Play the Scene: The Ultimate Collection of Contemporary and Classic Scenes and Monologues

by Michael Schulman, Eva Mekler, Michael Schulman (Editor), Eva Mekler (Editor)

Overview

Alexander Dumas * Christopher Durang * Beth Henley * Kenneth Lonergan * Donald Margulies * Steve Martin * Nicky Silver * Bernard Shaw * Alfred Uhry * Paula Vogel

A collection of the greatest scenes and monologues ever written-ranging from Elizabethan to Tony Award-winning plays-this comprehensive anthology spans over five hundred years of theatre. Play the Scene: The Ultimate Collection of Contemporary and Classic Scenes and Monologues by coauthors Michael Schulman and Eva Mekler includes scenes and monologues from classic plays by such notable authors as Edith Wharton as well as the best in contemporary theatre, such as Margaret Edson's Wit.

* Blight Spirit * Camille * The Chosen * The Graduate * How I Learned to Drive * The Last Night of Ballyhoo * The Lisbon Traviata * This Is Our Youth * Vincent in Brixton * And many more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312318796
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/07/2004
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	528,404
Product dimensions:	5.48(w) x 8.22(h) x 0.95(d)

About the Author

Michael Schulman is an acting teacher who has taught at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and the Actors Studio. He founded the British-American Acting Academy and has written and directed a number of plays for Off-Broadway theatre. He is also a psychologist and an author of books on child development.

Eva Mekler is a former actress who has performed both on and off Broadway. She is also a novelist and author of books on American and British acting training.

Play the Scene is Michael Schulman and Eva Mekler's fifth book of scenes and monologues for actors, including Great Scenes and Monologues for Actors, available from St. Martin's Press.

Editorial Reviews

Acting teacher Schulman (Lee Strasberg Theatre Inst.) and actress/playwright Meckler have assembled an excellent collection of (mostly) contemporary scenes and monologs, drawn from the likes of Steve Martin, Paula Vogel, George Bernard Shaw, and Margaret Edson. All of the scenes are for two characters, divided equally between those for one man and one woman and those for two men and two women. There is a similarly equal distribution of monologs for either sex. Taken individually, the scenes and monologs are full of the trials and tribulations of modern (and, occasionally, not-so-modern) life; they provide ample opportunity for the display of technique but not laugh-out-loud comedy, which is a mistake. As a whole, however, this collection deserves a place on the already groaning shelves of scenes and monologs because there is unique material here. Schulman's introduction should become a permanent part of every actor's toolbox and of every director's memory. Recommended for public and academic libraries.-Larry Schwartz, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Moorhead Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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