1 Recommended 2010
A Street Car Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
8m, 5f ,4 children , Classic Drama
Widely considered a landmark play, deals with a culture clash between two
iconic characters, Blanche D uBois, a fading relic of the Old South, and
Stanley Kowalski, a rising member of the industrial, urban working class
Considerations:
Creates casting challenges. Although the play is considered a classic of
American Lit, some concern about the subject matter which includes
intimations of rape, homosexuality, suicide, misogyny and madness. Hilarity
ensues
Costume needs: Multiple outfits for each character
Scenic needs: Stock set. Multi-level. Bedroom, outside apartment.
2 Recommended 2010
Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
8m, 4f drama
Arcadia is set in Sidley Park, an English county house, in the years 18091812 and 1993. Juxtaposing the activities of two modern scholars and the
house's current residents with the lives of those who lived there 180 years
earlier. In 1809, Thomasina Coverly, the daughter of the house, is a
precocious teenager with ideas about mathematics well ahead of her time.
She studies with her tutor, Septimus Hodge, a friend of Lord Byron (who is an
unseen guest in the house). In 1989, a writer and an academic converge on
the house: the writer is investigating a hermit who once lived on the
grounds; the professor of literature is investigating a mysterious chapter in
the life of Byron. As their investigation unfolds, helped by a post-graduate
student in mathematical biology, the truth about what happened in 1809 is
gradually revealed.
The play's set features a large table, which is used by the characters in both
1809 and 1989. Props are not removed when the play switches time period,
so that the books, coffee mugs, quill pens, portfolios, and laptop computers
of 1809 and 1989 appear alongside each other in a blurring of past and
present.
Considerations: Difficult to cast, stage, direct, market, and act. This play was
universally loved and though challenging generally accepted as something to
aspire to.
Costuming: Can be modern
Scenic:
Levels.
Lots of windows. Minimal
3 Recommended 2010
God of Carnage by Yasmina Resa
2m, 2f Drama
Before the play begins, two 11 year-old children, Ferdinand Reille and Bruno
Vallon, get involved in an argument because Bruno refuses to let Ferdinand
join his 'gang' Ferdinand knocks out two of Bruno's teeth with a stick. That
night, the parents of both children meet to discuss the matter. Ferdinand's
father, Alan, is a lawyer who is never off his mobile phone. Ferdinand's
mother, Annette is in "wealth management" (her husband's wealth to be
precise), and constantly wears good shoes. Bruno's father, Michael is a selfmade wholesaler with an unwell mother. Bruno's mother, Veronica, is writing
a book about Darfur.
As the evening goes on, the meeting degenerates as the four get in irrational
arguments, and their discussion falls into the loaded topic of misogyny, racial
prejudice and homophobia.
BONUS: Deals with issues
Costumes:
Modern
Scenic:
4 Recommended 2010
Jake's
Women by Neil Simon
1m, 7f,( one 12 yr old) Comedy
Jake is a novelist who faces his marital crisis by daydreaming about the
women in his life: a revered first wife who was killed in an accident' his
daughter as a child and as a young women; his bossy sister; an opinionated
analyst; his current wife who is leaving Jake for another man; and a
prospective third wife. The wildly comic and sometimes moving flashbacks
played in his mind are only interrupted by visits from the actual women.
Comedy Plus
Costumes: Not hard
Scenic: Stock Set
5 Recommended 2010
Rounding Third by
Richard Dresser
2 m comedy
Follows two Little League coaches through an entire season from their first
tentative meeting to the climactic championship game. Don is the rough,
blue-collar, win-at-no-cost veteran coach, and Michael is the new comer, a
corporate executive who's never played baseball before. Over the course of
exhilarating victories, heartbreaking defeats and interminable rainouts, the
two men battle over how to lead the team. Michael believes that coaches
should shield the kids from intense competition while making sure everyone
has a good time. Don thinks they should teach the kids how to win.
6 Recommended 2010
Plus: Good for a new director?
Unit set. Two acts. Approximate running time: 2 hours.
Costumes: difficult cause of the specific need for coach things, then again,
can be easy with 2 characters.
Set: Can be stock with a lot of fencing. One level. May need a car to roll out
on stage?
The Price by Arthur Miller
3m, 1f Drama
Vic is a policeman, who gave up a chance at a scientific career to take care
of his aging father, who he believes to be penniless. His wife, Ester, is
desperate for him to retire from the force, but to also get some income.
Perhaps a windfall from the sale of the parent's furniture, now that their
building is to be torn down and they have both passed away. An appraiser,
Solomon, agrees on a price for the lot, just before the other brother, Walter
appears. A successful surgeon, he's lived his life with little contact with his
family. Walter attempts to reconcile with Vic, Family secrets are revealed
and in the end, Solomon is left onstage, the new owner of the roomful of
furniture.
Considerations
Set: a great deal of furniture, mostly antique, some of it very specific e. g. a
harp
Requires three older actors
Three Tall Women by Edward Albee
3f
7 Recommended 2010
The protagonist of the play, a compelling woman of more than ninety years
old, reflects on her life with a mixture of shame, pleasure, regret, and
satisfaction. She recalls the fun of her childhood and her marriage, when she
had an overwhelming optimism for her future. Yet she bitterly recalls the
negative events that resulted in regret: her husbands extramarital affairs,
the death of her husband, and the estrangement of her gay son. Three Tall
Women was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1994, as well as the
Drama Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle awards for best
play.
Pros Small cast for costuming
-Well known Author
Scenic :
Is there the killing of a rooster??
8 Recommended 2010
True West by Sam Shepard
3m, 1f Drama
A tale of two brothers. Austin, a "successful" young man with a family and a
budding screenwriting career house-sits for his mother who is away on
vacation. He has come here for privacy to work on a screenplay, but is
quickly interrupted by his brother Lee, an unshaven alcoholic, thief, and loser
who has also decided to return home. At first, Lee only intends to steal a few
items of value from his mother's neighbors, then move on. Although Austin
protests, he quickly realizes there is little he can do to change his brothers'
behavior and simply requests that he be out of the house by the following
day when Austin is expecting a visit from a Hollywood producer, Saul
Kimmer.
Considerations:
Set: simple, but realistic, with functioning kitchen
An acting challenge, particularly for the two leads
Some adult language and outbursts of violence
Fairly Well known play and writer
Waiting for Godot by Samuel
Beckett
5m, 1 boy Tragicomedy
Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, meet near a tree. They converse on various
topics and reveal that they are waiting there for a man named Godot. While
they wait, two other men enter. Pozzo is on his way to the market to sell his
slave, Lucky. He pauses for a while to converse with Vladimir and Estragon.
Lucky entertains them by dancing and thinking, and Pozzo and Lucky leave.
9 Recommended 2010
After Pozzo and Lucky leave, a boy enters and tells Vladimir that he is a messenger
from Godot. He tells Vladimir that Godot will not be coming tonight, but that he will
surely come tomorrow. Vladimir asks him some questions about Godot and the boy
departs. After his departure, Vladimir and Estragon decide to leave, but they do not
move as the curtain falls.
The next night, Vladimir and Estragon again meet near the tree to wait for Godot.
Lucky and Pozzo enter again, but this time Pozzo is blind and Lucky is dumb. Pozzo
does not remember meeting the two men the night before. They leave and Vladimir
and Estragon continue to wait.
Shortly after, the boy enters and once again tells Vladimir that Godot will not be
coming. He insists that he did not speak to Vladimir yesterday. After he leaves,
Estragon and Vladimir decide to leave, but again they do not move as the curtain
falls, ending the play.
