Plays you MUST read

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 9:30pm

Just wondering as a head start for me next year when i go off to college to pursue a BFA in acting what do you think are the vital plays that me (or really anyone) should read before going to college or in life...obviously my first thoughts were Miller and Willaims and those classics but was wondering what kind of a list we could make thanks....

[soulman83]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:01pm

I think it is essential for anyone in the theatre, whether it be Acting or Musical Theatre, to read ANYTHING TONY KUSHNER. Especially Angels in America!

[Hairspraydoll]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:03pm

Yes Williams, Miller, Simon, and Kushner. Read the classics like Chekov, Moliere, Ibsen, Shaw, etc...

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:06pm

my personal favorites:

As You Like It....Shakespeare
Ghosts....Ibsen
Hitchcock Blonde....Johnson

[willact4food]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:10pm

The Pulitzer Prize winning play, Lost in Yonkers by Neil Simon

[zippyjen]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:11pm

the normal heart- larry kramer
angels in america- tony kushnier
the elephant man
who's afraind of virginia woold- albee
the glass menagerie- williams
thos are what i would read. Enjoy them

[willact4food]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:12pm

I did the Elephant Man, great script...Carole Shelley won a Tony for her portrayal of Ms. Kendall in it. It's a great show.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:13pm

Death of a Salesman
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
The Cherry Orchard
.....

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:14pm

The Rivers and Ravines

[Dre2387]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:14pm

my favorite are Noises Off and You Can't Take It With You.

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:21pm

I'm going to read The Crucible.

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:23pm

I loved the crucible its one of millers best in my opinion with Death... of course...thanks soo much you guys can't wait to go to the library on tommorow

[homosezwhat]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:35pm

A few suggestions from off the beaten path.

The Time Of Your Life by William Saroyan
Fat Men in Skirts and Pterodactyls by Nicky Silver
Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill
Every play by Israel Horovitz
The plays of Jean Anouilh (especially the Lillian Hellman translation of The Lark)

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley
Fefu and her Friends by Maria Irene Fornes
The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam

Fortinbras by Lee Blessing
The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe
Kimberly Akimbo by David Lindsay Abaire

just some of my favorites

[heaja123]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:43pm

LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT -O'Niel
ANGELS IN AMERICA- KUSHNER

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:45pm

i'm actually in "Kimberly" right now homosez....isn't it just the best?? I play Jeff and am having a blast Abaire is a genuis!

[ilovespamalot]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 10:52pm

Anything Shaw and read Harvey and Old Town.

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 11:08pm

Lend Me A Tenor! It's the funniest play I've read in a while...

[insomniak]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 11:12pm

Our Town, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, A Raisin In The Sun and Three Tall Women come to mind and have not been listed.

[CostumeMistress]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 11:15pm

Something old, something new... read "A Doll's House," then read "The Shape of Things" by Neal Labute.

[jam_man]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 11:18pm

Inherit the Wind
Death of a Salesman
place anything from Ol' Billy Shakespeare here
some Chekov, Ibsen, Shaw, etc.

[jasonf]

Posted: 7/31/05 at 11:50pm

Honestly - these are all good suggestions -- but you're going to have to read all these plays IN college if you're a theater major. Don't bother reading them now - wait until you GET to college, then if there's any you missed, catch up.

This is coming from a theater major who turned into an English teacher.

[Mr. TN]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 1:05am

I agree that you should not read everything over the summer. Some things are harder to understand and require time to appreciate. Also, it WILL require the help of college professors to really get to completely understand every work. That is why you pay thousands of dollars to go to their classes. But if you are talking about life in general, I think everyone who is involved in theatre should read at least one play from each major theatrical movement. Personally I like to start each year in Greek theatre and move into Roman, Commedia, Elizabethan, Realism, Expressionism, Modernism, Absurdism and others just to name a few. There are so many great playwrights outside of the accepted standards like Shakespeare, Moliere, Williams, Checkov, Simon, Miller, and Kushner (although he is particularly contraversial). I would suggest reading some contemporaries like Handke, Rivera, Mamet, Churchill, or Beckett (and not just Godot). And if you are looking for older works, try reading some Marlowe which will give you a new perspective on William Shakespeare's work.

[CostumeGirl2]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 1:14am

Something that hasn't been said yet. When I took dramatic lit, I really enjoyed David Henry Hwang's (sp?) "M. Butterfly" and Norman's "'night, Mother." Also Sam Shepard is a good contemporary writer.

[CurtainUp]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 3:04am

Hamlet paired with Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead".

Durang's "Laughing Wild" and "Beyond Therapy"
Streetcar Named Desire, Glass Menagerie

[JakeB]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 3:09am

FROZEN by BRYONY LAVERY usually pops up at some point in every acting student's career.