Israel Horovitz, Vol. I: 16 Short Plays (Contemporary Playwrights) - Softcover

Horovitz, Israel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1880399512 ISBN 13: 9781880399514

Publisher: Smith & Kraus Pub Inc, 1994

Synopsis

Isreal Horovitz had written over 50 plays in addition to fiction, screenplays, television scripts, and poetry. This new collection, written in the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's, offers a wealth of easily staged scenes and plays for student actors and theatre aficionados. Written in Horovitz's tender, funny and brutal language, these plays still crackle with as much tension as when they were written. In his introduction to Line (added as a preface to this collection), Ionesco comments that Horovitz is a very pleasant young man, but "like all the sweet ones, he writes the cruelest things one can imagine".

About this title

About the Author

Israel Horovitz plays have been translated and performed in as many as thirty languages, world-wide. Sixteen of his short plays, written over three decades, are collected here, for the first time. These theatrical gems are the main-stay of theatre companies from Boston to Berlin. In these small masterpieces, Horovitz has written stunning roles that have launched careers for some of America's greatest actors-Al Pacino, Richard Dreyfuss, John Cazale, Marsha Mason, Jill Clayburgh, Lenny Baker, an many others. Mr. Horovitz has written sixteen detailed essays to introduce each of his plays in this exciting new collection.

From Booklist

New England-based Horovitz may be America's most prolific dramatist (50-plus plays). He may hold the record for the longest-running off-Broadway play (Line opened 19 years ago and still sells out). But he has never received the media attention accorded his contemporaries Sam Shepard, Terrence McNally, and Lanford Wilson. This collection shows, however, that Horovitz has had a fascinating career, beginning with the 1960s off-off-Broadway theater boom. Included are some of his best and best-known short works, such as the biting absurdist allegory Line, the witty and wistful Hopscotch, and The Indian Wants the Bronx, the powerful one-act about urban violence that launched Al Pacino. Horovitz introduces each play, thereby providing inside dope on his life and career; for example, he wrote The Indian Wants the Bronx for the then unknown Pacino, but had to move heaven and earth to keep him in the play ("too short and not handsome," thought the producer). The introductory essays alone make the book quite a read for those interested in contemporary American theater. Jack Helbig

About this edition

• Publisher: Smith & Kraus Pub Inc
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 1880399512
• ISBN 13: 9781880399514
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 414