Martin E. Segal Theatre Center – förlag

Four millennial plays from the French side of the language divide in Belgium. This anthology captures the tendencies of contemporary European playwright in the beginning of the new millennium, as interracial, intercontinental marriage, the privileges afforded to society's leaders, the resurgence of the Extreme Right, and creative ways of juggling love relationships are presented in a variety of accessible styles. The Magnolia by Jacques de Decker: Marie-Antoinette has two boyfriends, neither of whom knows that the other exists. She's Marie to Adrian, and Antoinette to Julian. This arrangement, though it suits her perfectly, can't last forever. Her vain efforts to keep her novel way of life running according to plan yield great hilarity. Marie-Antoinette finds she'll just have to eat cake. The Sorcerers by Serge Goriely: Luc brings his bride Paula back from Nigeria to live in Brussels. His family, open-minded, urbane, and liberal as they are, cast a spell on her, bringing about her sickness and demise. This shocking drama provides an intimate, unvarnished look at black/white relationships in contemporary Europe subsequent to the colonial era.Patriot's Cafe by Jean-Marie Piemme: A view into the lives of members of the Extreme Right in Wallonia. Forging an innovative, lyrical style, this play reveals the personal motives -- the quest for power, a longing for significance, the need to belong to something larger -- that cause ordinary people to succumb to the lure of totalitarian rhetoric. This Is Not A Real Pipe by Pascal Vrebos: A famous French statesman reminiscent of Dominique Strauss-Kahn finds himself alone with a cleaning lady in his New York hotel room. Various possible scenarios ensue, none of which may be the real "pipe." The gears of class, race and gender disparities grind away in this prismatic comedy-drama of epic proportions -- a signature tale for our times.

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.

Tunisian playwright and actress Jalila Baccar and director co-author Fadhel Jaibi are two of the most important voices in contemporary Arab theater. No theatre artists were more closely involved with the ongoing events of the Arab Spring nor more astute critics of the constantly shifting political scene and their plays are enormously helpful in understanding the cross-currents of a country like Tunisia at the opening of the twenty-first century. Baccar's roles, acting and theatrical narratives, co-created by her director and husband Fadhel Jaibi, are extremely intricate, psychologically multi-layered, and have the uncanny ability to capture the complexity and depth of grand themes prevalent in Arab societies. Baccar has performed in over twenty of her plays, including major theatrical productions that have been staged worldwide by Jaibi: Junun (Dementia, 2009) at the Edinburgh Festival, Khamsoun (Captive Bodies, 2006) -- the first Arab play to be performed at the Theatre de L'Odeon in Paris, and Araberlin (2002), among many others.Together they founded Tunisia's first private theatre company, Le Nouveau Theatre in 1976, as well as (in 1994) Familia Productions, instrumental in modernizing Tunisian theatre and engaging it in contemporary political concerns. This collection of their recent work, The Trilogy of Future Memory, includes Khamsoun (2006), translated by Nabil Cherni, and Amnesia (2010), and Tsunami (2013) translated and Marvin Carlson who has also provided an introduction.

Four innovative plays by Polish-Jewish playwright Amelia Hertz, whose work is based on bizarre and macabre episodes from history and legend. Hertz creates a tightly controlled theatre of cruelty that confronts extreme situations and poses "no exit" ethical and existential dilemmas. The plays included here deal with fin-de-siecle subjects rife with perverse sexuality and violence.

Jumping off from Shakespeare's tragedy, the Arab Hamlet tradition has produced bitter and hilarious political satire, musical comedy, and farce. This volume samples that tradition with works by Moroccan Nabyl Lahlou (1968), Syrian Mamduh Adwan (1976), Jordanian Nader Omran (1984), Iraqi Jawad al-Assadi (1994), plus an autobiographical sketch by Egyptian Mahmoud Aboudoma (2006).

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.

This volume contains the proceedings of the Zeami and the No Theatre in the World symposium, held in New York City in October 1997, in conjunction with the Japanese Theatre in the World exhibit shown at the same time at the Japan Society and, in the spring of 1998, the Villa Stuck in Munich, Germany.

Includes the proceedings of a symposium on this subject held at the CUNY Graduate Center in February of 1999, along with the first English translations of three short plays by leading Egyptian playwrights who spoke at the symposium: Alfred Farag's The Last Walk; Gamal Maqsoud's The Absent One; and Lenin El-Ramley's The Nightmare.

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