Read any really good plays lately?

#1

Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:12pm

I have an obsession with reading plays. Lately I had a really good time reading Crimes of the Heart, Anna in the Tropics, The Foreigner, Angels in America and Suddenly Last Summer. You?

#2

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:14pm

We're reading The Diary of Anne Frank right now in school..it's good, and I read A midsummer Night's Dream a few weeks ago..does that count?
And I read The Foreigner too- SO GOOD!

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"It's a great feeling of power to be naked in front of people. We're happy to watch actual incredible graphic violence and gore, but as soon as somebody's naked it seems like the public goes a bit bananas about the whole thing."

#3

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:17pm

Of course that counts I have random urges to read Shakepear plays all the time! I forgot why but i've heard it's really good for actors to read all the plays they can, I guess cuz they kinda act it out in their heads and it prepares them for cold readings and of course for their cultural knowledge.

#4

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:17pm

Waiting For Godot... everyone in the world go read it NOW.

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"The stage is where I live and come alive and act out all the things that go on in my life. It's not just what I do for a living, it's my shrink and my love affair. No one in my life has ever or ever will kiss me on the mouth like this lover called my relationship with my performance."

#5

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:18pm

heh yeah that's what I've heard.
I love Shakespeare though! The teachers give me funny looks though cuz they say at my age it's odd to understand Shakespeare without re-reading the line 5 times...
ookay then

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"It's a great feeling of power to be naked in front of people. We're happy to watch actual incredible graphic violence and gore, but as soon as somebody's naked it seems like the public goes a bit bananas about the whole thing."

#6

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:24pm

the normal heart. Unfortuanetlly it closed before i could see it.

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"At the opening night party, they had clowns on stilts, jugglers, a chocolate fountain, popcorn, hot dogs. [My son] looked at me like I had been holding back. Like, 'This is what you do?' I had to tell him, 'No, no, darling. Opening nights don't usually look like this.' It's usually a dark bar with a bottle of vodka." ?Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Jan Maxwell plus i proudly share the title of the shortest member over the age of 10 with wickedrentq!

#7

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:27pm

Reading Nocturne. Planning on re-reading Equus later.

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"It's not always about you!!!" (But if you think I'm referring to you anyway, then I probably am.)

"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater

"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell

#8

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:31pm

I actually couldn't wait to finish WAITING FOR GODOT - it was DEATHLY.

I haven't been reading much lately, but some of my favorites are:

The Last Sunday in June
A Doll's House
Hatful of Rain
Angels in America
Closer
The Shape of Things
The Blue Room
Proof
Bent

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"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson

#9

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:33pm

yeah waiting for godot was ok i guess but a doll's house and hedda gabler which i read over the summer were just torturous to get through. Damn summer reading!

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"At the opening night party, they had clowns on stilts, jugglers, a chocolate fountain, popcorn, hot dogs. [My son] looked at me like I had been holding back. Like, 'This is what you do?' I had to tell him, 'No, no, darling. Opening nights don't usually look like this.' It's usually a dark bar with a bottle of vodka." ?Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Jan Maxwell plus i proudly share the title of the shortest member over the age of 10 with wickedrentq!

#10

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:33pm

It's a shame bookstores don't have some of these. I can't wait until "Broadway Shows of 2000-2004" comes out so I can read up on all the musicals I keep reading about that closed so quickly like Zanna Don't!, or ones taht are still on like Bug, BARE, ect... and those books are so awesome when you need to audition for something really soon and you don't know the background. Oh and I found this website that has just about every play that's ever been produced for like $5 or less sometimes- www.alibris.com

#11

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:38pm

I read Proof. Like it more staged though.

Not a fan of reading Waiting For Godot, although at least it saves me the embarrassment of sneaking out of the stage version.

I'd really like to get my hands on Angels In America, Blue Room and Closer, but I don't think many of the bookstores around here carry them.

Which plays do you guys think work better on paper than on stage, and vice versa?

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"It's not always about you!!!" (But if you think I'm referring to you anyway, then I probably am.)

"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater

"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell

#12

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 4:39pm

When is that book coming out Cami?

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"It's a great feeling of power to be naked in front of people. We're happy to watch actual incredible graphic violence and gore, but as soon as somebody's naked it seems like the public goes a bit bananas about the whole thing."

#13

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 5:16pm

Tiff - You can DEFINTELY find ANGELS IN AMERICA at any bookstore in the drama section. Any maybe even CLOSER now that there's a movie. But definitely angels...

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"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson

#14

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 5:19pm

Give the following a try - they are good reads and seldom staged:

Royal Hunt of the Sun by Peter Shaffer
Murderer by Anthony Shaffer
Royal Gambit
The Royal Family
The Autumn Garden by Lillian Hellman
Marathon '33 by June Havoc

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"Love Life. Live." Michael Bennett

#15

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 5:25pm

The book "Best of Broadway" is published annually I believe but my local library get's random anthologies, some of 3 years some of 4 or 5 so I dunno, but there are tons of "Best of Broadway in the 90's/80's/70's [ect...]". I saw Marathon 33 and it was sooo borring, seriously two things happened the entire two acts, I wonder how it is as a book.

#16

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 6:05pm

"Seascape with Shark and Dancer"

#17

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 6:06pm

Hmm so since I have one more chapter of Phantom of the Opera left, I'm looking into some of these plays to read. Out of these what do you suggest I read first?:

Angels in America
Bent
or
Blue Room
or something else?

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"It's a great feeling of power to be naked in front of people. We're happy to watch actual incredible graphic violence and gore, but as soon as somebody's naked it seems like the public goes a bit bananas about the whole thing."

#18

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 6:21pm

I'm hoping "An Almost Holy Picture" is published soon. I found that play so moving. I remember wishing I could write down quotes from it as I watched it.

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"The theater is my life. I live it. I breathe it. I fondle it till it falls asleep." Jack (Will And Grace) http://feathah.blogspot.com

#19

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 6:23pm

In one of my classes we are going to be reading A Raisin in the Sun.

#20

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 6:56pm

I just read Rebecca Gillman's Boy Gets Girl. One of the best plays I have ever read. I have never been so absorbed - I couldn't put it down!

#21

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 7:21pm

I'm re-reading Equus(love it. also have to read it for school soon) and I'm hoping to read Stone Cold Dead Serious as soon as I finish Equus.

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"The weight of this sad time we must obey, Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. The oldest hath borne most; we that are young Shall never see so much, nor live so long"-Edgar in King Lear

#22

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 7:34pm

shape of things, pillowman, graduate, hitchcock blonde (my favorite!)

#23

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 7:36pm

sixteen wounded needs to be published. It was the most moving play I have ever seen.

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"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson

#24

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/23/04 at 9:08pm

sallybrown read angels in america. then if you haven't seen it, rent the movie (the hbo version).

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"At the opening night party, they had clowns on stilts, jugglers, a chocolate fountain, popcorn, hot dogs. [My son] looked at me like I had been holding back. Like, 'This is what you do?' I had to tell him, 'No, no, darling. Opening nights don't usually look like this.' It's usually a dark bar with a bottle of vodka." ?Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Jan Maxwell plus i proudly share the title of the shortest member over the age of 10 with wickedrentq!

#25

re: Read any really good plays lately?

Posted: 12/24/04 at 12:47am

I'm reading "How I Learned to Drive" again.

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"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"