Bøger udgivet af Samuel French Ltd

With time running out to renew their lease, the women of the beleaguered New Bunion Historical Society must find creative ways to snare new members and lure visitors to their sleepy New England town. When a set of George Washington’s dentures turns up in the hands of an unexpected rival, the ladies of the society brace themselves for all-out war. Heartfelt and historic, this farce proves that our differences don’t divide us, they make us strong.

"Penniless and indebted to two demanding producers, struggling young playwright William Shakespeare is tormented by writer's block, until he meets the beautiful Viola de Lesseps, daughter of a wealthy merchant, whose fiery passion for poetry and drama leaves her secretly longing to be an actor. Viola quickly become the playwright's muse, while she disguises herself as a man to become a player. Both are despondent when they learn that Viola's father has promised her to the stuffy Lord Wessex in order to gain a title for their family. Under veil of secrecy, Will and Viola's passionate love affair becomes the basis of the very play he is writing - Romeo and Juliet. With opening night - and the wedding day - fast approaching, the plots race toward a parallel conclusion. Will it work out in the end or are the two star-crossed lovers destined for tragedy?"--Publisher's description

When their eighty-five-year-old father dies, sparring siblings Maggie and Jake must face a question: How to break the bad news to their brother Andy, who has Down syndrome and has lived in a state home for years? Along the way, the pair find out just how much they don’t know about their family and each other. It seems only Andy knows who he really is.

Depressed and plagued by insomnia, King Philippe V of Spain lies awake in his chamber. The queen, desperate to find a cure, hears of Farinelli – a castrato with a voice so divine it has the power to captivate all who hear it. Even Philippe is astonished when Farinelli sings, and he begs him to stay. But will Farinelli, one of the greatest celebrities of his time, choose a life of solitude over fame and fortune in the opera houses of Europe? And will his extraordinary talent prove to be a curse rather than a blessing?

As lines between characters and actors – as well as observers and observed – blur, a dizzying series of vignettes builds to a climactic moment in which performance and reality collide, highlighting the absurdity of anti-Blackness in our society. Through facilitation and dialogue we must decide how to cope, resist, and move forward.

A one-act satirical comedy about four white people trying to devise a politically correct First Thanksgiving play for Native American Heritage Month to be done in the schools. The director, Logan, hires a Native American actor to be their cultural compass. As Logan, Jaxton, and Caden defer to her for guidance, it is revealed that she is white and only plays Native American when she isn't playing other ethnicities. Without the Native voice, these four white people now have to find their way through a crazy thicket of privilege, historical accuracy, and school district rules. -- Web page.

A San Francisco programmer, Will, latches onto an idea for a startup that will automate the work teachers do in their classrooms. But as the idea begins to take off, it becomes clear that Will’s new company may threaten his fiancée’s job.

Based on over seventy interviews conducted around the world by playwright Paul Lucas, Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women is a compelling exploration of the lives of trans women, as told in their own words. These unique and compelling stories are honest, funny, moving, insightful, and inspiring, but most of all, they are human, shedding light not on our differences but on what we all, as humans, share. 

In Middle Class, Too we find students making the transition from childhood as they navigate that uncertain passage into becoming adults. Through these scenes and monologues we hear their voices, feel their emotions, and observe their interactions. We also see that young people of pre-teen and early teen years are incredibly resilient. Over the course of the school year the students at this middle school will add one more year of growth to their lives not just academically, but emotionally and socially as well.

An intrepid troupe of pageant players races across medieval Europe, struggling to outrun the Black Death. The arrival of a mysterious outsider sends Hollis, the leading lady, in search of answers that can only be found off-script... and soon the 14th century plague begins to look like another, more recent one. This wildly inventive and funny new work examines the evolution of human creativity in a dark age: when does a crisis destroy us, and when does it open new frontiers?

One of Manhattan’s most established play festivals, the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival fosters the work of emerging writers, giving them the exposure of publication and representation. The 43rd collection includes: Rabiosa by Nelson Diaz-MarcanoThe Forgotten Place by Jeff LockerBaked Goods by Charlie Cohen, Helen Park, and Christyn BudzynaBallgirl by Gracie GardnerBetter by Vince GattonThe Ferberizing of Coral by Patrick Flynn

This collection includes:Placebo by Tan’yeasia BrewsterStratocumulus by Sofia BottinelliDerailed by Jared GoudsmitUmtya (The String) by Frances Louise Timberlake

Keen Teens is a unique and free educational theatre program run by the Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company. Keen Teens seeks to improve the quality of plays written for high school students by commissioning scripts from highly regarded playwrights and gives students the opportunity to work with professional artists in an Off-Broadway setting. This collection includes:Winifred and Myrtle Go to High School(13m or f, flexible ensemble)Winifred and Myrtle are old. Super old. Like a hundred. And so is their dog. But when a birthday wish magically transforms them in a way they never expected, things are going to get lit at the local high school. Around 2 (4m, 6f)On the night of the 2016 presidential election, a high school government club gathers to watch the results come in. Evelyn, the club president, must make a difficult choice. As the night wears on and the winner becomes clear, the students struggle to understand what is happening between them and across the country.The Caribbean Queen(13m or f)Parents are lame. Vacations are lame. Vacations with parents…I can’t even. But everything is not what it appears to be on this cruise ship. Sam is about to go on a fantastic journey much farther from home than she could have imagined. 

Behind Lily's every move lies her greatest secret, her undying devotion to the child she was forced to abandon. The Confession of Lily Dare is the latest comic melodrama written by and starring the legendary master of theatrical parody Charles Busch (Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Die Mommie Die, The Divine Sister). Here he celebrates the gauzy “confession film” tearjerkers of early 1930’s pre-code cinema, such as The Sin of Madelon Claudet, Frisco Jenny, and Madame X.

This collection of seven short plays explores the many facets and platforms of social media. From Instagram to Facebook, and even a #throwback to the days when MySpace was cool, Anti-Social pokes fun at the “social” in social media.

This collection includes:First Contact by Liam Fitzgerald – Two best friends’ plan to sneak out and hunt the night sky for aliens is complicated by a rumor about a boy that one of them…may have…definitely…totally made out with.The Death of Odysseus by Liz Baker – Roommates Pete and Jasper have a pretty good thing going. That is, until Jasper makes it his mission to rescue the dying bee outside of their apartment.The Moment After by Michael John McGoldrick – A man and a woman reflect separately on their one-night stand and its effect on their lives. Pining by Banna Desta – Shandukani explores the thrills and shortcomings of attraction through a series of conversations and confessions.Slap by Aja Nisenson – A mother tries to provoke her daughter to slap her in the face in order to even out the swelling of her latest cosmetic procedure. Sometimes love hurts.T3MP0RARY by Joe Samaniego – In the rapidly advancing world of modern-day technology, it’s easier than ever to be erased.

Something unspeakable happened in the middle of a cornfield two years ago. Now, at last, the upstanding residents of Milton, Nebraska – from the cop and the nurse to the co-captains of the dance team, and even Bobbie himself – are ready to tell you their sides of the story. This comedy-about-a-tragedy follows asprawling cast of characters as a small town strives to make sense of senseless violence.

Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plots to take over the world. And if their new routine is good enough, they’ll claw their way to the top at Nationals in Tampa Bay. A play about ambition, growing up, and how to find our souls in the heat of it all.

Set in a little north woods Minnesota town, the host of a radio show devoted entirely to ice fishing loses his only advertiser while his wife, a popular host of a book show, has all the advertisers, putting the competitive couple at odds. Their marital problems are compounded when two fish-out-of-water Brooklyn Italians come to the rural Minnesota town, buy the radio station, and turn everything upside down.

In modern-day Cape Cod, Joy, a baby boomer and proud hippie, is holding a memorial concert for the other half of her popular musical duo, Jump & Joy. When her tightly wound, conservative daughter and her sweet, rebellious granddaughter arrive from Oklahoma, sparks fly as one family seeks to find the common ground in their  different values, dreams, and goals. A heartfelt and hilarious story that celebrates diversity and acceptance, Unexpected Joy weaves folk-rock, pop, and blues in bringing together a family that hasn’t experienced true joy in decades.

Klook is a drifter who’s gotten too old to drift. Vinette is on the run but she doesn’t know what’s chasing her. Together they make a tentative stab at happiness, before the past they are evading begins to catch up with them. Tough, tender, funny and poignant, Klook and Vinette will grab you from the inside out. Soulful music and a lyrical text make this a mesmerising theatre experience.

Susie Glenn, a white eighteen-year-old from the Chicago suburbs, was arrested at O’Hare International Airport for conspiring with ISIS. Recent Harvard Law grad and practicing Muslim Claire Fathi has been brought on to prosecute. Inspired by real court cases, Selina Fillinger’s crackling drama looks at two women fighting for justice in a world gripped by fear. 

Jane’s trapped in her middle school computer lab playing “The Oregon Trail” for what feels like hours. The game becomes life and rips us back to the trail, 1848, where we travel in a covered wagon with Jane’s great-great-grandmother. As Game moves us, back, forward, and back again, Now-Jane and Then-Jane’s sadnesses are delicately juxtaposed in this play-meets-video-game about depression, Then and Now.

Pablo, a high-powered lawyer, and doctoral candidate Tania, his very pregnant wife, are realizing the American dream when they purchase a house next door to community stalwarts Virginia and Frank. But a disagreement over a long-standing fence line soon spirals into an all-out war of taste, class, privilege, and entitlement. The hilarious results guarantee no one comes out smelling like a rose.

Set in San Diego, this gripping, time-bending story sheds light on a little-known chapter in medical history during the onset of the AIDS crisis. While navigating through the complexities of the medical establishment, Roz and Ray tells a profound story of love, trust, and sacrifice that grapples with the messy process of healing the human heart.

The discovery of a stash of letters stamped with swastikas opens clues to an untold family history spanning multiple generations in The Book of Joseph – the gripping true story of resilience and truth-tracking determination spanning Baltimore and beyond. Richard Hollander’s book Every Day Lasts a Year: A Jewish Family’s Correspondence from Poland is brought to the stage in this mesmerizing new adaptation that restores a family’s uncharted legacy – celebrated by revelation and remembrance.

Stuck at home in a state of shocked limbo, Julie and Zander, two thirteen-year-olds, try to make sense of the chaos they’ve witnessed, their awkward crushes, and an infinitely more complicated future – but the grown-ups are no help at all. An urgent response to our times, This Flat Earth is a startling and deeply felt story of growing up in our confounding world.

Smack-dab in the middle of America in Winnetka, Illinois, four women enter a Betty Crocker cooking contest in hopes of changing their lives. What they get is much more than they bargained for. Little did they know that it would take a zoologist from Indiana University, Alfred C. Kinsey, to really get them “cooking”! In an age when people believed the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, the four women discover that the way to a woman’s heart is through her best friends.

When their eighty-five-year-old father dies, sparring siblings Maggie and Jake must face a question: How to break the bad news to their sister Amy, who has Down syndrome and has lived in a state home for years? Along the way, the pair find out just how much they don’t know about their family and each other. It seems only Amy knows who she really is.

Vincent DiDonato is an overweight, unattached, and unevolved goombah in his late forties who spends most of his time doing as little as possible at Centennial Casting, the metal casting shop he owns with his mother on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. When Vincent’s mom dies suddenly, he inherits the shop and is thrown into the front office, where he discovers a pile of headshots sent in by actors over the years that had mistaken the metal shop’s casting service for a theatrical casting agency. Vincent is struck by the photo of one Edie Keaton. Ms. Keaton, a down-on-her-luck actress in her late thirties, is trying to return to the business after a difficult divorce. Vincent, who has never been in a successful relationship, saves the picture and résumé. When his assistant and boyhood chum, Doo-Doo, realizes his boss is interested in Edie, he sets up an “interview” for the actress, hoping it might lead to a date for Vincent, his first in many years. Vincent reluctantly agrees to pose as a casting director in order to meet the actress, and when Edie walks in for her “audition,” he falls head over heels in love with her. Edie, in turn, is interested in Vincent, but is even more interested in getting an acting job. As the ruse continues, Vincent and Doo-Doo realize they must heighten the stakes in order to keep the relationship going. What will happen when Edie discovers that Vincent is only posing as a casting director? Will true love triumph, or will the characters drown their sorrows in cannolis? The answer is a heartwarming, hilarious tale of two ordinary people in an extraordinary situation who find dreams can come true at Centennial Casting.