The Best Plays of 2004 -2005

Here's the press release about the latest volume of the "Best Plays" series that goes back over 80 years. I might quibble here and there (I would certainly replace Romance, with Lisa Kron's Well in a heartbeat and I find it amazing that "Hot 'N Throbbing" finally makes the series 20 years after its world premiere -- talk about a New York bias), but not a bad list:


The contents of the "Best Plays of 2004-2005" annual volume were announced July 21.

Essays about the ten chosen plays will be featured in the upcoming tome, the latest in the series that dates back to 1920. Editor Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, in consultation with his editorial board — Robert Brustein, Tish Dace, Christine Dolen, Robert Hurwitt, John Istel, Chris Jones, Julius Novick, Michael Phillips, Christopher Rawson, Alisa Solomon, Jeffrey Sweet, Linda Winer and Charles Wright — chose the top-ten list from a mix of Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions. Plays up for consideration opened between June 1, 2004, and May 31, 2005.

The ten plays chosen and the essayists who will write about them follow:

After Ashley by Gina Gionfriddo (Essay by Elizabeth Maupin)
Brooklyn Boy by Donald Margulies (Essay by Michael Feingold)
Democracy by Michael Frayn (Essay by Chris Jones)
Doubt by John Patrick Shanley (Essay by Jeremy McCarter)
Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson (Essay by Christopher Rawson)
Guantanamo by Victoria Brittain and Gillian Slovo (Essay by Charles Wright)
Hot 'n' Throbbing by Paula Vogel (Essay by David Savran)
A Number by Caryl Churchill (Essay by Robert Hurwitt)
The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh (Essay by John Istel)
Romance by David Mamet (Essay by Robert Vorlicky)

In addition to the plays, the 86th edition of the series also honors three regional plays and provides a collection of facts and figures about the year in American theatre.

"The Best Plays Theater Yearbook: The Best Plays of 2004-2005" will be published by Limelight Editions. This edition will be dedicated to the memory of critic Mel Gussow, a longtime "Best Plays" collaborator.


http://www.playbill.com/news/article/94154.html

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Updated On: 7/23/05 at 01:19 AM

The Best Plays of 2003/04 was just released in June, so they usually come out a year after the season ends. (All those essays have to be written and edited.)

I was fortunate that my grandfather collected all the early volumes, which naturally were passed along to me. I have kept my series up to date and fine the whole collection an invaluable reference...especially looking up cast replacement details for BWW members!

I do wish that in the cast listings they would give a paragraph synopsis of each play rather than a one-sentence overview.

I also wish a feature from years gone by would be restored: They used to list all of the cast album releases (and sometimes reissues), which would be handy.

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sorry double post.

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Updated On: 7/23/05 at 03:49 AM

Are the abridged scripts still published, or just the essays?

That's a pity.

Just double-checked and "Well" was in the 2003-2004 volume.

Perhaps, Sam Shepard's "The God of Hell," Tracy Letts' "Bug," LaBute's "Fat Pig" or Adam Rapp's "Blackbird" might have been good alternatives to "Romance."

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