, one of the former police officers came forward and admitted the shooting incident was not self-defense and that there was a cover-up that spread from the Milwaukee Police Department to the office of the district attorney. That disclosure launched a criminal trial and subsequent civil suit by the family of the slain man. The Bell incident forms the basis of a compelling and, for the most part, engrossing play, AN AMERICAN JOURNEY." Rugg, Variety "Kermit Frazier's and John Leicht's AN AMERICAN JOURNEY is a piece of fine playwriting ... the play is an effective and moving piece of drama." -Jay Joslyn, Milwaukee Sentinel "... authors Kermit Frazier and John Leicht [bring] forth a model of clarity and condensation that is all the more notable for its power to move us." -Nels Nelson, Philadelphia Daily News "AN AMERICAN JOURNEY, a provocative play that rings with awareness of American life as people are actually living it today." -William B Collins, The Philadelphia Inquirer "The play creates a haunting portrait of a transient country in which many characters, both black and white, seem unable to settle down in one place." -Bruce Murphy, Milwaukee "Playwrights Kermit Frazier (who is black) and John Leicht (who is white) have succeed in fashioning a powerhouse play ... that is ingenious in structure (moving through time with cinematic grace), passionate in content ..." -Charles Lee, W F L N

An intriguing thriller in Haiti, showcasing an American doctor who experiments with a new infant feeding formula and along the way is coerced by CIA operatives to treat the commanding Haitian General who has only a few months to live. "... Havis's web of ironies - the lure of the rational Gold to the spiritual, decadent Le Croix; a mission of life turned to one of death; assassination as apolitical tool - is fascinating." -L A Weekly "Havis has done a beautiful job in sketching multi-faceted characters who never reveal themselves totally to the audience. The playwright has a cinematic writing style ... Havis blurs reality and the supernatural like filmmaker David Lynch did in his recent Blue Velvet." -Daily Press (Norfolk, Virginia) "HAUT GOÛT isn't only another political drama drawing metaphorical conclusions about sleazy U S involvement in a Caribbean nation (though Havis slips that knife in, too). Jules's odyssey is spiritual, as well as political, and he comes to realize that the foolish rantings of the bizarre, wildly decadent Le Croix have the kernels of truth a fool like Lear's deployed." -The Orange County Register "Havis is maddening and poetic, and Jody McAuliffe's direction is tuned to the playwright's building of tension. If region theater exists to discover and present the best of the new playwrights, Havis's HAUT GOÛT has certainly earned its place." -Irvine World News Weekly