What is everyone's favorite straight play. I am looking for some good things to read for the summer and I figured I should read some plays. I'm sorry if this has been posted before, I searched and couldn't find anything.
Oh and what are some essentials that everyone should read. I'm looking to expand my knowledge on theatre as a whole. Thank you in advance.
"Death of a Salesman" - Arthur Miller (considered by many as the greatest American play) "The Glass Menagerie" - Tennessee Williams "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" the Brighton trilogy - Neil Simon "Brighton Beach Memoirs" "Biloxi Blues" "Broadway Bound" "A Raisin in the Sun" "Our Town"- Thornton Wilder Just some of my favorites - Enjoy!!!
If you want the essentials, you must include Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, Brecht, and Beckett. These are the real giants of dramatic literature.
For more modern stuff, I would suggest: John Guare: "The House of Blue Leaves" or "Six Degrees of Seperation" Caryl Churchill" "Top Girls" or "Cloud 9" Tony Kushner: both parts of "Angels in America" Paula Vogel: "How I Learned to Drive" David Lindsay-Abare: "Fuddy Meers" Suzan-Lori Parks: "Topdog/Underdog" Tom Stoppard: "Arcadia" anything by CHARLES LUDLAM
All of these might be a bit more difficult to read than Arthur Miller or Neil Simon, but each is BRILLIANT in its own way
"Inside every actor there is a Tiger, a Pig, an Ass, and a Nightingale. You never know which one is going to show up."
-John Michael Higgins in FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
The collection of Sarah Kane plays is a MUST HAVE Three Days of Rain by Richard Greenberg Far Away by Caryl Churchill Shadowbox by Cristofer The Shape of Things by Neil LaBute Stone Cold Dead Serious by Adam Rapp
...best I could think of off the top of my head...
-Anyone want to turn anarchist with me?"Bless you and all who know you, oh wise and penguined one." ~YouWantItWhen????
Err...don't mean to hijack this thread, but this sorta goes along with the topic. Could someone recommend some good comedic plays? (Or...what is your favorite comedic play then? )
Angels In America by Kushner Death of A Salesman by Miller The Importance of Being Earnest by Wilde Mother Courage by Brecht House of Blue Leaves by Guare Master Harold and the boys by Fugard Joe Turner's Come and Gone by Wilson A Delicate Balance by Albee The Seagull by Chekhov Cloud Nine by Churchill Several by Shakespeare
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but my favorite play to read is Cyrnao de Bergerac. It's really beautiful... but terribly boring on stage if not performed as it should be.
"what have we learned? Don't smoke... don't do drugs and don't sing 'Defying Gravity'." -CATSNYRevival
My current favourite is one I saw 2 weeks ago, am seeing tomorrow, and will see again on Tuesday: Syringa Tree by Pamela Gien. The real astonishment comes when you read the script and realize it's all performed by one amazing actress.
Angels in America by Kushner The Importance of Being Earnest by Wilde Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman Our Town by Wilder Noises Off can't remember the playwright's name
"Who is Stephen Sondheim?" -roninjoey "The man who wishes he had written Phantom of the Opera!" - SueleenGay
Silly Cow by Ben Elton - funniest thing I've ever read and I'm not sure it's ever been produced in the US of A Racing Demon by David Hare Raft of the Medusa by Joe Pintaurro Angels Fall, The HOT L Baltimore, Balm in Gilead, The Rimers of Eldrich, Redwood Forest, The Talley Family Trilogy - all by Lanford Wilson, perhaps our most under-appreciated American playwright A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O'Neill The Red Devil Battery Sign and Vieux Carre by Tennessee Williams Kennedy's Children and Mutual Benefit Life by Robert Patrick Ulysses in Traction by Albert Innaurato (sp?) The Primary English Class and Today I Am a Fountain Pen by Israel Horowitz Painting Churches by Tina Howe
Angels in America. Nothing else is even in the same league to me.
"The stage is where I live and come alive and act out all the things that go on in my life. It's not just what I do for a living, it's my shrink and my love affair. No one in my life has ever or ever will kiss me on the mouth like this lover called my relationship with my performance."
Shakespeare "Oedipus Rex" "Volpone" "The White Devil" "The Spanish Tragedy" "The Importance of Being Earnest" "Endgame" & "Waiting for Godot" "The Chairs"& "The Bald Soprano" "Long Day's Journey Into Night" "A Streetcar Named Desire" "La Vida Es Sueno" "Look Back in Anger" "Fool for Love" "What the Butler Saw"