Plays and Playwrights 2009 is the tenth volume in our series of newly produced plays by emerging playwrights. The plays included in this anthology cover the breadth of indie theater as seen on stage during the past season. They represent what is on the mind of theatre artists today. You will find, unusual for our anthologies, three solo pieces (American Badass, A Fire As Bright As Heaven, and Krapp, 39). Also included are three very different plays about different kinds of loss (Linus & Alora, Sister Cities, and TRACES/fades), all beautifully envisioned. Two of the plays ( Death at Film Forum and Krapp, 39) use multi media to tell their own personal stories. And two other plays deal with very different aspects of intolerance in this new century (Nowhere On the Border and S/He. ). Conversation Storm defies most all attempts at categorizing as it re-interprets while, at the same time, breaking many of the rules of traditional theatre while telling a timely story of today. The anthology is rounded out with Hospital 2008 which incorporates many of the above themes as a four-part story with hints of realism, absurdism, mystery, and dark humor.
Here is a quick rundown of the contents of this new volume: HOSPITAL 2008 by Randy Sharp and Axis Company: A four-part serial play that explores the unconscious memories of a man in a coma. LINUS & ALORA by Andrew Irons: A whimsical and poetical exploration of the powers of imagination: a lot can happen in nine months. SISTER CITIES by Colette Freedman: Four sisters reunite following their mother s alleged suicide in this surprising and incisive comedy. S/HE by Nanna Nick Mwaluko: The journey from Samantha to Sam: a young African American biological female struggles with gender and becomes a man. DEATH AT FILM FORUM by Eric Bland: Aspiring filmmaker/auteurs compete a la Project Runway in this very funny mixed media satirical drama. TRACES/FADES by Lenora Champagne: A meditation on Alzheimer s and our national inability to remember history. NOWHERE ON THE BORDER by Carlos Lacamara: A timely drama about a Mexican father searching the Arizona desert for his missing daughter, and the American Minuteman who detains him. AMERICAN BADASS, OR 12 CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF A NATIONAL IDENTITY by Chris Harcum: In a dozen monologues, a look at who we are in 2008 and how we may have gotten that way. A FIRE AS BRIGHT AS HEAVEN by Tim Collins: An epic solo tour de force chronicling the past seven years of American upheaval. CONVERSATION STORM by Rick Burkhardt: A mind-blowing exercise in the justification of torture, in a taut, concise, single act. KRAPP, 39 by Michael Laurence: Haunted by Beckett s Krapp, a 39-year-old actor throws himself a birthday party in this deeply personal solo play about the last moments of youth.
As with all our anthologies, a detailed introduction is included by editor Martin Denton, a Foreword by playwright Garth Wingfield, and permission information for producing the plays.
Martin Denton is the founder and Executive Director of The New York Theatre Experience, Inc., (NYTE) and editor and chief theatre reviewer for NYTE s website nytheatre.com. He has edited all the play anthologies published by NYTE Small Press featuring, to date, the work of 144 emerging playwrights. He is, also, the creator of the nytheatrecast, New York City's first regularly scheduled theatre podcast offering original content.
