Theatre and Music Theatre: New Theatre Books

"A truck stop sandwich shop offers its formerly incarcerated kitchen staff a shot at reclaiming their lives. Even as the shop's tough-as-nails owner tries to keep them under her thumb, the motley crew of line cooks are given purpose and permission to dream through their shared quest to create the perfect sandwich."-- Provided by publisher.

"Meet Kenneth, a thirty-eight-year-old bookstore worker who spends his evenings sipping mai tais at the local tiki bar. When he's suddenly laid off, Kenneth finally begins to face a world he's long avoided - with transformative and even comical results. Primary Trust is a touching and inventive play about new beginnings, old friends, and seeing the world for the first time."

"From A Midsummer Night's Dream's Puck to Othello's Desdemona, this new edition of Speaking Shakespeare gives you all the necessary tools to bring any of Shakespeare's eclectic characters to life. Patsy Rodenburg uses practical exercises and textual analysis to hone in on your dramatic resonance, breathing and placement in order to unlock your potential for playing these iconic characters. Speeches and scenes such as Mark Antony's 'O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth' and the bloody scene in which Macbeth admits to Lady Macbeth that he has 'done the deed' are placed in context and discussed in depth. Combining clear practical, textual and imaginative work with a brilliant analysis of scenes and speeches from the whole range of Shakespeare's plays, this is an essential and inspiring guide for anyone working on his plays today. It brings a renewed focus on the language of power, so frequently spoken in the worlds of politicians and company directors, which will give readers insight into the potency of clear, direct communication, specifically in the context of Shakespeare. Each chapter has been revised following the author's 20 additional years of experience as a voice coach and includes techniques necessary for a clear and convincing performance."--Page [4] of cover.

"On a cold September morning in 1844, a young man from Bavaria stands on a New York dockside dreaming of a new life in the new world. He is joined by his two brothers, and an American epic begins. 163 years later, the firm they establish - Lehman Brothers - spectacularly collapses into bankruptcy, triggering the largest financial crisis in history. Weaving together nearly two centuries of family history, this epic theatrical event charts the humble beginnings, outrageous successes, and devastating failure of the financial institution that would ultimately bring the global economy to its knees. The Lehman Trilogy is the quintessential story of western capitalism, rendered through the lens of a single immigrant family." -- Provided by publisher

"Inspired by the 15th century morality play Everyman, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ new work follows Everybody (played by one of five actors selected by lottery at the beginning of each performance) as he or she travels down a road toward life's greatest mystery and confronts the inevitable. An unpredictable and inventive inquiry into the ways we cope with our own mortality." - Publisher description

Mace is a professional wrestler. He's a really good professional wrestler. He's not the champion though - that's the impossibly charismatic Chad Deity. When Mace discovers a young Indian-American Brooklyn kid whose charisma rivals that of the champ, Mace decides to get him a job in the company. Only problem is, the boss has a very specific plan for the duo: put them onscreen as terrorists. Kristoffer Diaz's The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity is a serious-minded comedy about wrestling, geopolitics, and raisin bread. -- from back cover.

"Mary Zimmerman's The Secret in the Wings adapts a group of lesser-known fairy tales to create a theatrical work that sets their dark mystery against her signature wit and humor. The framing story concerns a child and the frightening babysitter with whom her parents leave her. As the babysitter reads from a book, the characters in each of the tales materialize, with each tale breaking off just at its bleakest moment before giving way to the next one. The central tale is told without interruption, after which each previous tale is successively resumed, with each looming disaster averted. As in Zimmerman's other productions, here she uses costumes, props, sets, and lighting to brilliant effect, creating images and feelings that render the fairy tales in all their elemental and enduring power."--Publisher's Web site.

"In 2023, these monologues are representations of the life we are currently living. The sorrows, the challenges, the humanness of our live are right here in these pages. So, go. Read, these pieces. Act these pieces. They will seem familiar to you as you hold the mirror up to nature and realize that art is indeed a reflection of life."--Amazon.com.

"In 2023, these monologues are representations of the life we are currently living. The sorrows, the challenges, the humanness of our live are right here in these pages. So, go. Read, these pieces. Act these pieces. They will seem familiar to you as you hold the mirror up to nature and realize that art is indeed a reflection of life."

Since his first play, And Things That Go Bump in the Night, which premiered in 1965, McNally has proven himself to be a trailblazing figure and unique voice in American theater, known for his exploration of gay themes and his chronicling of America's changing social attitudes over the past fifty years. His thirty-three plays, nine musicals, three operas, and seven scripts for film and television, are a testament to his astonishing commitment to writing. In Selected Plays, for the very first time, McNally collects a set of eight plays that he considers the most important of his oeuvre, including the Tony-nominated Mothers and Sons and the critically acclaimed And Away We Go, neither of which have been previously published. Introducing each play with a personal essay that recounts an anecdote or discusses an aspect of the play that proceeds it, McNally himself frames his own life in the theater. Selected Plays is a landmark publication, a memoir in plays from one of America's most highly regarded and best-loved playwrights.

"Featuring fifty-five pieces of African textiles, clothing, headwear, and jewelry, African Apparel: Threaded Transformations across the 20th Century celebrates dress as products of global interactions, generational conflict and continuity, and expressions of gender. Richly illustrated, this catalog highlights the strength and resilience of long-standing practices that characterize African dress; the wide variety of cultural, religious, and political motivations for adorning oneself; and the varying identities reflected in analyzing African material culture of the last century and a half. Textile selections include those handwoven and dyed alongside factory-woven and machine-printed cloth, as well as items of adornment including amber and silver jewelry from North Africa, beadwork-embellished clothing from South Africa, and various headdresses from across the continent. This unique collection is explored in conversation with the collector, through an in-depth essay, and with detailed object entries. From European colonization to independence, to economic liberalization, African Apparel demonstrates how dress practices reveal personal and group identities, cultural traditions, and aspirations"-- Provided by publisher.

"After a general introduction, chronological chapters illustrated throughout retrace the history of footwear from the Middle Ages to today, featuring shoes and boots that once belonged to both anonymous and famous male and female wearers, from battered old 'chimney shoes' hidden away for good luck to the elegant styles of the Renaissance, from Elizabethan mules to the first stilettos. A detailed glossary, bibliography and index conclude the book."--Publisher's website.

Book one in this exciting new series includes waistcoats and bodices, a mantle and gloves. Full step-by-step drawings of the construction sequence are given for each garment to enable the reader to accurately reconstruct them. There are scale patterns of each garment and scale diagrams for making linen and metal thread laces and embroidery designs.

Featuring case studies of clients who came to her looking for a 'hair fix', and informed by her own story from apprentice to business-owner, this book will dispel common hair myths and give you the knowledge and tools to attain good hair health. Packed with expert advice, nourishing recipes and top maintenance tips, this book is a celebration of the unique beauty and history of Black hair.

"An Illustrated Guide to Furniture History provides upper-level students and instructors with an alternative visual analytical approach to learning about furniture history from antiquity to post-modernism. Following an immersive teaching model, it presents a nine-step methodology to help strengthen students' visual literacy and quickly acquire subject area knowledge. Moving chronologically through key periods in furniture history and interior design, such as the Renaissance, the Arts & Crafts Movement and Modernism, it traverses from Europe to America to present a comprehensive foundational guide to the history of furniture design. Part I addresses furniture within the context of the built environment, with chapters exploring the historical perspective, construction principles, and the categorization of furniture. In Part II, the author visually depicts the structural organization of the methodological process, a three-category framework - History, Aesthetics and Visual Notes. The chapters in this part prepare the reader for the visual analysis that will occur in the final section of the book. The book is lavishly illustrated in full colour with over 300 images to reinforce visual learning and notation. A must-have reference and study guide for students in industrial and product design, interior design and architecture"-- Provided by publisher.

"This unique visual collection celebrates the very best contemporary Maximalist interior design as well as making the connection to a much longer historical tradition of excess. Maximalism is a style that has been with us, in one guise or another, for example in the castles, palazzi, chateaux, and historic homes of bygone ages, for more than 400 years. This richly illustrated volume, with metallic gold ink used throughout, features the most extraordinary Maximalist interiors from all over the globe, from centuries past and present, transcending both time and geography. An intense and thrilling journey through the magic and mayhem that is Maximalism, a book that is as much an experience as it is a book, its luxurious pages are layered, loud, and louche, chaotic, colorful, and controversial, but also romantic, joyous, and imbued with personality, history, and story telling"--Publisher's description.

"It's a year later: the Clown Bar is in disrepair, and Happy has gone missing. Has he been offed by clown cowboy Brigham Bill, or was it an inside job? Two cops who knew Happy when he was on the force go undercover as clowns in the Clown Bar to find out what happened. Take a step into the seedy clown crime underworld and get immersed in Clown Bar 2!"--Page [4] of cover.

"In The Thanksgiving Play, a group of well-intentioned white teaching artists scramble to create an ambitious "woke" Thanksgiving pageant that also celebrates Native American Heritage Month. Amidst their eagerness to put on the most culturally sensitive show possible, things quickly begin to devolve into the absurd, showing how even those with good intentions can be undone by their own blind spots. Inspired by historical interest in the KKK's collaborations with Indigenous groups, What Would Crazy Horse Do? examines the lives of Calvin and Journey--twins who are the last two members of Marahotah clan. Floundering after their grandfather's passing, they form a suicide pact in case their lives on the reservation become too hopeless. However, when two white strangers arrive claiming their families have a shared history, the twins' world is torn wide open"-- Provided by publisher

n the surface, the life of Ken Carpenter, a solidly married fifty-seven year old insurance salesman, is uneventful: silent rides in his luxury sedan, cafeteria encounters with Salisbury steak and lime Jell-O, visits to his mother in the nursing home, and the minister's sermons at the Baptist church. Then one night he is jolted awake, tortured by the discovery that he no longer believes in God. Encouraged by his minister, Ken decides to find himself and his faith impulsively by flying to London, where he navigates the new and somewhat dangerous realm of British counterculture.

"Few institutions have as profound an impact on the American theatrical landscape as the Tony Award-winning Williamstown Theatre Festival, located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. New Plays from Williamstown Theatre Festival 2015-2021 provides a sample of the dozens of plays that have been created and/or premiered at the Festival during the Artistic Directorship of Mandy Greenfield. In addition to stories that shine a light into new or underexplored corners of the human condition, these plays frequently feature complex and boundary-pushing central roles for women actors. These six plays are manifestations of living, American playwrights grappling with and breathing dramatic life into the conflicts and questions at the heart of who we were, who we are and who we will become. These plays imagine and interrogate pieces of the human experience we are still in the midst of unpacking and understanding. Complete with introductions by each of the authors reflecting on their work, these historic, award-winning and groundbreaking plays now live in conversation with one another in this unique collection"-- Provided by publisher.

"The Tucker women are up early to prepare a very important meal, or at least that's what Mama says. As the day wears on, the little dramas that always take place in the kitchen boil over, making a mess of everything. STEW explores the substance of that special stuff passed between kinswomen and how the secrets we keep from our mothers eventually become the secrets we keep from ourselves."--Page 4 of cover

"In this compelling dramatic triptych, three terminal cancer patients dwell in separate cottages on a hospital grounds. The three are attended and visited by family and close friends: Agnes and her mother Felicity, estranged further by the latter's dementia; Brian and Beverly whose marital complications are exacerbated by Brian's new lover, Mark; and Joe and Maggie, unready for the strain of Joe's impending death and its effect on their teenage son."--Back cover

A Free Man of Color is set in boisterous New Orleans prior to the historic Louisiana Purchase. Before law and order took hold, and class, racial and political lines were drawn, New Orleans was a carnival of beautiful women, flowing wine and pleasure for the taking. At the center of this Dionysian world is the mulatto Jacques Cornet, who commands men, seduces women and preens like a peacock.

"In a "first ring" suburb outside a midsize American city, Ben and Mary fire up the grill to welcome the new neighbors who've moved into the long-empty house next door. The fledgling friendship soon veers out of control, shattering the fragile hold that newly unemployed Ben and burgeoning alcoholic Mary have on their way of life--with unexpected comic consequences. Detroit is a fresh, offbeat look at what happens when we dare to open ourselves up to something new. After premiering at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre last year to rave reviews, Lisa D'Amour's brilliant and timely play moves to Broadway this fall"--Provided by publisher.

Japanese homes speak to the soul and provide a contemplative environment from which to experience the world. Japan Style offers rare glimpses into twenty exquisite traditional homes in Japan. The lavish photographs in this volume demonstrate how Japanese design achieves a timeless tranquility using a few very simple, natural elements. The wabi-sabi ideal, translated loosely by Frank Lloyd Wright as a "rusticity and simplicity that borders on loneliness," is considered the epitome of sophistication in Japanese interior design. The houses in this book invite us to rethink the wisdom of our hurried modern lifestyle and return to a simpler, slower life. The quintessential Japanese aesthetic can be seen in a 100-year-old minka farmhouse, an old merchant's machiya townhouse in Kyoto, a sprawling country Samurai villa, and in a modern seaside cottage. This book offers insights for architects and homeowners alike by providing inspiring and surprising alternatives, relevant to the design of homes anywhere in the world today.

"Make-up, as we know it, has only been commercially available in the last 100 years, but applying decoration to the face and body may be one of the oldest global social practices. Lisa Eldridge, one of the world's foremost make-up artists--with a very large and loyal public following of her own--has written the first real history of the subject. Face Paint will explore the reasons behind make-up's use, the actual materials employed and manufactured through the ages, the icons that people emulate and how they achieved their effects, the impact on women's lives and the present and future of make-up from high profile practitioners artists to cosmetic breakthroughs. Along with the glamorous trappings, this is also about women's history and the ways in which we can understand their story through the prism of make-up."--Publisher's description.

In "Yellowman," Alma and Eugene find a love together that transcends racism and poverty; in "My Red Hand, My Black Hand," a young woman of Native American and African American heritage searches for her identity amid both races.