The Best American Short Plays 2014-2015

by William W. Demastes (Editor)

Overview

(Best American Short Plays). For more than 70 years, The Best American Short Plays has been the standard of excellence for one-act plays in America. From its inception, it has identified cutting-edge playwrights Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and others who have gone on to establish award-winning careers. The Best American Short Plays 2014-2015 is the next installment from series editor William W. Demastes. This volume takes a look at the trinity Shakespeare coined as "the lunatic, the lover, and the poet." The works in this volume explore whimsical, imaginative, humorous, and romantic themes. In the introduction, Demastes writes, "What really hits home in Shakespeare's plays is how he uses his own seething brain to put things onstage that cool reason will never be able to comprehend. He shows us that the world is more than facts and figures, that humans are connected by more than a balance sheet, and that life is more than biology." The wonderful short plays in this collection delve into the spectrum of emotions that bubble beneath "cool reason" and remind us about the some of the aspects that make life worth living for better or worse the insanity, the beauty, the unbridled joy, and the mystery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781495046483
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/01/2016
Series:	Best American Short Plays
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

William W. Demastes (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is alumni professor of English at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. He has published widely on modern theater and drama, including Comedy Matters, Spalding Gray's America, Staging Consciousness, and Theatre of Chaos.

Table of Contents

Introduction: More Than Cool Reason Can Ever Comprehend William W. Demastes vii

B'Hoys Do Macbeth Jonathon Ward 1

Losing Sight Kevin D. Ferguson 27

Long Time Coming David Rusiecki 49

Petra John Yarbrough 63

The Secret Keeper David Meyers 85

Super Hot Raven and Raven II: The Ravening Megan Gogerty 97

Noma's Rest Jordan Morille 115

The Hour Susan Goodell 155

The Lilac Ticket C. J. Ehrlich 169

The Subterraneans Adam Kraar 183

Feathers Judd Lear Silverman 199

The Gulf Audrey Cefaly 213

Winning Mercilee Jenkins 237

The Grass Is Greenest at the Houston Astrodome Michael Ross Albert 249

Sword Flay Charlene A. Donaghy 295

Dolor Hal Corley 311

Gonna Need to See Some ID Donna Latham 325

There's No Here Here Craig Pospisil 337

Vertical Constellation with Bomb Gwydion Suilebhan 349

With a Bullet (Or, Surprise Me) John Patrick Bray 361

Acknowledgments 385