The DRAMA BOOK SHOP, Inc.

Tues, Jan 31@ 6:00 p.m: J. T. Rogers: performance from and signing of Blood and Gifts (FREE) at The Drama Book Shop

2012-01-24T00:43:00.003-05:00

The cast of Lincoln Center Theater’s celebrated production of Blood and Gifts perform excerpts from the play, followed by a Q&A with and book signing by playwright J. T. Rogers.

“My God, Russian soldiers being shot by Chinese bullets. Sometimes the world is so beautiful.”

1981. The Soviet army burns its way through Afghanistan, CIA operative Jim Warnock is sent to try and halt its bloody progress, and a secret spy war behind the official Soviet-Afghan war begins. The ground constantly shifts for Jim and his counterparts in the KGB and British and Pakistani secret service as the men wrestle with their shifting personal and political loyalties, and their friendships with—and betrayals of—each other. As the outcome of the entire Cold War comes into play, Jim and a larger-than-life Afghan warlord find the only person they can trust is each other. Spanning a decade and playing out in Washington DC, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, Blood and Gifts is a sweeping, often shockingly funny, epic set against one of the greatest historical events of recent history.

Blood and Gifts: Top Ten Play of the Year from The New York Times, Time Out NY, Bloomberg News

“Superb! Engrossing and illuminating. A first-rate production with the taut grip of a spy novel. J.T. Rogers's knowledge of the hearts and minds of his characters is as deep as his grasp of the geopolitical games being played.”-- New York Times

“A gripping, sensational spy tale!” -- Time Out New York

“A smart, stimulating and just-plain entertaining spy thriller!”-- Entertainment Weekly

“An espionage thriller and dark comedy with fascinating characters.”-- New York Post

“J.T. Rogers asserts a unique voice in this gripping and absorbing drama.”-- Backstage

J. T. Rogers’s plays include Blood and Gifts (National Theater, London; Lincoln Center Theater), The Overwhelming (National Theatre, followed by UK tour with Out of Joint and BBC Radio; Roundabout Theatre); Madagascar (Theatre 503, London; Melbourne Theatre Company) and White People (Off Broadway with Starry Night Productions). As one of the original playwrights for the Tricycle Theatre of London’s Great Game: Afghanistan, he was nominated for 2009 Olivier Award. His works have been staged throughout the United States and in Germany, Canada, and Israel, and are published by Faber and Faber and Dramatists Play Service. Rogers’s essays have appeared in American Theatre and in London’s Independent and The New Statesman. He is a member of New Dramatists and the Dramatist Guild and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Blood and Gifts: A Play
By J. T. Rogers
Paperback. $14.00

POW! (Play Of The Week)

2012-01-23T09:29:00.000-05:00

BE A GOOD LITTLE WIDOW
by Bekah Brunstetter

Bekah Brunstetter’s hilarious yet sad play Be A Good Little Widow is a wonderful depiction of loss, longing, and dealing with the people who suddenly become a large part of your life.

Newlyweds Melody and Craig have just moved into a new home to attempt at becoming proper sophisticated grownups. Though 23 year old Melody loves her husband, she is constantly competing for attention with his blackberry. As if that weren't bad enough, when her mother-in-law, Hope, comes into the picture we get to experience the horrid battle of, "well little girl, you are obviously not good enough for my son."

Because of Craig's Job, Melody is often left alone and only seems to feel relaxed or comfortable around Brad (Craig's assistant) who seems to be just as dazed and confused as she is. When Craig suddenly dies, Melody begins an uncontrollable journey of trying to mourn "properly" because, of course, her mother-in-law is a professional. In fact, she is the leader of the Widows League in town. As the plot grows we learn that Melody and Hope have much to teach each other about the grieving process.

This play was a surprising and wonderful read. You can't help but fall in love with each character. Be A Good Little Widow may seem like a cute play but do not be fooled; it is unexpectedly hilarious, sexy and moving.

If you enjoy Annie Baker or Brooke Berman's work you will not be disappointed.

Great scenes for 2W and for M/F
2M, 2W

Reviewed by Sharone

POW! (Play Of The Week)

2011-12-19T22:44:00.002-05:00

POSH
by Laura Wade

What happens when you put ten rich, smart, competitive men in the same room with a case of expensive wine and a ten-bird roast (imagine a turducken times three)? Posh.

Every term, the ten members of the Oxford University’s Riot Club gather together to eat good food, drink expensive wine and trash a dining room with the expectation that they can pay off anyone who complains. This term, a clash over the leadership and the future of the club agitate this already combative group of affluent students. Dressed in tails and up for a night of debauchery, the Riot Club exchange insults, brilliant quips and stories about their crumbling castles that have been turned over to the state. Throw in an overly attentive proprietor, his “tasty” daughter and a “professional” prostitute and the boys of the Riot Club are in for a more memorable night than they bargained for.

Posh premiered at London’s Royal Court in the spring of 2010 on the eve of the general election that brought the Tories to power. Modeled after the Bullingdon Club (which current Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron was a member of), the Riot Club is Wade’s means of exploring England’s ruling class, their attitudes and their origin. Her apt use of the well-bred vernacular simultaneously charms and terrifies the audience as the Riot Club members continuously undercut one another. These are smart young men who have a frightening hatred bubbling beneath the surface. A hatred for poor people, a hatred for unintelligent people, a hatred for the people who have taken their country away from the people who deserve to rule it. What’s even more frightening is how good they are at articulating this hatred and how comfortable they are doing so in the company of one another.

Wade has written a clever, scathing, funny play about the men behind the curtain in politics and how they got there.

12M, 2W
Reviewed by Kate

Thurs, Dec 15 @ 6 P.M: Tony award winning playwright David Henry Hwang reading and book signing at The Drama Book Shop. FREE Admission.

2011-12-12T09:05:00.000-05:00

Tony award winning playwright David Henry Hwang reading and book signing at The Drama Book Shop Thursday December 15, 2011, at 6:00 pm. Free admission.

A rare opportunity to hear one of America’s finest playwrights.

David Henry Hwang, with special guests, will read and discuss his current Broadway offering, Chinglish as well as his award-winning plays M. Butterfly and Yellow Face at The Drama Book Shop, 250 West 40th Street on Thursday, December 15th.

David Henry Hwang's works include the Tony Award-winning M. BUTTERFLY, the hit musical AIDA, and his current Broadway comedy, CHINGLISH. He is a three-time Tony Award nominee, a three-time Obie Award winner, and has twice been a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

Wed, Dec 14 @ 5 P.M: Teresa Rebeck & cast members reading from Broadway show Seminar at The Drama Book Shop

2011-12-11T20:58:00.002-05:00

A terrific free event at The Drama Book Shop with Teresa Rebeck and cast members reading from her Broadway show Seminar, now playing at The Golden Theatre to rave reviews.

There will also be a Q&A and she will also sign her plays.

THERESA REBECK
Broadway credits include Seminar (currently running at the Golden Theatre) and Mauritius. Past New York productions include The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection, Spike Heels, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann, View of the Dome and Omnium Gatherum (co-written, Pulitzer finalist). Publications include her Collected Plays Volume I (volumes II and III, fall 2007), Free Fire Zone (fall 2007), all with Smith & Kraus, and her first novel, Three Girls and Their Brother (spring 2008) with Shaye Areheart/Random House. Rebeck has written extensively for film and television as well. She has won the National Theatre Conference Award, the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award, Boston‘s Elliot Norton and IRNE awards, a Writers Guild Award, an Edgar and a Peabody. She thanks her husband Jess and children, Cooper and Cleo.

Thurs, Dec 15 @ 9 P.M: A FREE night of sketch comedy at The Drama Book Shop

2011-12-11T20:52:00.002-05:00

A FREE night of sketch comedy from the New Sketch Group

Sister Act at The Drama Book Shop

2011-12-06T20:50:00.000-05:00

POW! (Play Of The Week)

2011-11-19T22:51:00.001-05:00

FOUR
by Christopher Shinn

After seeing Picked at the Vineyard Theatre this spring, I was immediately drawn to Shinn’s plays. The festering underbelly in his work is quite engaging, and the actor is forced to acknowledge the haunting subtext. The task is fun, and Shinn allows for complicated, indecisive, twisted characters.

In Four, which was originally produced by the Royal Court Theatre in London and later in New York City by the Worth Street Theater Company, four characters come together under similar, but two different circumstances. One of which is between a sixteen-year-old boy and a closeted, married black man whom he met on the internet. The other is the man’s sixteen-year-old daughter and a twenty-year old drug dealer. The scene work is quite interesting and the power play between charters is lustful and complicated. The two situations are foils for one another, and Shinn keeps us engaged by switching back and forth between each rendez vous.

There are good monologues and scenes for teenage actors. However, I recommend they be in their twenties or extremely mature since the subject matter is quite jarring. The piece is perfect for colleges or audiences open to a profound, heartbreaking exploration of sexuality, secrets, trust, and what happens when obligation is lifted.

When people place themselves in such impersonal situations, we often see them unfolding and exposing themselves in ways otherwise hidden by a socially acceptable guise. We see a “festering underbelly” bubbling to the surface out of sheer ambiguity.

GREAT PLAY! BOLD AND FASCINATING!

Review by Shawn Verrier

Thurs, Nov 10 @ 6pm: Jerry Stiller and Ann Meara: WHERE'S THE WATCH? By "Uncle Leo" Len Lesser at The Drama Book Shop

2011-11-07T19:46:00.002-05:00

Jerry Stiller and Ann Meara (and possibly Ben Stiller) celebrate the publication of Where's the Watch?! And Other Tales — a memoir from Seinfeld's Uncle Leo… Len Lesser.

Len Lesser passed away unexpectedly this February before the release of his memoir. Join the Stiller's for an evening talking theater, Hollywood and humor all wrapped up with their fond memories of Len Lesser, a lovable man whose life was a whole lot more than Seinfeld's Uncle Leo.

"Lesser's book is a theater buff's thriller. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. And you'll recognize all the suspects."--Jerry Stiller

"Len was an educated, articulate, hip, thoughtful contemporary man. Uncle Leo was a bit, a put on. It was so brilliant,it is unfathomable that it was a performance.--Jason Alexander

"I loved Len. We had fun every day we got to work together."--Jerry Seinfeld

You are about to meet the actor Len Lesser. An ordinary man with an extraordinary career. One of the longest in Hollywood.

A quintessential ladies man, Len was a WWII veteran, who held a degree in economics. He was intelligent, driven, and handsome. He could have done anything with his life. But he chose to act. That decision would land him jobs as a factory worker and a dishwasher. He would struggle throughout his life while still sharing the screen with Hollywood legends.

Before his breakout role as Uncle Leo on Seinfeld at age sixty-eight, Len was known for his work in films such as Kelly's Heroes, Birdman of Alcatraz, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Papillon, The Outlaw Josie Wales and TV shows like That Girl, The Monkees, and Get Smart.

Told in his own distinctive voice, Where's the Watch will introduce you to a different side of Seinfeld's Uncle leo. It is a poignant, inspiring romp through Hollywood…and life itself.

You will never see Uncle Leo the same way again.

Where's the Watch?! and Other Tales: A Memoir from Seinfeld's Uncle Leo
by Len Lesser and Tama Ryder with a foreword by Ed Asner
Staff Picks Press, November 2011
Paper: $17.50

Len Lesser was an award-winning actor and a longtime member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His career spanned more than six decades during which time he appeared in hundreds of critically acclaimed stage performances, films, and television shows, most notably on Seinfeld. He worked with Dustin Hoffman, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Barbra Streisand, Mel Brooks, and Frank Sinatra, among others. He resided in Los Angeles, where he and Ed Asner liked to stir up trouble with the ladies.

Tama Ryder is a Harvard-educated writer who grew up without a television. She wrote and produced an award-winning documentary about the Fresh Air Fund program and most recently worked for Senator Bob Kerrey. She tried to stay clear of the Sunset Strip when she knew Len and Ed were on the prowl. You can read more about her at www.TamaRyder.com

Fri, Nov 4 @ 5 P.M: David Finkle reading from “People Tell Me Things,” his new collection of short stories at The Drama Book Shop

2011-10-31T13:01:00.001-04:00

David Finkle will read from the ten-story collection focusing on Manhattan people and theater, publishing, and music, and their often complicated friendships. He’ll read the story “Banana Nose,” which deals with a successful producer and his somewhat well-known private life. Mr. Finkle will sign copies after the reading. David Finkle is the chief drama critic at TheaterMania.com. He writes often about theater, books, and music for The Huffington Post. He also interviews theater personalities for the Drama Book Shop series.

People Tell Me Things (Paperback)
by David Finkle
$15.95

Thurs, Nov 3 @ 6 P.M: Casting Insider Offers Advice on Nailing Your Audition: FREE at The Drama Book Shop

2011-10-30T22:56:00.003-04:00

A free audition workshop with Jason Buyer, author of Inside the Audition Room: The Essential Actor's Handbook for Los Angeles.

Inside the Audition Room: The Essential Actor's Handbook for Los Angeles (Paperback)
by Jason Buyer
$12.95

POW! (Play Of The Week)

2011-10-30T22:52:00.002-04:00

Sixty Miles to Silver Lake
by Dan LeFranc

Soccer: the quintessential sport to play as a kid. A car ride: a quintessential way to be stuck with someone you’d rather not spend much time with.

Sixty Miles to Silver Lake follows the relationship between one such soccer-playing kid and his father. The kid, Denny, lives with his mother during the week and his dad, Ky, on the weekends. Ky picks Denny up every Saturday after his morning soccer game, and on the sixty mile trip to Ky’s home, the two spend an uniquely uninterrupted period of time together. What appears, initially, to be a play chronically just one of those car rides, LeFranc ingeniously spins into a composite of all of the car rides Ky and Denny have on the way to Silver Lake over dozens of years of their lives. With utmost subtlety, LeFranc reveals the way these two men change and grow during their years of soccer playing and chauffeuring, and the ins and outs of this example of the deep but delicate bond between father and son.

This sparse, beautifully crafted play was co-produced by P73 and Soho Rep., two important organizations for emerging playwriting talent, and it won LeFranc the 2010 New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award. LeFranc is certainly a writer to watch, and Sixty Miles to Silver Lake is a great way to get a look.

Cast: 2M, one spanning tweens to twenties, the other spanning the corresponding ages of his father
Scenes/Monlogues: The entire play is made up of a scene between two men, one younger, one older. Within that, the father goes off on some humorous rants that could make for unique monologues.

Review by Rachel K.

Thurs, Oct 20 @ 6 P:M: Daniel Talbott & Jessica Bauman direct moments from The Amish Project, Milk, Birthday and Nobody at The Drama Book Shop

2011-10-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

Inspired! Samuel French Celebrates New Plays by Emily DeVoti, Jessica Dickey, and Crystal Skillman

Daniel Talbott and Jessica Bauman direct moments from The Amish Project, Milk, Birthday and Nobody at the Arthur Seelen Theater

Celebrating Samuel French’s hot-off-the press publications written by three up-and-coming women playwrights who find inspiration in each other’s work. Along with insights from the authors on each other’s pieces, moments will be shared from the plays directed by a director who has also inspired these writers: Rising Phoenix Rep Artistic Director Daniel Talbott (Director of Birthday and Nobody, and author of Slipping, also available for purchase). Book signing party upstairs with wine and refreshments to follow!

"(Dickey's) craft made me weep. The virtuosic writer-performer acts her bonnet off."--Time Out New York

“Birthday is a romantic comedy, sort of; it’s a lovely, sweet play of connection and camaraderie. Skillman picks up details of the trappings of our lives and makes them sing resonantly.” --NYTheatre.com

“There is an engagingly original streak running through her writing… [DeVoti] fills Milk with interesting details (lots of cow knowledge) and unexpected touches.” --The New York Times.

Jessica Dickey is a professional actress and emerging playwright. She is a company member of Rising Phoenix Repertory, an Affiliated Artist of New Georges and a Founding member of the Fire Dept. Her hit one-woman show, THE AMISH PROJECT, examines the aftermath of the notorious Pennsylvania schoolhouse shootings. It premiered at the New York Fringe Festival in 2008, and went on to open at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, where it was greeted with tremendous response from both audiences and critics. For more info, visit www.AmishProject.com

Emily DeVoti is a playwright and founding editor of The Brooklyn Rail. Her play MILK was produced Off-Broadway by New Georges in NYC in 2010 at HERE Arts Center in SoHo.

Crystal Skillman is a Brooklyn based playwright. NOBODY & BIRTHDAY, originally produced by Rising Phoenix Rep in NYC with director Daniel Talbott. She is honored to announce her comedy Action Philosophers! will be returning for a full run at the Brick this fall - Oct. 6th-16th following its sold out debut in the Comic Book Theatre festival this summer. In Spring 2012 he will be the resident playwright at Overturn Theatre Ensemble.

AMISH PROJECT: The Amish Project is a fictional exploration of the Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting in an Amish community, and the path of forgiveness and compassion forged in its wake.

BIRTHDAY & NOBODY: In Birthday, an anxious young woman slips away from a unwelcoming birthday party in a bar only to discover a stranger sitting in the other room – they find they may have a chance to forgive themselves and each other. In Nobody six people come together, each for their own reasons, at a restaurant on the Lower East Sid and grasp at trying to come to terms with their disjointed lives and their singular, unsettling dream.

MILK: An elegant parable of change set on the cusp of a shifting American landscape. First produced by New Georges and New Feet Productions in New York City.

The Amish Project (Paperback)
By Jessica Dickey
$9.95

Birthday & Nobody: Two Plays (Acting Edition) (Paperback)
By Crystal Skillman
$9.95

Milk (Paperback)
By Emily Devoti
$9.95

Slipping (Paperback)
By Daniel Talbott
$9.50

Thurs, Oct 13 @ 6.00 P:M: Ken Bloom (Broadway Musicals: 101 Greatest Musicals) interviews Peter Filichia about his new book at The Drama Book Shop

2011-10-11T20:49:00.003-04:00

Broadway Musical MVPs, 1960-2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Past 50 Seasons

Ken Bloom (Broadway Musicals: 101 Greatest Musicals) interviews Peter Filichia about his new book.

About the Author:
Peter Filichia is a theater critic for the Star-Ledger in Newark. Three times a week, he also writes Peter Filichia's Diary for theatermania, and every Tuesday writes a column for masterworksbroadway.com. He is the author of Let's Put on a Musical, now in its third printing, and Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit & The Biggest Flop of the Season: 1959-2009. He is the chairperson and host of the annual Theatre World Awards.

Broadway Musical Mvps: 1960-2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Past 50 Seasons
By Peter Filichia
Paper. $19.99

Thurs, Oct 6 @ 6.00 P.M: Peter Neufeld: For The Good of The Show. at The Drama Book Shop

2011-10-05T22:29:00.003-04:00

Peter Neufeld: For The Good of The Show with Victor Garber, Steve Bogardus, Karen Ziemba, Peter Filichia (Moderator) and Seth Weinstein (Piano)

Brooklyn born and raised, Peter Neufeld fell in love at age seven when his mother took him to his first Broadway musical and the curtain rose on the original company of—Oklahoma!. His story takes us through his “maturing years” at the College of William and Mary, where his passion for the theater was reinforced. Here he established enduring friendships and “learned that it was kind of okay for the theater to be important to me.”

When Neufeld returned to New York, he eventually formed a business partnership with R. Tyler Gatchell, Jr. Their firm handled many of the most important shows of the 1970s and ’80s, including No, No, Nanette; Jesus Christ Superstar; Annie; Sweeney Todd; Evita; and Cats, to name a few. As the years unfolded Peter worked with theatrical royalty: from Claudette Colbert and Ruby Keeler to Cherry Jones and Patti LuPone; Mike Nichols and Ed Harris to Janet Leigh and Jack Cassidy; Ethel Merman, Linda Lavin and Alfred Drake to Noël Coward, Lynn Fontanne, and Madeline Kahn, Judith Ivey, Martin Charnin, and many, many more—always with a wry smile and a twinkle in his eye.

Peter’s memoir is also the touching story of a man wrestling with his sexuality while working in the Broadway theater. After Tyler’s death he found his interest in the business side waning. A new path led him closer to “the heart of the Broadway community,” a perfect footnote to the career of a man initially drawn to the stage by its spirit of mutual support. That gift for personal connection—along with integrity, warmth, humor, and an insistence on doing his job right— made him one of the most beloved and respected members of his profession. It also makes his memoir a saga of glamorous stars, laughter, soaring successes and humbling failures, keen insights into the world of theater, even a special Tony award. Peter’s story is the inspirational tale of a man in pursuit of a lifelong passion.

Hard Cover: $28.50
Paper: $19.50

POW! (Play Of The Week)

2011-10-05T22:21:00.001-04:00

READY FOR THE RIVER
by Neal Bell

Doris and her teenage daughter, Lorna, are on the run. They witnessed Doris’s ex (Lorna’s father) kill the banker who’d come to foreclose on their farm, and they know they are next in line. The road trip they take to avoid being found is full of places to hide but the trip also brings them hallucinations and the dead banker’s son. They depend on each other as much as they don’t understand each other and with each mishap they continue on. Finally stopping at a small motel, for one night’s sleep behind a real door, and knowing they can’t pay the bill, they confront their would-be killer. Only now he’s dead. So what do they do? And do they do it together?

Wonderfully written tale of two people finding out what it takes to confront who they are. Tragic turns keep us guessing yet reveal two souls who love each other but are at odds with one another. The real people and the illusions add depth and humor. A real gem.

"Bell's story of the women's ghostly escape from realistic pursuit is…staged…with a grave simplicity that was haunting."--American Theatre.

"Part scathing satire and part gut-wrenching melodrama, Bell's script is as mean as yesterday's headlines and driven over the edge with language that beats on the brain with a message of despair and horror at what has happened to the American dream."--Express News.

Cast: 4M, 2W

Great scenes for mother and teenage daughter
Good monologue for a teenage girl and teenage boy

Fri, Sept 23 @ 5:00 p.m.: FREE AUDITION WORKSHOP With Andrew Gerle at The Drama Book Shop

2011-09-20T21:26:00.000-04:00

Andrew Gerle gives a musical theatre audition workshop & signs copies of his new book, The Enraged Accompanist’s Guide to the Perfect Audition.

Award-winning composer, musical director, pianist, and accompanist Andrew Gerle shares the secrets from the piano bench in a free master class on musical theater audition technique. Please bring your book of music with you if you would like personalized tips on your technique. Learn how to interact with the accompanist, how to improve your performance, and find out what they're saying about you after you leave the room! In addition to this free workshop, at 5:45pm, Andrew Gerle will come upstairs to sign copies of his book, The Enraged Accompanist’s Guide to the Perfect Audition.

Andrew Gerle has played thousands of auditions for Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional productions, and has served as an accompanist and musical director for major Broadway and recording artists over the past 15 years. He is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Award, four Richard Rodgers Awards, and the Burton Lane Composer’s Fellowship from the Theatre Hall of Fame. He is the composer of six acclaimed musicals, and his opera “The Beach” was excerpted by the New York City Opera with City Opera singers and an 80-piece orchestra. A sought-after vocal coach, he has worked at NYU’s Tisch Graduate School of Acting and is currently a lecturer at the New York Film Academy and Yale University.

The Enraged Accompanist’s Guide to the Perfect Audition
Award-winning New York theatre composer and pianist Andrew Gerle pulls no punches in this irreverent, fly-on-the-wall guide to everything you've never been taught about auditioning for musical theatre. From the unique perspective of the pianist's bench, he demystifies the audition process, from how to put together your book and speak to an accompanist to the healthiest and savviest ways to approach the audition marketplace and your career. By better understanding the dynamics of professional auditions, you will learn to present yourself in the strongest, most castable way while remaining true to your own special voice – the one that, in the end, will get you the job.

The Enraged Accompanist's Guide to the Perfect Audition
by Andrew Gerle
Paper. $16.99

Thurs, Sept 22 @ 6:00 p.m: DAVID IVES New Playwright Series Hosted by David Finkle at The Drama Book Shop

2011-09-20T18:00:00.000-04:00

New Playwright Series: David Ives
Join us for the first of our new monthly playwright series. This month's playwright is David Ives. Selections will be read from Ives upcoming Broadway production of Venus in Fur as well as a Q&A moderated be David Finkle. Book signing to follow.

David Ives is perhaps best known for his evenings of one-act comedies called All In The Timing and Time Flies. All In The Timing won the Outer Critics Circle Playwriting Award and ran for two years Off-Broadway. His full-length plays include Venus In Fur, which recently enjoyed a vast critical and audience success Off-Broadway; New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza, which won the prestigious Hull-Warriner Award and was presented by Washington’s Theatre J this spring; Is He Dead? (adapted from Mark Twain); Irving Berlin’s White Christmas; Polish Joke; and Ancient History. He has translated Feydeau’s classic farce A Flea In Her Ear as well as Yazmina Reza’s drama A Spanish Play, and has adapted 28 musical for Encores!. He is also the author of three young-adult novels, Monsieur Eek, Scrib, and Voss. A graduate of Yale School of Drama and a former Guggenheim Fellow in playwriting, he lives in New York City.

Tues, Sept 20 @ 5:00 p.m: An Evening with David Lindsay-Abaire at The Drama Book Shop

2011-09-19T21:13:00.002-04:00

An Evening with David Lindsay-Abaire
The award winning-winning playwright of Good People and Rabbit Hole discusses his work

Please join us for a special evening with David Lindsay-Abaire, as the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole and Good People reads selections from his plays and enters conversation with Manhattan Theatre Club’s Artistic Producer, Mandy Greenfield, about his work. A book signing will follow a brief Q & A.

David Lindsay-Abaire is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of author Rabbit Hole, which was made into a feature film. He is the author of Fuddy Meers, Wonder of the World, Kimberly Akimbo, A Devil Inside, as well as the librettos for the musicals High Fidelity and Shrek. He has written the screenplays for Rabbit Hole and the upcoming Rise of the Guardians and Oz: The Great and Powerful. Born in South Boston, he now lives in Brooklyn.

Well known for his absurdist comedies Fuddy Meers and Kimberly Akimbo, David Lindsay-Abaire brings his signature humor to Good People, his tough and tender new work that recently concluded its world premiere production at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Set in Bostons’s Southie, the neighborhood the playwright grew up in, Good People follows Margie Walsh who is facing eviction and scrambling to catch a break. When an old flame from the neighborhood – now “lace curtain Irish” – moves back to town, Margie hopes he may be her ticket to a fresh new start. Raising difficult questions with unsentimental observation and appealingly scrappy characters, Good People explores the struggles, shifting loyalties and unshakeable hopes that come with having next to nothing in America.

“Good People is the most substantial new Broadway play since August: Osage County.”-- Time Out

“Good People is poignant, brave and almost subversive in its focus of what it really means to be down on your luck.” --New York Post

“Shot through with aching authenticity, Good People is that rare play that is both timeless and completely keyed into a specific moment in American life – without the need for grasp for topicality.” --Hollywood Reporter

Winner – New York Drama Critics’ Award for Best Play

Nominee – Tony Award® for Best Play

Thurs, Sept 15 @ 6:00 p.m: Young & The Restless Star, Sean Kanan Book Signing…THE MODERN GENTLEMAN at The Drama Book Shop

2011-09-13T22:41:00.002-04:00

Actor Sean Kanan will meet and greet book enthusiasts and television fans and sign copies of his book.

Sean Kanan plays the role of bad boy, Deacon Sharpe (the role he originated on The Bold & The Beautiful) on the daytime drama, The Young & The Restless. Sean is also a recurring panel guest on HLN's Showbiz Tonight and on FOX's Red Eye. Sean got his first big break in Hollywood in the role of Mike Barnes in the now iconic film, Karate Kid III. Sean is very involved with the Anti-Defamation League especially in the area of anti-bullying. He has lobbied in Washington, D.C. in an effort to create effective anti-bullying legislation.

About the Book: THE MODERN GENTLEMAN is more than a cookbook of recipes Sean has collected over the years as a self-taught gourmet cook and avid traveler. This book speaks to men about the lost art of being a gentleman. He offers ideas on how to impress someone of the opposite sex including setting a table, arranging flowers, advice on manners, etiquette and more. He hopes his book will be used as a tool for men and he encourages women to share this book with the men in their lives.

"Sean's book gives single clowns like me the courage to step into the kitchen and actually do something besides stand around! With his recipes and advice, we may even be able to impress a girl or two!" --Justin Chon, Actor...The Twilight Saga

"Women will certainly applaud Sean's efforts. His book is just the right nudge that most men need!" --Eva La Rue, Actress, CSI:Miami

Frid, July 22 @ 5:00 P.M: KAREN KOHLHAAS. Free monologue and cold reading clinic w/author

2011-07-19T22:40:00.003-04:00

Atlantic Theater Company Co-Founder, Director, Author & Teacher, Karen Kohlhaas will coach monologues performed by attendees; talk about what makes a great monologue audition, and introduce part of her 10-point 'FEARLESS COLD READING' system.

KAREN KOHLHAAS is a founding member of New York's Atlantic Theater Company, where she recently directed the Lucille Lortel Award nominated THE COLLECTION and A KIND OF ALASKA by Harold Pinter which was named a top-10 theater production of 2010 by the New York Times, New York magazine, and the New York Daily News. Other productions for Atlantic include plays by David Mamet, Annie Baker, Keith Reddin, Shel Silverstein, Harold Pinter, Kate Moira Ryan, Kia Corthron, Joe Penhall, and Hilary Bell.. She directed the award-winning "25 QUESTIONS FOR A JEWISH MOTHER" by Kate Moira Ryan with Judy Gold at the Montreal Comedy Festival, Ars Nova, St. Lukes Theatre, and national tour. She has also directed at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater; Naked Angels, IRT Theatre; and Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York; the Menagerie Theatre in Cambridge, U.K. and the Practical Theatre Company in Sydney, Australia. Her documentaries and short films have played at festivals in the United States and internationally. She is a senior teacher at the Atlantic Acting School, and teaches her own Monologue Workshops, Fearless Cold Reading & Audition Technique classes, and her yearly Directing Class in New York. She also guest teaches in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. Karen is the director/producer of The Monologue Audition Video (DVD), and author of The Monologue Audition: A Practical Guide for Actors (Foreword by David Mamet), How to Choose a Monologue for Any Audition, and The Monologue Audition Teacher's Manual.

The Monologue Audition: A Practical Guide for Actors
by Karen Kohlhaas
Limelight, 2000
Paper, $16.99

Newly Published

2011-07-13T21:52:00.002-04:00

Behanding in Spokane by Martin McDonagh
My Wonderful Day by Alan Ayckbourn
Fox on the Fairway by Ken Ludwig

and call (212) 944-0595 x3 to order the following:

Me, Myself & I by Edward Albee
Black Tie by A.R. Gurney
Graceland by Ellen Fairey
Mr. & Mrs. Fitch by Douglas Carter Beane
After the Revolution by Amy Hertzog

Sun, July 17th @ 3.00 P.M: How to Build and Maintain an Acting Career in NYC with Actress and Career Coach Annie Chadwick at The Drama Book Shop

2011-07-13T21:47:00.000-04:00

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Whether you are a seasoned professional, a wide-eyed beginner or lost in the actor maze, Annie Chadwick's motivational career building workshop will give you: the vision to create your own unique theatrical career; no nonsense business strategies; innovative self-promotional techniques and the most current industry trends.

Have you just finished an acting training program and are ready to begin seeking work
Have you recently moved to NYC and need a plan to introduce your talent to the Big Apple?
Are you returning to acting or just starting after working in the business world?
Has your career stalled and you need fresh innovative tools to move to the next level?

In this 2 hour workshop, Annie will meet with you briefly before the workshop to review your picture/resume and help you target an area of concentration for the next 6 months. In the actual workshop you will get handouts with current marketing tools and a clear, step-by-step path to evolve your 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

Thurs, July 7 @ 6P.M: FREE READING: THE "LOST" GROUP PLAYS Discussion & Book Signing with author at The Drama Book Shop

2011-07-06T22:34:00.002-04:00

Join ReGroup members for a reading from the new play collection, The "Lost" Group Theatre Plays. Book signing to follow.

Claire & Paul Sifton wrote many socially relevant plays together during the 1920s & 30s and spent their lives fighting for social causes. John Howard Lawson was one of the premiere playwrights of the early 20th century. His plays were frequent staples on Broadway until he became one of the infamous Hollywood Ten during the McCarthy hearings.

For the first time in over 75 years, three of the famed Group Theatre plays are now back in print! Foreword by Estelle Parsons, Legendary Actress and Oscar Winner Introductions by George Bartenieff, life-long actor and teacher, and Allie Mulholland, Artistic Director of the ReGroup Theatre.

"Let's give thanks to Allie Mulholland and his ambitious ReGroup Theatre, which airs plays that the Group Theatre produced in its decade-long history. ReGroup is quickly becoming one of the town's most valuable troupes." --PETER FILICHIA

"I've been greatly impressed with Allie Mulholland and his ReGroup Theatre and in the ways they've brought forward and give life to the forgotten Group Theatre Plays." --JEFFREY LAWSON

The "Lost" Group Theatre Plays
by Claire Sifton, Paul Sifton, John Howard Lawson
ReGroup Theatre Company, 2011
Paper, $26.99

Call to order (212) 944-0595 x3

POW! (Play Of The Week)

2011-06-17T18:22:00.000-04:00

The Long Red Road
by Brett C. Leonard

Sammy drank. Sammy drove. Sammy crashed. Sammy ran. Sammy left everyone else to clean up the mess. In this gritty, gut-wrenching drama, we take a look at two sides of a family torn apart by an alcohol-fueled tragedy: the side that left and the side that stayed behind. Is there any chance of reconciliation? And, if so, what is the cost?

Brett C. Leonard’s The Long Red Road follows the wreckage of Sammy, a man trying to obliterate his past. Seeking refuge on a Lakota reservation, Sammy has submitted to the escape of alcohol. Meanwhile, his brother, Bob, and his girlfriend, Anna, deal with the carnage left in Sammy’s wake. As they struggle to put back the pieces, Sammy continues to self-destruct, and we see the boundaries of unconditional love.

Riding on the foundation of Shepard and Fornes, Leonard pairs harsh, demanding language with a setting that’s just as formidable. By using short, episodic scenes across the span of Sammy’s devastation, we see a panoramic view of the results, and are confronted by the reality of that picture. Not all stories are made to have a happy ending, though that happiness depends entirely on your point of view.

Full of great moments and intense, challenging scenes, The Long Red Road is not for the faint of heart. Think Leaving Las Vegas. Without the pleasant scenes. Great monologue material for a mature 13-year old girl and a good scene for late-20s/early-30s man and woman.

3M, 3W

Reviewed by Ben G.

The 65th Annual TONY Awards

2011-06-16T23:27:00.002-04:00

We at the Drama Book Shop were proud to accept the 2011 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre this past weekend. We thank you, our loyal customers, for your continued support. If you are in the neighborhood please stop by to see our beautiful TONY.

Tony Honor
The Drama Book Shop
"For Service to our community as a Storied emporium of play scripts, periodicals, and all manner of theatre books since 1917 "

Shakespeare in the Park Window Lands in Drama Book Shop Window!

2011-06-16T23:24:00.003-04:00

Now In Print at The Drama Book Shop

2011-06-06T06:25:00.000-04:00

Good People
by David Lindsay-Abaire
$14.95

Stagecraft: Stanislavsky and External Acting Techniques: A Companion to Using the Stanislavsky System
By Robert Blumenfeld
Paper: $19.99

The Sound of Musicals
By Ruth Leon
Paper: $20.95

Memphis: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical
Paper: $16.99

The Last Five Years: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Musical
Paper: $12.99

Wed, June 8 @ 6:00 P.M: ACTING LIONS Book Launch & Signing with Penny Templeton at The Drama Book Shop

2011-06-05T09:35:00.001-04:00

Join us for refreshments when we celebrate the publication of Acting Lions by Penny Templeton.

Her unique teaching methods and techniques have garnered awareness and recognition from industry peers, including articles in national magazines, and as a finalist Judge for the New York Film Festival, Daytime Emmys and Cable Ace Awards. She started teaching in the early 1990's, and opened the Penny Templeton Studio in Manhattan in 1994. Ms. Templeton was selected by Columbia University's School of the Arts to teach 'Acting for the Camera' to third year MFA students.

Mon, June 6 @ 6:30 P.M: FREE Acting Workshop with director & coach Andrew Frank at The Drama Book Shop

2011-06-04T18:31:00.004-04:00

Andrew Frank has an extensive and varied background in the performing arts. He was an associate producer on Broadway with LOMBARDI, a new american play; he's the founding Artistic Director of the Manhattan Theatre Source, a Greenwich Village cultural staple for over a decade; held a senior position at New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs; and serves as a consultant for dozens of non-profit organizations. Mr. Frank is also an accomplished theatre director and playwright, with literally hundreds Off-Off and Off-Broadway credits. In 2008, after earning a certification in Personal Coaching from New York University, Mr. Frank started his highly successful coaching practice, which serves both aspiring and seasoned artists, entrepreneurs, and executives. Additionally, he is currently the Executive Director of Making Books Sing, a non-profit organization dedicated to children's literacy and social development through arts-in-education programs and professional family theatre. These workshops are part of the material developed for his forthcoming book - The Starving Thriving Artist which was born from his abiding personal interest in telling stories about the human condition, and the desire to help artists achieve their artistic and personal potential.

For more info:

www.frankcoaching.com

Thurs, May 19 @ 6 P.M: FREE. Discussion of Stagecraft: Stanislavsky and External Acting Techniques by Robert Blumenfeld at The Drama Book Shop

2011-05-10T22:02:00.002-04:00

Robert Blumenfeld: Talk, Reading, Q & A Session, and Book Signing (FREE)

Robert Blumenfeld—actor, dialect coach, and writer—will discuss his new book Stagecraft, read selections from it, and answer questions from the audience. Then, he will go upstairs, autograph copies of his books, and talk with anyone who wishes as he sits at the autograph table. Stagecraft and other Blumenfeld titles will be available for purchase.

About the Author:
Robert Blumenfeld has recorded more than 325 books and acted in regional and New York theater. He is the author of Accents, Acting with the Voice, Tools and Techniques for Character Interpretation, Using the Stanislavsky System, Blumenfeld’s Dictionary of Acting and Show Business, and Blumenfeld’s Dictionary of Musical Theater—all published by Limelight Editions.

Stagecraft: Stanislavsky and External Acting Techniques: A Companion to Using the Stanislavsky System
By Robert Blumenfeld
Paper. $19.99

Wonder and Arcadia Lands in Drama Book Shop Window!

2011-05-08T19:20:00.002-04:00

Thurs, May 12 @ 6 P.M: Shorter, Faster Funnier! Readings, Performance and Book Party (FREE) at The Drama Book Shop

2011-05-08T18:41:00.002-04:00

Reading performance, wine & cheese reception and book signing celebrating the publication of Shorter, Faster, Funnier: Comic Plays and Monologues, a vintage anthology edited by Eric Lane & Nina Shengold.

Shorter, Faster, Funnier: Comic Plays and Monologues
By Eric Lane, Nina Shengold
Paper. $16.95

POW! (Play Of The Week)

2011-05-08T18:39:00.001-04:00

The Pride
By Alexi Kaye Campbell

It is 1958. Philip is married to Sylvia, who is illustrating Oliver’s most recent children’s book. There is a frisson between Philip and Oliver when they first meet as they skirt around what cannot be explicitly said.

It is 2008. Fed up with his inscrutable infidelity, Philip leaves Oliver, alone and drowning his sorrows in role-play and scotch. Oliver enlists Sylvia, who introduced them, to counteract his loneliness.

The Pride is a gorgeously-drawn elliptical play that alternates between two very distinct time periods and the lives of three characters whose fate is written by their eras. As the play continues, we realize that these characters share the same names and are shadows of one another. Philip, Oliver and Sylvia are all fighting for what they hope will be an easier life than the one they have known. The actions that they take in 1958 mirror, affect and illustrate those that take place in 2008. Campbell’s brilliantly funny dialogue and perceptive observations bring the characters to life. As it explores fate, love, fidelity and forgiveness, The Pride asks questions about contemporary life (gay and straight), but doesn’t presume to answer any of them concretely.

Filled with strong scenes and monologues for men and women in their 30s (though equally appropriate for 20s or 40s!), The Pride is a great play for actors and directors looking for material and playwrights looking for some strong contemporary writing to be inspired by.

3M, 1W (doubling)

Recommended by Kate

Tues, May 10 @ 6.00 P.M: FREE READING: MCC Theater presents excerpts from Michael Weller’s trio of plays at The Drama Book Shop

2011-05-04T06:29:00.001-04:00

FREE READING: MCC Theater presents excerpts from Michael Weller’s trio of plays about modern marriage, “Do Not Disturb”, “Fifty Words,” and “Side Effects.”

In anticipation of MCC Theater’s world premiere production of Michael Weller’s “Side Effects,” four actors will read scenes from Weller’s three loosely-related plays on modern marriage: “Do Not Disturb,” MCC’s previously produced “Fifty Words,” and the upcoming “Side Effects.” Weller and David Auburn will answer audience questions after the reading, and Weller will sign copies of his plays.

MICHAEL WELLER (Playwright) studied music composition at Brandeis University with Irving Fine, Harold Shapiro and Martin Boykin, then worked as a jazz pianist before taking his graduate degree in theater at the University of Manchester, England. His best known are Moonchildren, Fishing, Loose Ends and Spoils of War. His films include Hair and Ragtime (for Milos Forman) and Lost Angels (for Hugh Hudson) and a teleplay of his Broadway drama “Spoils of War,” starring Kate Nelligan. He co-founded (with Angelina Fiordelissi and Suzanne Brinkley) and serves now as supervising mentor of the Mentor Project of the Cherry Lane Theatre, currently in its tenth season. Dr. Zhivago (from the novel by Boris Pasternak, for which he wrote the book) - Des McAnuff to direct, Lucy Simon music, Amy Powers and Michael Korie lyrics – will open in London’s West End in 2009 prior to its Broadway premiere. He is currently writing the book for a Broadway musical “Rumors” about the making of Fleetwood Mac’s two legendary breakthrough albums, to be directed by Taylor Hackford. His work has received an Academy Award nomination, an N.A.A.C.P. Outstanding Contribution Award, Critics Outer Circle Award, a Rockefeller Foundation Grant and a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, and has been honored by The Broken Watch Theatre Company which gave their playhouse his name. He is on the counsel of the Writer’s Guild Fund, and the Dramatists Guild of America.

DAVID AUBURN (Director) Recent directing credits include A Delicate Balance (Berkshire Theatre Festival), Zayd Dohrn's Sick (BTF), and work at The Juilliard School and Lincoln Center Director's Lab. Plays include Proof (MTC/Broadway), An Upset and Amateurs (EST Marathon) and The Journals of Mihail Sebastian (Keen Co.). Films include The Girl in the Park (writer/director).

About the Play:
MCC Theater’s 2008 hit Fifty Words (with acclaimed performances by Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Marvel) culminated in one desperate phone call. Side Effects is the story of what happened on the other end of the line, expertly plotted by playwright Michael Weller, who is noted for Loose Ends and Moonchildren, a seminal work for the American stage. Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning writer-director, David Auburn (Proof, The New York Idea), will direct Joely Richardson ("Nip/Tuck," "The Tudors") and Cotter Smith (Kin, Next Fall) in this harrowing and unique journey.

Hugh and Lindy’s marriage seems picture-perfect, a beacon in their microcosmic Midwestern world of dinner parties and fundraisers. But, behind closed doors - doors they can barely keep shut - they’re falling apart, and Hugh’s rising political star is suddenly imperiled.

Mon, May 9 @ 5.30 P.M: Book signing for award-winning costume designer Carrie Robbins at The Drama Book Shop

2011-05-03T06:17:00.000-04:00

Join Ms. Robbins and authors Annie and Barry Cleveland to chat about their new book, The Designs of Carrie Robbins.

Over the course of her career, so far, Carrie Robbins has designed thirty-two Broadway productions and another thirty-eight for Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway. Her regional theatre and opera assignments have taken her coast to coast and border to border to design for many of the hallmark resident companies, including the Guthrie, Arena Stage, Alley Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Kennedy Center, American Conservatory Theatre, and many more. She survived the whirlwind pace of one of television’s longest running, and quirkiest shows, Saturday Night Live. Her award winning uniform designs were showcased at two of the iconic destination dining experiences in Manhattan, the Rainbow Room and Windows on the World. And, she is now well on her way to leaving her mark as a playwright.

The Designs of Carrie Robbins, which was released March 9, 2011, is published by USITT in cooperation with Broadway Press. It’s the seventh title in USITT”s ongoing series documenting the work of America’s best theatrical designers. Others in the series include Ming Cho Lee, Tharon Musser, Willa Kim, Abe Jacob, and Jules Fisher. In 2010, Late and Great: American Designers 1960–2010 was published to celebrate USITT’s fiftieth anniversary. It’s a collection of essays on twenty-five designers who are no longer with us and were active during USITT’s first fifty years.

“This monograph by the Clevelands thoroughly demonstrates what incredible energy it must take to be Carrie Robbins.” --Laura Crow, in her review, published in Theatre Design & Technology, Spring 2010.

The Designs of Carrie Robbins
By Annie O. Cleveland and M. Barrett Cleveland
Published by USITT in cooperation with Broadway Press, 2011
Paper: $35.00

Fri, May 6 @ 9.30 P.M: Free tweetup! Drama Book Shop, New Victory Theatre and 2amt

2011-05-02T18:39:00.000-04:00

The New Victory Theatre, The Drama Book Shop and 2amt are hosting a tweetup on Friday, May 6th.

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise? If a play is performed in front of a different audience than usual, does it change?

2011-05-02T18:38:00.002-04:00

The Drama Book Shop.

Recipient of the 2011 Tony Honor of Excellence in the Theatre!

Fri, May 6 @ 5.00 P.M: Off-Off Broadway Reunion! at The Drama Book Shop

2011-05-02T16:05:00.000-04:00

New book by Christopher Olsen about Off-Off Broadway in the 1970s brings back veterans from a vibrant era of theatre experimentation to discuss their experiences.

A panel discussion of a cross-section of theatre practitioners from Off-Off Broadway during the 1970s (Up to six). Playwright Robert Heide will host the event and the invitees (not yet confirmed) may include playwrights Terence McNally and Paul Foster, director Margaret Lewitan, director/actress Crystal Field, director Mical Whitaker, playwright Robert Patrick, and director/actor Chris Martin. Following the discussion, Christopher Olsen will be signing copies of his new book, “Off-Off Broadway-The Second Wave: 1968-1980.”

About the Author:
Christopher Olsen is a theatre professor at the University of Puerto Rico campus in San Juan. He began his career as an actor and after graduating from drama school in London, England, he began working in theatres both in England and the US. He moved to New York in 1976 and performed in numerous Off-Off Broadway theatres including starting his own theatre, Actors Alley. He returned to university in the 1980s and eventually received a Ph.D. in Theatre History and Criticism from the University of Maryland-College Park. He has written numerous articles and has taught theatre and directed productions at a number of universities including Johns Hopkins, Temple University, York College, and Virginia State University.

About the Book: Off-Off Broadway-The Second Wave: 1968-1980
The book provides the reader with a glimpse into the terrain of what was called Off-Off Broadway during the 1970s in New York. The author has chosen to focus on a 12-year period beginning in 1968, a tumultuous year of political and social upheaval, as a starting point when the number of small theatres in New York increased from 50 or 60 to over 300 by 1975. Based mostly on interviews with theatre practitioners from the era, the book is divided into chapters focusing on different types of theatres – from theatres featuring new work to theatres devoted to classical revivals to the Black Theatre Alliance. The purpose of this book is to tell the stories of a range of theatre artists who reflected the artistic impulses of the Off-Off Broadway community. Most of the people described in the pages of the book never became famous yet produced a huge body of work that most practitioners today would envy. The book also contains over 30 photographs, provides a list of productions for the profiled theatres, and an appendix of over 300 theatre companies and related organizations. The book contains a forward by playwright Robert Patrick, considered by many as the foremost spokesperson for Off-Off Broadway today.

Off-Off Broadway: The Second Wave: 1968-1980
By Christopher Olsen
Paper. $19.95

Thurs, April 21 @ 6.00 P.M: Free Seminar: Casting for Film Directors at The Drama Book Shop

2011-04-16T19:30:00.004-04:00

Casting better actors makes better movies, no matter what your budget.

Limited thinking limits choices.

FACT: Over 300 girls were seen for PRECIOUS... in 2009. FACT: After a nationwide search, The Coen Brothers went back to Hollywood and found Hailee Steinfeld for TRUE GRIT. Both Oscar nominated performances.

Casting the right actors will make or break your project. Get it right from the get go.
- See ALL the best actors--including the 'a-listers'--regardless of your budget.
- Who in the casting director’s reject pile do you need to see?
- Where else do you need to look?

Hester Schell, author of Casting Revealed: A Guide for Film Directors, is a master acting teacher, director, and scriptwriter in San Francisco. Her short comedy, JU$T UNDER A MILLION premiered at the Beverly Hills HD Festival, and is currently on the air through HotTV cable in Dallas, Austin and Atlanta. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Directing and graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York in 1974. She was tenured professor of Theatre Arts at De Anza College in California, and Adjunct Professor at Notre Dame de Namur University, also in California. Schell has cast numerous low budget features, commercials and industrials and is the CEO of Bay Area Casting News. She currently teaches at Film Acting Bay Area and resides in Half Moon Bay, California.

About the Book:
Casting Revealed: A Guide for Film Directors
by Hester Schell
Michael Wiese Productions, 2011
Paper: $20.95

Want to make a great movie? Get a great cast! Learn where and how to find the best actors, regardless of your budget, and what to do when they are standing in front of you, awaiting your brilliant direction. This comprehensive guide explains every step in the casting process — from filing union paperwork and posting effective audition announcements, to running successful casting sessions and tracking down the agents representing who you want to cast.

“Schell puts the art and process of casting into a clear perspective. This should be required reading for any first-time filmmaker, and even old pros will find this valuable.”--Steve Michelson, Executive Producer, Lobitos Creek Ranch Productions

“There can never be too much good information about the casting process! Read and learn!”--Sarah Kliban, casting director, San Francisco, International Talent Casting: Milk, All About Evil, NBC’s Trauma

“… an excellent resource for directors, producers and new actors. Clear and concise, it steers the reader from common pitfalls when choosing and working with actors. It’s a must-have for anyone embarking on a new film or video. Bravo!”--Nanci Gaglio, award-winning writer and director, co-creator/executive producer: Venus Rising, BBC

Casting Revealed: A Guide for Film Directors
By Hester Schell
Paper. $20.95

POW! (Play Of The Week)

2011-04-16T19:09:00.002-04:00

ALMOST AN EVENING: THREE SHORT PLAYS
by Ethan Coen

Are you looking for new monologue? If so, look no further. A scene for class, perhaps? I hope your teacher’s a fan of scenes that are 2 minutes or less. Maybe you're simply a theatre lover who's looking for a fun and easy read. The kind of read you can do on the subway heading into work or digest in that cozy chair at your favorite pub or coffee shop? If that's the case, I present to you Almost An Evening.

If you're a Coen Brother's fan, you’ll thoroughly enjoy this staged work of brother Ethan Coen. The title is very telling of the structure behind these three short one-acts. Philosophical questions are threaded throughout the plots, none of which are resolved by the end. In WAITING, a man finds himself waiting for a thousand years in what appears to be a waiting room. In FOUR BENCHES, a CIA spy contemplates retirement after one civilian's death at a sauna in Texas. And DEBATE, is a play within a play that debates two questions: One, is God loving or angry? And two, was the play within the play good or bad?

It's clear that Mr. Coen's screenwriting talents strongly influence his abilities as a playwright. And that's not a bad thing. Just don't go in expecting conventional theatre. Then again, what is conventional theatre?

Waiting: 4 m, 1 w
Four Benches: 5 m, 1 w
Debate: 7 m, 2 w
Note: All characters are late 20s or older.

Almost an Evening
By Ethan Coen
Paper. $8.95

Fri, Apr 15 @ 5.00 P.M: Jen Grisanti: Mini-Workshop and Book-Signing (FREE) at The Drama Book Shop

2011-04-11T08:40:00.000-04:00

Story Line: Finding Gold In Your Life Story

The author, Jen Grisanti, a Story Consultant and former studio executive, will go into how writers can learn to draw from their emotional well and bring their truth into their story. She will go over one of the exercises in the book that is a favorite at her seminars called Log Line For Your Life. Jen believes that your story is the key to your success in your career and in your life.

“Story Line: An honest, soul baring approach to scriptwriting. When you're through reading this book you will have learned as much about yourself as you have about writing scripts. A must read for beginners and veterans alike.” --Jason Filardi, Screenwriter

About the Author:
In January 2008, Jen launched Jen Grisanti Consultancy Inc., a consulting firm dedicated to helping talented writers break into the industry. By drawing on her 12-year experience as a studio executive, when she gave daily notes to executive producers/showrunners, Jen personally guides writers to shape their material, hone their pitches, and focus their careers. Jen has worked with over 300 writers working in television, features and novels. She has had a lot of success getting writers staffed and has had two of her clients sell pilots that both went to series. Jen Grisanti is the Writing Instructor for NBC’s Writers on the Verge, Blogger for The Huffington Post and author of Story Line: Finding Gold In Your Life Story.

About the Book:
Story Line: Finding Gold In Your Life Story is about fictionalizing your truth in your writing. It is for anyone who has a story and wants to learn about the best platform to write it in. It is a writing book for television and feature writers but also a business, life and spiritual book for anyone who has a desire to learn how to add fiction to their truth and bring it to the page.

Story Line: Finding Gold in Your Life Story
by Jennifer Grisanti
Paper. $26.95

Thurs, Apr 14 @ 5.00 P.M: FREUD'S LAST SESSION Book Launch Party (Free) at The Drama Book Shop

2011-04-10T21:35:00.001-04:00

Join playwright Mark St. Germain for a wine and cheese party in celebration of the publication of FREUD'S LAST SESSION.

Freud's Last Session
by Mark St. Germain
Paper. $8.95

Black Tie International - A.R. Gurney Does Reading @ the Drama Book Store

2011-03-24T16:48:00.000-04:00

Black Tie International:
Playwright A. R. Gurney Does Reading at the Drama Book Store

Fri, Mar 25th at 5 P.M: Free Auditioning Workshop and Book Signing with Andrew Gerle at The Drama Book Shop

2011-03-21T19:09:00.004-04:00

Andrew Gerle leads a musical theatre audition workshop & signs copies of his new book, The Enraged Accompanist’s Guide to the Perfect Audition. Award-winning composer, musical director, pianist, and accompanist Andrew Gerle shares the secrets from the piano bench in a free masterclass on musical theater audition technique. Nuts and bolts strategies on book management, audition etiquette, and how to stay true to yourself while showing the auditioners what they need to hear. Share in his fly-on-the-wall perspective and find out what they're saying about you after you leave the room! In addition to this free workshop, at 5:45pm, Andrew Gerle will come upstairs to sign copies of his brand new book, The Enraged Accompanist’s Guide to the Perfect Audition.

Andrew Gerle has played thousands of auditions for Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional productions, and has served as an accompanist and musical director for major Broadway and recording artists over the past 15 years. He is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Award, three Richard Rodgers Awards, and the Burton Lane Composer’s Fellowship from the Theatre Hall of Fame. He is the composer of six acclaimed musicals, and his opera “The Beach” has been chosen by the New York City Opera for a performance with City Opera singers and an 80-piece orchestra in May 2011. A sought-after vocal coach, he has worked at NYU’s Tisch Graduate School of Acting and is currently a lecturer at the New York Film Academy and Yale University. The Enraged Accompanist’s Guide to the Perfect Audition

Award-winning New York theatre composer and pianist Andrew Gerle pulls no punches in this irreverent, fly-on-the-wall guide to everything you've never been taught about auditioning for musical theatre. From the unique perspective of the pianist's bench, he demystifies the audition process, from how to put together your book and speak to an accompanist to the healthiest and savviest ways to approach the audition marketplace and your career. By better understanding the dynamics of professional auditions, you will learn to present yourself in the strongest, most castable way while remaining true to your own special voice – the one that, in the end, will get you the job.

The Enraged Accompanist's Guide to the Perfect Audition
by Andrew Gerle
Paper. $16.99

Thurs, Mar 24th @ 6 P.M: Art from the Ashes: The Fire that Changed our World (FREE) at The Drama Book Shop

2011-03-21T19:06:00.001-04:00

The 146 women and men who died in the Triangle Fire in 1911 transformed a century. Their deaths led to sweeping reforms in labor, safety and feminist history, as well as being a catalyst for artistic inspiration the world over. On the eve of the centennial, we commemorate these workers by performing poetry in English and Yiddish as well stunning labor orations from Rose Schneiderman and Leonora O’Reilly that mobilized a generation. The Yiddish translator Caraid O’Brien (caraidobrien.com) directs.

Caraid O’Brien is the director of Radio Bloomsday. She has been awarded three play commissions from the Foundation for Jewish Culture for her translations of classic Yiddish plays. www.caraidobrien.com

Fri, Mar 18th @ 5.30 P.M: Reading and Signing by Legendary Stage and Film Director Jack Garfein (Free) at The Drama Book Shop

2011-03-15T22:01:00.002-04:00

Please join us as Jack Garfein discusses and signs his book Life & Acting: Techniques for the Actor

If an actor or director's life experience affects what that person brings to the stage or screen, then Jack Garfein is an unrivaled resource. Arriving in America as a teenage Holocaust refugee, Jack Garfein would soon rise to the top of his field as a teacher and practitioner. He has worked with a who’s who of twentieth-century acting, especially those associated with the Actors Studio, the West Coast branch of which he founded.

Life and Acting offers the kind of insight only gained by six decades of experience in the world of theatre and film. Garfein distills his knowledge into a holistic technique for learning and teaching. Beginning with a memoir of his own life in the theater, Garfein rewards the reader with insights from his singular career. He pays particular attention to the ways non-theater artists, particularly painters and writers, contributed to his understanding of acting. Garfein concludes with a methodology for making the transition from stage to in front of a camera. Life and Acting is an invaluable resource for theater professionals, but is also a rare and illuminating look into the challenging and different lives of a stage and screen actor.

About the Author: Jack Garfein is an internationally renowned director, writer, and producer who has worked in theater, film, and television. He has lectured at Harvard, UCLA, and NYU and was an Associate Professor of Cinema at USC. Garfein was a founder of the Actors and Directors Lab (New York and Los Angeles), the Actors Studio – West (Los Angeles), and Garfein Studio (Paris). He currently teaches acting and directing at his studio in Paris and at The University of the Arts London.

Life and Acting: Techniques for the Actor
by Jack Garfein
Paper. $19.95

Sun, Mar 20th @ 3.00 P.M: How to Build and Maintain an Acting Career in NYC with Actress and Career Coach Annie Chadwick at The Drama Book Shop

2011-03-14T06:55:00.000-04:00

Have you just finished an acting training program and are ready to begin seeking work
Have you recently moved to NYC and need a plan to introduce your talent to the Big Apple?
Are you returning to acting or just starting after working in the business world?
Has your career stalled and you need fresh innovative tools to move to the next level?

The Workshop will cover:

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.

POW! (Play Of The Week)

2011-03-06T19:41:00.007-05:00

A FAIR COUNTRY by Jon Robin Baitz

For those of you who saw OTHER DESERT CITIES at Lincoln Center, you may want to reach back and look at another of Jon Robin Baitz' family dramas that keeps you riveted while your heart breaks. Take a look at A FAIR COUNTRY. If you haven't seen his new play, this older play is a solid example of his fine writing. There are great similarities in these plays, yet they are distinct, good stories.

In A FAIR COUNTRY, Baitz takes us to an American diplomat's family stationed in Durban, South Africa in 1977. The family is coming apart in much the same way South Africa is tearing itself away from apartheid. The diplomat, his wife and two sons must face the people of the land they have learned to call home while they wrestle with who they have become as a family, and separately, while living in such a foreign place. Family members find their allegiances questioned, their morals challenged, and their love for each other twisted as time and distance reveal who they really were and who they are now. The family finally moves out of Durban bringing relief as well as looming destruction. The play is framed, opening and ending, with scenes ten years later between mother and son - defending who they were in the past and owning the choices that have led them into their very precarious present. This play is intelligent, beautifully written and full of emotion. It is to the point as it is coy. Mr. Baitz seems to percolate his characters through a communal psyche and even if you don't come from the economic or political world in which the characters live, you feel you have wrestled with their demons.

Reviewed by Eleanore Speert

Good scenes for twos and fours. Men: Gil: 17-18, 20-21, 27-28 Allie: 22-25 Henry: 40s, 50s Hodges: 50s Hilton: 20s Van Eden: 50s, 60s

Women: Patrice 40s, 50s Carley - 20s

A Fair Country by Jon Robin Baitz Acting Edtion, 1997

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Lands in Drama Book Shop Window! Free Tickets are Offered

2011-03-04T17:21:00.003-05:00

March is Priscilla month at the Drama Book Shop. Stop by to see the window and to enter the drawing for free tickets to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: The Musical, on Broadway

Sun, March 6th @ 7P.M:FREE Reading. THE BOOK SHOP at The Drama Book Shop

2011-02-28T23:19:00.004-05:00

Join the intrepid book shop staff as they navigate callbacks, reality show producers and craigslist in our belated Valentine's day episode.

Four aspiring artists come together in this new theatrical serial. Get in on the second episode and follow the exploits of Audrey, Felix, Lena and Rhett as they navigate the pitfalls of the business of 'The Biz.' Can their passion lead them to their ultimate goal? Or will the daily grind wear them out. Join them on their journey in the exciting first episode of 'The Book Shop'.

Featuring: Sean-Michael Bowles, Sharone Halevy, Abigail Hardin, Rachel Karp, Carmen Meyers, Kate Mulley and Shawn Verrier

Fri, Mar 4th @ 5.30 P.M: Playwright A. R. Gurney: Reading and Book Signing (FREE) at The Drama Book Shop

2011-02-25T06:52:00.000-05:00

Playwright A.R. Gurney will read from and sign copies of his plays. A.R. Gurney (Playwright) has been writing plays for over fifty years. Among them are: Scenes from American Life, The Dining Room, The Cocktail Hour, Love Letters, Sylvia, Big Bill, Far East, Mrs. Farnsworth, Indian Blood, Buffalo Gal, The Grand Manner, and Office Hours. He taught literature at M.I.T. for twenty-five years before turning to writing full time. Besides plays, he has written three published novels, several television scripts, a few unproduced movies, and the librettos of two operas. Gurney is a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has honorary degrees from Williams College and Buffalo State University.

Currently on stage: Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Founder & Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director), presents the final production of the 2010-2011 season: the World Premiere of the new comedy, Black Tie by A.R. Gurney under the direction of Mark Lamos, who return to Primary Stages where they collaborated on the world premiere productions of Indian Blood and Buffalo Gal.

The five-member cast will feature Ari Brand as Teddy, Daniel Davis as Curtis’s Father, Gregg Edelman as Curtis, Carolyn McCormick as Mimi, and Elvy Yost as Elsie.

Performances began Tuesday, January 25, 2011 for a limited run through Sunday, March 27, 2011 at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Opening night was February 8, 2011.

Father of the groom, Curtis, simply wants to make a memorable toast. But before he is able to raise his glass, he must defend the time-honored ways of his past, including his attire. Cultures clash when a surprise guest is announced, threatening to throw convention out the window. Curtis finds that balancing the standards of his late father and the needs of his future family may prove too messy for a black tie affair.

Single tickets for Black Tie are priced at $60 and may be purchased by calling Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200, online at www.primarystages.org, or in person at the 59E59 THEATERS Box Office. Group Tickets (10+) are $45.00 each, and are available by calling (212) 840-9705, ext. 219. Please visit the website at www.primarystages.org, or call (212) 840-9705 for additional information.

For theater patrons 35 and under, Primary Stages offers specially priced $20 tickets (maximum two tickets per valid ID). Advance tickets are available through Ticket Central using code PS35. Failure to present a valid ID will result in an additional fee. All tickets are subject to availability.

Sat, Feb 26, 2011 @ 5:00 p.m: THE SIMON STUDIO Cinema & Theatre Festival at The Drama Book Shop

2011-02-24T06:48:00.000-05:00

Join The Simon Studio for two presentations of cinema & theatre.

5:00 - 8:00 p.m: Professional Lab work and film screening: BREAD TODAY, a new film series produced in association with Emerging Pictures' OPERA IN CINEMA program

8:00 - 10:00 p.m: Staged reading of Michael Swiskay's new play THE CANNIBALS. Developed in the Simon Studio's Professional Lab

Also, screenings of the Simon Studio's new film projects, including "screen tests" of studio actors & on camera Lab work in progress: classical & contemporary theatre scenes and monologues presented by studio actors, writers and directors conducted by Roger and Dan Simon.

*Admission by $10. donation to the studio's John Palmore Scholarship Fund.

For information and reservations please call: 212-841-0204
www.simonstudio.com or rhsstudio@hotmail.com

Fri, Feb 25th @ 5.30 P.M: A Free virtual tour of some of NYC's most interesting film locations at The Drama Book Shop

2011-02-23T18:31:00.001-05:00

A New York City Film Location Virtual Tour Chris Epting, will present a fascinating virtual tour of some of New York City's most interesting film locations. Where Marilyn Monroe posed on a subway grating, where Woody Allen sat with Annie Hall - and many more.

Chris Epting is the author of 20 pop culture books and national spokesman for the Hampton Hotel Save a Landmark program. He will be signing Marilyn Monroe Dyed Here, James Dean Died Here and Hello, It's Me: Dispatches From a Pop Culture Junkie.

About the Book: This encyclopedic look at America's most famous and infamous pop culture events includes historical information on more than 600 landmarks and their exact locations. For more information on the book: Marilyn Monroe Dyed Here (Santa Monica Press, 2011 - $16.95).

Also by Chris Epting: Hello, It's Me: Dispatches From a Pop Culture Junkie & James Dean Died Here

Marilyn Monroe Dyed Here: More Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmarks
by Chris Epting
Paper. $16.95

Hello, It's Me: Dispatches from a Pop Culture Junkie
by Chris Epting
Paper. $16.95

James Dean Died Here: The Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmark
by Chris Epting
Paper. $16.95

Thurs, Mar 3 @ 6:00 P.M: Drew Friedman. A Conversation and Book Signing (FREE) at The Drama Book Shop

2011-02-20T12:06:00.000-05:00

Join artist Drew Friedman—introduced by the legendary Joe Franklin—for a conversational interview with WFMU’s Irwin Chusid (author of Songs in the Key of Z). Drew will sign copies of his new book Drew Friedman’s Sideshow Freaks

About the Author:
Drew Friedman is the author of more than six books and the recipient of the 2001 Reuben Award for newspaper illustration. His portait of President Obama graced the cover of The New Yorker for Obama’s inauguration, January 2009. Drew's artwork has appeared regularly over many years in Entertainment Weekly, Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Mad, National Lampoon, Spy, Raw, Blab!, The New Yorker, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall St. Journal, The Week, The New Republic and The Village Voice, among many other publications, as well as a regular monthly cover for the The New York Observer for the past 16 years.

“Drew Friedman has created the greatest sideshow lineup ever. His astounding portraits of the strange, the unusual, the bizarre, and the unconventionally beautiful truly capture the spirit of these extraordinary characters. This is a must-have book for anyone who is a fan of the joyously twisted world of the sideshow.”--Todd Robbins, co-author, with Teller, of Play Dead

“Drew Friedman’s work is insanely great. He’s better than Picasso.” --Howard Stern

“Drew Friedman isn’t just a brilliant artist. He takes you to a place. He takes you back in time. He makes you smell the stale cigarettes and cold brisket and you say, thank you for the pleasure.” --Sarah Silverman

“The Vermeer of the Borscht Belt.” --The New York Times

“The Thomas Nast of our time.” --Slate

“The finest caricaturist of his generation.” --Booklist

“Nobody draws like DREW!” --Joe Franklin

Drew Friedman's Sideshow Freaks
By Drew Friedman, Penn Jillette
Hardcover. $19.95

Thurs, Feb 17 @ 6:30 P.M: MCC Theater's World Premiere of "THE OTHER PLACE" with Sharr White & actress, Laurie Metcalf at The Drama Book Shop

2011-02-13T14:44:00.001-05:00

Join us for a reading from Sharr White's new play "The Other Place." Emmy award winner, Laurie Metcalf will join for the reading. Book signing to follow.

About the Play:
Just as Juliana Smithton's research leads to a potential breakthrough in Alzheimer treatment drugs, her life takes a disorienting turn. During a lecture to colleagues at an exclusive beach resort, she glimpses an enigmatic young woman in a yellow bikini amidst the crowd of business suits. One step at a time, a mystery unravels as contradictory evidence, blurred truth and fragmented memories collide in a cottage on the windswept shores of Cape Cod.

Emmy Award winner Laurie Metcalf (November, Roseanne) teams up with Tony Award winning director Joe Mantello (The Pride, Glengarry Glen Ross) for this new emotional thriller by fast-rising playwright Sharr White. For more info: http://www.mcctheater.org

Sharr White's Sunlight premiered at Marin Theatre Company (Jasson Minidakis, dir.) in January 2010; was commissioned by South Coast Repertory; developed at SCR's 2008 Pacific Playwrights Festival (David Emmes, dir.) and Marin's NuWerkz series; and was a participant in the National New Play Network's Continued Life Fund. White's Six Years premiered at the 2006 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville (Hal Brooks, dir.). White's other plays include Iris Fields (Key West Theatre Festival, Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab-Anne Kaufman, dir.); The Escape Velocity of Savages (Dr. Henry and Lillian Nesburn Award as part of the Julie Harris Award in Playwriting); and Satellites of the Sun (finalist, Princess Grace Award). White is the recipient of a 2006 New York Foundation For the Arts Fellowship (Six Years); and Marin Theatre Company's 2009 Skye Cooper New American Play Prize (Sunlight). The Other Place was developed at The Lark Play Development Center in New York; The Jar reading series in Los Angeles; The Black Swan reading series at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and was the winner of the 2010 Playwrights First award. White is currently working on a new commission from South Coast Repertory.

Laurie Metcalf (actor) Broadway: Brighton Beach Memoirs, November, My Thing of Love. Metcalf has also appeared in A Lie of the Mind, Balm in Gileadat the Circle Rep, for which she received Drama Desk, Obie and Theatre World Awards. An ensemble member at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company since 1976, Metcalf is the recipient of seven Joseph Jefferson Awards and two L.A. Ovation Awards. Metcalf won three Emmy awards for her role as 'Jackie Harris' on "Roseanne." She was also nominated for an Emmy, for her work on "Desperate Housewives." Film: Internal Affairs, Desperately Seeking Susan, Toy Story, Bulworth and Leaving Las Vegas.

Six Years
by Sharr White
Acting Edition. $8.95

Wed, Feb 16th @ 5:30 P.M: My Big Gay Italian Wedding: Book signing with playwright & star Anthony Wilkinson (FREE) @ The Drama Book Shop

2011-02-12T12:01:00.006-05:00

Join us to celebrate the publication of the acting edition of this wonderful new comedy, currently running Off Broadway! The event will start at 5:30, so be sure to arrive ahead of time. There will be a reading of a few short scenes from the play, which will be followed by a book signing and wine and cheese party with playwright Anthony Wilkinson.

About the Book:
Andrew and Anthony are getting married – and everyone wants to “help”! My Big Gay Italian Wedding spins into a hysterical fiasco as everyone tries to have their way. From a saboteur ex-boyfriend to a loud, opinionated, outspoken Italian mother, personalities and culture collide in a music and dance-filled extravaganza.

“Feel-good hysterical comedy!” –The Wall Street Journal.

“Hysterically funny! Everyone is going to have his or her favorite moment in My Big Gay Italian Wedding, the insanely funny and fun confection. The mixture of the sacred and profane, the ultra-serious and ultra-silly makes this the perfect play.” –Edge New York.

“Genuinely entertaining!” –New York Times.

My Big Gay Italian Wedding.
by Anthony Wilkinson
Acting Edition. $9.00

Intermission Talk for February 7, 2011

2011-02-07T19:14:00.000-05:00

The Three Sisters Can't Take Blood from A Stone, because The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore or at Other Desert Cities
by Tony Vellela

Blame the father. When General Prozorov, a widower, moved his four children from Moscow to the small garrison town where he was put in charge of a brigade of soldiers, the kids got cut off from the world they were educated and socialized to thrive in. Eleven years have gone by, and for ten of them, they at least enjoyed the glow of being in the area's most vibrant household, where gatherings overflowed with music and games, discussions and the free exchange of ideas. Dad died a year ago. Since that time, while the only brother settled into a lovingly looked-after only male role, the three sisters have gradually grown more and more weary of this life without father. The glow is almost gone.

When we meet the adult Prozorov siblings in Anton Chekhov's "The Three Sisters," it's the dawn of the twentieth century in rural Russia. Any optimism that might accompany a new century is not matched by the principals' inability to act on their collective goal - to high-tail it out of there and get back to the intellectual, vibrant, society-driven and romanticized Moscow they remember as children.

The Classic Stage Company's revival, aided by outstanding set design concepts, envelops its audience in this masterwork. As the story progresses, each sister fails to realize her dream. Olga, the eldest, is fulfilled in her post as a schoolteacher, but dreads the prospect of being headmaster. The surrogate mother, she remains suitor-less. Masha, the middle sister, has trapped herself in an ill-conceived marriage to Olga's high school teacher colleague, whom she initially thought of as smart and stimulating because he was educated. Now, he's just boring. And Irina, the youngest, settles for marriage to a baron, which ties her to the vagaries of her husband's military assignments. All three, during the four and a half years that pass, must confront the realization that they will not journey somewhere over the rainbow, that even their modest diversions of birthday parties and holiday celebrations cannot fill the vacuum in their emotional lives. It may be worst for Masha. She is tortured by her barely-consummated affair with Vershinin, a married-with-children lieutenant colonel with a psychotic wife, a romantic man who shares her passions intellectual and carnal, but not her will to abandon their stagnant station for a new life together.

The lone brother Andrey garners loving attention from the sisters, who project onto him their vision of a young man taking Moscow by storm, with a university post and a reputation as a musician and sought-after bachelor. Instead, he sets lower sights, marries Natasha, a local farm girl who adores him, and contentedly secures a position on the county council. Once we meet his wife, it suggests that Chekhov might have considered titling this work "Three Sisters and a Sister-in-Law."

In Natasha, Chekhov gives us the embodiment of someone whose strivings are not encumbered by idealistic assessments of false modesty, who does not indulge superiority complexes shaped by education rather than accomplishments, who compartmentalizes her roles of wife, mother and mistress [both manager of the household and adulteress with the town's most influential man]. And in this production, Marin Ireland powerfully creates a woman who has all these compartments fully stocked, and draws from them unabashedly, as befits someone untrained in nuanced behavior.

So much stands out in this sterling production, as this dream cast makes joyful use of Austin Pendleton's vaunted ability to permit actors to grow into their roles. [full disclosure: Pendleton directed my award-winning play "Admissions."] His casting choices reflect a keen understanding of the need to show how all these characters slide in and out of primary moments, how they tamp down high emotions to keep within their societal expectations, how their views of time evolve and how artifice and integrity can become corrosively fused, held together by fear and weakness.

Every performance supports the others. The sisters -- Jessica Hecht's Olga, Juliet Rylance's Irina and Maggie Gyllenhaal's Masha -- show individual talents and personal scars, while effortlessly becoming intimately close sisters who can soothe feelings, push buttons and pull no punches. Peter Sarsgaard wisely chooses to make Vershinin an officer whose wounded life makes him an easy recipient for Masha's fantasies of escape, a man less dashing than his Moscow counterparts, and would not have commanded Masha's attentions if she had met him after successfully getting back to town. Josh Hamilton's Andrey shows us what happens when a person with no strong drives becomes the object of others' projections, and whose lack of interest in his sisters' societal aspirations makes him, at least for a few years, a perfect match for the unpretentious Natasha. And stage veterans Roberta Maxwell, George Morfogen and Louis Zorich are added delights in smaller roles.

But if there is a first among equals in this cast, it is surely Ireland. By choosing not to hide the impulses she feels as she feels them, and not deny the immediacy of her judgments, her Natasha, the only one of the four woman who winds up 'having it all,' shows the contrast between the real and the ideal, between imagining and acting, between romantic love and mutual needs. Her Natasha does storm into a room, because that is what she feels the moment calls for. Because when one steps back and looks at the landscape of the play, one thing becomes clear -- no Natasha, no play.

One of the characteristics that make for a great actor is fearlessness. Add to that a high intelligence level employed skillfully to honor the intentions of a great script, and finally, in some instances, a willingness to risk looking foolish, all of which Ireland possesses. And currently, at the Laura Pels Theatre, such a combination also comes to life eight times a week in Tennessee Williams' controversial "The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore," directed with care by Michael Wilson. And the actor responsible for sparking this real event is Olympia Dukakis.

Written by Williams in 1961-62,and victimized by ill-conceived productions and by a critical press that had almost collectively decided that he was no longer a playwright worth serious consideration, "Milk Train" belongs at or near the end of the line of his great 'needy older woman- purchasable younger man' yarns. Here, Flora 'Sissy' Goforth, former chorus girl and widow of four husbands, three of whom have turned her into one of the world's richest women, has holed herself up in her indulgently-outfitted mountaintop villa on Italy's Divina Costiera. She's writing her memoirs while she's still got time, and there's not much left.

With only an always punctilious, often unctuous young Vassar grad, recently widowed, as her dictation transcriber cum personal assistant Blackie [the estimable Maggie Lacey], and a minimum of put-upon staff, Sissy has fashioned a regimen fueled by liquors, black coffee and various pharmaceuticals, legal and illegal. She's had her entire security-fortified collection of villas and surrounding land wired to pick up and broadcast her recollections, wherever she is, recorded for Blackie to take down. This fussy routine gets torpedoed when Christopher Flanders, a young-ish, semi-louche poet type [a somewhat subdued Darren Pettie] scales the cliffs, outruns the attack dogs with only a few minor scrapes and wounds, and inserts himself into Flora's cloistered, tightly-controlled universe.

The author's notes indicate that the setting should suggest a 'semi-abstract' style, and the designers [Jeff Cowie: set; Rui Rita: lights] have delivered on that instruction. Director Michael Wilson exerts good judgment in not messing around with what the playwright wanted the style and sensibility to be. As the last sweet days/hours of Flora unfold in August, 1962, the random bits of her memories, abetted by a frienemy, lovingly named the Witch of Capri [Edward Hibbert outdoing himself in campy, staccato movements and line deliveries], reveal a defiant octogenarian, determined to guarantee that future generations have access to her life story, with all its riches as a reflection of American and world societal and cultural significances. She was there, and she wants you to damn well know it.

Flanders, known in recent years among gilt-edged society folk as the Angel of Death, due to his propensity for turning up near the end of the lives of rich, lonely women, eagerly readies his role as sympathizer and source of comfort, and not until she can hear the Grim Reaper whispering in her ear does Flora shed her scales, deactivate her personal emotional alarm systems and seek out his talents, but not before one last performance as a Geisha seductress, complete with embroidered kimono, lacquered black wig and two fans deftly slung open with the sharp wrist movements of a karate chopper. She has done this before, a lot.

And here is where Olympia Dukakis excels. Her Flora comes forth with the very best of Mae West, Totie Fields, Leona Helmsley, Elaine Stritch, Phyllis Diller, Gwen Verdon and Sophie Tucker - bawdy, merciless, sensual, witty, charming, calculating, vulgar, sly and cold-blooded, with the proportions constantly shifting to suit the moment and the audience, of many or one.

This piece, rewritten often until he got it to his satisfaction, has been labeled one of Tenn's lesser works. Unfortunately for many new pieces also running now, it stands out by comparison as superior to pretty much all of them, including Lincoln Center's production of "Other Desert Cities," by Jon Robin Baitz. This attempt at balancing the liberal view that the Reagan-era die-hards masked their deepest feelings of sympathy for the welfare of America's most unfortunate takes a little from this play ["A Delicate Balance"] and a little from that one ["After the Revolution"], gaudies it up with elements from a sensational tabloid news story [the rich-boy Alex Kelly Connecticut fugitive rapist case], and dresses it up with a giddily A-list cast, each of whom knows how to gut a cliche. Because, for instance, Linda Lavin has never met a zinger she can't deliver, and Thomas Sadoski won't let a two-dimensional role keep him from finding a little bit of complexity to chew on, there are moments of acting virtuosity. Baitz owes them big-time.

And, a curious aside: both Ireland and Sadoski performed the same generous feat for Neil LaBute in "reasons to be pretty." Don't let anyone tell you actors are not creative artists.

Afterpieces

'Less is more,' the familiar adage goes. Playwright Tommy Nohilly not only ignores it, he has decided that much, much, much more is not enough. Presented by the New Group, his "Blood from a Stone" unspools in the living room of a nondescript frame house in a lower middle class, blue collar Connecticut neighborhood. Vagrant son Travis [a tempered Ethan Hawke] has decided to spend a few days with his disagreeable family before heading west to carve out a new life in California, aided as much as possible by pain-killers in very frequent ingestions.

By the time this Yule-week saga ends, its plot points assault us with drug abuse, battered spouse(s) syndrome, a couple of casual adultery hook-ups, grand larceny, chronic addictive gambling, collapsing ceilings, and just about everything else except the kitchen sink. Oh, wait. At one point, the sink does develop a leak. Unfortunately, it would take more than a plumber to fix all the plot leaks in this rambling, wearying downer.

So how about treating yourself to a real 'upper?' On Sunday, February 20, at 2 PM, the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its Theater Series with "American Big Band." Featuring a cast of 20 singers, dancers and musicians, this welcome joyride strings together music by Big Band icons such as Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington, using the premise of a series of radio broadcasts from those great '30s and '40s star-filled sites - Harlem's Cotton Club, Hollywood's Palomar Ballroom and Billy Rose's Music Hall.

Now, if you are old enough to have your parents talk about Saturday night dance hall dates, or if you've seen Betty Hutton, Jane Powell or early Frank Sinatra pictures on AMC-TV, OR if you're caught on to the swing dance resurgence, this will be like a stress-free vacation. And on March 20, they follow it up with another show, this one built around the Gershwin musical " 'S Wonderful." Indeed!

On Book

For some insight into how Olympia Dukakis turned into 'Olympia Dukakis,' her autobiography chronicles the journey from her challenge to become accepted coming from her first-generation Greek-American status, to Oscar-winner for "Moonstruck." Her zeal and intensity flares up through so many milestone moments in her life, with her marriage to actor Louis Zorich providing an anchor to creating a successful professional and personal life. And Louis, ["The Three Sisters"] makes his own contribution to reading pleasure with his hilarious compilation What Have You Done? He's collected horrendous and hilarious audition stories from six generations of actors, and provides not just entertainment but inspiration to those new to the profession who think that once you've made it, you've made it.

The personal life of Anton Chekhov comes alive in a rare biography written by his brother Mikhail. Titled Anton Chekhov: A Brother's Memoir, the close-in recollections and comments about the masterful playwright offer true insights into where many of the aspects of his masterworks came from. When plays such as "The Three Sisters" are endlessly scrutinized, they often overlook the influences that made the writer the writer. Fortunately, Mikhail's book has been translated by Eugene Alper, to give us some of that rich backstory.

To immerse yourself into the writer's works, pick up [carefully - it's kinda heavy], "The Complete Plays: Anton Chekhov," translated by Laurence Senelick. This is a lovingly- compiled anthology that offers, along with the familiar canon, some early plays, even untitled or unfinished ones, so you can track his remarkable development, and make your own connections between his brother's observations, and Anton's output.

And if you're serious about seeking out substantial material that offers insight into Tennessee Williams, you can thank Margaret Bradham Thornton for compiling and editing "Tennessee Williams: Notebooks." Throughout his life, Tennessee diligently filled journals and notebooks almost daily/nightly with short histories of each day's events, usually accompanied by a sharp remark or candid personal judgment that make the notebooks far more than a ship's log of the life and career of a genius. It is not about the genius; it is by him. And now, it's for all of us to share.

TONY VELLELA wrote and produced the PBS series about theatre, "Character Studies." His award-winning play "Admissions" is published by Playscripts. He has taught at HB Studio, the New School, Columbia University and regional arts centers. He has written for dozens of publications about the performing arts, from The Christian Science Monitor and Dramatics Magazine, to Rolling Stone, Parade and the Robb Report. Information on private coaching, and his small-group sessions [max. size = seven] for actors, directors and playwrights can be obtained by writing to tvellela@nyc.rr.com.

Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. Translated by Paul Schmidt

The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore by Tennessee Williams
Acting Edition, $8.95 (Call 212-944-0595 to order)

Theatre Tidbits for Feb 2, 2011

2011-02-02T15:42:00.002-05:00

Matthew Lopez's THE WHIPPING MAN, at Manhattan Theatre Club, received a very nice review in The New York Times. The historical drama about a Confederate Jewish solider returning home to his former slaves, has been extended through March 27.

The Broadway revival of Garson Kanin's comedy BORN YESTERDAY set to open at the Cort Theatre on April 24, 2011. Emmy Award nominee Jim Belushi and newcomer Nina Arlanda will head the cast. The hit comedy originally opened on Broadway in 1946 and ran for 1,642 performances. More info and tickets at Telecharge.

DOUBLE FASLEHOOD, by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, adapted for the 18th Century stage by Lewis Theobald, at the Classic Stage Company. Previews begin on March 11.

Manhattan Theatre Club will present the world premiere of THE EXTINCTION METHOD, the new play by Daniel Goldfarb (Sarah, Sarah and Modern Orthodox, both available from the Drama Book Shop: 212 944-0595). Previews begin May 10 at City Center Stage I. In THE EXTINCTION METHOD, Annie and Nate have a baby who won’t sleep. In the adjacent Brooklyn Heights apartment, Claire and Luke are losing sleep over the decision to get married and start a family. The tale of love, sex, commitment and parenthood unfolds and no one will rest until the truth between each of these couples is spoken.

Fri, Feb 11th @ 11:00 AM to 7.M: The Headshot Marathon Returns at The Drama Book Shop

2011-02-01T12:46:00.000-05:00

The Headshot Marathon Returns

Affordable, Quality Headshots by a Top New York Photographer--Satisfaction Guaranteed

In collaboration with Barry Burns Photography, working professionally in New York for more than 40 years, the Drama Book Shop is hosting a marathon day of digital shooting.

Cost: $150.00 (plus tax) for a one-hour session, for which you will receive an 8" x 10" print and a disc containing that shot. Additional prints and touch-ups are available at reasonable prices.

Make-up artist Satoko Ichinose will be available for an additional $50 fee. Visit her website at www.satokomakeup.com

You may also take advantage of the talents of clothes stylist Judy Peluclette, who will help you select the perfect outfits for the parts you'll be auditioning for.

Please call The DRAMA BOOK SHOP at 212 944-0595, to schedule an appointment (Monday through Saturday, 11 to 7)

Thurs, Feb 10th @ 5:30 P.M: Free Celebration! “Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 35th Series” at The Darma Book Shop

2011-01-31T06:12:00.000-05:00

Come celebrate with Samuel French Inc.
At The Launch of The
“Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 35th Series”

A collection of winning plays from our acclaimed
2010 Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival

Thursday, February 10th, 2011 at 5:30 P.M.

The world’s oldest and largest publisher and licensor of plays, Samuel French Inc., is proud to celebrate its newest release “Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 35th Series” --A collection of winning plays from its acclaimed “2010 Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival” on Thursday February 10th (5:30-7:30 pm) at the Drama Book Shop (250 W. 40th Street). The launch celebration will include play readings and appearances by many of the winning authors who will be on hand to sign collection copies. The event is FREE and open to the public.

Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 35th Series includes the following winning plays:
Skin Deep by Mary Lynn Dobson
The Pigskinby Gabriel Jason Dean
White Embers by Saviana Stanescu
The Bear (A Tragedy) by EJC Calvert
Dance Lessons by Josh Koenigsberg
The Mud is Thicker in Mississippi by Dennis A. Allen II

[Applications for the 2011 festival will also be available and Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival Staff will be there to answer any questions you may have about the 2011 festival. Please visit www.samuelfrench.com for an application and festival information.]

Thurs, Feb 3rd @ 6 P.M: Fay Simpson will discourse on the concepts from her book, followed by Q & A and book signing at The Drama Book Shop

2011-01-28T05:31:00.000-05:00

Fay Simpson will discourse on the concepts from her book: The Lucid Body; A Guide for the Physical Actor, followed by Q & A and book signing. Novice actors and stage veterans alike will discover a deeper level of consciousness through the exercises outlined in The Lucid Body: A Guide for the Physical Actor. Developed by Fay Simpson, The Lucid Body is a cutting-edge technique that lets you combine eastern yoga elements with your contemporary western way of life to bring truth to your acting and inner clarity to your life.

The Lucid Body technique has been presented by the author for 15 years in workshops, rehearsals, and schools, teaching actors to access their seven chakra centers. Now you can practice in your own home what hundreds of others have already discovered at the Yale School of Drama, NYU, and the Michael Howard Studios. Add vital energy to your life and your acting with The Lucid Body.

About the Author:
Fay Simpson has been the Artistic Director and co-founder of Impact Theatre since its creation in 1990 (D-Train, Degas' Little Dancer, Marital Bliss of Francis and Maxine, Kurt's Wife: A Story of Lotte Lenya, Grey Gone; The Forensics of Breath). As founder of The Lucid Body, (initially developed at The Michael Howard Studios) she currently teaches at Yale Drama School, The Studio/NY and Red Bean Studio in midtown Manhattan. Fay has brought the work to theatre companies in New York,;Terra Firma (Cries and Whispers), SATC (Miss Julie), Karin Coonrad ("Everything that Rises Must Converge,") and internationally in Toulouse with Innocentia Inviolata (Of Kings and Men) and in London with Gabriella Moleta (The Outsiders). She has a two year teacher training program now in place. www.lucidbody.com

In 1999, Ms. Simpson was awarded a Fox Foundation Fellowship, which enabled her to serve as an Assistant at the New Globe Theatre in London under the artistic directorship of Mark Rylance. Ms. Simpson is the recipient of the 'Amy and Eric Berger National Theatre Essay Award' for development of her new book, The Lucid Body; A Guide for the Physical Actor. She is a member of the Actor's Center.

"Through ancient wisdom, her own personal wisdom, and the wisdom found in her students' bodies, Fay Simpson offers readers a path to their deepest truths-known and unknown, conscious and unconscious. Simpson, through her insight, intuition, experience and scholarship, pries open the secrets of the body and sets the spirit free. A demanding and rewarding spiritual journey I encourage every actor to take." Deborah Kampmeier, filmmaker (Hounddog, Virgin).

"Actors, even very good actors, tend to live I the close confines of their own habitual physical realities. Fay's work encourages, even demands that they find pleasure and excitement in using their bodies in more expressive and challenging ways in service to the plays." Michael Howard - book introduction

The Lucid Body: A Guide for the Physical Actor
By Fay Simpson, Michael Howard
Paper. $19.95

New Plays

2011-01-27T17:49:00.008-05:00

Extinction
By Gabe McKinley
Paper. $9.95

Lascivious Something/Roadkill Confidential/That Pretty Pretty; Or, the Rape Play: Three Plays
By Sheila Callaghan
Paper. $17.95

Lombardi
By Eric Simonson
Paper. $10.00

Call today to order these newly published Acting Editions: (212) 944-0595

The Understudy by Theresa Rebeck

Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts

The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell

Mirror Mirror by Sarah Treem

Superior Donuts by Tracy Letts

Sun, Jan 30th @ 3.00 P.M: How to Build and Maintain an Acting Career in NYC with Actress and Career Coach Annie Chadwick at The Drama Book Shop

2011-01-27T17:24:00.000-05:00

Have you just finished an acting training program and are ready to begin seeking work
Have you recently moved to NYC and need a plan to introduce your talent to the Big Apple?
Are you returning to acting or just starting after working in the business world?
Has your career stalled and you need fresh innovative tools to move to the next level?

The Workshop will cover:

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.

Intermission Talk by TONY VELLELA: January 25, 2011

2011-01-25T17:36:00.003-05:00

“The Importance of Being
Earnest,” “Long Story Short”
and Other Observations

What do “Hairspray,” the film “Birdcage” and the current revival of “The Importance of Being Earnest” have in common? Actually, what TWO things?

One, they are all built around well-written and cleverly directed material. And, they all benefit from consummate male actors using their exquisite comedy timing to inhabit larger-than-life female characters – in the case of ‘Hairspray,” the reference is literal. What Harvey Fierstein did for Edna Turnblatt, and Nathan Lane did for Albin, the commanding Brian Bedford now delivers in Oscar Wilde’s epigram-stuffed 1895 classic, as he stalks the stage as Lady Augusta Bracknell. Plus, he directs.

This Roundabout Theatre Company production comes to Broadway from its acclaimed run at Ontario’s 2009 Stratford Shakespeare Festival, a kind of Disneyland for theatre-lovers. The American Airlines theatre stage line is bound by clamshell faux footlights, to evoke theatres of the Victorian era in London and the countryside. And all the excellent design work [Desmond Heeley's set & costumes, Paul Huntley's wigs and hair design and even Duane Schuler's lighting] cheerily take us into that world like the White Rabbit pulling Alice down the rabbit hole. Curtain up, and we’re all the way in.

The un-earnest duo at the center of this love tangle, Algernon [Santino Fontana] and Jack [David Furr] have each created a fictitious, woes-laden fellow – a brother for Algernon, a neighbor for Jack – whose “troubles” always seem to take their creators away from where they are, to get them to where they would rather be. Deceit being the currency of this social set, the lads are comfortably manipulating social situations until each of them gets flattened instantly by Cupid’s pointy slender shaft. For Algernon, it’s Cecily [Charlotte Parry], and Jack’s heart throb is Gwendolen [Sara Topham]. Unfortunately for everyone under thirty, the fair maidens each have a connection to Lady Bracknell. She is Gwendolen’s mother. And, since the elderly Lady in question reigns supreme as matriarch of her clan, it is her self-anointed role to approve of Algernon’s love interest. The Lady doth protest as much, or more, as anyone can.

Bedford knows just how to protest – he does it undiminished confidence, a slight lowering of eyelids, an adjective’s attenuated pronunciation, a slow sweep of the head to harpoon all in the room with a menacing gaze, always prompting waves of laughter and broad, happy smiles. She owns contempt, and we love her for it. Festooned in upholstery-strength brocade, feathers on birds of prey perched forward on hats clinging to their patron, and bodice-distracting ruffles, Bedford resembles [for boomers who know the reference] the actress Doris Packer, seen in the 1950s as Beaver’s often unflinching grade school principal, Mrs. Rayburn. His Lady Bracknell pilots her floor-length ship of state from one revelation to the next, in her to-the-manor-born mission to keep up appearances, shield her daughter and nephew from ill-advised matches, restrict the guests to those worthy of her presence and squelch any possible impropriety that might stain her immaculate white gloves.

All this plotlines muddle of feigned emergencies and instant amour registers more comprehensively on the stage than on the page, because director Bedford has kept his staging crisp and linear. Even the basic set pieces in each act [I = Algernon's morning room in his London flat; II = the garden at the Manor House, Woolton; III = the Manor House Drawing Room] occupy the same relative areas, act to act. This proves all the better for permitting us to absorb the doubles tennis match Wilde has served up – one set of volleys conveys the workings of the plot, while the other set delivers the striking serves and dazzling backhands of Wilde’s breath-taking bons mots – a virtual Wimbledon of witticisms. Wilde’s style influenced comedy-writing for decades to come, even when whimsy substituted for wit, as in George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s “The Man Who Came to Dinner.”

Of the four youngsters, Ms. Parry and Mr. Furr are most engaging due to their well-paced restraint, while Mr. Fontana’s smug mugging seems lifted from the English Music Hall realm. Rounding out the cast of characters are Dana Ivey as Miss Prism, Cecily’s tutor, and Paxton Whitehead, as the clueless Rev. Chasuble. When Jack’s real provenance is improbably and hilariously unearthed, until Act Three thought to be the undeclared presumed orphan famously cradled in an abandoned handbag railway station coat room, it shatters Prism’s staunchly conservative reputation. Ivey’s performance, tagged ‘redoubtable’ by many, is in fact far more – it matches Bedford’s diamond-sharp moment-to-moment savvy, a triumph of tiny choices and self-control.

Since both young women have predetermined that their destined spouses must be named Earnest, it should be noted how Wilde named some of his comedy’s inhabitants. As I tell my students, everything is a choice. Jack is meant to denote a common fellow. Algernon translates as someone with moustaches [plural], and therefore possibly a man with an overbearing prissiness. Anyone christened Cecily loves music. Gwendolen derives from Guinevere, of the Roundtable gang. Prism seems to be sarcastically named after something that is dazzling. The good reverend’s surname comes from a vicar’s outer, sleeveless garment – someone who doesn’t have arms and can’t grasp things, perhaps? An old-fashioned aside: in “The Odd Couple,” Neil Simon named his Pigeon sisters after Wilde’s vacuous heroines.

The most apt Christian moniker of all surely is that of Lady Bracknell – Augusta. This ‘august’ personage indeed commands our laser-like attention and blind obedience. Failure to give her both, in full measure, guarantees swift and unimaginable consequences.

Consequences of historic proportions rattle around the make-believe stone steps on the set of “Colin Quinn Long Story Short,” a 75-minute humorous, and sometimes laugh-packed monologue that traces the history of civilization. Yup! Directed by Jerry Seinfeld, Quinn’s rather intelligent riff on how man screwed up big time boils it all down to ethnic idiosyncrasies, quirky behavior and the occasional buffoon in the right place at the wrong time. With a serious debt to Mort Sahl, the comic mines a couple hundred centuries of mankind’s back story through the lens of today’s social norms, or ab-norms, as the case may be. The material does seem rushed, and often, a clever quip comes off as the seed of a potentially riotous premise, only to be left on the floor instead of being nurtured into a full-grown bit.

Quinn’s act makes only fair-to-middling use of full screen projections and amusing animation, but any time comedy requires the audience to know the difference between the Middle East and the Midwest, it deserves acclaim. Broadway’s smallest house, the Helen Hayes, helps to keep the atmosphere casual. The performance ends with a stand-up routine that pretty well ties it all together, but given the fact that it’s had the entire planet’s real and mythological events to draw from, “Long Story Short” should not have taken its title so literally.

A few weeks back, word circulated that Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim have met with Barbra S. to conjure up a new screen version of “Gypsy.” Conventional wisdom among theatre folk who rate movie musicals is that the 1959 Rosalind Russell starrer, directed with Hollywood adjustments by Mervyn LeRoy, failed to capture the great show’s magic.

It’s curious that Arthur’s golden girl choice for what many called the definitive revival recently, Patti LuPone, does not seem to be in the running, despite being closer in age to Madame Rose – she’s about 50, and Miss S is coming up on 69. And it’s still a mystery why the two surviving creators of this classic musical don’t comment on the 1993 TV-movie version starring Bette Midler. One wonders how Sondheim’s score will fare when sung by the independent-minded musical genius who makes every composition her own. Ready or not, here comes Momma!

On Book

Oscar Wilde (ne Fingal O’Flahertie Wills, from Dublin) ingested the 19th-century Aesthetic movement, which advocated art for art’s sake, and rose to become its leading spokesman. He sharpened his pencils and his wits, and turned out some of the English-speaking world’s most memorable wordplay masterpieces, such as the biting satire “An Ideal Husband” for the stage, the wrenching poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol,” and the haunting novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Check out two collections that will give you hours of pleasure: Harper Perennial’s “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Stories, Plays, Poems and Essays,” and “Wilde: The Complete Plays,” from Metheun Publishing.

TONY VELLELA wrote and produced the PBS documentary series about theatre, “Character Studies.” He has written about theatre and the arts for The Christian Science Monitor, Dramatics Magazine, Parade, Rolling Stone, and dozens of other publications. His award-winning play “Admissions” is published by Playscripts. He has taught theatre subjects at Columbia University Teacher’s College, HB Studio, the New School and other institutions, and now conducts small classes and private tutoring sessions. Information is available through tvellela@nyc.rr.com.

Thurs, Jan 27 @ 6:00 P.M: Free Panel Discussion: Theatrical Giants: Cheryl Crawford and Horton Foote at The Drama Book Shop

2011-01-22T16:41:00.005-05:00

Free Panel Discussion: Theatrical Giants: Cheryl Crawford and Horton Foote

"Theatrical Giants: Cheryl Crawford and Horton Foote" with Lyricist/Librettist Tom Jones, Authors Milly Barranger and Wilborn Hampton, and Director Michael Wilson

Four panelists will talk about and read from their works that reveal the far-reaching influences of the Broadway producer and the playwright on the American theatre.

About the Authors:

Lyricist/librettist Tom Jones is co-creator of The Fantasticks, 110 in the Shade, I Do! I Do!,and Celebration, and author of Making Musicals: An Informal Introduction to the World of Musical Theatre; Milly Barranger is author of books on Cheryl Crawford, Margaret Webster, and McCarthyism; Wilborn Hampton's biography of Horton Foote describes the storyteller's life and writing for theatre and film; and Michael Wilson, artistic director of Hartford Stage Company, staged Foote's nine-hour The Orphans' Home Cycle most recently at New York's Signature Theatre.

About the Books:
Tom Jones' Making Musicals is a brief history of the American musical followed by a description of the proces' from getting started to getting produced. Milly Barranger's A Gambler's Instinct: The Story of Broadway Producer Cheryl Crawford describes the unprecedented success of a woman producer at mid-twentieth century with plays by Tennessee Williams and musicals by Kurt Weill, Alan Jay Lerner, and Frederick Loewe. Crawford also co-founded the Group Theatre and the Actors Studio with other theatre notables. Wilborn Hampton's Horton Foote: America's Storyteller traces the playwright's creation of award-winning screenplays and plays set in the American Southwest; and Horton Foote's Cousins and The Death of Papa, the third volume of The Orphans' Home Cycle, brings the story of two families to a close.

A Gambler's Instinct: The Story of Broadway Producer Cheryl Crawford
by Milly S. Barranger
Paper. $29.95

Every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop

2011-01-22T16:40:00.000-05:00

Staff member, Matt Alspaugh runs a LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! Read below for more info on this great weekly night of comedy!

Why Cry when you could laugh? Come watch some of New York's top up and coming stand up comics, performing at the world famous Drama Book Shop.

Stand Up Comics = 6 mins for $5
Audience = FREE

Every Monday night, 9-11 pm. Sign up is on a first come, first serve basis, starting at 8:30 pm. Contact Matt Alspaugh for further details. Matthew.Alspaugh@gmail.com

Every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop

2011-01-09T18:10:00.001-05:00

Staff member, Matt Alspaugh runs a LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! Read below for more info on this great weekly night of comedy!

Why Cry when you could laugh? Come watch some of New York's top up and coming stand up comics, performing at the world famous Drama Book Shop.

Stand Up Comics = 6 mins for $5
Audience = FREE

Every Monday night, 9-11 pm. Sign up is on a first come, first serve basis, starting at 8:30 pm. Contact Matt Alspaugh for further details. Matthew.Alspaugh@gmail.com

Fri, Jan14 @ 5 P.M: FREE Book Talk and Signing with Internationally Renowned Voice Coach Stewart Pearce at The Drama Book Shop

2011-01-09T18:04:00.000-05:00

FREE Book Talk and Signing with Internationally Renowned Voice Coach Stewart Pearce—The Alchemy of Voice: Transform and Enrich Your Life Through the Power of Your Voice

Stewart Pearce is an internationally renowned voice coach and sound healer who has held positions at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and the Drama Centre of London. He has worked with many celebrities and statespersons, including Simon Callow, Princess Diana, Vanessa Redgrave, and Anita Roddick, as well as with corporations such as BBC and L’Oreal.

About The Alchemy of Voice

Offering straightforward and highly effective techniques to those seeking personal healing, this manual provides ways in which the power of people's voices can improve and enhance their lives. Identifying sound as the center of creation and an individual’s unique signature note—the song of the soul—that unifies the mind, body, and spirit, this important tome urges readers to rediscover this inner sound and move onto the path of healing and the hope of creative fulfillment. Exercises to achieve peace and harmony, boost self-confidence, and add color and passion to self-expression help seekers reach their potent, powerful, and most importantly, their personal sound.

"Stewart's gift is to show us how extraordinary the power of the voice can be."--Simon Callow, actor

"Stewart Pearce is an inspirational force . . . he guides his students to experience their true creative potential." --Peter Kyle, manager, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

"Ever since meeting Stewart, I've wished others could benefit from his knowledge and wisdom. Now, The Alchemy of Voice makes this possible"--Shelley von Strunckel, astrologist

The Alchemy of Voice: Transform and Enrich Your Life Through the Power of Your Voice by Stewart Pearce Paper. $14.95

POW! (Play Of The Week)

2011-01-06T22:03:00.002-05:00

MEMBERS ONLY
by Fabrice Roger-Lecan
Translated by Christopher Campbell

This two-fisted hander is a brittle comedy which brings out the best and the worst in the male ego. Jammed packed with testosterone -- that is, corporate testosterone, French playwright Roger-Lacan exposes the mores and unstated but necessary male code of relationships in today’s business world.

Bernard is 40 years old today. An important day! Why should he not believe that his best friend and business partner for many years would want to help him celebrate his big “4-0”. But business partner Adrien has other plans. He is a member of an elite gentlemen’s club, which has its excusive monthly dinners on that very date. It’s an elite club, which he never told Bernard about!

Questions! To what extent will a man go to break into an elite gentlemen’s world with the promise of corporate success? To what extent will a man go to maintain an important male relationship?

These questions and others are explored with biting humor and violent action. These two men are “civilized”, but surely there are limits. Or are there? Would you be moved to murder by strangulation by neck-tie?

MEMBERS ONLY doesn’t speak at today’s corporate world; it yells at it.

All I can say is, “Women beware”! Men will not only be men, but there’s no stopping them. And don’t you forget that!

Good monologues and scenes for two men

Review by W. Martin

Every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop

2010-12-16T07:37:00.000-05:00

Staff member, Matt Alspaugh runs a LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! Read below for more info on this great weekly night of comedy!

Why Cry when you could laugh? Come watch some of New York's top up and coming stand up comics, performing at the world famous Drama Book Shop.

Stand Up Comics = 6 mins for $5
Audience = FREE

Every Monday night, 9-11 pm. Sign up is on a first come, first serve basis, starting at 8:30 pm. Contact Matt Alspaugh for further details. Matthew.Alspaugh@gmail.com

Chrismas Store Hours

2010-12-13T16:33:00.008-05:00

To all our loyal customers

The Drama Book Shop

will be closing at 5.00 P.M. on

Fri, December 24th

And

will be closed on

Sat, December 25th

In observance of

Christmas!

We wish you a wonderful holiday

Every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop

2010-12-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

Staff member, Matt Alspaugh runs a LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! Read below for more info on this great weekly night of comedy!

Why Cry when you could laugh? Come watch some of New York's top up and coming stand up comics, performing at the world famous Drama Book Shop.

Stand Up Comics = 6 mins for $5
Audience = FREE

Every Monday night, 9-11 pm. Sign up is on a first come, first serve basis, starting at 8:30 pm. Contact Matt Alspaugh for further details. Matthew.Alspaugh@gmail.com

Amazing FREE Event: HAIR with Special Guests & Live Performances by 1968 and 2009 Casts

2010-12-09T16:38:00.001-05:00

Special guests: Eric Grode, author of Hair: The Story of the Show That Defined a Generation, Heather Macrae (actress: Broadway--Hair, Coastal Disurbances, Falsettos; Film: Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask, Bang the Drum Slowly) and James Rado (actor, writer and composer; co-author of Hair).

Featuring performances by members of the orginal 1968 and 2009 Casts.

Hair: The Story of the Show That Defined a Generation
by Eric Grode
Running Press, 2010
Hard Cover: $29.95

Tues, Dec 14 @ 5:30 P.M: SHAKESPEARE TO SHEPARD FREE Masterclass with Sybil Lines at The Drama Book Shop

2010-12-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

Back by popular demand - Come explore the similarities and differences acting in Shakespeare's works compared with those of great American playwrights. RSC & Broadway Actress Sybil Lines leads this FREE master class. Investigate the needs that prompt a character to speak. Learn how to analyze the use of a specific word, and discover what the character is aiming to shift in the listener's mind.

# Sybil Lines spent two years performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company where she worked with Dame Judi Dench, Tony Church and Roger Rees. Her Broadway credits include Dora in WAITING IN THE WINGS; Kate in BEDROOM FARCE with John Lithgow; LETTICE & LOVAGE with Dame Maggie Smith and AREN'T WE ALL with Lynn Redgrave. Sybil has worked extensively throughout USA as an actress and taught in London at Central School of Speech and Drama, in Germany at the Academy of the Spoken Word and in America at Catholic University, Univ. of SE Alaska; Rollins College in Florida; and the Circle in the Square Theatre School in NYC.

Acting Edition SALE!! Through December 30th, 2010.

2010-12-08T16:00:00.000-05:00

Fri, Dec 10 @ 8:00 P.M: THE BOOK SHOP A new episodic play about artists who work in a theatre book store! at The Drama Book Shop

2010-12-07T20:58:00.004-05:00

Four aspiring artists come together in this new theatrical serial. Get in on the first episode and follow the exploits of Audrey, Felix, Lena and Rhett as they navigate the pitfalls of the business of 'The Biz.' Can their passion lead them to their ultimate goal? Or will the daily grind wear them out. Join them on their journey in the exciting first episode of 'The Book Shop'.

Brought to you by the Drama Book Shop Staff, join us for the first performance of this new play series. The Book Shop, written by Matt Alspaugh & Kate Mulley; directed by Ben Gougeon; Featuring: Matt Alspaugh, Sean-Michael Bowles, Ben Gougeon, Sharon Halevy, Abigail Hardin, Kate Mulley, & Leigh Shannon.

Thurs, Dec 9th @ 6 P.M: Hair: The Story of the Show that Defined a Generation: Reading, Performance and Book Signing (FREE) @ The Drama Book Shop

2010-12-05T00:35:00.004-05:00

Eric Grode will read from Hair: The Story of the Show that Defined a Generation, followed by a discussion and performance by members of both the 1968 and 2009 productions of Hair.

For more than 40 years, the musical Hair has shocked and delighted millions, exposing the world to the radical hippie counterculture that was then synonymous with New York’s East Vilage.

Hair: The Story of the Show That Defined a Generation is the authorized history of the musical, from the 1967 off-Broadway production to the smash 2009 Broadway revival. Eric Grode chronicles the events that inspired the show’s creation, its little-known failure before reaching Broadway, the dramatic changes it underwent along the way, the inevitable backstage turmoil and the seismic impact it had in dozens of international productions.

Through more than 200 stunning photographs, some of which have never been published before, and dozens of new interviews, including several with the show’s creators and original cast members, this book also explores the social history that informed and influenced the creation of Hair. Here at last is the untold story of the musical that changed Broadway, terrified the establishment and defined a generation.

Eric Grode was the chief theater critic for the New York Sun from 2005 to 2008 and has written about theater for the New York Times, New York magazine, the Village Voice and Time Out New York. The former vice president of the New York Drama Critics Circle, Grode currently sits on the advisory board of the Goldring Arts Journalism Program at Syracuse University.

Hair: The Story of the Show That Defined a Generation
by Eric Grode
Running Press, 2010. Cloth: $29.95

New Book!

2010-11-29T06:00:00.002-05:00

Get the book the must have theatre book of the season!
Finishing the Hat

Finishing The Hat Stephen Sondheim has won seven Tonys, an Academy Award, seven Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize and the Kennedy Center Honors. His career has spanned more than half a century, his lyrics have become synonymous with musical theater and popular culture, and in Finishing the Hat-titled after perhaps his most autobiographical song, from Sunday in the Park with George-Sondheim has not only collected his lyrics for the first time, he is giving readers a rare personal look into his life as well as his remarkable productions. As seen in the New York Times Sunday Book Review

To read more about Finishing the Hat and to purchase, please visit our website: www.dramabookshop.com

Finishing the Hat
by Stephen Sondheim
Knopf, 2010
$39.95

Fri, Dec 3rd @ 5 P.M: Women’s Project Lab Alumni Playwrights: Reading and Book Signing (FREE) at The Drama Book Shop

2010-11-27T06:00:00.002-05:00

Excerpts performed from Out of Time and Place, new plays hot off the press from Women’s Project lab alumni featuring work by award-winning playwrights Bekah Brunstetter, Carla Ching, Alexis Clements, Christine Evans, Charity Henson-Ballard, Lynn Rosen, Crystal Skillman, and Andrea Thome.

Julie Crosby, Producing Artistic Director of the Women’s Project, introduces the playwrights who share excerpts performed from their new, published plays. Q & A with Julie and book signing to follow.

About the Authors:

Out of Time and Place is a two-volume anthology which features plays by: Bekah Brunstetter, Carla Ching, Alexis Clements, Nadia Davids, Laura Eason, Christine Evans, Charity Henson-Ballard, Kara Manning, Lynn Rosen, Crystal Skillman, and Andrea Thome. The playwrights included in the book are as diverse in style, background and experience as they are talented. Collectively, they’ve been produced, published and received awards on four continents. Their work’s been seen on NY and regional main stages, as well as edgy downtown black boxes—if you don’t know these writers’ work yet, you soon will.

About the Book:

Out of Time & Place: An Anthology of Plays by the Women’s Project Playwrights Lab Members features a hilarious and biting introduction by Theresa Rebeck that challenges the American theatre to celebrate and produce its women playwrights, and the anthology showcases the extraordinary work of eleven of them.

In Vol 1, Lynn Rosen’s Back From The Front and Christine Evans’ Weightless both take comic approaches to shattering subjects—respectively, war and the future of a crumbling 21st century Manhattan. Crystal Skillman’s provocative The Vigil or The Guided Cradle interrogates torture across six centuries. Charity Henson-Ballard’s lyrical and sweeping The Quiver of Children and Laura Eason’s tautly focused Rewind each chart the attempt to outwit fate through artful means.

In Vol 2, Bekah Brunsetter’s Le Fou teases out the destructive dance between love and vanity. Kara Manning’s Sleeping Rough forms a blues ballad for souls displaced between lives. Alexis Clements’ Conversation cleverly interrogates the science of speech, while Nadia Davids’ At Her Feet plays out another kind of linguistic music, that of six very different Muslim women from Cape Town. Carla Ching’s TBA plays with the power of naming, and Andrea Thome’s Undone offers a polyphonic love poem to a city crowded with the living and dead.

“The plays in Out of Time & Place forcefully demonstrate the power, range, and substance of women playwrights. These are writers to know, and I trust that their work will be seen on stages and read in classrooms around the globe.”--Julie Crosby, Producing Artistic Director, Women’s Project

“It’s time to hear both sides, to hear all voices, to build a culture where stories are told by both men and women.”-- Theresa Rebeck, Award-Winning Writer (Omnium Gatherum, The Understudy, Spike Heels)

Edited by Alexis Clements with Christine Evans, the anthology also includes a preface by Megan Carter.

About the Women's Project

Women’s Project (WP) delivers compelling theater, innovative programs and electric events as the nation’s oldest and largest company dedicated to producing and promoting theater created by women. Since 1978, WP has staged over 600 mainstage productions and developmental projects, and published ten anthologies of plays by women. http://www.womensproject.org.

Out of Time & Place: An Anthology of Plays by Members of the Women's Project Playwrights Lab, Volume 1
by Alexis Clements, Christine Evans
Paper. $25.00

Out of Time & Place: An Anthology of Plays by Members of the Women's Project Playwrights Lab, Volume 2
by Alexis Clements, Christine Evans
Paper. $25.00

Thurs. Dec 2nd @ 6 P.M: PETER FILICHIA DISCUSSES THE BIGGEST HIT AND BIGGEST FLOPS OF THE LAST 50 SEASONS at The Drama Book Shop

2010-11-26T20:56:00.003-05:00

In conjunction with his new book, Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit of the Season / The Biggest Flop of the Season-1959 to 2009

It happens every season. Broadway has one, two, or a few hit musicals, but many, many more flops. Here’s a look at the extreme cases from each season of the past half-century. The musicals that everyone knew would be hits – The Sound of Music, The Phantom of the Opera, The Producers -- and were. The tuners that sounded terrible from the moment they were announced – Via Galactica, The Civil War, Lestat -- and turned out to be even worse than anyone expected. The shows that were destined to succeed – Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Merrily We Roll Along -- but didn’t. The ones that didn’t have a chance – Man of La Mancha, 1776, Grease -- but went on to household-name status

Yes, Broadway is the oldest established permanent non-floating crap game in New York, and Peter Filichia takes a look at 100 shows that met either the most glorious or the most ignominious fates.

PETER FILICHIA is a theater critic in print for the Star-Ledger in Newark, and on television for News 12 New Jersey.

Three times a week, he also writes Peter Filichia's Diary for theatermania.com, and every Tuesday writes a column for masterworksbroadway.com. He wrote the weekly column entitled Stagestruck for Theater Week magazine for its entire nine-year run, and for three years on Playbill-on-Line. Then he wrote a daily column for theater.com for two years.

He is the author of Let's Put on a Musical, now in its third printing. His most recent book is Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit of the Season / The Biggest Flop of the Season: The Last 50 Years, and his next book, Broadway Musicals: The Most Valuable Players will be published in 2011.

He served four terms as president of the Drama Desk, and wrote and hosted its annual awards ceremony. For the past 13 years, he’s done the same for the Theatre World Awards.

In addition, he has written liner notes for many Broadway cast albums; is the critic-in-residence for the University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music; annually serves on the ASCAP Awards program; and is a Theatre Hall of Fame voter.

He can be reached at the Star-Ledger at pfilichia@starledger.com.

Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit and the Biggest Flop of the Season, 1959 to 2009
by Peter Filichia
Paper. $19.99

Let's Put on a Musical: How to Choose the Right Show for your Theater, Revised & Expanded Edition
by Peter Filichia
Paper. $16.95

Closed on Thanksgiving

2010-11-23T14:41:00.002-05:00

To all our loyal customers

The Drama Book Shop

will be closing at 3.00 P.M. on

Wed, November 24th

And

will be closed on

Thurs, November 25th

In observance of

THANKSGIVING

We wish you a wonderful holiday

Intermission Talk: November 19, 2010

2010-11-19T15:53:00.005-05:00

Pitmen Painters,
Middletown,
After the Revolution,
Elf,
The Pee-wee Herman Show
...and some new Afterpieces

by Tony Vellela

Back when I was a kid [phones were always connected to a wall with a length of cord], parents either sent their pre-teen offspring to the movies, or they brought them, depending on the percentage of adult material the older folks might enjoy. Same is true with two current Broadway offerings, Elf and The Pee-wee Herman Show. But if you don’t fall into that parent category, we’ll come back to those shows in a minute.

Let’s look instead at three decidedly grown-up, even dare I say mature dramas New York has to choose from [feel free to attend all three]. Pitmen Papers by Lee Hall, Middletown and After the Revolution can help you believe that American culture is not, in fact, going to Hell in a foreign-made hand-basket.

'Pitmen' is by Lee Hall [inspired by William Feaver's book]. Hall’s creds include Billy Elliot x 2 [screenplay, as well as book and lyrics for the musical], and this drama arrived by way of London’s West End [the easiest way to make it to Broadway, it seems]. This remarkably inspirational tale follows the journey taken in the mid nineteen-thirties, by several coal miners in Newcastle [as in "coals to ..."] and a dental technician friend, who take advantage of a government-sponsored program to bring adult ed classes to the underclass. Thinking they were going to learn about economics, and therefore the reasons behind their meager subsistence wages, they enroll, only to find out that the last-minute substitute course will be in art appreciation [!]. Their original intent, they tell the multi-syllablicly inclined professor, was “to know the secret behind what’s going on.” They begrudgingly stay on, get lulled into expressing themselves through their own art, and reveal a stunning talent, one and all, for doing just that. Known as the Ashington Group, their work was exhibited, showcased, sold and studied.

As their understanding of and appreciation for art grows, criticism follows from some, who lament the lack of political commentary in most art of the day, when the world is in such a perilous state. One miner/artist brings in a print of Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ to demonstrate how a work of art can visualize the horrors of war. Others feel that art should provide a respite from the real world. Whatever their subjects, they become beneficiaries of patronage from a wealthy art collector, and soon discover the tightrope of having financial support impinge on free expression. Whatever you think of that balancing act, the messages provide plenty to reflect on, class divisions between poor artists and rich patrons being just one of them.

Class inequality is front and center in Amy Herzog’s gripping new play After the Revolution, at Playwrights Horizons. It’s 1999, and in true progressive-liberal fashion, lefties are bemoaning the shortcomings of the Clinton era, unaware of what’s ahead. This family, however, has much much higher standards for what a political regime should accomplish – they want a workers’ revolt. The life of their recently-deceased patriarch, a hero from the McCarthy Blacklist years, has inspired his granddaughter Emma [named for Goldman?], a star law student, to create a foundation in his name, to advance the causes he championed. Her father, uncle and grandmother applaud this choice. When the dead hero turns out to have a very live skeleton in his closet, all bets are off.

In a novel twist on a classic coming-of-age tale, the granddaughter finds herself at odds with her conscience, with her family and with the young man whom she employs at her foundation, and whom she has planned to partner with in life. The storyline shreds many liberal-nurtured myths about themselves, such as their belief that they oppose all forms of racism, and applies a scalpel to the analysis of the folks who questioned the body politic of the post WWII era. Like that ringing slogan from the Sixties, ‘politics is personal.’

Complementing the communal themes mouthed by the family, this ensemble cast hangs together nearly perfectly, a great opportunity to see sterling performances in service of a thoughtful, well-crafted piece. Peter Friedman’s shattered dad bristles with the pangs of thwarted expectations. Mark Blum’s peacemaker uncle strains to find hard-won common ground. And above all, Lois Smith, as the patriarch’s indignant widow clinging to the principles that bonded them to each other and to their Marxist fellow travelers, generously gives us another memorable characterization that again demonstrates why she has come to hold a place of honor among theatre-lovers.

Like any revolution, there are aspects that don’t bear out as one would hope. A secondary story line, about the other sister’s drug problems, rehab time and then her coming out, feels oh-so gratuitous. And as Emma, Katharine Powell relies on too much ‘actor-y’ behavior that tends to make her character needlessly unsympathetic and not smart enough to believe as being at the top of her law school class, a real weak point that occasionally throws off the balance between plot and performances.

Political commentary of the symbolic variety gets a pretty good showing in Middletown, by Will Eno, at the Vineyard Theater. [an aside: back in 1949, Robert Wise directed a film noir picture called 'The Set-Up,' with Robert Ryan as a washed-up boxer limping from second-rate town to second-rate town, and one of those burgs is called Middletown.] The like-named town in this Enos saga shelters inhabitants whose life stories and daily routines slowly unfold in a dispassionate style uncharacteristic for any piece trying to break new ground in the realm of the dysfunctional. They’re usually so frenetic.

Everyday folks make outrageous, hilarious pronouncements with the deadpan delivery of Stephen Wright. When newcomer John, played with engaging ordinariness by Linus Roache, encounters a couple in a park near a war memorial, their explanation for their interest is that “there’s a long history of death in both our families.” Town librarian Georgia Engel, playing the truth-teller – in – chief, sincerity personified, nods approvingly when John applies for a library card, and comments “Good for you, dear. Most people figure, why bother? I’m just going to die anyway.”

But this is not simply a clever humor-piece trading on life’s misfortunes and missed cues. Enos has a rare sense of craft, as he reshapes familiar ‘types’: the zealous small town cop, whose urge to maintain order who choke-holds a young nonconformist mechanic for failure to “be a good human”, or ‘Mary,’ a despairing, timid young wife whose neglectful husband is not helping her become pregnant. They all float through the ‘town,’ aided by David Zinn’s well-conceived set design, that includes two side-view frame houses with picture windows affording views of John and Mary as they aren’t living their fulfilling lives.

Others trying to pigeon-hole the play have used the facile tag of post-modern Our Town. This misses the point. Thornton Wilder wrote about a time and place that grew out of his half-century’s removal of time, colored by a nostalgia that described what might have been. Enos’ “Middletown” may have started in Grover’s Corners, but it arrived there by way of James Thurber. Enos allows us to discover these lives in a tale that revolves around the role of names, nouns, places and the stories they reify. Yes, these inhabitants break the fourth wall and the stage line. “Middletown” deserves a good long run somewhere, to give it a chance to become one of those little gem pieces that people return to from time to time, and recommend to friends, neighbors, co-workers and visiting relatives from out-of-town.

And if those out-of-towners have humans in tow who only learned to speak during the 21st century, they may seek your advice on where to spend their holiday bankroll, since most people are not rolling in it these days. So – back to the opening paragraph.

In short, you can take the kids to see Pee-wee. You can cut the cards to see which adult shepherds all the kids to see the Elf.

Fortunately for me, my friend John Eng, who works with pre-schoolers [he is a very patient person], accompanied me to the Pee-wee party. I knew why I liked the show. It’s funny. But John gave me the insight into why kids do, and it’s not just because it has bright colors, goofy clothes and furniture that talks. Kids like the comfort that comes from the familiar and the structured, and this show has them in the same way that a kindergarten class does – it’s PuppetLAND, there’s snack TIME, and in fact, calling anything XXXX – TIME makes it sound like a treat to kids. There’s even a word of the DAY, which happens to be ‘fun,’ and everyone is encouraged to yell and clap whenever it’s mentioned [remember Groucho's 'secret word?'].

No need to chronicle here all the bits that Paul Reubens quick-steps through. At nearly sixty, he has entered the same universe as Dick Clark, Robert Cummings, Ann-Margret and others who basically still look like they did when they were twenty-somethings. Let’s just say that many of the short sequences are built like vaudeville routines, with solid pay-offs. Comedy writing has basic rules that don’t change, as evidenced by a bit about teaching English pronunciation – it echoes the hilarious routine early Second City’s Andrea Martin perfected as an immigrant trying to speak English, with riotous results. And there are plenty of double entendres to cause a smile or a chuckle, at least. Pee-wee tells the postman, there with a delivery, that he has a cute … package. The Handyman, Pee-wee notices, is wearing new, big boots. And he notes that a guy with big boots must have … big feet. Adults who grew up with Reubens’ popular children’s show in decades past give him a tumultuous entrance applause, and do the same every time any character from that era appears. They seem like theatre queens [and kings] who would attend any performance of Carol Channing’s “Hello, Dolly!” and applaud for every single event in the show. So, in a word – it’s fun! [Yeah! Clap, clap!]

“Elf,” brought to cartoon-y life by tall, lithe, sunshine-y Sebastian Arcelus, is fun for anyone who comes up to his belly button. It starts off in the North Pole, where elf Buddy, surrounded by fellow elf helpers, done by actors who take to their knees a la “Shrek – the Musical,” learns that he is not a real elf at all. Seems he was a human baby who happened to crawl into Santa’s bag almost twenty years ago, and was brought home and raised by Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Buddy decides to head South to the place where his careless Dad lives, big bad New York City. He has adventures. He falls in love. He converts his Dad, a Scrooge-y type with a neglected wife and neglected son, into a caring guy with a liberated family. And it all happens set to a pleasant score, punctuated by TV variety show choreography. Most memorable moment – the reveal that shows Santa town. It looks like the center piece in a giant pop-up book.

Afterpieces
This new column feature, for those non-theatre geeks, is named for the short pieces that were performed after the main play of the evening in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries on English stages.

Like the other “La [Cage]” on the Big Apple Boards, “La Bete” stars a very talented actor whose box office creds skyrocketed when “Frasier” hit the NBC airwaves. David Hyde Pierce has returned to the city that gave him his valuable stage experience at the start of his impressive career, taking on one of contempo theatre’s most daunting works. Written by David Hirson in verse, and co-starring the versatile Mark Rylance, it’s getting the best production it likely ever will. Performed without an intermission, possibly for fear of losing half the audience during a break, huge laughs alternate with labored sections often enough to make it important that you choose to attend as much for the theatrical experience as it would be for the amusement of it. Rylance’s by-now heralded stunning thirty-minute monologue is matched by Hyde Pierce’s remarkable ability, through fluid, sensitive delivery, to make the verse disappear. And if your Rylance ‘Jones’ needs more juice, he’ll be back in the spring, starring in Jez Butterworth’s play “Jerusalem,” being imported from Blighty. Natch.

What does not disappear in “Lombardi,” the play about legendary football coach Vince Lombardi, at Circle in the Square, is the disappointment in its lax story-telling. A volatile, success-obsessed man with a volcanic temper and a really loving wife, the title character is impersonated well enough by Dan Lauria. The play occurs during the events that surround the career-changing 1965 game when his beloved Green Bay Packers vied for the NFL championship. If you love, really love football and its cast of characters, know their stats, speak their language, and can interpret their actions based on your own knowledge, this is one you can cheer for. Anyone can cheer Judith Light’s empathetic portrayal of Lombardi’s emotionally short-changed wife. Anyone else? Well, have you seen “Time Stands Still” yet?

Since David Mamet’s “A Life in the Theatre” is shuttering early, no need to ponder over its highs and lows. This one is a kinda curious string of more than 25 short and shorter scenes that are best thought of as sources for acting class scene study exercises.

Speaking of Kelsey Grammer, when he leaves the Cage in early February, co-star Douglas Hodge also leaves, and book writer for the show Harvey Fierstein will don the drag as Albin. And speaking of Christmas shows, a new work by Duane Poole [book], Larry Grossman [music] and Carol Hall [lyrics] celebrates Truman Capote’s heart-warming tale “A Christmas Memory,” which was once adapted for television, with a shatteringly-real performance from Geraldine Page. The musical stars Penny Fuller, and runs December 1 – 16 at TheatreWorks at the Lucie Stern Theatre, in Palo Alto.

And finally, if it’s good news closer to home you’d like to hear, Donna Murphy will get one of those rare chances Broadway A-listers have these days to create a new role, rather than step into a revival, competing with a ghost or a memory. Roundabout Theatre Company will mount “The People in the Picture,” by Iris Rainer Dart, about a one-time Yiddish theatre actress in Poland before WWII, in the spring.

On Book
The era hashed over in “After the Revolution,” when Senator Joe McCarthy unleashed his political reign of terror, followed the social upheavals of the 1930s. The theatre’s response at that time came from actors, directors and writers who chose to address what was going on in the street, and Harold Clurman’s vivid chronicle “The Fervent Years: The Group Theatre & the 30s” brings it all to life.

And the side-splitting life of the early days of Second City, where Andrea Martin honed that foreigner speech flubber and so many other laugh gems, is captured in “The Second City Unscripted,” by Mike Thomas. From Gilda to Tina, so many comedy giants of the last four decades all started there.

TONY VELLELA wrote and produced the PBS documentary series about theatre “Character Studies.” His award-winning play “Admissions” is published by Playscripts. He has written several other plays, musicals and the Cable ACE award-winning documentary “The Test of Time.” He has taught theatre-related classes at Columbia University, HB Studio and arts centers across the country, and continues to teach small intensives and acting coach sessions privately.

The Pitmen Painters (Play)
by Lee Hall
April 2008, Faber & Faber UK
Paper, 144 pages, $19.95

Pitmen Painters: The Ashington Group
by William Feaver
Northumbria University, 2010
Paper, 176 pages, $25.00

Middletown
by Will Eno
TCG, (as of 11//10: due Dec. 1, 2010, Available for Pre-order)
Paper, $13.95

Billy Elliot: Vocal Selections
Elton John and Lee Hall
Hal Leonard, 2009.
Paper, 87 pages, 16.99

Our Town
by Thornton Wilder
(Various Editions)

The Fervent Years: The Group Theatre & the 30s
by Harold Clurman
Da Capo, 1983
Paper, 352 pages, $18.00

The Second City Unscripted
by Mike Thomas
Villard, 2009
Hard Cover, 288 pages, $26.00

Mon, Nov 22 @ 6:00 P.M: Reading, Discussion, Q&A and Book Signing with Playwright David Hirson:La Bête and Guest TBA @ The Drama Book Shop

2010-11-15T21:51:00.003-05:00

David Hirson, author of Broadway's newest smash comedy, La Bête, will talk about his play and take questions from the audience. A member of the cast (TBA) will read. Book signing to follow. The event is FREE and open.

Mon, November 15 from 7:00pm-9:00pm: Free Master Class with Daniel Goldstein and Collaborators on the Upcoming Revival of GODSPELL

2010-11-10T21:51:00.002-05:00

Presented by Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA)

DANIEL GOLDSTEIN is the director of the upcoming Broadway revival of Godspell (2010/2011). Daniel and his fellow collaborators on the production will discuss the challenging and thrilling process of creating a show from the ground up.

Daniel’s recent projects include The Ride, Golden Boy (The Juilliard School) Clear (O’Neill National Musical Theater Conference), True West (Williamstown Theater Festival), Miss Margarida’s Way (Bay Street Theater, with Julie Halston), Annie (St. Louis MUNY), A New Brain at the Toho Theater in Tokyo, The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown (Broadway Across America developmental production), Mary’s Wedding at the Two Rivers Theater, a highly praised revival of Godspell at the Papermill Playhouse, Sinan Unel’s The Cry of the Red at Huntington Theatre Company, Beau Willimon’s Lower Ninth at the Flea and SPF, the Off-Broadway commercial production of the hit Fringe Festival musical Walmartopia, Kenny Finkle’s Indoor/Outdoor at the DR2 and SPF, Falsettos and Les Liaisons Dangerouses at the Huntington, But I’m a Cheerleader at the New York Musical Theater Festival and Bathsheba Doran’s Living Room in Africa at Gloucester Stage. He has served as the Associate Director for All Shook Up! and Fully Committed, and the Resident Director for the First National Tour of Mamma Mia! As a writer, he was the recipient of an inaugural Calderwood Commission from the Huntington Theater Company, for which he is wrote an original musical with Michael Friedman called Unknown Soldier. He is a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Performance Studies.

Godspell is a 1970 musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971. The structure of the musical is that of a series of parables, based on the Gospel of Matthew and interspersed with a variety of modern music set primarily to lyrics from traditional hymns, with the passion of Christ treated briefly near the end of the performance. Daniel Goldstein’s production of Godspell is set to open on Broadway in Spring of 2011.

RSVP: espa@primarystages.org or (212) 840-9705

Fri, Nov 12th 2.00 P.M: Reading, Q&A and Book Signing at The Drama Book Shop

2010-11-09T21:48:00.001-05:00

Playwright/Screen Writer Charles Evered will read from, and discuss, his new play CLASS, which recently premiered at Cape May Stage.

Class tells the story of Elliot, a veteran acting teacher in New York City who is visited in his studio by Sarah, a mysterious young actress. In the course of their work together, they learn more about themselves than acting---and in doing so change each others lives forever.

Charles Evered's film Adopt A Sailor has won awards at film festivals around the country. He is a Navy veteran, a New Jersey resident, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

"...plenty of taste and fizz...a fresh concept and dramatically intriguing." -- Peter Filichia, Star Ledger

"Replete with humor, intimacy, tragedy and hope...the characters and dialogue are compelling, refreshing and once viewed, are hard to forget...an instant classic." -- Ken Robidoux, Connotation Press

CLASS
by Charles Evered
Broadway Play Publishing, 2010
$12.95

POW! (Play Of The Week)

2010-11-05T21:55:00.000-04:00

Wildflower
by Lila Rose Kaplan

An ex-drag queen dying of cancer. A womanizing park ranger. A girl trying to be too mature for her own good, and a mother and son on the run. With a careful hand, Lila Rose Kaplan has nurtured a story of budding and dying relationships that both warms and chills and, ultimately, grows into a bloom worthy of the title. As surprising as the swatches of orange, purple and red that swathe a countryside, Wildflower is sure to stay with you long after your initial encounter.

It is rare that a play fools you. It is rarer still when a play fools you again. And shame on me for being fooled twice. Kaplan, however, deserves no shame for her deft handling of a beautifully unexpected story. Nor does she deserve shame for the simple way in which she paints these 5 wonderfully complex characters and relationships. The sparse language and honest actions hide a subtext that goes far deeper than one originally imagines, and touches a place where warmth, humor and danger mix dangerously close.

Seemingly as straightforward as a fresh-sprouted stalk, Wildflower begins as Erica and her son Randolph seek a new life as they run from ‘a very difficult man.’ Their haven is Crested Butte, Colorado, home of the annual Wildflower Festival. It is summer, a time of youth and magic, and Erica hopes to lose her past, while Randolph, an amateur botanist, gets lost in the flora. But as always, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

New places mean new people mean new problems. And new problems mean either new solutions or old results. Has this all happened before? Have we seen this ending? Maybe. Maybe not. Kaplan leaves us wondering if we’re seeing a fresh bouquet or a tiresome old wreath that gets trotted out for every occasion. And the not knowing is what makes this a play that sticks with you.

Kaplan has created an immense tragedy in a small town. The characters rich. The story full. A refreshing and heartbreaking journey. A trip worth taking.

Scenes: Teens (M/F); thirty-somethings (M/F); Teen (M) and 50’s African-American ex-drag queen

Reviewed by Ben G.

Sun, Nov 7th @ 2.00 P.M: How to Build and Maintain an Acting Career in NYC with Actress and Career Coach Annie Chadwick at The Drama Book Shop

2010-11-02T06:00:00.001-04:00

Whether you are a seasoned professional, a wide-eyed beginner or lost in the actor maze, Annie Chadwick's motivational career building workshop will give you: the vision to create your own unique theatrical career; no nonsense business strategies; innovative self-promotional techniques and the most current industry trends.

Have you just finished an acting training program and are ready to begin seeking work
Have you recently moved to NYC and need a plan to introduce your talent to the Big Apple?
Are you returning to acting or just starting after working in the business world?
Has your career stalled and you need fresh innovative tools to move to the next level?

The Workshop will cover:

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.

Thurs, Nov 4 @ 6.00 P.M:The Brilliance of the American Theatre: Four Distinguished Authors at The Drama Book Shop

2010-11-01T20:02:00.005-04:00

The American Theatre and Drama Society presents an evening with four authors—Mark Cosdon (Allegheny College), Barbara W. Grossman (Tufts University), Marc Robinson (Yale University), and David Savran (Graduate Center, City University of New York)—each of whom has written a compelling and utterly fascinating new contribution to American theatre scholarship.

The four authors examine critical players, genres and developments in the American theatre. The four books are fascinating works, eminently readable, and sure to engage any theatre lover! Mark Cosdon's new book The Hanlon Brothers: From Daredevil Acrobatics to Spectacle Pantomime, 1833 - 1931 details one of the nineteenth century's premiere troupes, acclaimed for aerial performance, slapstick comedy, and scenic spectacle. Nearly forgotten, the Hanlon Brothers' influence can be traced through the work of Keaton and Chaplin, the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges, and into the American circus. Once called "America's greatest actress," renowned for the passion and power of her performances, Clara Morris (1847-1925) has been largely forgotten. In her book A Spectacle of Suffering: Clara Morris on the American Stage, Barbara Grossman offers the first full-length study of the actress's importance as a feminist in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Marc Robinson's The American Play, 1787 - 2000 explores more than two hundred years of plays, styles, and stagings of American theater. Mapping the changing cultural landscape from the late eighteenth century to the start of the twenty-first, Robinson's book is ambitiously interdisciplinary, linking advances in theater to developments in American literature, dance, and visual art. In Highbrow/Lowdown: Theater, Jazz, and the Making of the New Middle Class, David Savran explores the twentieth century's first culture war and the forces that permanently transformed American theater into the art form we know today. Jazz affected every stratum of U.S. society and culture, including theater, confusing and challenging long-entrenched hierarchies based on class, race, and ethnicity.

The Hanlon Brothers: From Daredevil Acrobatics to Spectacle Pantomime, 1833-1931
by Mark Cosdon
Paper. $28.50

A Spectacle of Suffering: Clara Morris on the American Stage
by Barbara Wallace Grossman
Paper. $37.50

The American Play: 1787-2000
by Marc Robinson
Paper. $28.00

Wed, Nov 3, 2010 @ 6:00 P.M: NEIL LABUTE: Reading, Q&A and Book Signing at The Drama Book Shop

2010-10-25T21:17:00.000-04:00

What if God told you to be a better person but the world wouldn't allow it?

Such is the dilemma facing Joe Smith, a run-of-the-mill white-collar businessman who survives an office shooting and is subsequently touched by what he believes to be a divine vision. His journey toward personal enlightenment—past greed and lust and the other deadly sins—is, by turns, tense, hilarious, profane, and heartbreaking.

Exploring the narrow path to spiritual fulfillment and how strewn it is with the funny, frantic failings of humankind, The Break of Noon showcases Neil LaBute at his discomfiting best.

The Break of Noon: A Play
by Neil LaBute
Soft Skull Press, 2010
Paper: $13.95

Every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop

2010-10-22T21:14:00.001-04:00

Staff member, Matt Alspaugh runs a LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! Read below for more info on this great weekly night of comedy!

Why Cry when you could laugh? Come watch some of New York's top up and coming stand up comics, performing at the world famous Drama Book Shop.

Stand Up Comics = 6 mins for $5
Audience = FREE

Every Monday night, 9-11 pm. Sign up is on a first come, first serve basis, starting at 8:30 pm. Contact Matt Alspaugh for further details. Matthew.Alspaugh@gmail.com

Intermission Talk

2010-10-19T18:30:00.002-04:00

Intermission Talk: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Brief Encounter & Time Stands Still
by Tony Vellela

What time IS it? It's time for war, the people who cause it, report on it, and have their lives trampled on when it's just around the corner. In other words, time stands still for a bloody bloody brief encounter.

What do 'Brief Encounter' and 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson' happen to have in common? Each one has chosen a hyper-presentational, entertainment-first style, lathered onto elements of their eras, a cheery haze of giddiness filtering the dark parts. Regrettably, over-indulgence on the flourishes and flounces that can please a crowd moment to moment, can cumulatively grow wearisome. And, it would seem, that in both instances, this proclivity is the result of an unnecessary lack of confidence in the overall production.

Like the local news, if it bleeds, it leads, so . . . 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,' at the Jacobs, blasted its way uptown from last spring's almost bombastic showing at the Public, a kind of Rite of Spring. One part 'Fela,' one part 'Passing Strange' and one part 'Fiorello,' it melds the music and lyrics of Michael Friedman, the choreography of Danny Mefford and the book and direction of Alex Timbers into a high-intensity telling of the life and times of our controversial seventh president. He is known for such disparate plot points as marrying a married woman, nearly doubling the land mass of the United States, exiling Indian tribes through forced marches in which the refugees were swaddled in pox-infested blankets, winning the presidency using a populist strategy instead of relying on power politics, fathering what became the country's first true political party [the Democratic], and in rare moments of self-doubt, indulging in cutting - a backwoods, Oval Office, rock star kind of guy.

The Jacobs Theatre interior, bathed in a zillion kilowatts of red lights, looks like a 3-D diorama created by a middle school American history class on acid [this is not a criticism]. The anachronisms, if/when you spot them, will make you smile instead of wince [i.e. an 'oil painting' of Hugh Hefner, plastic orange pill bottles, a pack of Parliaments]. Probably the most relevant stage piece is a reproduction of the 1872 John Gast painting titled 'Manifest Destiny.' The concept of European settlers doing God's will by claiming the North American continent, rescuing it from its native savages, was beautifully depicted in that classic work of art, and this concept forms the cornerstone of both the historical era Jackson dominated, and the musical's story line. That story line, however, is not a line, but a series of dots and dashes, which connect by way of emo-musical theatre numbers, peppy jittery dance moves, book scenes that play like sketch comedy and a very impressive output of zealous performers pumping out zealous performances. The theme song, so to speak, called 'Yea Yea Populism,' ricochets off the walls, thanks to this exuberant cast, and along with its other virtues, 'Bloody Bloody' provides another Main Stem platform for super-sized downtown talent.

Chief among them, despite his good showings in 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' and ''Inherit the Wind,' is Benjamin Walker in this Broadway break-out title role. In appearance, he looks like he could depict a Neil LaBute misogynist with ease, all shoulders and hips, scowl and sneer. Facially, he owes a debt to Bill Murray's comic ego-inflated macho-obsessed men. When Walker opens his throat, though, a big big and mighty solid voice booms out. This part should do for him what the lead in 'The Who's Tommy' did for Michael Cerveris.

A majority of the sight gags, physical comedy, vaudeville mannerisms and general padding could use a frontiersman's axe. Audience members more comfortable with two-dollar words rather than four-letter ones were observed politely fleeing. Serious-minded folk hoping that the potential political messages promised in the bally-hoo about this show's renegade approach to the American condition will be disappointed in much the same way that 'Kiss of the Spider Woman' did. But like 'Urinetown,' 'Spring Awakening,' 'Rent,' 'Passing Strange' and 'American Idiot' among others, 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson' jolts Broadway with new energy, fresh ideas and a whole lotta slap-in-the-face bravura.

Like the blood show, 'Brief Encounter' mixes styles, forms, media, music, movements and intentions, to riff on the iconic 1945 British film of the same name. That classic romance weeper was adapted by Noel Coward from his 1936 one-act play 'Still Life,' and starred Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard, directed by David Lean. The Roundabout Theatre's Studio 54 entry, imported from London's Kneehigh Theatre [must everything that runs for more than a week in London take up residence in a Broadway house? I'm just sayin'...], uh - Kneehigh Theatre, keeps the original material all too brief, which means we encounter a hefty helping of director-itis, since the helmer and the adaptor are one and the same, Emma Rice. Theatrical gimmicks abound, and many impress, such as having the principals step into the screen projections of their destinations, a 'Purple Rose of Cairo' in reverse.

Bored, reasonably well-heeled housewife Laura [an appealing Hannah Yelland] and a conscientious doctor Alec [the solid Tristan Sturrock] "meet commute" in a train station, internally rhapsodize about each other, and finally give in to their emotions, but not their carnal longing. The film honored the genuine conflicts that burden any ill-fated pair, and that relationship ends with each one returning to their respective and respectable spouses.

With genuine emotions and heartfelt romance confined these days to Hallmark movies and the occasional foreign film, Kneehigh's Rice has slathered her 'Brief Encounter' with enough Music Hall grease to feed bubble and squeak to the entire East End. Nine Coward songs are cut into the already slight story, with the majority of these giggly romps allotted to the secondary characters who populate the train station. Like 'Bloody Bloody,' it's entertainment first, but this time, the stage seems like it's being powered by hot air balloons. One stand-out, Gabriel Ebert as a goony snacks peddler, channels the long-forgotten but charmingly talented Carleton Carpenter, who appeared alongside the likes of Debbie Reynolds and Judy Garland in a few early 1950s M-G-M Arthur Freed vehicles. Would that this creative team had the confidence to keep the proceedings centered on the original story - with music, fine; with some sophisticated wink-wink, fine - rather than feeling the need to manufacture their own stage version of 'Mystery Science Theatre 3000.'

After you've seen the current production of 'Time Stands Still,' write letters, send e-mails, scroll off texts, tweet tweets and slip notes under the door to the American Theatre Wing asking them to include it as a candidate for best play revival. Originally presented last spring with almost the same cast, and the same director, it presents a deepening level of skill on the part of playwright David Margulies. [The play was skunked out of winning the Best Play Tony Award by the British import 'Red.'] This twenty-first century nod to the mid twentieth-century kitchen sink drama shows us three people in mid-life, grappling with the reality that time, in fact, does not take a time-out, so you can catch up with your perpetual unfinished business, rework your life plan, read more books or replay those liaisons and make them come out right.

World-class photojournalist Laura Linney has returned from chronicling the Iraq war, following her partial recovery from a roadside bomb that killed her translator/guide. Free-lance reporter and writer Brian d'Arcy James, her frequent partner in the war zones and live-in partner between excursions, has escorted her back from Germany, and at rise, she shows her independent spirit by curtly shrugging off his attempts to assist her into the room and onto a chair. Her leg and arm are bound up, her face is pocked with shrapnel scars, and her eyes have the dull expression of someone whose mind is somewhere else. And, of course, it is.

The details of their professional lives, interwoven with best friend and magazine photo editor Eric Bogosian, soon mirror their personal lives in several unsettling parallels. Linney's reputation for the unflinching starkness of the horrors she sees and captures is her strength. And d'Arcy James chases after the dual dream of producing Pulitzer-level reporting on the world's atrocities, while escaping into less demanding pseudo-psychological features that could be called the Easy Listening version of journalism. She is willing, almost driven, to challenge conventions and confront realities. He is eager, almost obsessed with crafting a domestic harmony that would require both of them to sacrifice the recognition that she has and he seeks.

Their long-standing, live-in relationship has been damaged by Linney's acknowledgment that she had a romantic affair with the translator who died in her arms next to their burned-out jeep. And when Bogosian brings along his new love, a perky much younger event-planner who at first seems to be a refugee from a sixties Neil Simon comedy, that couple's easy displays of affection elicit squirms when they visit the older couple's small, basics-only Brooklyn loft.

Margulies has chosen to create a couple whose lives and choices seem obviously compatible, but upon closer examination, rely on opposite means of expression. Photographers only need to succeed once to fulfill their assignment, one perfectly composed and content-rich image that tells its story. Writers need to assemble just the right strings and batches and pairings and constructs of adjectives, commas, proper and common nouns, lengths of sentences, quotes, references, adverbs and metaphors to tell theirs. His approach to his work, and now to the most critical decision about their shared lives - to reshape them or separate - begs for compromises, negotiations, justifications and settling. Her approach has no room for any of these. The fissures have been exposed. Their paths crossed, their time together so far has been fulfilling, but ultimately, they cannot proceed in the same direction. In her professional life, she freezes time, preserves a moment, however representative or not it is of its context. In their real lives, time, for them, and all of us, does not stand still.

And if ever there was a production that speaks to the need for a Tony Award category for Best Ensemble Acting in a drama, like other organizations bestow, this is it. Daniel Sullivan's direction is clean and insightful, Donald Margulies' choices are strong, and all the performances are crisp when required, and when necessary, brutally frank.

On Book

Speaking of time [or as the Brits say, 'talking of time'], it has been exceptionally good to Eli Wallach. The veteran actor will mark his 95th birthday on December 7th, and a few weeks from now, the Motion Picture Academy will award him with a special lifetime achievement Oscar. Sixty years ago, he was appearing in the Tennessee Williams classic 'The Rose Tattoo,' with Maureen Stapleton - they both won Tony Awards. And his autobiography chuckles its way through most of his seventy-five year career, and is titled 'The Good, the Bad, and Me.' Get it? He was the 'Ugly,' in the Clint Eastwood picture, the 'Good, the ...'

Time has also been civil to the plays of Noel Coward, even though the basics of the plots may seem a tad dusty. One of the more interesting collections is 'Noel Coward - Collected Plays: Three,' because it includes three of the one-acts that made up his 'Tonight at 8:30' outings, including 'Still Life,' along with an amusing intro by Sheridan Morley.

And if you're wondering where some of the precedent for 'Bloody Bloody' may have come from, look no further than backward in time, to the master of raucous, provocative, symbolic, iconic and sense-assaulting theatre, Berthold Brecht. 'Mother Courage,' anyone? Check out his 'Brecht on Theatre - The Development of an Aesthetic,' edited and translated by John Willett.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TONY VELLELA wrote and produced the PBS series about theatre, 'Character Studies.' Among his plays is the award-winning 'Admissions,' directed by Austin Pendleton, published by Playscripts. He has taught at HB Studio, Columbia University and cultural arts centers around the country. His theatre articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including Dramatics Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, Theatre Week, Parade and The Robb Report. He also conducts limited-size intensive workshops, private coaching sessions and classes from home.

Play of the Week: SMASHING!

2010-10-19T18:23:00.003-04:00

Smashing
by Brooke Berman

Abby Meadow, short for Absinthe, is the daughter of literary giant, James Meadow; and the obsession of burgeoning literary talent, Jason Stark. Jason’s debut novel, Cherry Pie @ The Hungarian, is based on a relationship he had with Abby when she was in high school. Held back by what he doesn’t want to call writer’s block, he calls her from London. Whether it’s to brag about his book’s success or to find some new inspiration from his former muse is unclear. After reading the book and discovering it’s a “revenge novel,” Abby and her Madonna-obsessed best friend, Clea, decide to travel to London to confront Jason (and maybe stalk Madonna). Once in London, they discover that Jason is out of town and Clea falls for the hotel clerk while they wait.

As the characters careen through their attempts to self-identify, their obsessions heighten and change. Abby’s initial strength and resolve are tested by her need to be desired by Jason and Clea’s relationship with Nicky, the hotel clerk, pulls her away from her excitement about being near Madonna.

Brooke Berman’s play Smashing sums up a generation’s obsession with great novels and icons, while exploring how people grow up and discover themselves. Berman’s use of direct address and short filmic scenes push the action of the play forward. Her wit and acute sense of the literary world of which she writes infuse the play with energy. It’s a funny, quirky take on what it takes to be a muse and what it takes to be a writer.

Good monologues and scenes for men and women in their 20s.

3M, 2W

Reviewed by Kate

Fri, Oct 8th @5.00 P.M: Voice-Over Careers: FREE Discussion and Q&A @ The Drama Book Shop

2010-10-05T21:15:00.002-04:00

Discussion about working in the world of voice-overs, led by Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal, authors of Voice-Over Voice Actor: What It's Like Behind the Mic.

Yuri Lowenthal: Ben 10, Prince of Persia. and Tara Platt: DC vs MK, Naruto.

Voice-Over Voice Actor: What It's Like Behind the Mic
By Yuri Lowenthal, Tara Platt
$19.95

Thurs, Oct 7th @ 6.00 P.M: DAVID IVES: Reading, Q&A and Book Signing (FREE) at The Drama Book Shop

2010-10-03T23:32:00.000-04:00

David Ives will read from The Liar and The Phobia Clinic, speak with the audience about himself and his career, and sign copies of his books.

Playwright, adapter, translator, musical book writer, children's book author, Encores! regular, DAVID IVES, will read from his recently published translation of Pierre Corneille's The Liar as well as some tantalizing sections of his book-length narrative poem. Ives' adaptation of The Liar, a brilliant verse comedy from 1643 about a charming young pathological liar, was an enormous hit this past spring at The Shakespeare Theatre Company of Washington. The Phobia Clinic, a full-length narrative poem, relates the harrowing journey of a Dante-esque narrator through the coils of a clinic designed to counter (or perhaps encourage) fear. Nine years in the writing, The Phobia Clinic was privately published in a signed, numbered, limited edition only available from the Drama Book Shop and from the author. Mr. Ives will also engage in a Q&A with the audience and sign copies of his books. A rare opportunity to meet this writer up close and personally following his New York hit this past season, Venus in Fur, and preceding his next show in town, The School For Lies, coming to Classic Stage Company next spring.

David Ivesis perhaps best known for his evenings of one-act comedies: All In The Timing and Time Flies. All In The Timing won the Outer Critics Circle Playwriting Award and ran for two years Off-Broadway. His full-length plays include Venus in Fur, which recently enjoyed a vast critical and audience success Off-Broadway; New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza, which won the prestigious Hull-Warriner Award and was presented by Washington's Theatre J this spring; Is He Dead? (adapted from Mark Twain); Irving Berlin's White Christmas; Polish Joke; and Ancient History. He has translated Feydeau's classic farce A Flea In Her Ear as well as Yazmina Rez's drama A Spanish Play, and has adapted 28 musical for Encores!. He is also the author of three young-adult novels, Monsieur Eek, Scrib, and Voss. A graduate of Yale School of Drama and a former Guggenheim Fellow in playwriting, he lives in New York City.

The Liar
adapted by David Ives
from the comedy by Pierre Corneille
Published by Plays in Print
An imprint of Smith and Kraus, 2010
$9.99

The Phobia Clinic: a poem
by David Ives
privately published, 2010
each copy signed and numbered
$10.00

Other plays by David Ives

If you would like signed copies but are unable to attend the event we would be delighted to try to accommodate you.

Every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop

2010-10-03T22:39:00.002-04:00

Staff member, Matt Alspaugh runs a LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC at The Drama Book Shop every Monday night at 9:00 p.m.! Read below for more info on this great weekly night of comedy!

Why Cry when you could laugh? Come watch some of New York's top up and coming stand up comics, performing at the world famous Drama Book Shop.

Stand Up Comics = 6 mins for $5
Audience = FREE

Every Monday night, 9-11 pm. Sign up is on a first come, first serve basis, starting at 8:30 pm. Contact Matt Alspaugh for further details. Matthew.Alspaugh@gmail.com

Fri, Oct 1st @ 5.30 P.M: The NEW BUSINESS OF ACTING. Interactive discussion & Q&A. FREE at The Drama Book Shop

2010-09-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

Los Angeles Talent Manager Brad Lemack talks about his new book “The New Business of Acting: How to Build a Career in a Changing Landscape”

The New Business of Acting: How to Build a Career in a Changing Landscape
By Brad Lemack
Paper. $22.95

Thurs, Sept 30 @ 4:30 P.M: FREE CASTING SYMPOSIUM Anatomy of an Audition: Dissecting the Process at The Drama Book Shop

2010-09-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

Breakdown Services invites you to meet top casting directors!
Seating is very limited - MUST RSVP

A FREE casting symposium, sponsored by Breakdown Services, designed to help actors prepare for the upcoming audition season and launch Nancy Bishop's new book, SECRETS FROM THE CASTING COUCH. Some of New York's top casting directors (TBA) will help simplify the audition process by breaking it down for you, the actor. Don't miss out on this essential educational experience.

More information on the casting panel to follow!

To receive information about the free ticket (for yourself only), email:
casting93010@breakdownservices.com

Due to the limited seating, it is important that you reserve a seat only if you are confirming your attendance.

About the book:
Why is it that so many good actors don't perform well at castings? Secrets from the Casting Couch gives practical advice for actors, written from a casting director's point of view, teaching the craft of film casting in front of camera. It shows how actors can work with today's internet technologies to get cast and features advice and actual exercises that achieve results in the casting studio. Emmy-award nominated casting director Nancy Bishop C.SA., has developed a successful approach through many years experience of working in the casting studio. The author also runs internationally recognised master classes throughout Europe and the US and is the head of the Prague Film School Acting Department.

"Any actor who is serious about his or her career should read this book"--Matthew Stillman, Producer: Casino Royale, Wanted, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

"As a director, casting a movie can be a terrifying process. Put the wrong actor in your project and you're sunk. How do you find the right person? if you're working with Nancy Bishop you know you're in good, accomplished hands, whether you're a director or an actor. "--Neil Burger, Director of The Illusionist

Secrets From the Casting Couch
by Nancy Bishop
Methuen, 2009
$14.95

Tues, Sept 28 @ 6:00 P.M: Atlantic Theatre Co. "Bottom of the World" FREE Q&A with playwright Lucy Thurber at The Drama Book Shop

2010-09-22T13:46:00.003-04:00

Thurber will sign copies of her plays, published by Dramatists Play Service. Peter Maloney, Kristin Griffith, and other actors from her current production at the Atlantic Theater will read from "Bottom of the World" as well as other works by Thurber. The Director Caitriona McLaughlin will also be in attendance

About the Author:
Lucy Thurber is the author of eight plays: Where We're Born, Ashville, Scarcity, Killers and Other Family, Stay Monstrosity, Dillingham City and Bottom of the World. The Atlantic Theater opened its 2007-2008 season with Scarcity. Rattlestick Theater has produced three of her plays and produced a critically acclaimed revival of Killers and Other Family in 2009. Scarcity was published in the December 2007 issue of American Theatre, and acting editions of her plays are published by Dramatists Play Service. A member of New Dramatists, 13P, MCC Playwrights Coalition and the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages, she was also the recipient of the 200-2001 Manhattan Theatre Club Playwriting Fellowship. She has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, The Contemporary American Theatre Festival, and is developing a new musical with Bigheart Productions, Lear DeBessonet and The Citizen's Band. Lucy currently teaches writing at Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence College.

About Bottom of the World:
Bottom of the World tells the story of Abby, heartbroken over the sudden death of her sister, Kate, whose star was just beginning to rise in the literary world. Abby delves into the world of Kate's novel in an attempt to deal with her grief and move on. As the lines blur between the fictional world and her own reality, Abby attempts to make sense of life and death in this funny and poignant play.

Thurber's plays available for purchase include:

Killers & Other Family
Dramatists Play Service, 2008
$8.95

Scarcity
Dramatists Play Service, 2008
$8.95

Stay
Dramatists Play Service, 2008
$8.95

Where We're Born
Dramatists Play Service, 2008
$8.95

Call to Order! (212) 944-0595 x3

Fri, Sept 24 @ 5:30 P.M: BRUCE KIMMEL Indie-Film Legend Talks About His Life & Career at The Drama Book Shop

2010-09-19T22:09:00.005-04:00

Bruce Kimmel will read & sign copies of his new book: There's Mel, There's Woody and There's You: My Life in the Slow Lane

Bruce Kimmel is an actor, writer, director, composer, and two-time Grammy Award-nominated record producer. Kimmel wrote, directed and starred in the critically acclaimed cult movie hit, "The First Nudie Musical" co-starred Stephen Nathan, Cindy Williams and featured Ron Howard as well as a host of other instantly recognizable actors of the time. He also co-created (with David Wechter) the story for the hit film, "The Faculty", directed by Robert Rodriguez and starring Salma Hayek, Josh Hartnett and Elijah Wood. As an actor, Kimmel guest-starred on most of the long-running television shows of the 1970s and 80s, including "The Partridge Family" (recurring), "Happy Days," "Laverne and Shirley," "MASH," "Alice," and many others. After seeing the first cut of his nudie musical, a high-powered executive at Paramount called Kimmel and said "Bruce, there's Mel (Brooks), there's Woody (Allen) and there's you;" hence the title for his current book about his journey in entertainment during that time.

Since 1993, Kimmel has been one of the leading producers of theatre music, having produced over 180 albums. He was nominated for a Grammy for producing the revival cast album of "Hello, Dolly!" and his album with jazz pianist Fred Hersch, I Never Told You, was also nominated for a Grammy. He has produced solo albums for Petula Clark, Helen Reddy, Jason Graae, Liz Callaway, Christiane Noll, Rebecca Luker, Brent Barrett, Sally Mayes, Judy Kaye, Judy Kuhn and many others. Kimmel's label, Kritzerland (www.kritzerland.com) regularly releases Broadway music and soundtracks.

"Bruce Kimmel takes you into his confidence (and into his heart) as your first-person tour guide on the thrill ride of his acting career, with several of this planet's most ridiculous and unimaginable decades as backdrop for his story. His careening and caroming adventures move at a breathtaking pace and, as ever, Kimmel's endearing, self-effacing tone evokes Saroyan and Salinger, even as his book is populated with more familiar names than a fruitcake has raisins. Daft, deft, constantly touching and ultimately moving, our hero's effort to find his life, his love, and his "light" makes for a rare showbiz story that trades in tinsel and glitter for tenderness and hope."-- RUPERT HOLMES, Tony and Edgar award-winning playwright and novelist

There's Mel, There's Woody and There's You:
My Life in the Slow Lane

by Bruce Kimmel

$17.99