Synopsis
Editor Ramon Delgado dedicates this year's collection of Best Short Plays to the Actors Theatre of Louisville, which has contributed significantly to the popularity of the one-act play through its annual SHORTS festival. Four plays in this volume made their debuts at 'Shorts' festivals. Lee Blessing's NICE PEOPLE DANCING TO GOOD COUNTRY MUSIC is a character comedy about a young novice who has left her religious order to start a new life with her liberated aunt, owner of a rowdy bar in Texas. This play premiered at the 'Shorts' festival. THE OTHER WOMAN by Casey Kelly is a moving story about the transformation of a young girl from a child to a woman and the reaction of her parents to the changes taking place in their only daughter. David Higgins' PARTNERS was a hit at the 'Shorts' festival and won praise from Newsweek theatre critic Jack Knoll, who called it 'an explosive vignette about three young dope-dealing friends who've become murderous enemies through the vicissitudes of the underworld.' PRESENT TENSE was written by John McNamara when he was only eighteen years old. The play, which was described by Robert Massa of the Village Voice as 'a monologue with fantasy vignettes in the James Thurber-Woody Allen vein,' was selected for production by the Dramatists Guild in its annual festival of works by young playwrights. Romulus Linney's F.M., a story of the discovery of a Faulknerian talent in a college creative writing course, opened to a standing ovation at the Philadelphia Festival Theatre. Critic Nels Nelson of the Philadelphia Daily News hailed Linney as 'a luminous creative spirit touched by so superior a gift that we would cheerfully knight him on the spot.' Jerome McDonough's JUVIE, a powerful play about the devastating effects of juvenile delinquency, uses ensemble and multiple role-playing techniques to achieve its impact. This style has proved popular with high school and college performers. BARTOK AS DOG by Patrick Tovatt won critical acclaim at the 'Shorts' festival and was repeated in the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival of New American Plays. Louisville Times critic Dudley Saunders described the play as 'an amusing tale about a young man who just wants a non-demanding meal ticket job so he can dabble in his hobby. But the world is outraged by and suspicious of such lack of ambition.' IN PLACE, by Obie award-winner Corinne Jacker, is the story of a former literature professor, a soon-to-be-divorced woman, and a pragmatic boardinghouse proprietress all trying to survive in Las Vegas. IN PLACE is Miss Jacker's third work in the Best Short Plays series. Harry Kondoleon's SELF TORTURE AND STRENUOUS EXERCISE is a ludicrous, original comedy about two couples who batter each other's egos with the vigor of primal therapy. Said New York Daily News critic Don Nelson: 'The effect is a style that might have emerged had Noel Coward written for the Theatre of the Absurd.' Ken Jenkins' monologue CHUG was performed by the author in the 'Shorts festival. Jay Carr of The Detroit News called it '...a shaggy frog story in the Mark Twain tradition.' Jenkins is a Rockefeller Playwright-in-Residence at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.
About the Author
Dr. Delgado, who started writing plays for marionette shows when he was eleven years old, has received honors in five regional and twelve national playwriting competitions. His plays have been produced in workshops, on PBS television, and Off-Off-Broadway. The New York Hispanic Theatre INTAR selected Dr. Delgado as a Playwright-in-Residence in 1980. He was also named theatre consultant to LITERARY CAVALCADE. Cited twice by OUTSTANDING EDUCATORS OF AMERICA, Dr. Delgado has taught acting, directing, playwriting, and dramatic literature. He has also served as chairman of new plays at the Dallas Theater Center; literary advisor to The Whole Theatre Company in Montclair, New Jersey; and script judge for various play competitions.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
