For over ten years, the annual Prelude Festival has been a force in New York theatre and performance: a free, three-day festival that celebrates artistic and academic exchange in the heart of the city. This book celebrates ten years (2003–2013) of unlimited creativity and discourse within an academic setting.

Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour opened on Broadway in 1934. This drama about two schoolteachers falsely accused of having a lesbian affair was a popular and critical success-but the subject matter caused authorities to ban the play in many locations. This new work combines excerpts from Hellman's controversial play and material from the 1936 case which sought to have the play banned.

A story of basic and perverse family dynamics, the play is an all-female human comedy in three acts. The Mother Daria lives with her Daughter Federica among bulky modern appliances, godlike monumental figures; they confront reality as they eat, chat, and get dressed. Sometimes other characters in the family constellation, such as the Analyst, join them. The womb of domestic life is staged in chapters, which lead not towards an ending but towards an origin. The play portrays the indifference, rage, and helplessness of those who live with depression.

Includes:We Decided to Go Because We Don’t Want to Be a Burden to You by Daria Deflorian & Antonio TagliariniEdited by Frank Hentschker, Translated by Maria Galante“We realized that we are a weight to the state, doctors, pharmacists and society. So we decided we’ll be off, to spare you further worry. You’ll save our four pensions and you’ll live better.” The play takes place in a suburban apartment where the women have just takentheir “sleeping” pills. A reflection on suicide not as an existential act, but as an extreme political act. Is there an altruistic suicide?The Healer by Michele SanteramoEdited by Frank Hentschker, Translated by Allison EikerenkoetterA drunken nearly blind old healer, with an intellectual son waiting to surpass him, attempts to heal an injured boxer, a pregnant woman, and a childless couple by bringing them together, making them relate in strange circumstances on a set where doors open and close on mysterious waiting rooms.The Neighbors by Fausto ParavidinoEdited by Frank Hentschker, Translated by Jane HouseHe is alone in the apartment. He hears some footsteps coming from the landing. Trying not to make a sound, he looks through the spyhole. He tells Greta when she comes home that he saw the neighbors. How were they? He cannot tell, seeing is not understanding, but he is scared. Why? Who knows? This is a play about our fears, real and imagined, about ourselves and the other, about neighbors near and far, about war.

The four volumes contain all 23 of Witkiewicz’s plays in English translation, including The Madman and the Nun, The Crazy Locomotive, The Water Hen, The Shoemaker, They, The Pragmatists, Tumor Brainiowicz, Gyubal Wahazar, The Anonymous Work, The Cuttlefish, The Beelzebub Sonata, as well as essays and introductions by translator Daniel Gerould.Volume 1 contents:PrefaceChronologyIntroductionW’s Theory of TheatreW’s Dramatic UniverseComedies of Family LifeThe Poor BoyMenagerie or The Elephant EscapadesCourageous Princess [King and Thief]Princess Magdalena or The Importunate PrinceCockroaches

The four volumes contain all 23 of Witkiewicz’s plays in English translation, including The Madman and the Nun, The Crazy Locomotive, The Water Hen, The Shoemaker, They, The Pragmatists, Tumor Brainiowicz, Gyubal Wahazar, The Anonymous Work, The Cuttlefish, The Beelzebub Sonata, as well as essays and introductions by translator Daniel Gerould.Volume 2 contents:Maciej Korbowa and BellatrixThe PragmatistsTumor BrainiowiczMister Price or Tropical MadnessThe New DeliveranceTootli-PootliTheyCountry HouseThe Independence of Triangles

The four volumes contain all 23 of Witkiewicz’s plays in English translation, including The Madman and the Nun, The Crazy Locomotive, The Water Hen, The Shoemaker, They, The Pragmatists, Tumor Brainiowicz, Gyubal Wahazar, The Anonymous Work, The Cuttlefish, The Beelzebub Sonata, as well as essays and introductions by translator Daniel Gerould.Volume 3 contents:Metaphysics of a Two-Headed CalfGyubal WahazarThe Water HenThe Anonymous WorkThe CuttlefishDainty Shapes and Hairy Apes

For over ten years, the annual Prelude Festival has been a force in New York theatre and performance: a free, three-day festival that celebrates artistic and academic exchange in the heart of the city. This book celebrates ten years (2003–2013) of unlimited creativity and discourse within an academic setting.

Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour opened on Broadway in 1934. This drama about two schoolteachers falsely accused of having a lesbian affair was a popular and critical success-but the subject matter caused authorities to ban the play in many locations. This new work combines excerpts from Hellman's controversial play and material from the 1936 case which sought to have the play banned.

A story of basic and perverse family dynamics, the play is an all-female human comedy in three acts. The Mother Daria lives with her Daughter Federica among bulky modern appliances, godlike monumental figures; they confront reality as they eat, chat, and get dressed. Sometimes other characters in the family constellation, such as the Analyst, join them. The womb of domestic life is staged in chapters, which lead not towards an ending but towards an origin. The play portrays the indifference, rage, and helplessness of those who live with depression.

Includes:We Decided to Go Because We Don’t Want to Be a Burden to You by Daria Deflorian & Antonio TagliariniEdited by Frank Hentschker, Translated by Maria Galante“We realized that we are a weight to the state, doctors, pharmacists and society. So we decided we’ll be off, to spare you further worry. You’ll save our four pensions and you’ll live better.” The play takes place in a suburban apartment where the women have just takentheir “sleeping” pills. A reflection on suicide not as an existential act, but as an extreme political act. Is there an altruistic suicide?The Healer by Michele SanteramoEdited by Frank Hentschker, Translated by Allison EikerenkoetterA drunken nearly blind old healer, with an intellectual son waiting to surpass him, attempts to heal an injured boxer, a pregnant woman, and a childless couple by bringing them together, making them relate in strange circumstances on a set where doors open and close on mysterious waiting rooms.The Neighbors by Fausto ParavidinoEdited by Frank Hentschker, Translated by Jane HouseHe is alone in the apartment. He hears some footsteps coming from the landing. Trying not to make a sound, he looks through the spyhole. He tells Greta when she comes home that he saw the neighbors. How were they? He cannot tell, seeing is not understanding, but he is scared. Why? Who knows? This is a play about our fears, real and imagined, about ourselves and the other, about neighbors near and far, about war.

The four volumes contain all 23 of Witkiewicz’s plays in English translation, including The Madman and the Nun, The Crazy Locomotive, The Water Hen, The Shoemaker, They, The Pragmatists, Tumor Brainiowicz, Gyubal Wahazar, The Anonymous Work, The Cuttlefish, The Beelzebub Sonata, as well as essays and introductions by translator Daniel Gerould.Volume 1 contents:PrefaceChronologyIntroductionW’s Theory of TheatreW’s Dramatic UniverseComedies of Family LifeThe Poor BoyMenagerie or The Elephant EscapadesCourageous Princess [King and Thief]Princess Magdalena or The Importunate PrinceCockroaches

The four volumes contain all 23 of Witkiewicz’s plays in English translation, including The Madman and the Nun, The Crazy Locomotive, The Water Hen, The Shoemaker, They, The Pragmatists, Tumor Brainiowicz, Gyubal Wahazar, The Anonymous Work, The Cuttlefish, The Beelzebub Sonata, as well as essays and introductions by translator Daniel Gerould.Volume 2 contents:Maciej Korbowa and BellatrixThe PragmatistsTumor BrainiowiczMister Price or Tropical MadnessThe New DeliveranceTootli-PootliTheyCountry HouseThe Independence of Triangles

The four volumes contain all 23 of Witkiewicz’s plays in English translation, including The Madman and the Nun, The Crazy Locomotive, The Water Hen, The Shoemaker, They, The Pragmatists, Tumor Brainiowicz, Gyubal Wahazar, The Anonymous Work, The Cuttlefish, The Beelzebub Sonata, as well as essays and introductions by translator Daniel Gerould.Volume 3 contents:Metaphysics of a Two-Headed CalfGyubal WahazarThe Water HenThe Anonymous WorkThe CuttlefishDainty Shapes and Hairy Apes