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Winner! 1938 Pulitzer Prize for DramaIn an important publishing event Samuel French in cooperation with the Thornton Wilder estate is pleased to release the playwright's definitive version of Our Town. This edition of the play differs only slightly from previous acting editions yet it presents Our Town as Thornton Wilder wished it to be performed. Described by Edward Albee as "...the greatest American play ever written " the story follows the small town

Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett Full Length, Musical / 12m, 10f, 1 girl (doubling possible) / Ints., exts. This enchanting classic of children's literature is reimagined in brilliant musical style by composer Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of 'Night Mother. Orphaned in India, 11 year-old Mary Lennox returns to Yorkshire to live with her embittered, reclusive uncle Archibald and his invalid son Colin. The estate's many wonders include a magic garden which beckons the children with haunting melodies and the "Dreamers", spirits from Mary's past who guide her through her new life, dramatizing The Secret Garden's compelling tale of forgiveness and renewal. Winner of 3 Tony Awards. "Elegant, entrancing...The best American musical of the Broadway season." - Time "A splendid, intelligent musical...It's all you can hope for in children's theatre. But the best surprise is that this show is the most adult new musical of the season." - USA Today

One act review / 6 to 30 children (10 to 15 is ideal), ages 5 to 15 Area staging; unit set. This musical romp through the joys and sorrows of being a child is hilarious. Children give 23 lessons in such subjects as how to beg for a dog, how to torture your sister, how to act after being sent to your room and how to laugh hysterically. The pace is fast, the tone subversive and the recognition instant. "Applause, applause, applause!"-- Steve Allen "Delightfully clever."-- Hollywood Reporter "Razzle dazzle staging, Broadway style songs and an imaginative script."-- TV Guide.

Historical Drama Characters: 3 male, 2 female It's 1855, Kansas Territory. The country is divided. People are turning against their neighbors because of their beliefs. War is on the horizon. Good people will do bad things and love will grow in places it shouldn't. A provocative, funny and insightful play revisits a crucial moment in American history. Homesteading farmers George and Kitty fight the elements to start a new life as a politically divided country takes a dangerous step towards civil war. "To Walat's credit, her fast-moving play does not preach, merely raises questions, among them: Who are we as a nation? What shaped us and why? And does what we were-violent, intractable and destructive-play into our present-day society?...Bleeding Kansas is an excellent work" -San Diego News

Comedy Characters: 2 males, 2 females Bare stage, movable props The Obie award-winning Sexual Perversity in Chicago "takes funny and painful digs at the fantasies and distances of the contemporary sexual game," according to The New York Times. Two male office workers, Danny and Bernie, are on the make in the swinging singles scene of the early 1970's. Danny meets Deborah in a library and soon they are lovers as well as roommates. The other couple, Bernie and Joan, seem to have the politics of sex down pat but are as confused as their more naive counterparts. After much comic drama, the two men end as they started, talking a good game in the local bar. Published with The Duck Variations. "Mamet has the most acute ear for dialogue of any American writer since J.D. Salinger."-The Village Voice "Marvelously observant...A glittering mosaic of tiny, deadly muzzle flashes from the war between men and women among the filing cabinets and single bars."-The New York Times

Dramatic Readings Eighteen well-known tales are given a new look by having the main character from each tell a story. Poe, Hawthorne, Wilde, Twain, O. Henry are some of the authors represented.

For audition, performance and classroom use these highly diverting pieces are a perfect fit. From the foreward by Greer Garson, "A kindly sense of humor and acute observation illumine his gallery of recognizable contemporary portraits."

Young audience Characters: 3 male, 3 female With help from Uncle Pirate and his faithful talking penguin, maybe, just maybe, Wilson can survive the fourth grade. Wilson is just your average kid. Then one day he finds out his uncle is a pirate...like, a REAL pirate! Grab yer eye patches and pirate hats, mateys! The adventure begins now! "At heart Uncle Pirate proves more of a Boy Scout than a buccaneer, but that won't distress theatergoers under 12, this diverting and often funny musical's ideal audience...Theatergoers at a recent performance particularly enjoyed a classroom duel in which Uncle Pirate bravely wields first a pointer, then a ruler and finally a book. Education, it seems, really is the way to win life's battles." -New York Times. "There's a talking penguin and plenty of 'arrrs!' for the young'uns, while elementary schoolers and their parents will appreciate the sarcastic dialogue and clever songs...a whimsical adaptation of the eponymous kids book is Jolly Roger fun." -Time Out New York

Characters: 4 male, 1 female with doubling Unit Set Winner! LA Weekly Award for Best New Play Award-winning playwright Jim Leonard's latest, Battle Hymn, is the story of 16-year-old Martha's epic pregnancy and her incredible search for motherhood, meaning, and love in a war-torn American landscape. After being abandoned by her father, losing her true love and witnessing the horrors of the Civil War firsthand, Martha settles on one incontrovertible fact: She will not raise her baby in a blood-soaked, violent country. And so, Martha keeps traveling in search of a better world and a safe place to bring forth her child...this is easier said than done. From the mud and the blood of Fort Sumter to singing cows, San Francisco and the summer of love, Martha's journey embodies the tragedy, humor and hope that have helped shape the last 150 years of U.S. history. "Refreshingly original, smart and engaging." -LA Times "Sinfully rich theatrical adventure infused with profoundly resonant social satire that produces visceral wonderment." -Backstage West "Leonard's writing is rich and often humorous, and he's skilled at creating memorable characters." -Variety

Dramatic Comedy Characters: 1 male, 1 female Beau Bridges, winner of three Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes, teams up with his daughter Emily Bridges, a recent college grad, to create this stage version of Richard Boleslavsky's 1933 narrative about a dedicated acting teacher who, while instructing a young actress in her craft, gives her valuable lessons for living as well. Over the course of ten scenes, the action moves from the teacher's studio to a small theater to a film set to Central park and back, and finally, to a moving denouement atop the Empire State Building in 1936. "[This show] should be seen twice, once to enjoy the story and again to learn the lessons that work equally well in life as on stage...Rare and Wonderful!" -Examiner.com "Enthralling and edifying hour and a half of theater...a big, big hit!" -Stage Scene LA

Full Length, Satirical Comedy Characters: 5 male, 3 female 2 Interior and Exterior Scenes Shaw's satire on war and the professional soldier.

> Dramatic comedy Cahracters: 3 male, 2 female A hip and inventive new play by Walter Mosley, best-selling author of more than 25 books and most widely known for his popular Easy Rawlins mysteries, including "Devil in a Blue Dress". Tempest Landry, a street-wise young man living in Harlem, unexpectedly finds himself at the Pearly Gates. When Saint Peter orders him to hell, the quick-witted Tempest refuses to go. A technical loophole forces heaven to send Tempest back to Earth with an angel in tow to keep him out of trouble. The resulting battle of wills takes an intriguing look at good versus evil and what it means to be human. The Fall of Heaven, is a stunning success. Mosley deftly reworks "The Tempest Tales" into an incendiary piece of theatre that's both enthralling and engaging, drawing in the audience and never letting them go." -Broadwayworld.com "The Fall of Heaven is one hell of a show" -TheVitalVoice.com "The Fall of Heaven is an auspicious stage debut that will entertain audiences [and] could mark the rise of Walter Mosley as a powerful contemporary voice on the American stage." -City Beat "Engaging, fantastical morality play...take a well-worn theme - deceased returns to Earth with angelic guidance - and add the inimitable voice of Walter Mosley, best known for his series of Easy Rawlins suspense novels, and a nearly cliche mise-en-scene becomes a rich playground for examination of moral greys, along with a healthy dose of American racial politics." -St. Louis Magazine

This collection of eight 10 minute plays include: PERFECT WEATHER (2m) - When a strange man interrupts Jim's meditative morning ritual, what begins with small talk about the weather, soon devolves into a bizarre interrogation. THE MERRY-GO-ROUND (1 m, 1f) - After a vigorous morning of work, two porn actors get lost in a circular conversation. COMMUNION (1m, 2f) - When a dying man's request for a strawberry milkshake is denied by his long-suffering wife, the couple descend into a battle that could be their last. THE MONSTER (2m) - A motorcycle salesman uses all the usual tricks to lure his customer in, but a strange and violent story prevents him from closing the deal. BASIC PLUMBING (2m) - A small town library is the setting for a stand-off between an up-tight librarian and the local madman. THE DRIVING RANGE (1 m, 1f) - While an instructor leads a woman through the basics of the golf swing, an underlying tension threatens to throw them both off their game. BEHIND THE WHEEL (2m) - A man begs his brother to save him from despair by letting his father-in-law die.THE INCLUSION (1m , 1f) - When a woman invites an old friend to her jewelry store to help him find the best diamond for his fiance, it eventually becomes clear that he wants more than her advice.

Comedy Peter Williams Characters: 6 male, 6 female Interior Set Mild mannered Mr. Beldinker is running for congress on the Good Government ticket. His wife, Aspasia, is writing an opera and their children aren't ordinary teenagers---one's on a health kick, another paints incomprehensible modern pictures and the third is world brat #1. The plot centers around an encyclopedia salesman who hooks them on buying the set on so called easy payments. Mad fun for all!

Comedy / 7m, 4f / 1 Set Confined in is villa at Yalta by illness in April of 1900, Chekhov receives a delightful visit by the Moscow Art Theatre. They have embarked on a provincial tour with the express purpose of persuading Chekhov to give them his latest play. Noteworthy characters include Stanislavski, Valdmir Nemirovich Danchenko, Gorky, Ivan Bunin and actress Olga Knipper who Chekhov, a confirmed bachelor, contemplates marrying even as he acknowledges his advancing consumption. The play is criss crossed with amorous triangles, battles of ego, high spirits and melancholic languor reminiscent of Chekhov's work. Winner of several prestigious awards including a Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Distinguished Playwrighting and an American Theatre Critics Citation. "A truly Chekhovian comedy filled with wit, style, and passion." - L.A. Star News

Beth is preparing food for her father's wake - real sandwiches, which the audience are invited to partake of as they become the mourners visiting following the service. After nursing her father for years, Beth plans to sell the house and go back-packing, despite the disapproval of others.

Farce Characters: 3 male, 9 female Interior Set In an insane asylum we find a number of schoolteachers who have lost their mental balance trying to educate their pupils. The play starts hilariously when the ladies talk and act like their former charges. A love story is introduced with the visit of the niece of the superintendent and a young staff doctor, but each thinks the other is an inmate. This young girl thinks she would like to be a teacher, but after witnessing the antics of schoolteachers she decides to marry the doctor. We recommend it for churches, schools and parent teachers associations.

This collection of Wilder's most famous one act plays includes, The Long Christmas Dinner, The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, Pullman Car Hiawatha, Queens of France, Such Things Only Happen in Books, and Love and How to Cure It. In these mini-masterpieces, Wilder experiments with techniques and dramatic forms he would later develop in his celebrated full-length works, Our Town, The Matchmaker, The Skin of Our Teeth, and The Alcestiad. Among these plays we encounter a first glimpse of Wilder's Stage Manager; his use of pantomime, minimal scenery, and farce; as well as his signature connection between the commonplace and the cosmic dimensions of the human experience.

Characters: 3 male, 2 female Composite set: part of a bedroom, sitting-room, eating-area in kitchen The Rodales seem like an ordinary family, but beneath the surface things are beginning to crack. Jill and Mal have lost the spark in their marriage, their son Sam resents his father and their daughter Chrissie has recently become a mum and is dealing with marriage issues of her own. And while they all share advice on how others should live their lives, nobody is really taking it on board - until Mal and Jill see things from a dramatically different perspective, that is. Waking up one morning and finding they have switched personas, Mal in Jill's body and Jill in Mal's, they must continue life "as normal" as their other half. Jill faces the challenges of working with their son-in-law, Dean, as the Store Manager of a homewares shop, while Mal has suddenly becomes a housewife, learning more about his children - and finding out the secrets they already know about him! Will seeing things from the other side make matters even worse, or is this just what they need in order to save their family?

Oscar Wilde Full Length, Farce comedy Charcters: 5 male, 4 female Exterior Set and 2 Interior Sets This masterpiece is probably the most famous of all comedies. It revolves wittily around the most ingenious case of "manufactured" mistaken identity ever put into a play.

Farce Characters:4 male, 8 female Interior Set Barry Hollis, Princeton graduate, has just inherited his father's fortune. Barry meets and falls in love with Gladys Vance. He persuades his aunt to invite Gladys for a visit. Another note goes to Patsie Linder, old flame of Barry's, saying it's all over. Alas, the notes get mixed! Patsie arrives and threatens a breach of promise suit unless Barry marries her. But he can't marry her if he's already married. so he gets the butler's daughter to pretend to be his wife. Into this situation marches Gladys and Barry then learns he's almost broke. All his girl friends desert him---all except one. And she helps bring the play to a surprising finish.

Characters: 3 male, 2 female Interior Winner! 2011 Obie Award for Playwriting Nominated for the 2011 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play Samuel D. Hunter's A Bright New Boise is a earnest comedy about the meager profits of modern faith. In the bleak, corporate break room of a craft store in Idaho, someone is summoning The Rapture. Will, who has fled his rural hometown after a scandal at his Evangelical church, comes to the Hobby Lobby, not only for employment, but also to rekindle a relationship with Alex, his brooding teenage son, whom he gave up for adoption several years ago. Alex works there along with Leroy, his adopted brother and protector, and Anna, a hapless young woman who reads bland fiction but hopes for dramatic endings. As their manager, foul-mouthed Pauline, tries ceaselessly to find order (and profit) in the chaos of small business, these lost souls of the Hobby Lobby confront an unyielding world through the beige-tinted impossibility of modern faith. "This clear-eyed comedy will lift your heart." -Time Out New York "Samuel D. Hunter has offered us a humorous and touching exploration of faith and family" - NYTheatre.com "Samuel D.Hunter has effectively rendered himself a playwright to watch with A Bright New Boise...a quietly affecting drama that delves into the always thorny issues of faith, forgiveness, and second chances with great eloquence and compassion." -TheatreMania

Comedy / Characters: 1 male, 1 female / Set Requirements: 1 Interior In roles originated by Uta Hagen and David Hyde Pierce, this two-character comedy opens as a aging but still formidable woman hires an acerbic dance instructor to give her lessons in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. Antagonism between a gay man and the widow of a Southern Baptist minister gives way to profound compatibility as they swing dance, tango, foxtrot and cha-cha while sharing more than dance steps. During the sixth and final lesson, she reveals a closely guarded secret-she is terminally ill-and he shares his greatest gifts-loyalty and compassion. As Michael takes Lily in his arms on the final meeting, they both transcend fear and mortality while the sun sets on their last dance.

Drama Charcters: 2 male, 3 female Interior Set As Fidel Castro storms Habana, a wealthy Batistlano is forced to flee to America with her husband and unborn child. Adria begs her cook, a proud and loyal woman who values her mistress's friendship, to promise she will protect the mansion from the communist upheaval. Over the next forty years Gladys keeps this promise, despite tremendous emotional and physical loss. When Adria's daughter vacations in Cuba and comes to see her mother's old house, Gladys is forced to confront harsh truths. Not only has Adria forgotten her, but now Glayds is accused of leading a life of betrayal in a house that isn't hers. Gladys's struggle mirrors the cultural divide in Cuba that separates the delicately preserved past from the need to survive that is molding a rough-hewed future from the majestic determination and nobility of the Cuban people. "Completely riveting."-Newsday "First rate...Machado uses the kitchen as a metaphor to examine the oppression and betrayals of both exile and revolution. A shining theatrical experience."-The New Yorker "Powerful. [The] writing is political and unflinching."-Miami Herald