July 4th, Holiday Store Hours

Friday, July 3rd
10am to 5pm

Saturday, July 4th
Store Close.

Thurs, July 2nd: Free reading, talk and Q&A with Louise Shaffer, author of the new Serendipity.

Time: Thursday, July 2, 2009 6:00 p.m.
Location: The Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018
Title of Event: Author Louise Shaffer presents her novel Serendipity

Reading, talk and Q&A with Louise Shaffer, author of the new Serendipity.

Louise Shaffer brings to life three generations of Italian American women in this stunning novel of surprises, secrets, and serendipity.

A child of theatrical royalty, Carrie Manning is having a hard time getting her own act together. Thirty-seven, aimless, and having just buried a famous mother she never understood, she is desperate to uncover her family's mysterious past in the hopes that it will help her understand herself.

Carrie's search reveals the fascinating life stories of her estranged grandmother Lu, a glamorous Broadway star whose dreams came with a price; her great grandmother Mifalda, who gave up everything to come to America as a sixteen-year-old Italian bride; and her father, Bobby, the charismatic Broadway genius who wrote some of Lu’s greatest musicals and died tragically young. At the heart of Carrie's discoveries lies the reason for her mother's complicated life, and a dark secret that has been buried for thirty years.

Serendipity
by Shaffer, Louise
Paper. $14.00

Wed, July 1st: FREE Talk and Book Signing with Playwright CAROLE GAUNT at The Drama Book Shop

Time: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 5:00 p.m.
Location: The Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018
Title of Event: Dance of the Seven Headed Mouse with Garole Gaunt

FREE Talk and Book Signing with Playwright CAROLE GAUNT
Author of Dance of the Seven Headed Mouse, a New Play Currently Running at The Beckett at Theatre Row in New York City.

Directed by Christopher McElroen for a limited engagement through July 25th with Joseph Adams, Laura Bonarrigo, Molly Ephraim and Lauren Currie Lewis.

About the Play
The fault lines are exposed when a seemingly picture-perfect Fifth Avenue family faces the harshest of realities - the death of their daughter. A father turns to work to drown his sorrow, while his wife drifts into a haze of pills and booze. When their surviving child Avril inexplicably drops out of her prestigious New England boarding school, her roommate Juliana arrives for a visit, determined to lure her back. Acting as a catalyst and witness, Juliana exposes the gaping cracks in the family's Upper East Side façade, forcing its three surviving members to engage with one another and the tragedy they share. Dance of the Seven Headed Mouse is a tale of love, loss, and acceptance from Carole Gaunt, award-winning author of the memoir, Hungry Hill.

About the Author
Carole Gaunt received the inaugural Anne Bancroft Memorial Memoir Writing award from the Stony Brook Southampton Writers Conference for Hungry Hill. Her book has been listed in the 2008 Association of American University Presses (AAUP) University Press Books Selected for Public and Secondary School Libraries and was featured on CSPAN's "Book TV" with the theme "Women with Gumption." A graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute, she was an associate producer for the South African doo-wop musical, Kat and the Kings, which ran on Broadway for 180 performances. A former board member of the Alcoholism Council of New York, she often writes about the effects of parental addiction on the children in the family. Also, she has appeared as an actor on Lifetime Television.

Hungry Hill: A Memoir
by Gaunt, Carole O'Malley
Paper. $19.95

Thurs, July 2nd: Free reading, talk and Q&A with Louise Shaffer, author of the new Serendipity.

Time: Thursday, July 2, 2009 6:00 p.m.
Location: The Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018
Title of Event: Author Louise Shaffer presents her novel Serendipity

Reading, talk and Q&A with Louise Shaffer, author of the new Serendipity.

Louise Shaffer brings to life three generations of Italian American women in this stunning novel of surprises, secrets, and serendipity.

A child of theatrical royalty, Carrie Manning is having a hard time getting her own act together. Thirty-seven, aimless, and having just buried a famous mother she never understood, she is desperate to uncover her family's mysterious past in the hopes that it will help her understand herself.

Carrie's search reveals the fascinating life stories of her estranged grandmother Lu, a glamorous Broadway star whose dreams came with a price; her great grandmother Mifalda, who gave up everything to come to America as a sixteen-year-old Italian bride; and her father, Bobby, the charismatic Broadway genius who wrote some of Lu’s greatest musicals and died tragically young. At the heart of Carrie's discoveries lies the reason for her mother's complicated life, and a dark secret that has been buried for thirty years.

Serendipity
by Shaffer, Louise
Paper. $14.00

Wed, July 1st: FREE Talk and Book Signing with Playwright CAROLE GAUNT at The Drama Book Shop

Time: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 5:00 p.m.
Location: The Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018
Title of Event: Dance of the Seven Headed Mouse with Garole Gaunt

FREE Talk and Book Signing with Playwright CAROLE GAUNT
Author of Dance of the Seven Headed Mouse, a New Play Currently Running at The Beckett at Theatre Row in New York City.

Directed by Christopher McElroen for a limited engagement through July 25th with Joseph Adams, Laura Bonarrigo, Molly Ephraim and Lauren Currie Lewis.

About the Play
The fault lines are exposed when a seemingly picture-perfect Fifth Avenue family faces the harshest of realities - the death of their daughter. A father turns to work to drown his sorrow, while his wife drifts into a haze of pills and booze. When their surviving child Avril inexplicably drops out of her prestigious New England boarding school, her roommate Juliana arrives for a visit, determined to lure her back. Acting as a catalyst and witness, Juliana exposes the gaping cracks in the family's Upper East Side façade, forcing its three surviving members to engage with one another and the tragedy they share. Dance of the Seven Headed Mouse is a tale of love, loss, and acceptance from Carole Gaunt, award-winning author of the memoir, Hungry Hill.

About the Author
Carole Gaunt received the inaugural Anne Bancroft Memorial Memoir Writing award from the Stony Brook Southampton Writers Conference for Hungry Hill. Her book has been listed in the 2008 Association of American University Presses (AAUP) University Press Books Selected for Public and Secondary School Libraries and was featured on CSPAN's "Book TV" with the theme "Women with Gumption." A graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute, she was an associate producer for the South African doo-wop musical, Kat and the Kings, which ran on Broadway for 180 performances. A former board member of the Alcoholism Council of New York, she often writes about the effects of parental addiction on the children in the family. Also, she has appeared as an actor on Lifetime Television.

Hungry Hill: A Memoir
by Gaunt, Carole O'Malley
Paper. $19.95

Auditions in NYC

Ivoryton Playhouse, CT

MIRACLE WORKER

NYC Audition 6/24 by appt.

Broadway - MTC

COLLECTED STORIES

NYC EPA Audition 6/25

Peter Jay Sharp Theatre on Theatre Row

SHRUNKEN HEADS

NYC Audition 6/27 by appt.

Maurer Productions, West Windsor, NJ

HOLLYWOOD ARMS

NJ Audition, July 12

POW! (Play Of The Week)

JEWTOPIA
by Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson

Gentile or Jew, you will love Jewtopia. Fogel and Wolfson’s ridiculously funny piece immerses us in the world of Jewish tradition with immaculate comic timing. Chris O'Connell, a Gentile, and Adam Lipschitz, a Jew, combine forces in order to achieve what every single man of thirty dreams of: marriage to a gorgeous, rich Jewish girl. Chaos ensues.

This play has an abundance of comic energy. I know little of the Jewish tradition - in fact a lot of the jokes escape me - but still I can appreciate the humor and sympathize with the struggle of the leading characters as they try to fit in.

Everyday at the Drama Book shop we get asked for recommendations for good contemporary comedic scenes. Well, Jewtopia is full of scenes in every shape and size, hot and fresh straight from the oven.

Cast: 3M, 3W

Scenes/Monologues: Jewtopia is a goldmine for two person scenes for two male actors. Also, Act Two includes a family scene, which I hope none can relate to but will leave all with laughter-induced pain in their sides and a hunger to cast and perform it.

Recommended by: Muiris

Staff Favorite: Cops

COPS
by Terry Curtis Fox

Here at the Drama Book Shop, we come across a title now and again that falls into the category, "an oldie but a goodie". Maybe we've never read the play before. Maybe we never even knew it existed. But after giving it a try, we're convinced: our customers should give it a try, too.

One such undiscovered gem is Cops.

Set in the mid-1970s, Cops focuses on a group of ordinary Chicago police officers who have ducked into an all-night diner to grab a quick bite and engage in some shop talk. The tales they tell are fast-paced and colorful, and filled with ‘cop-speak’.

And then...disaster.

A gunman appears and kills a cop. A showdown develops as the gunman barricades himself behind the counter. The suspense increases. Who will live? Who will die? Will the gunman listen to the cops and surrender -- or will his next stop be a slab in the morgue?

Cast: 8 M, 1 W.

Scenes/Monologues: A short, tense drama featuring a mostly male cast (only the role of the waitress is written for a woman), Cops has lots of monologues for actors.

Recommended by: Stu

Interesting sidebar: One of the stars of the play's 1976 Chicago premiere was ‘professional T.V. cop’ Dennis Franz (Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue), who played Barberson. If you're familiar with Franz's work at all, you'll hear his voice in everything Barberson says!

Seen & Heard at The Drama Book Shop

Douglas Carter Beane at the Drama Book Shop

"I can't imagine being in the theatre district without stopping by the Drama Book Shop."

Doug is author of many works including screenplays, musicals and plays: including such titles as Advice from a Caterpillar, As Bees in Honey Drown, The Country Club, Little Dog Laughed, Music from a Sparkling Planet, and Xanadu (book of the musical) -- ALL available at the Drama Book Shop.

Little Known Fact: "Dougie" worked at the Drama Book Shop in the mid 1980s, first at the bag check and then as a clerk. He kept as all in stitches!

POW! (Play Of The Week)

Dust
by Billy Goda

Dust is a thriller with a really interesting plot. Young guy gets out of jail and gets a job working in a luxury apartment's gym. Older guy/resident comes to the gym to exercise on doctors orders and get's really bent out of shape over some dust on an air vent. Young guy laughs it off and refuses to clean the dust himself which pisses off the old guy, who threatens to get him fired. Young guy refuses the old guy and says, "this doesn't end here".

Then he falls in love with old guy's hot daughter who's angry with daddy.

Also including young guy's best friend/cop and old guy's ex-military/mob thug-friend, we add in just the right amount of push and pull needed to escalate the situation further until someone shows up with a gun. Someone might even die.

Dust is a fascinating play to work on because there is a lot of depth to the characters, which allows for many interpretations and character choices. The girl is a little one dimensional, but with some good choices, an actress can bring it to life. It has good scenes between the young guy and the daughter, and between the young guy and old guy. Also two good scenes for two older men (40's-50's).

Cast: 5 M (2 early 30's, 2 late 40's), 1 W (early 20's) (1 man doubles a role)

Scenes/Monologues: A few good monologues, but some really good two and three person scenes.

Recommended by: Adam

Drama Book Shop Tony Award Prediction Contest Winners!

We are delighted to announce the winners of The Drama Book Shop Tony Awards Prediction Contest.

Ariel Rehr, who predicted an astonishing 24 out of 27 categories, won a $25 Drama Book Shop gift certificate.

Matt Alspaugh (actor, staff person at The Drama Book Shop, and member of the Royal Pyngwyn Collective) presents Ariel Rehr with her prize.

Ariel stated "I read all the articles from the New York Times but I DIDN'T copy. With my $25 gift certificate I bought Speech and Debate and Reasons to be Pretty"

The other winner, Tape Librarian Damian Begley predicted an equally astonishing one winner out of the 27 categories. In spite of his less than stellar performance, Mr. Begley was pleased to find a copy of Film Director: 2nd Edition by Richard Bare, a book he had been "looking for for a LONG time." His prize was a copy of (the unintentionally hysterical) Best of the Film Industry: Movies You Don't Want to Miss by Babriel of Urantia.

Allen Hubby [right] Co-owner of The Drama Book Shop presents Damian Begley with his prize.

Special thanks to bookshop Assistant Manager, Ric Anderson for putting together this year's contest.

 

Speech and Debate
by Stephen Karam
Acting Edition, 2009.
$8.95

Reasons to be Pretty
by Neil LaBute
Paper, 2008
$14.00

Film Director 2nd Edition
by Richard Bare
Paper, 2002,
$19.95

Best of the Film Industry: Movies You Don't Want to Miss
by Babriel of Urantia
Paper, 2008
$13.95

Hot Off The Press!

Lions
by Vince Melocchi

"[Lions] is a drama that speaks directly to our country’s current state of affairs, which is to say it’s a play about unemployment, hardship and economic collapse. If that sounds like a depressing thematic lineup, the play itself is far from being a downer. 'Lions' takes an unsentimental look at a ravaged cross-section of present-day Detroit and tells a story of compassion in a cold climate....Melocchi’s play is a smart, humanistic...observation of working-class survivalism."--Los Angeles Times

"Lions is about hope...about the endurance of a middle class getting squeezed...finding life amid the lifeless"--Drew Sharp, Detroit Free Press

"...an all-around touching portrait of Middle America, a reminder that 'real Americans' need not be so reductively characterized as Joe the Plumber."--L.A. Weekly

It’s the 2007 NFL season and the Detroit Lions are on a winning streak — unfortunately out of work steelworker John Waite is not. With humor and humanity, playwright Vince Melocchi offers a glimpse into The Tenth Ward Club, where the patrons place their hopes on their team, and attempt to escape the creeping demise of their city and of their way of life.

Character descriptions:
John "Spook" Waite - In late forties. John's a long suffering Detroit Lions fan. A lifetime employee of the Elias Metal plant, he has been unemployed since they left town a year ago. Possessing an expert football knowledge, he is haunted by opportunities he passed up in his younger days.

Beth Waite - John's wife. In her mid forties, she works at the local "dollar store" trying to keep things together at the Waite home. These days, she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Mike "Biscuit" Croissant - An African American man in his late forties. Once a proud worker at Elias, "Biscuit" now works for the Detroit morgue collecting unidentified bodies.

Andy Guerall - Early thirties. After the factory closed, he went back to college and now tends bar part time at the Tenth ward club.

Bill "Housepie" Folino - Late fifties. Long time member of the club. A semi-retired man with a heart of gold.

Reverend Russell Stuvants - An African American man in his early fifties. "Rev" is a good natured, caring man of the cloth who helps the members of the club keep a positive outlook.

Larry Gerber - Late forties. A long time member, owns the pizza shop next door to the club.

Gail Finch - Mid forties. A wise-cracking waitress at the local diner. A Green Bay Packers fan, she nevertheless fits right in with the group.

Curtis Benton - An African American man in his late twenties. A frustrated bagger at the local grocery store, he dreams to see the world, but held captive by his fears.

Jerry "Lennie" Lenhart - A salty bartender with a hard exterior, and a bit of a blow hard.

Artie Piro - Twenty-four. He was a childhood friend of John Waite. Appears only in memory.

Mabel Johnson - Late forties. An understanding and sympathetic African American woman, she works as a job placement counselor in downtown Detroit.

Man (aka Chicago) - A Chicago Bears fan visiting the Detroit area, he mistakenly stumbles into the Club to watch the NFL draft, unaware that it is a "club", not a bar.

Teddy "That's Right" Davidson - Another member of the club, he's called "That's Right" because that's all he says throughout the entire play.

Dramatic Comedy. 9m, 3f. Interior. Acting Edition. $9.95.

---

Could I have This Dance?
by Doug Haverty

“A gripping, emotional piece that both educates and enlightens ...Haverty’s story is engaging and informative, his dialogue crisp and humorous. The characters are interesting and well-developed ... The strength of family-in-crisis is always what gives one renewed hope. Could I Have This Dance?, takes that strength and provides a courageous arena for its expression.”--BURBANK TIMES

“An important new play ... very intelligently written and also a solidly entertaining play ... Witty lines and funny situations provide plenty of comic relief before the action becomes heavy ... Haverty’s grasp of contemporary dialogue is right on the money. His ability to write female chatter and emotions comes as no surprise to those familiar with his previous outings ... Both comical and poignant in context.”--NEWS-PRESS

“What we’re treated to—an increasingly rare treat—is how they handle this reality and their own emotions ... Haverty has an uncluttered sense of character and a good ear for snappy dialogue ... Haverty’s people are down-to-earth and in touch with their feelings. They also speak their minds with sobering candor ... The welcome pattern of sanity than runs through this bantering piece leaves you in the end with a bit of a glow and wishing there were more of this up front kind of coping in real life. There is nothing so attractive or refreshing as people who can face whatever life dishes up and deal with it. That singular element makes Haverty’s unexpectedly urbane play a surprise as well as a joy.”--THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Woodie Guthrie had it. Arlo may have it. It’s usually hereditary, but not always passed on to every offspring. The symptoms do not normally appear until a person reaches their mid-forties. Referred to as “The Dance of Death,” Huntington’s Disease is a complete degeneration of the nervous system. Recently, medical researchers developed a blood test to determine if the disease is present in young people. The question is: Should we know? There are over 100,000 people in the U.S. that are currently “at risk.” Of these people, only 500 have actually taken this test.

Could I Have this Dance? is about two sisters in their 30’s: Monica and Amanda. Their mother, Jeannette, has Huntington’s and lives with her daughters. The action takes place in the Los Angeles office/home where the girls run a thriving public relations firm, Grapevine, which was started by their mother. During the course of the play, we come to understand the time bomb these two sisters live with. Their possible fate is dramatically evidenced in the characterization of Jeannette which is interpreted through dance. The effects of the disease are “visible” to those onstage, but “invisible” to the audience, except in a few rare instances where the actualization of the disease is revealed. The other characters in the play are the men in these women’s lives. Jeannette’s husband (and the girls’ father), Hank, has come to accept his wife and still loves her very much. Both Monica and Amanda have shunned long-term romantic relationships because of their unknown fate; bitter Monica plays it safe and vibrant Amanda takes every chance with young, one-night-stands. Yet the girls and their father never lose their sense of humor. As the play unfolds, both women have met men they’d like to get serious with and the knowledge of the test both repels and attracts them: Amanda, desperate for the answer and Monica, in morbid fear of it.

Could I Have this Dance? is ultimately about love and cherishing what life we are given. This is a deeply romantic play about difficult choices. As the once-murky medical crystal ball becomes clearer, the universal question remains: Are we better off not looking at what the future holds?

Character Descriptions:
MONICA - (30s) Sharp, thorough, conservative, tough publicist and elder sister of Amanda. She is terrified of the future and romantic about what it could bring.

JEANNETTE - (60s) Beautiful, elegant, determined publicist and mother of Amanda and Monica. She can no longer see properly or speak. She is caged inside a rapidly degenerating body and cannot control her movements. (PLEASE NOTE: THIS CHARACTER DOES NOT SPEAK. SHE DANCES.)

HANK - (60s) Mild, content, patient, retired father of Amanda and Monica and husband to Jeannette. Even though his life has been plagued with tragedy, he’s managed to find the humor and love underneath.

AMANDA - (30s) Spirited, adventurous, spontaneous, brazen publicist. She keeps herself too busy to discover she’s lonely. She’s afraid she’s not really interesting so she makes relationships brief.

ERROL - (20s) Handsome, aggressive, open, fun-loving ex-jock, currently working in the mailroom while he awaits a higher wrung on his current career ladder.

COLIN - (30s) Carefree, well-known photo-journalist. He hates phones, schedules and takes work only when he wants to. He tends to gravitate to the wrong people, but seems to like the outcome.

Dramatic Comedy. 3m, 3f. Unit Set. Acting Edition. $9.95.

---

American Tales
Book and Lyrics by Ken Stone. Music by Jan Powell.

"Excellent new musical."--Critic's Choice, LA Times

"Extraordinary ... skillful and unusually thoughtful ... succeeds brilliantly."--Variety

"Marvelous adaptations ... stylish and enthralling ... haunting score ... brilliant."--Critic's Pick, Backstage

"Striking ... absolutely first rate work.”--EDGE Los Angeles

Act I, The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton, is from Mark Twain's story of two people falling in love at a great distance with the aid of that brand-new invention, the telephone. Alonzo in Maine and Rosannah in California meet by the accident of crossed wires and each falls in love with an imagined ideal of the other. So complete is their self-deception that even when brought face to face they cannot recognize each other. Love is found, lost, and found again. Played as period melodrama, but the relevance to 21st century dating habits is clear.

Act II, Bartleby, the Scrivener, is dramatized from Herman Melville's slyly funny but ultimately tragic story. Building on the theme of human connections made and missed, this act takes a darker turn, looking at people who occupy the closest of quarters and yet don't really communicate at all. Bartleby, employed as a copyist in a law office of the 1840s, inexplicably begins to refuse to work, forcing his colleagues to ask themselves the transforming question that ends the play: What do we owe to the people who come into our lives?

Character Descriptions:
ACT I
ALONZO FITZ CLARENCE - a poetic soul, an idle young man transformed by true love into a tireless, steadfast lover

ROSANNAH ETHELTON - a lovely young woman of high spirits and high ideals

SIDNEY ALGERNON BURLEY - an unwelcome suitor to Rosannah, a born villain

DOCTOR - a compassionate man of middle age, owner of a private madhouse in New York

UNCLE CHARLES - uncle of Rosannah, middle aged, missionary in Honolulu

MAID - (doubled by “Uncle Charles”) an old and sour retainer at Rosannah’s house

ACT II (actors double)
THE LAWYER - 55, affluent and self-satisfied

BARTLEBY - a fairly young man, enigmatic, turned almost entirely in upon himself

TURKEY - clerk, an Englishman near 60, something of a drinker

NIPPERS - clerk about 25, high-strung and restless

GINGER NUT - 12, law student, errand boy, sweeper, most often a brat

Musical in two acts, based on stories by classic American writers.
4m, 1f. Period costumes and set pieces, mid to late 19th century. Acting Edition. $9.95.

"A Letter to the Editor of "The New York Time"s by Playwright J.T. Rogers"

THEATER / THEATER   | June 07, 2009 Critic:  Submitting to a Play's Spell, Without the Stage By DWIGHT GARNER A critic reads four Tony Award- nominated plays, having seen none of the productions.

From: J.T. Rogers Date: Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:32:48 -0400 To: letters@nytimes.com Subject: Dwight Garner's "Critic's Notebook: Submitting to a Play's Spell, Without the Stage," To the editor, As both a playwright and play reader, I enjoyed Dwight Garner's thoughtful article about reading this season's Tony-nominated plays. But I was amused by his pronouncement that "new plays are hard to find in bookstores" I read Mr. Garne’s article while having a cup of coffee in the Dean & Deluca on the first floor of the New York Times building--directly across the street from the Drama Book Shop, wherein every play under the sun is and has been available for years. J. T. Rogers

J. T. Rogers' "gorgeously wrought"* plays include:

Madagascar
A haunting story of a mysterious disappearance that changes three lives forever. At three different periods in time, three Americans find themselves alone, in the same hotel room overlooking the Spanish Steps in Rome: June, a young woman who works as a tour guide of the city's ancient ruins; Lilian, her wealthy and elegant jet-setting mother; and Nathan, a rumpled university economist and the best friend of Lilian's famous deceased husband. They each tell their individual story of how and why they are here. Their relationship to each other, what this room means to them, and why they have been called to it slowly reveal themselves. Their stories spill out, weave back and forth—each contradicting, clarifying, deepening what the others say—becoming strands of one gripping and disquieting tale

Madagascar
Acting Edition
2006, $8.95

The Overwhelming
When American academic Jack Exley arrives in Kigali, Rwanda, in early 1994 to write about his old college classmate, Dr. Joseph Gasana, and his work with children stricken by AIDS, Jack is unable to find anyone who even admits to knowing the doctor. Jack, his African-American second wife, Linda, and his teenage son, Geoffrey, become enmeshed in the politics, fear and personal betrayals that mark the start of a genocidal war—a horror all can sense is coming but no one can comprehend or control.

The Overwhelming
Acting Edition
2009, $8.95

White People
Now—right now—what does it mean to be a white American? What does it mean for any American to live in a country that is not the one you were promised? WHITE PEOPLE is a controversial and darkly funny play about the lives of three ordinary Americans placed under the spot-light: Martin, a Brooklyn–born high powered attorney for a white-shoe law firm in St. Louis, MO; Mara Lynn, a housewife and former home-coming queen in Fayetteville, NC; and Alan, a young professor struggling to find his way in New York City. Through heart-wrenching confessions, they wrestle with guilt, prejudice, and the price they and their children must pay for their actions. WHITE PEOPLE is a candid, brutally honest meditation on race and language in our culture.

White People
Acting Edition
2007, $8.95

All three are available at The Drama Book Shop.

 

*Andre Gregory

Friday, June 12: Free Mini-workshop with author D.W. Brown, You Can Act!: A Complete Guide for Actors at The Drama Book Shop

Time: Friday, June 12, 2009 6:00 p.m.
Location: The Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018
Title of Event: Getting the Job with D.W. Brown, You Can Act: A Complete Guide for Actors

Mini-workshop with acting teacher and author D.W. Brown, which will include insider information on landing jobs in Los Angeles.

As the artistic head of The Joanne Baron/D. W. Brown Studio, (www.baronbrown.com) D. W. Brown has trained, directed and coached hundreds of actors and led seminars on acting with Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Sidney Pollack, Sam Raimi and Tom Shadyac; other notables who have spoken at the studio include: Robert De Niro, Jim Caviezel, Jeff Goldblum, David Mamet, Martin Sheen, Richard Dreyfuss, John Singleton, Martha Coolidge, Robert Towne and Mark Rydell.

D.W. has personally coached and taught Robin Wright Penn, Leslie Mann, Keanu Reaves, Jamie Kennedy, Nicollette Sheridan, Michael Vartan, and many other great talents. He has just finished writing and directing the feature film "IN NORTHWOOD" starring Nick Stahl, Olivia Wilde, Dash Mihok, Pruit Taylor Vince, Shoreh Aghdashloo, and Joanne Baron.

POW! (Play Of The Week)

WHERE WE’RE BORN
by Lucy Thurber

How fast and how far do you have to run to escape the gravity of your home?

This is one question that echoes throughout playwright Lucy Thurber’s work. Like any good writer, Thurber has been at it for a while; slowly, as the world has been catching up with her, Dramatists published a bunch of her play in one lump. They’re all good; among them, Where We’re Born stands out.

It’s about a tiny corner of Massachusetts, where the local pastimes include drinking heavily, screwing around on your mate and pointing fingers at the other cuckolded drunks. Lilly is a local girl made good, well, relatively so, in that she’s incredibly smart and attending a good college; she returns for a break in the fall to her beloved cousin Tony, his douchey pals and his long-time girlfriend Franky.

There’s something ominous in the air what will all the bingeing and random fisticuffs; and though Lilly is recognizably changed, she slips easily back into the patterns of the place. She surprises everyone with her saucy mouth and reported escapades with men of a somewhat darker skin tone, but surpasses everyone’s expectations in seducing Franky. From there, the small space and tiny cast of players fall into incestuous rhythms, cementing and dissolving the bonds between them in an effort to cement or dissolve their ties to the difficult place they call home, once and for all.

The environment of this Massachusetts hill town, one that haunts, tackles, and drags its denizens back into cycles of boredom-induced ugliness, sticks to the brain. Its story, whose plot points could easily spill into melodrama, Thurber keeps uncomfortable, dangerous, and, maybe most disturbing of all, believable. (Her talent for natural dialogue – and her ability to electrify it -- helps.) Try it.

Cast: 2 W, 3 M

Scenes/Monologues: Both contemplative and highly volatile scenes for M/W and W/W. All characters in their 20s. Half-poetical monologues for a young man.

Recommended by: Matthew.

Thursday, June 11: Free Clinic - How Good is Your Headshot at The Drama Book Shop.

Time: Thursday, June 11, 2009 6:00 p.m.
Location: The Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018
Title of Event: Free Clinic: How Good is Your Headshot

Free Clinic: How Good is Your Headshot
With Ellis Gaskell, author of The Actors Guide: How to Get the Best Headshot

Headshots are a critical tool in forging an actor's career. Find out if yours works at the free Headshot Clinic. A panel headed by Ellis Gaskell, author of The Actors Guide: How To Get The Best Headshot, along with with Clay Smith, of the Luedtke Agency and Todd Etelson, President of Actor's Technique NY, will discuss why a headshot counts as a "two-second interview."

Attendees are encouraged to bring in their own headshots for evaluation by the panel

Intermission Talk, for June 3, 2009

by Tony Vellela

Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Vieux Carre and Blithe Spirit

Where to?

Most great plays share a common trait - they take you to a place you've never been. And three current offerings present great choices. You can languish in the Depression-era squalor and sordid glamour of New Orleans, clink champagne glasses and exercise funny bones in the elegant British countryside of the '30s, or peel back the layers of Black America's broken promises in the early twentieth century Hill District of Pittsburgh. Wherever you choose, it's a helluva good place to spend some time.

August Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," is set in a boardinghouse in 1911. Lloyd Richards, who worked with the playwright while it was being developed, and directed the original Broadway production in 1988, once told me that he felt it actually took place "in a kind of way-station, a stop-off, where people stop off on their way to someplace else. It was a play I envisioned as being in the middle of the desert."

Director Bartlett Sher actualizes that same sentiment in the current stunning revival at the Belasco. Moveable realistic set pieces create almost a hallucinatory illusion of a 'place,' and it is the blood-pulsing characters and their sulfur-infused tales that ignite real-world reactions as they spring to life. Central to the story of three floors of bedrooms maintained with decent standards by a solidly-married couple, and occupied with travelers, is that of Harold Loomis and his young daughter Zonia. His wife disappeared while Loomis was in prison, and now he searches everywhere for her, the little girl at the end of his hand every step of the way.

There are no weak performances here, and the spiritual essence of these souls emerges despite the despair, transience and bitterness that govern their minds and actions. Roger Robinson, as one of Wilson's iconic myth-carriers, and Chad L. Coleman as Loomis anchor a production that fairly glides above the surface of the scorched earth that holds these characters back, even as their spirits fight to set them free.

Another boarding-house, this one in the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1938, also shelters travelers, but this time its landlady is as much of a lost soul as her handful of guests. And she provides a young, indigent writer with her skewed insights into human behavior, even as he begins to explore the off-color hues in his own personal pallet. When Tennessee Williams finally completed "Vieux Carre" in 1977, it had been gestating from his original drafts four decades earlier. Williams scholars and other theorists with a familiarity that lets them speak Williams-ese glimpse the essence of many of his ladies and their men in these hapless denizens, from Alma as she descends into her post-sanctimony, and Stanley's prideful ignorance and carnal domination, to the pitiful Hannah, sketching tourists for pennies, and the two Southern ladies in "Something Unspoken." The Writer, a first cousin to Tom, another Williams alter ego, is a soft young man given that necessary bit of warmth this hollow creature requires by the focused Sean McNall, and gets himself woven into all their fleeting lives. The lethally-stricken, gay tubercular 'artist' Nightingale, given the unapologetic fatalism he wallows in by the remarkable George Morfogen, slowly thaws the Writer's defenses.

Sean McNall and George Morfogen

 

Williams evinces a kind of magic trick with this deceptive play. This could appear to be a pipe dream of Blanche, her imaginings of where she would have wound up if Stella and Stanley had moved away and left no forwarding address. Yet the sentimental potential has been kept gently in check, the stories told with Big Daddy's no-nonsense lack of flourish.

Director Austin Pendleton has pulled off a hat trick of his own, aided by the fluid set he and set designer Harry Feiner created to solve the issue of a three-floor, narrow, dilapidated, historic building taking place on the confines of the Pearl Theatre Company's stage. "Vieux Carre" gets few productions because of its seemingly rambling dramatic structure, where vignettes and scene fragments get scattered across the footlights like crumbs to pigeons, just enough to keep them/us from starving, but never a complete course. However, Pendleton lets his actors provide the seasoning, the garnish, and most crucial, the sauce. And this one has plenty of hot, tangy and even tongue-searing sauce.

Titles often become so familiar that their actual meaning is left unexamined, which has happened to Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit." Unless you actually know what 'blithe' means [and it's not a misspelling of Gwyneth's Mom's name], you may miss Coward's central point: Elvira, the departed first wife of a successful mystery-writer, who has come back from the dead to haunt him and his new wife, is 'blithe,' which it to say, carefree, or in the original definition, gay.

And why not? She's got nothing to lose. She's been conjured up by a clumsy medium named Madame Arcadi, brought in as after-dinner parlor entertainment. Elvira [Christine Ebersole] can only be seen by her bewildered ex-spouse George [dashing Rufus Everett], caught at the fulcrum of a living-and dead love triangle. Seen or unseen, Elvira makes merry mischief in an attempt to show George just how dull he's become, thanks to his current properly-stuffy wife [a measured, menaced Jayne Atkinson], when compared his former self, when he relished the fun-loving antics of his first marriage. Old oft-revived period pieces get labeled 'old chestnuts,' but this one, this time, feels sophisticated, wry, witty and bursting with life, qualities not seen or appreciated on any so-called television comedies of the last few years [decades?].

Photo: Sylvain Gaboury

Age plays no discernible part also in the eternally-energetic Angela Lansbury, well into her eighth decade as one of the world's most versatile and cherished actors. Some formidable women have tackled the divine diviner. Margaret Rutherford, like the human embodiment of a British warship, stole the 1945 film version, all guns blazing. Beatrice Lillie crooned her spells as the musical Madame in "High Spirits," in 1964. Geraldine Page created a somewhat befuddled, gentle soul in the 1987 Broadway revival, her last role. This Madame A., the shimmering incarnation of another Madame A., commandeers the stage with guile born of craft, and her wise fellow cast-members willingly and wisely step back and let us all marvel at this glorious, golden performance.

On Book
Toss out all those Sunday supplement and Magazine insert recommended reading lists. This summer, in or out of town, let plays take you to another place, courtesy of Williams, Wilson and Coward. Happily immerse yourself in their enthralling legacies of searing characters, epic sagas and big, big laughs.

If your bookshelf already houses the major [read 'well-known'] Williams works, turn to the later plays. From "Orpheus Descending" to "A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur," and including "Vieux Carre," pick up the Library of America collection compiled by Mel Gussow and Kenneth Holditch. Fill unfilled Saturday mornings with a one-act from "27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Other Plays," from New Directions. And chuckle your way through the autobiography "Remember Me to Tom," by The Mom, Edwina Williams.

The Hill District of Pittsburgh may seem like an unlikely place to visit for any length of time. August Wilson expertly crafted a ten-play cycle, one for each of the twentieth century's decades, and deciding to 'live' in each for one week at a time will give you endless answers on Labor Day to 'what did you do last summer?' In order, they are "Gem of the Ocean," "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" [the only one not set there, but in Chicago], "The Piano Lesson," "Seven Guitars," "Fences," "Two Trains Running," "Jitney," "King Hedley II," and "Radio Golf." And you do not need to know anything at all in advance about Pittsburgh, African-American history, August Wilson's biography or the twentieth century to savor every single page of these great works.

And to insure a blithe couple of hours whenever the spirit moves you, smile and smirk your way through several other Coward comedies. Both "Noel Coward Collected Plays: Four" published by Methuen Drama, and "Three Plays: Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever and Private Lives" from Vintage Books, guarantee that same level of giddy, witty pleasure that a precious handful of thirties film comedies also deliver, with their 'you can be smart and still be silly' formula that very few know how to master.

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TONY VELLELA, the veteran theatre correspondent for "The Christian Science Monitor," writes and produces the PBS series about theatre, "Character Studies". His work has also appeared in "Parade," "Theatre Week,"" USA Today," "Dramatics," "Rolling Stone," and several other publications.

The Drama Book Shop Resident Theatre Production Co. Striking Viking Story Privates & Plus Entertainment Present 'Found'

Come see why Found and Story Pirates attract unabashed fans and contributors like Dave Eggers, Drew Barrymore, Tom Robbins, Jon Stewart, Andy Samberg, Ira Glass, Seth Rogen, Steve Buscemi and David Sedaris - and many more. If you haven't been to an AfterDark show yet, you don't want to miss this!

ONLY ONE WEEKEND!
Thursday, June 4th -- 8pm
Friday, June 5th -- (2 shows!) 8pm & 10pm
Saturday, June 6th -- (2 shows!) 8pm & 10pm

FOUND
@ The Actor’s Playhouse
100 7th Avenue South @ Grove Street
New York, NY (212) 255 6452
NYactorsplayhouse.com

Bar opens 30 minutes prior to each show

PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE STORY PIRATES EDUCATIONAL FUND

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW! at http://www.smarttix.com
or just send an email to friendtix@storypirates.org for discounted tickets.

THIS SHOW IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN.

PLUS Entertainment and Story Pirates AfterDark are proud to present: FOUND -- a benefit for the Story Pirates. Inspired by Davy Rothbart's cult classic publication FOUND Magazine, this one of a kind, multi-media musical is the true embodiment of the adage, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." Like the highly-lauded magazine and two best-selling books, FOUND is based entirely on lost and discarded notes, diaries, love letters, to-do lists, photographs -- anything that gives you a glimpse into someone else's life.

Audience members are highly encouraged to participate by bringing their own “finds” to the performance. Watch in amazement as the Story Pirates fully incorporate a brand new, never-before- seen "find" into each performance... That's right! Laugh yourself silly as these brilliant improvisers seamlessly weave real found objects, presented live by audience members, into each show!

For loyal fans of the magazine, FOUND is FOUND Magazine like you've never seen it. Featuring a full cast of actors, video segments and outrageous songs by Story Pirates resident genius Eli Bolin, the highly-acclaimed comedy troupe the Story Pirates bring FOUND to life in a show that's bigger, louder and funnier than ever before. Who stole A.J’s binder? What ever happened to that chick from Cosmetics Plus™? And why is Tommy still banned from the batting cages? Sit back and watch as the Story Pirates playfully fill in the blanks with relentless hilarity for this very special event.

• FOUND Magazine (foundmagazine.com), created in 2001 by Davy Rothbart, features an edited array of things formerly misplaced, dropped, or otherwise left behind by others. Break-up letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, shopping lists, Polaroids, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, doodles -- anything goes. The witty and much-lauded periodical has produced eight magazines and two National best-selling books.

"Found is a quirky lens into the flotsam and jetsam of humanity."-- Chicago Tribune

"Found is as unexpected as a tumbleweed."--The New Yorker

"I love Found! Found proves that life is full of surprises; when you keep your eyes on the ground, you never know what you're gonna find!"--Drew Barrymore

"Found is a trash picker's and anthropologist's dream come true!"--Los Angeles Times

"Found is a powerful fix for thinking voyeurs!"--The Boston Globe

"Crazy entertaining."--Jon Stewart

"A fascinating way to eavesdrop on the lives of our fellow man."--David Letterman

Hot off the Press! Available now at the Drama Book Shop.

Skin Deep
by Jon Lonoff

“Warm-hearted comedy … the laughter was literally show-stopping. A winning play, with enough good-humored laughs and sentiment to keep you smiling from beginning to end.”--TalkinBroadway.com

“It’s a little Paddy Chayefsky, a lot Neil Simon and a quick-witted, intelligent voyage into the not-so-tranquil seas of middle-aged love and dating. The dialogue is crackling and hilarious; the plot simple but well-turned; the characters endearing and quirky; and lurking beneath the merriment is so much heartache that you’ll stand up and cheer when the unlikely couple makes it to the inevitable final clinch.”--NYTheatreWorld.Com

“In a country obsessed with weight, plastic surgery, dating and infidelity, it is little wonder that a playwright has come along to tackle all of these sticky subjects in a new satirical comedy called Skin Deep. This particular production has the virtue of having vital components on firm ground. The crowd delighted in every one-liner the night I attended.”--ELJArtsAnnex.Com

In Skin Deep, a large, lovable, lonely-heart, named Maureen Mulligan, gives romance one last shot on a blind-date with sweet awkward Joseph Spinelli; she's learned to pepper her speech with jokes to hide insecurities about her weight and appearance, while he's almost dangerously forthright, saying everything that comes to his mind. They both know they're perfect for each other, and in time they come to admit it.

They were set up on the date by Maureen's sister Sheila and her husband Squire, who are having problems of their own: Sheila undergoes a non-stop series of cosmetic surgeries to hang onto the attractive and much-desired Squire, who may or may not have long ago held designs on Maureen, who introduced him to Sheila. With Maureen particularly vulnerable to both hurting and being hurt, the time is ripe for all these unspoken issues to bubble to the surface.

Character descriptions:
MAUREEN MULLIGAN is a full-figured, earthy, attractive, lovable lonely heart. She lives in Forest Hills, Queens, is a devout Catholic and works as a dental hygienist.

SHEILA WHITING (neé Mulligan) is Maureen’s very beautiful sister, fashionable, flamboyant and full of advice. She grew up with Maureen and six more brothers and sisters in Queens and went on to marry old Connecticut money and move to New York’s Upper East Side. She genuinely wants what she presumes is best for everyone.

SQUIRE WHITING, JR. is a handsome “government relations” lawyer in the prestigious family firm. Full of charm and self-mocking humor. He doesn’t take himself - or much else - too seriously.

JOE SPINELLI is an endearing, unlucky, lonely guy from Bensonhurst.

Comedy. 2m, 2f. Single Set. Acting Edition. $9.95

Author Biography:
Jon Lonoff’s writing credits range from an adaptation of Aesop’s Fables for marionettes to a training film for Sunoco gas station attendants. His theatrical and film work has included The Garbage Cantata (with Barry Keating), a musical about recycling, commissioned and produced by Riverbarge Productions, published by Samuel French, Inc., and later produced for video by the United Nations; The Dark Knight, an independent film (produced and directed by Eric Farber) which won the Silver Award for Comedy at the Houston WorldFest Film Festival and was subsequently developed into an NBC-TV movie; and Key Changes and Other Disasters(with Hank Levy), awarded Best Musical Revue by the Naional Association of Cabaret and Concert Artists. He is particularly proud of his work as co-writer and co-editor of a documentary film about Nepal, Top of the World, (with Bill Kern, produced by Second Type Productions) which has won awards at film festivals all over the world.

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Jewtopia
by Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson

"Hilarious! Raucous! Merciless! …Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson know their territory well and assault it with unflagging comic energy! Enlisting Andy Fickman as director ensures an equal-opportunity satire…when Jewtopia hits its mark, which is frequently, it’s outrageously funny!"--Los Angeles Times

"Entertaining!...Wild!...Raucous!...Wolfson and Fogel fill the stage with overwhelming energy…they come across as natural clowns, alternately vulnerable, charming and animated. Certain to hit home with all observers, whatever their religion!"--Variety

"After a quarter century of Neil Simon and his imitators, the playwrights redeem the formula with edge! Displaying a commercial sensibility that is almost obscene, they combine the swaggering generation y, nailing two demographics at once! The result is irresistible The young authors play the parts with sassy abandon! The script throws every ingredient on hand into the comedic chicken soup!"--Time Out New York

"Crazy! Hilarious! A laugh riot! Fogel and Wolfson bring an easy charm to their roles! A fresh take on an old theme, played for a new generation. We predict that Jewtopia will fun forever."--The Journal News

Jewtopia tells the story of two 30 year old single men, Chris O’Connell and Adam Lipschitz. Chris, a gentile, wants to marry a Jewish girl so he’ll never have to make another decision. Adam Lipschitz, a Jew, wants to marry a Jewish girl to please his family, but can’t get a date to save his life. After meeting at a Jewish singles mixer, Adam and Chris form a secret pact. Chris promises that he will help Adam find the Jewish girl of his dreams and show him “Jewtopia”, but only if Adam will help Chris shed his gentile-ness and bring him undercover into the Jewish world. Stereotypes collide, cultures clash and chaos ensues!

Comedy. 7m. Acting Edition. $9.95

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Fatboy
by John Clancy

“Brazen…daring…highly entertaining.”--Jason Zinoman, The New York Times

“Make room for Fatboy. Meaner than Stalin, hungrier than Idi Amin, deadlier than Pol Pot, he is the grotesque composite of every despot who ever lived...he is also savagely funny...Some plays ridicule their audience; others inspire political action. Fatboy may be the rare work that does both.”--Jorge Morales, Village Voice

“This is brilliant political satire, hitting the zeitgeist right where it hurts...A ground-breaking piece of American absurdism, a transatlantic take on the Ubu tradition that goes beyond imitation to seize and transform the myth for a new age of American power.”--Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman

"Clancy's 2004 Edinburgh Fringe hit adaptation of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi comes just in time for the Wall Street meltdown and one of the most surreal election campaigns in American history."--Steven Leigh Morris, LA Weekly

Fatboy is a brutal comedy inspired by Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi. This satire on modern America’s insatiable appetites--from gobbling up 72oz. steaks to small nations--is presented as a live-action Punch and Judy show. In this fast-moving, shocking, profane, dead-on, funhouse mirror reflection of the world today, the brutish allegory known as Fatboy, along with his monstrous wife, Queen Fudgie the First, stands trial for war crimes. Despite overwhelming evidence the court refuses to convict and succumbs to Fatboy's “persuasive” tactics.

3 m, 2 f. Acting Edition. $9.95

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Barbara Cook and the New York Philharmonic, together again.

Michael Portantiere interviews Barbara Cook on www.Broadwaystars.com

IN THE HEIGHTS documentary.

PBS Documentary about In the Heights airs this Weds, May 27th 8pm.

The Drama Book Shop is pleased to have nurtured what turned out to become the Tony Award winning Broadway hit "In the Heights," during its early early development. We at the shop are so very proud of its creators and cast and are honored to have played some small role in the show's development.

Sustaining an independent retail business in an era of mega-stores and online discounters, and keeping the shop's doors open in a city that can be brutally hostile to small businesses is often frustrating and exhausting. Being able to support such projects as IN THE HEIGHTS, The Striking Viking Story Pirates, Back House Productions, Potpourri, and others; and being able to contribute to the success of brilliant, young artists, has offset many of the strains of the sacrifices of the past few years.

Congratulations to IN THE HEIGHTS, and to the other amazing groups that live here with us or have passed though our doors over the years.

--Allen Hubby, Co-owner.

Five Key Story Techniques with The Anatomy of Story author John Truby at The Drama Book Shop

Time: Thursday, May 28, 2009 6:00 p.m.
Location: The Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018
Title of Event: Five Key Story Techniques with The Anatomy of Story author John Truby

John Truby, author of the bestselling The Anatomy of Story, explains five story techniques that every screenwriter and novelist must know to be successful.

You'll learn:
- the one technique you must use for a strong premise
- the best technique for creating characters that even the top writers don't know
- how to find the crucial spine of the story
- the single most important technique to a great plot
- the 5 most dangerous story mistakes

Don't miss this rare opportunity to get practical knowledge that will make a difference in your writing immediately.

John Truby has taught his 22-Step Great Screenwriting and Genre classes to over 30,000 students worldwide. He has also worked as a story consultant and script doctor for Disney Studios, Sony Pictures, FOX, HBO, the BBC, RAI, LUX, TV4, MTV Sweden, Alliance Atlantis, and Cannell Studios. Truby recently worked as story consultant on the Disney/BBC feature-length nature documentary, EARTH, opening in the U.S. on April 22, 2009.

His new book, The Anatomy of Story has received rave reviews Hollywood story consultant Truby commits his vast knowledge of screenwriting and storytelling to the page in this handy guide for aspiring writers of all types, Booklist.

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The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller
by John Truby
2008. Paper, $17.00

Temporary Recession STORE HOURS

In an effort to find the BEST hours for our customers, we are changing them again.

As of May 20, 2009

Monday—Saturday: 11 am to 7 pm
Thursdays until 8 pm

Please Join us for Wine, Cheese and Soda, Thursday from 6 to 8

Thank you for your support. Please feel free to send comments to info@dramabookshop.com

PLEASE NOTE:
There are many (if not most) items in the store that you won't find on this site, and some items on this site you won't find in the store. If you don't find what you're looking for, please call us at 1-800-322-0595.

RUSH SHIPMENTS and INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY available. Please call 800 322-0595 (US and Canada) or 212 944-0595 during business hours.

Is Your Child a Star?

Jeff Mitchell, President of JMM Talent, talks about kids in show biz.

Hot off the Press! Available now at the Drama Book Shop.

Out Of Sterno
by Deborah Zoe Laufer

Dotty's life in Sterno with her husband Hamel is absolutely perfect! It's a fairy tale, it really is. True, in their seven years of marriage Hamel has forbidden her to leave their tiny apartment or speak to anyone, but Dotty is so very happy to spend her days watching video re-enactments of the day they first met. When a phone call from a mysterious woman threatens to tear her world asunder, Dotty must venture out into the vast city of Sterno, and try to discover what it is to be a "real" woman.

"Out of Sterno" is a coming-of-age play in an Alice in Wonderland world. It explores the triumph and heartbreak of growing up and the contradictory societal pressures women face just trying to make it across town

CHARACTERS
DOTTY: 23. Childlike and loving and hopeful. Dotty is bursting with intense enthusiasm for everything. She makes art out of every object in her view and hosts her life like a TV talk show to an imaginary audience. She refuses to think ill of anyone.

HAMEL: 30's. Dotty's thug of a husband.

ZENA: 30's. The proprietress of Zena's Beauty Emporium. Miss Tri-boro Area for two years running. Tough as nails.

DAN: Magically transforms himself into every other character in the play, including: Delivery Man, Taxi Driver, Waiter, Mrs. Cuthbert, Mrs. Peabody, Barb, Sallie Mae, Man on the Bus

Comedy. 2m, 2f. Acting Edition. $10.95

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Adrift In Macao
by Christopher Durang, Peter Melnick(Composer)

“And there are of course those songs… Melnick demonstrates an affinity for melody and old-fashioned showmanship that link him to his grandfather, Richard Rodgers…”--Matthew Murray, Talkin' Broadway.com

“… with a drop-dead funny book and shamefully silly lyrics by Christopher Durang and lethally catchy music by Peter Melnick. A Drift In Macao lovingly parodies the Hollywood film noir classics of the 1940’s and 50’s…”--Michael Dale, Broadwayworld.com

Set in 1952 in Macao, China, ADRIFT IN MACAO is a loving parody of film noir movies. Everyone that comes to Macao is waiting for something, and though none of them know exactly what that is, they hang around to find out. The characters include your film noir standards, like Laureena, the curvacious blonde, who luckily bumps into Rick Shaw, the cynical surf and turf casino owner her first night in town. She ends up getting a job singing in his night club – perhaps for no reason other than the fact that she looks great in a slinky dress. And don’t forget about Mitch, the American who has just been framed for murder by the mysterious villain McGuffin. With songs and quips, puns and farcical shenanigans, this musical parody is bound to please audiences of all ages.

Nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Music

Full Length, Musical. 4 m, 3 f. Unit Sets. Acting Edition. $10.95.

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The Goldman Project
by Staci Swedeen

“Introducing Naomi, a Romanian-born widow, as a lovably comic, more than a little stereotypical character...a smart decision on the part of Staci Swedeen”--Anita Gates, The New York Times

“Swedeen has an ear for dialogue, even the passages in Yiddish fit the moment nicely. (Don’t worry: The Yiddish is instantly translated in the course of the conversation.)”--Peter D. Kramer, The Journal News

“This fine play is less about the past than about living with honesty in the present.”--James F.Cotter, Times Herald-Record

It is 1994 and Naomi Goldman, recently widowed, is living in an apartment in upper Manhattan. Her son Tony, separated from his wife, lives with her. When Tony’s old college girlfriend Aviva contacts him with the ulterior motive of interviewing and videotaping his mother for a Holocaust memorial project, Tony is appalled. Naomi, reluctant at first, eventually agrees to the interview. Though appearing to be forthright in her story Naomi clearly is hiding a devastating secret. When Aviva pushes her to admit the truth the consequences are life-changing. The Goldman Project is a play about family relations, the lingering legacy of the Holocaust and the catharsis of self-renewal.

Drama. 2f, 1m. Acting Edition. $10.95

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Wild Dust: The Musical
by Flip Kobler, Cindy Marcus, Dennis Poore(Composer)

Based on the original play Wild Dust, this engaging Wild West story has been delighting audiences for years. And now, the original playwright, Flip Kobler, has joined forces with veteran composer Dennis Poore to turn Wild Dust the play into Wild Dust: The Musical.

It's 1887 and a dust storm is about to hit the town of Willow Creek. The west was still wild, but the wind was wilder. Wild Dust: The Musical, takes place at a time when the "west was wild, the women were soft and the men were brave." The worst dust storm in a decade was about to hit the town, and all the men had gone to drive the horses and cattle to safer shelter to ride out the storm. That left the women of town to fend for themselves in the only building strong enough to withstand the pounding sand - the town brothel. So four "fallen ladies" and three "ladies of the town" are thrown together for the next 72 hours, along with a mysterious cowboy and a dancing corpse! For three days they confront the elements, each other, and hardest of all - themselves. It's a comic romp with lots of slamming doors, mistaken identities, and one very dead body. No one is exactly what they seem, and everyone's got a secret hidden up their sleeve. Wild Dust: The Musical is a comic romp that's not to be missed.

Musical Comedy. 1 m., 8 f., plus 1 m. extra. Int. Acting Edition. $10.95.

PLEASE NOTE: There are many (if not most) items in the store that you won't find on our website. If you don't find what you're looking for, please call the Drama Book Shop at 212-944-0595 (option 3) to order.

Our NEW (old) HOURS ARE:

Monday through Saturday:
10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Late Night Thursdays:
Open until 8:00 p.m.
(Please join us for wine and cheese between 6 and 8)

POW! (Play Of The Week)

100 SAINTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
by Kate Fodor

Father Matthew McNally has served his congregation well and faithfully, but he suddenly leaves the parish and returns to his mother’s home without word, without warning, for a “respite”. He is pursued by Theresa, a cleaning woman at his rectory, who seeks some kind of spiritual worth and acknowledgment. Abby, Theresa’s 16-year-old rebellious daughter, confronts him about his professed “calling by God” into the ministry, and about her own guilt at being an evil person. And Garrett, a grocery delivery boy, desperately seeks Father McNally’s advice and guidance in search of his personal and sexual identity.

An unexpected crisis brings all of these characters into confrontation. As faith is shaken and tried, Father McNally must face his own spiritual demons and his greatest fear – living without a connection to God.

Father McNally’s mother Colleen doesn’t comprehend what is happening to her son. When he finally announces that he has lost his faith in God, her own life begins to crumble; “You tell me you don’t love God, you don’t love the Church. You don’t want to do the work that God called you to do and that I raised you to do. And you want me to stand here and pour out love for you? In return for what? What should I love you for?”

Playwright Fodor doesn’t tie the story up in a pristine pink-ribboned package. She elicits profound unanswered questions of faith and of our dependence upon one another for our spiritual worth. 100 Saints is a serious play with brilliant comic buoyancy – all serving beautifully as character revelation and relief.

Cast: 3 W, 2 M

Scenes/Monologues: This beautiful five-character play has marvelous scenes for actors. Each scene has a clear dramatic arc in structure. The language has generational accuracy with phrases that reveal character sub-texts.

Recommended by: Bill

Follow Spot, Actor Steven Weber, Uncensored by Michael Portantiere.

Michael Portantiere interviews Steven Weber, currently appearing in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of Christopher Hampton's The Philanthropist.

Drama Book Shop Matt Love's interview with Stephin Merritt

Drama Book Shop Manager, Matt Love's interview with Stephin Merritt on newyork.decider.com. Merritt’s newest theatrical project is a musical adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s book Coraline, with a script written by David Greenspan—who also stars as The Other Mother alongside mature actor Jayne Houdyshell as 9-year-old Coraline.

Disussion plus Q&A with Judith Weston, author of Directing Actors at The Drama Book Shop

Time: Friday, May 15, 2009 6:00 p.m.
Location: The Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018
Title of Event: Disussion plus Q&A with Judith Weston, author of Directing Actors

Judith Weston is an internationally known teacher of actors and film directors, based in Los Angeles. At a special event at the Drama Book Shop, she will cover the following topics, with plenty of time for Q and A:

- How can Actors work most effectively with directors?
- How should Actors read a script?
- How can an Actor interpret confusing direction and make it your own?
- How can an Actor follow direction and your own impulses at the same time?
- How can an Actor make acting choices deeper, more truthful and more exciting?

Actors, directors, and writers are all invited to this event. Both of Judith's books, "Directing Actors" and "The Film Director's Intuition," are meant not just for directors, but for writers, actors and anyone who wants to live creatively.

Directing Actors
by Judith Weston
Michael Wiese Productions, 1999
Paper, $26.95

The Film Director's Intuition The Film Director's Intuition
by Judith Weston
Michael Wiese Productions, 2003
Paperback, $26.95

POW! (Play Of The Week)

VINCENT IN BRIXTON
by Nicholas Wright

INVENTING VAN GOGH
by Steven Dietz

It is nothing new to say that Vincent van Gogh was a complex, greatly troubled man. But these two plays look deep into Van Gogh at two different stages and together compliment, enrich, and bring to life Vincent, the human.

Vincent in Brixton by British playwright Nicholas Wright focuses on Vincent before he drew his first sketch. It depicts a young man, someone full of life yet struggling to find his way and to walk the artist's path. While living in a boarding house, Vincent develops a relationship with a troubled older woman named Ursula. Wright understands that the most important aspect of a relationship between people, or even painter and art, is the shared experience of the soul. In Vincent in Brixton, he uses Van Gogh’s experiences with Ursula to illustrate this point; it is she who inspires Vincent to live and to paint with passion.

In the preface of Inventing Van Gogh, American playwright Steven Dietz quotes Van Gogh himself: "Exaggerate the essential; leave the obvious vague." Dietz then applies this idea to the structure and setting of the play, which shifts fluidly between the 1880s – the later years of Van Gogh’s life - and the present day - where a modern painter struggles to forge a copy of the master’s final self-portrait. Dietz's Van Gogh takes Wright's depiction to the next level: his Van Gogh is dramatically troubled, bursting at the seams, and begging for life to come off of the page. In Inventing Van Gogh, both the artist’s contemporaries and present-day art enthusiasts agree: Van Gogh, a man obsessed with painting his own image, was searching for some greater connection to the soul.

Taken together, these plays have made me obsessed with Vincent Van Gogh. Inventing Van Gogh is incredibly theatrical and dramatic, especially how Dietz handles the suicide (I'll say no more). Vincent in Brixton is beautifully sensual and touching. Both have left me craving more, wanting to fully understand the man who created a unique form of painting. Though these portraits indicate how hard it might be to obtain that goal, I have not been as inspired from reading a play recently as I have by these two.

Cast: Vincent in Brixton: 2 M, 3 W. Inventing Van Gogh: 4 M, 1 W.

Scenes/Monologues: Wonderful scenes and monologues in both plays!

Recommended by: Abi.

How to Begin an Acting Career in NYC with Actress and Career Coach, Annie Chadwick at The Drama Book Shop

Time: Sunday, May 17, 2009. 2:00 pm
Location: The Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018
Title of Event: How to Begin an Acting Career in NYC with Actress and Career Coach, Annie Chadwick

Have you just finished an acting training program and are ready to begin seeking work but don't know where to start?

• Are you a new actor to NYC, and want to know the best, most effective ways to market your talent in the Big Apple?
• Are you returning to acting or just starting to perform after working in the business world?

In this 2 hour workshop, Actress and Career Coach Annie Chadwick will give you clear and current tools to begin building an acting career in NYC.

The Workshop will cover:

Marketing Tools and Strategies
Are your marketing tools a current representation of your talent?
This is one of the most important parts of building a career and introducing your talent to the industry. Learn the most current trends in effective Pictures, Resumes, Cover Letters and Postcard content, Website, Reels, Email Submissions, Industry Mailings and Personal Appearance. Get specific letter writing skills and tips to make your cover letters, postcards, follow-ups and submissions more targeted. Are emails, faxing, website promotion the way of the future?

Self-Promotion
Learn the most effective ways to introduce yourself to the industry agents, personal managers, casting directors, showcases, seminars.
Film/TV and theatre opportunities are greater than ever in NYC. Learn how a talented actor can get auditions without representation and start developing a legit career. Get information on how to self-submit and get your own Film/TV auditions from Online Casting Opportunities and Trade publications. Learn what TV/Film projects are shooting in NYC and who is doing the casting. For theatre projects you will get specific tips on how to find out six months in advance what's being produced before casting notices go out; the best ways to get auditions, target and identify the roles you are most right for; and how to see the latest NYC Off-Broadway theatre for free.

Classes, Coaches, and Resources
Training for artists never ends. Get recommendation of on-going classes and coaches that will help you get noticed in the very competitive NYC market. We'll also go on a tour of the Drama Book Shop with a list of resources that are essential to keeping-up with the latest projects and acting techniques.

For more information on Up-to-Date Theatricals and Annie Chadwick, visit:
www.utdtheatricalservices.com
www.anniechadwick.com

The cost of this workshop is $50, payable on the day of the workshop. For reservations call 212-265-0260, or the Drama Book Shop at (212) 944-0595 (option 3) during regular business hours.

Annie just worked with director P.J. Hogan on the new Jerry Bruckheimer film, CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC, playing John Lithgow's wife, Mrs. Edgar West.

Workshop Reviews
"I came to Annie's workshop hoping to at least get some decent info for $50. What I came away with was not only worth the price, but much more than I had hoped for. Annie is genuine, goes out of her way to not only make you feel special, but to really give you that extra individualized attention, which is completely unexpected but absolutely appreciated. Her workshop was not only chalked full of relevant and useful information, but she added something that I did not expect to find there...hope and inspiration. What a truly fabulous workshop! I highly recommend it to anyone who is beginning their career or feeling like they are at a stalemate here in New York!"--Krista, NYC actress/singer/musician

"I took your career-building workshop yesterday. I wanted to drop you a line to say how thankful I was for your advice, attention, and for all the wonderful information you gave us. It was so awesome! I was so energized and excited after the meeting that I felt hopeful I could indeed pursue this career on a professional level. I feel like I have a clear-cut focus for how to approach the next six months and I feel awash in relief! Where to put your time, money and energy in your acting career feels so overwhelming, so it was nice to get some solid, practical advice. Thank you again."--Jennifer, NYC actress

Intermission Talk

April 29, 2009

"Next to Normal," "Hair," "West Side Story,"

"Reasons To Be Pretty" and "God of Carnage"

by Tony Vellela

Ever since Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler built a show around a throat-slitting barber and his cannibalistic femme-de-camp, just about anything has shown up as the core of a musical theatre piece. In "Next to Normal," by Tom Kitt [music] and Brian Yorkey [book and lyrics], middle-aged Diana [Alice Ripley] struggles with the bipolar disorder she has lived with for nearly two decades. The loving support of her husband Dan [J. Robert Spencer] and the complications brought on by teen-aged children Natalie [Jennifer Damiano] and Gabe [Aaron Tvett] combine to confuse Diana's tenuous grasp on reality, which drugs or treatment do not reconcile.

Seldom does an actor get the opportunity to tackle the challenges that the character of Diana offers, and Ripley more than scores. Broadway audiences have long known that here is a distinct talent [from "Tommy" to "James Joyce's The Dead" to "Side Show"]. Her abilities are far from normal. With Diana, Ripley brings a heart-breaking fragility to the woman, ricocheting among demons and loved ones and memories and dreams, landing nowhere for very long. There are no weak performances, but outstanding are Spencer, with the same powerhouse voice that helped win him a Tony Award in "Jersey Boys," and most notably, Tvett. Still in his teens, and already a veteran of smaller roles ["Wicked," "Hairspray"], Tvett's career takes a giant leap forward here, especially in his kick-ass rendition of the dynamic 'I'm Alive."

Director Michael Grief takes full advantage of his captivating cast, and excellent design work from Mark Wendland [sets], Kevin Adams [lighting] and Brian Ronan [sound] to divert attention from some of the musical's flaws, including weak, obvious lyrics and a book that fails to satisfy the curiosity the laying out of the storyline engenders. Instead, its soft landing forces us back onto generalities and even misconceptions about Diana's troubled condition. This is indeed a show for grown-ups and their smart teen-agers, but there remains plenty of room to enlighten our perception of this serious demi-world.

Altering perceptions was the raison d'etre for the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical "Hair" when it exploded forty-plus years ago [as I can personally attest], barreling up Broadway from the Public Theatre to the Biltmore. And any quibbles about its structure, its content or its mission fail to account for the times when it shook up every world it was any part of - from the straight press and their cartoon representations of young people in revolt against conventions that muzzled and held down differing opinions to the commercial theatre, which would not believe that a 'rock' musical could make it on the Great White [Right] Way. 'Til then, rock music had been unwelcome as the source of stage music, because ticket-buyers were older than rock fans. But the powerful messages of this musical were unstoppable, given the political climate of the day. When a major musical event lit up a theatre and its songs seized a nation the way "Hair" did, its place as an iconic cultural phenomenon was assured.

The original production, with book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, and music by Galt MacDermott, benefited from the inspired genius of director Tom O'Horgan, who was the only director ever to have four shows on Broadway at the same time [also "Lenny," "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Inner City"]. While it's not possible to duplicate that historic original, this version, helmed by Diane Paulus, does recreate a level of enthusiasm and vigor that offers a new generation a valid glimpse into the past.

Among the tribe, stand-outs include Gavin Creel as the tortured Claude and Will Swenson as his liberating soul-mate Berger. The heavy burden of the Vietnam War ['The War' to anyone whose hair is peppered with grey], and the flagrant prejudices against any expression of personal liberties, punctuated by the blows from the batons of status-guarding cops, made the score of "Hair" a collection of anthems that have survived to today, from "Let the Sun Shine In" and "Good Morning, Starshine" to "What a Piece of Work Is Man," "Aquarius" and the title song. If you are now living in the 'grey' garden of life, relive that era happily. If you are still in the green years, first check out 'hippie' on Wikipedia to get the real backstory of the alternative lifestyle that "Hair" celebrates.

Instead of trying to push out the boundaries of convention and conformity like the twentysomethings of "Hair," their contemporary counterparts in Neil LaBute's "reasons to be pretty" ache to fit into society's molds. Two blue-collar couples, Greg and Steph [Thomas Sadoski and Marin Ireland] and Kent and Carly [Steven Pasquale and Piper Perabo] jostle with identity issues that break them both up, all stemming from a seemingly inocuous remark that Greg makes about his four-year live-in girlfriend, remarking that her face is "regular-looking." Her reaction opens the play: a volcanic, esteem-scarred, minutes-long, obscenity-laced vitriolic tirade against him broken up by the breaking of furniture. Greg and Kent work in a bulk goods warehouse, where Kent's pregnant wife shares the night shift as a security guard. Steph works in a shop.

LaBute's writing aims for a lazer-point sting, and it lands, if you believe in the authenticity of the premise and the relationships of the characters. It's convenient to go along with the idea that bookworm Greg still looks to Kent for best friendship, or that he would not have drifted away from the less-than-literate Steph by now. It's easy to accept Kent [a ripe candidate for MTV's "Bully Beatdown"] as a poster boy for machismo grandioso, and his pretty wife's insecurities that she is only valued for her looks. But when you stir these four together, they do not credibly make ratatouille - more like three pepperoni slices and a still-growing truffle. If feeling superior to a lower economic class of workers and a few identity-conscious millenials will give you a warm glow as you laugh at their malapropisms and cliches, you will soak in every minute at the Lyceum. If not, don't. Caveat : if you would like to witness two of the season's most riveting performances that override the inconsistencies of how their characters are written, visit the Lyceum to see Sadoski and Ireland. They each mete out gloriously nuanced moments in their work, signaling great days ahead for both of them.

The original 'pretty' girl, Maria in "West Side Story," has reclaimed a part of the New York turf now that the Arthur Laurents [book], Stephen Sondheim [lyrics] and Leonard Bernstein [music] classic has returned. And, like "Hair," it's a welcome return. Years ago, Laurents told me he had been planning an updated version that had the Puerto Rican Sharks and their women speak and sing in Spanish in many sections of the show, an idea that originated with his longtime companion, Tom Hatcher. Now that Laurents has satisfied himself that he has directed the definitive production of "Gypsy" two seasons back with Patti LuPone, he has tackled the other crown jewel in his legacy, injecting new life into this musical that lost out to 'The Music Man" in the 1959 Tony Award race. And once again, this 91-year-old bantam rooster of ceaseless energy has left his mark. There are many stand-outs in this life force of a musical, but most significant in shedding new light on a role that has taken on larger meaning in the last half century is Karen Olivo, as Anita, her hair whip-lashing around as she dances in the gym, her motherly caring of Maria more deeply understood as they share their fears and dreams in their native language.

Oh-so-polite language perfumes the air as two civilized couples in civilized Cobble Hill, Brooklyn meet to sort out the apologies when one couple's son smashes the other with a stick, in Yasmina Reza's viciously funny "God of Carnage." The victim's mother, an art devotee and soon-to-be-published photographer of the Darfur genocides, believes in striving for a "moral conception of the world" to prevail. Her maternal counterpart, a 'wealth management consultant,' seems to concur. But the outcome is inevitable, even as the distaff duo devolve from cellphone-addicted lawyer and bathroom fixtures retailer to dueling savages, kept apart only periodically by their now-unmasked wives, stripped of their humanity and wearing their mutual contempt like battle fatigues.

Marcia Gay Harden and James Gandolfini [photog, fixtures] and Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis [lawyer, consultant] elevate this already-brilliant script to higher levels of giddy riotousness, abetted ably by Matthew Warchus' choreographic direction. Like his work in "Boeing Boeing," Warchus demonstrates how crucial it is for comedies that blend language humor with body laughs to stitch together these elements like a needlepoint of sounds, actions and colors. You will laugh at lines you shouldn't; you will wish this unwholesome foursome took longer than ninety minutes to wear each other out.

ON BOOK

If you want to remind yourself what the best in comedy was like during the last financial meltdown, look no further than "You Can't Take It With You," by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, which toasted the hypocrisies of the thirties in much the same way that Reza punctures the givens of today. And if you think you know this play because you have seen Jimmy Stewart, Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, Ann Miller and others in the film, you do not. That Frank Capra production was filmed using a substantially rewritten script by Robert Riskin, a screen scribe unhappily bereft of the wit and whimsy that the original celebrates. In fact, to discover the origins of this masterwork, seek out Hart's autobiography, "Act One." His wife, Kitty Carlisle Hart, once told me that she had to prod him mercilessly into writing it, but we can all thank her posthumously for her efforts. Anyone who loves great theatre will love that book.

TONY VELLELA, the veteran theatre correspondent for "The Christian Science Monitor," writes and produces the PBS series about theatre, "Character Studies". His work has also appeared in "Parade," "Theatre Week,"" USA Today," "Dramatics," "Rolling Stone," and several other publications.

Hot off the Press! Available now at the Drama Book Shop

Anon
by Kate Robin

Anon. follows two couples as they cope with sexual addiction. Trip and Allison are young and healthy, but he's more interested in his abnormally large porn collection than in her. While they begin to work through both of their own sexual and relationship hang-ups, Trip's parents are stuck in the roles they've been carving out for years in their dysfunctional marriage. In between scenes with these four characters, 10 different women, members of a support group for those involved with individuals with sex addiction issues, tell their stories in monologues that are alternately funny and harrowing.

Drama. 2m, 12f. Areas. Acting Edition. $10.95.

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What They Have
by Kate Robin

Connie and Jonas are a successful industry couple. Their friends Suzanne, a struggling painter, and Matt, a struggling musician, can’t afford to fix the roof. But stay tuned because in this funny, poignant and always truthful new play, lives can change in a heartbeat, and things aren’t necessarily what they seem.

Comedy. 2m, 2f. Acting Edition. #10.95

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Beauty on the Vine
by Zak Berkman

"BEAUTY ON THE VINE provocatively imagines emulative cosmetic surgery taking hold among young women across the country."--NY Times.

"Zak Berkman's seething new play attacks societal hypocrisies from plastic surgery to right-wing politics."--BackStage.

"This is vital, ambitious theatre…BEAUTY ON THE VINE is a play of big ideas. America's fascination with celebrity culture and personal reinvention, the bonds between parents and children (or lack thereof) and the never-ending war between Democrats and Republicans all get touched upon."--NYTheatre.com.

"An absolutely thrilling and wildly complex play. It sheds the antiquated idea that beauty is only a frivolous issue important to women and, instead, links concepts of beauty to biggies like power, politics, love, and death. Oh, and it was written by a guy (swoon)."--Courtney E. Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters.

From mixed-race identities to extreme plastic surgery, BEAUTY ON THE VINE is a modern fable exploring the power of the human face in hothouse America. When a young female star of right-wing radio is brutally murdered, her husband and father investigate the reasons behind the violence. They discover a world where young women transform themselves to look like their idols, and mothers lose their daughters to the illusion of popularity and power.

Drama. 2 men, 4 women: 6 total. Flexible Set.

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The Atheist
by Ronan Noone

"Viciously funny…he is despicable but you want to go on despising him all night."--Boston Globe.

"…the gutter-lyrical fireworks of the rogue male ego…a compelling voice…"--Time Out (London).

"…the most alluringly sleazy newshound this side of the twenty-first century."--Boston Herald.

"…accomplishes the Olympian task of making an utter bastard compelling."--Variety.

Augustine Early, a crooked journalist, has made an art of clawing his way up the professional ladder. When he turns a politician's tawdry predilections into front-page news, the scandal threatens to undo the one person he thought was immune. A searing and hilarious play about catching the perfect headline, whatever the cost.

Drama. 1 man: 1 total. Flexible Set.

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The Optimist
Jason Chimonides
"Compelling drama…deliriously entertaining."--The New Yorker.

"Hilarious…raw and revealing."--EdgeNewYork.com.

"Playwright Jason Chimonides' script abounds with witty remarks, dirty allusions, and random tangents where high art and popular culture collide and explode."--New Theatre Corps.

Over the course of one tumultuous weekend, Noel returns to his hometown to confront the sudden death of his best friend, the wedding of his philandering father, and the reemergence of his one true love, Nicole. A hilarious, poignant journey punctuated by the puerile antics of Noel's fraternal twin brother, Declan, THE OPTIMIST follows three young people into a rundown motel room where they tackle unfinished romance, the imminent arrival of a rampaging patriarch, and the threat of impending adulthood.

Comedy/Drama. 2 men, 1 woman: 3 total. INTERIOR.

PLEASE NOTE: There are many (if not most) items in the store that you won't find on our website. If you don't find what you're looking for, please call the Drama Book Shop at 212-944-0595 (option 3) to order.

Our NEW (old) HOURS ARE:

Monday through Saturday:
10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Late Night Thursdays:
Open until 8:00 p.m.
(Please join us for wine and cheese between 6 and 8)