THE STORY: The scene is the lobby of a rundown hotel so seedy that it has lost the e from its marquee. As the action unfolds, the residents, ranging from young to old, from the defiant to the resigned, meet and talk and interact with each other during t

Since 1995 The 24 Hour Plays have been responding to theatre in the moment. As the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic brought an end to live theatre in the USA and Europe, the company sprang to work to keep the arts alive. Bringing together some of America's most prolific writers for the stage and screen, this unique and contemporary book of monologues collates the responses in dramatic fashion, making for an anthology of work that is timely, moving, irreverent and at its best, transcendent. Featuring original monologues by writers such as David Lindsay-Abaire, Clare Barron, Hansol Jung, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Christoper Oscar Peña, Jesse Eisenberg and Monique Moses this is a rich collection that can be enjoyed by actors, writers and those looking for creative responses to the global COVID-19 crisis. With over 50 monologues from the first three weeks of the project, edited by Howard Sherman, this is an important collection that documents an unprecedented moment in history whilst also offering practical resource for actors and performers.

Drama /2w, 3m, 1 female voiceover In high school, Neely was deemed "Most Likely to Succeed," but at 19, she's still working at the Amoco station and taking care of her meth-addicted younger brother (their mom ran out on them in search of herself). Her best-friend is a small-time drug dealer (also 19) who's taking care of the baby he had with a girl who has gone off to college abandoning them both. Into this mess strolls a new cop, who takes an interest in Neely and starts to date her. A swift-mo

THE STORY: The time is now, the place New York City. Rich, a young writer who is beginning to find success, is breaking up with his longtime lover, Saul, a professional photographer. The split is particularly difficult for Saul, who still loves Ric

THE STORY: No menu necessary at the world's greatest restaurant, the Café du Grand Boeuf in Paris. Why? Because we have everything, headwaiter Claude admonishes waiter-in-training Antoine. On this hot July night in 1961, the two join waitress Mim

The sad lament of Pecos Bill on the eve of killing his wife: Cast: gender - mixed; number - 1 male, 1 female; size - small; ages - adults.

This Student Edition of Brecht's classic dramatisation of the conflict over possession of a child features an extensive introduction and commentary that includes a plot summary, discussion of the context, themes, characters, style and language as well as questions for further study and notes on words and phrases in the text. It is the perfect edition for students of theatre and literature. Brecht projects an ancient Chinese story onto a realistic setting in Soviet Georgia. In a theme that echoes the Judgment of Solomon, two women argue over the possession of a child; thanks to the unruly judge, Azdak (one of Brecht's most vivid creations) natural justice is done and the peasant Grusha keeps the child she loves, even though she is not its mother. Written in exile in the United States during the Second World War, The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a politically-charged, much-revived and complex example of Brecht's epic theatre. This volume contains expert notes on the author's life and work, historical and political background to the play, photographs from stage productions and a glossary of difficult words and phrases. It features the acclaimed translation by James and Tania Stern with W. H. Auden.

THE STORY: Deals with the encounter between a cynical, sophisticated New York antiques dealer and the taciturn young man, her nephew and house guest, who has come to the city to study theology. As reticent and unemotional as his aunt is loquacious and brittle, the young man contends that he has undergone a mystical experience-a revelation which is as unsettling to his aunt as it is fulfilling to him. As though intimidated by his inscrutable reserve, she grows increasingly voluble, revealing in her wise-cracking chatter the defense which she has constructed to keep the world at bay-and to mask the innate sensitivity and idealism which persist despite the loneliness and futility of her existence.

Traces the evolution of the Circle Repertory Company from its beginnings in 1969 to its fifteenth-anniversary year as a critically acclaimed off-Broadway theatrical institution in 1984.