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No Man's Land
by David W. RobinsonThe political events of "annus mirabilis" 1989 marked a rare turning point in world history, but the significance of the year for German literary history is unique. As the 40-year-old German Democratic Republic ceased to exist, so too did the special circumstances which had fostered a literature separate from and in competition with that of the Federal Republic of Germany. A new period of literary history was delimited almost overnight: Germany Democratic Republic literature now was something to be examined as a whole, cultural movement. At the same time, the literary traditions of the German Democratic Republic have continued to influence the contemporary cultural scene, often in ways that are only gradually becoming clear.The essays, memoirs, and plays collected in this special issue of Contemporary Theatre Review represent an early attempt to assess and reassess one of the German Democratic Republic's richest cultural domains: its theatre. Contributors include David W. Robinson, C
No More Dead Dogs
by Gordon KormanFootball hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well.
No More Wars but the Moon
by E. P. ConkleComedy / 6f / The women's club finds a solution for settling wars. The women are making a quilt for the marriage of one of them with a young man. Mrs. Tansey comes in with her unique plan for world peace and eventually gets the quilt and the young man.
No Safe Spaces: Re-casting Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality in American Theater
by Angela C. Pao"No Safe Spaces opens up a conversation beyond narrow polemics . . . Although cross-racial casting has been the topic of heated discussion, little sustained scholarship addresses both the historical precedents and theoretical dimensions. Pao illustrates the tensions and contradictions inherent not only in stage representations, but also in the performance of race in everyday life. A wonderful book whose potential readership goes well beyond theater and performance scholars. " ---Josephine Lee, University of Minnesota "Non-traditional casting, increasingly practiced in American theater, is both deeply connected to our country's racial self-image(s) and woefully under-theorized. Pao takes on the practice in its entirety to disentangle the various strands of this vitally important issue. " ---Karen Shimakawa, New York University. No Safe Spaces looks at one of the most radical and enduring changes introduced during the Civil Rights era---multiracial and cross-racial casting practices in American theater. The move to cast Latino/a, African American, and Asian American actors in classic stage works by and about white Europeans and Americans is viewed as both social and political gesture and artistic innovation. Nontraditionally cast productions are shown to have participated in the national dialogue about race relations and ethnic identity and served as a source of renewed creativity for the staging of the canonical repertory. Multiracial casting is explored first through its history, then through its artistic, political, and pragmatic dimensions. Next, the book focuses on case studies from the dominant genres of contemporary American theater: classical tragedy and comedy, modern domestic drama, anti-realist drama, and the Broadway musical, using a broad array of archival source materials to enhance and illuminate its arguments. Angela C. Pao is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University. A volume in the series Theater: Theory/Text/Performance
Noah Centineo: Issue #1 (Scoop! The Unauthorized Biography #1)
by C. H. MitfordIntroducing a new series of unauthorized biographies on the world's biggest names and rising stars in entertainment, sports, and pop culture! Complete with quizzes, listicles, trivia, and a full-color pull-out poster, this is the definitive collection to get the full Scoop! and more on your favorite celebrities.Is there anything Noah Centineo can't do? • He acts... • He sings... • He-Man???That's right! The former Disney star will make his big-screen debut for Marvel Universe as He-Man in 2021.Get the full Scoop! and more on Noah Centineo: Hollywood's next superstar.
Noah McNichol and the Backstage Ghost
by Martha Freeman&“Will make a theater lover of any young reader.&” —Booklist Perfect for fans of The Wednesday Wars, this raucous and delightful middle grade mystery from Edgar Award–nominated author Martha Freeman is filled with backstage fun, relatable family drama, and maybe even a ghost.Break a leg! That&’s what you say to actors when what you mean is Have a good show!. Anything else is bad luck. When Miss Magnus literally breaks her leg, eleven-year-old Noah McNichol and the rest of the Plattsfield Winklebottom Memorial Sixth-Grade Players are left without a director for their production of Hamlet. Coach Fig comes to the rescue—sort of. He&’ll direct, even though he is clearly more interested in whatever is happening on his phone than in directing. He doesn&’t even know upstage from downstage! But then something weird happens: out of nowhere appears a strangely dressed old guy named Mike. He tells Noah he has theater experience, before disappearing—poof. Noah has some investigating to do and some decisions to make. Like, does he care more that their new director might be a ghost or about getting to make his stage debut? And who is Mike and why has he decided to help? As things get weirder and weirder, one thing becomes clear: The show must go on, and Noah will do whatever it takes to make sure that happens.
Nobody Don't Like Yogi
by Tom LysaghtBiographical Comedy / 1m / Interior / In 1985, 16 games into the season, George Steinbrenner fired Yankee manager Yogi Berra, and he insulted the Berra family. Yogi never told anyone what was said, but he vowed not to enter Yankee Stadium as long as Steinbrenner owned the team. And he didn't until 1999 when the ghosts of Yankee greats tugged at his heart and he returned to throw out the first pitch of the season, replacing the recently deceased Joe DiMaggio. Set in the clubhouse of the cathedral of baseball, this play recreates that day and shows why Yogi Berra is a national treasure and a New York icon. Ben Gazzara starred in New York. / "A home run.''-New York Post
Noel Coward: A Biography of Noel Coward
by Philip HoareThe definitive biography of one of the 20th century&’s most celebrated and controversial dramatists.To several generations, actor, playwright, songwriter, and filmmaker Noël Coward (1899–1973) was the very personification of wit, glamour, and elegance. Given unprecedented access to the private papers and correspondence of Coward family members, compatriots, and numerous lovers, Samuel Johnson Prize–winning biographer Philip Hoare has produced an illuminating and sophisticated biography of Coward, whose relentless drive for success and approval fueled the stunning bursts of creativity that launched the once-painfully middle class boy from the suburbs of London into a pantheon of theatrical deities that includes Gilbert and Sullivan, Oscar Wilde, and George Bernard Shaw. As much the embodiment of a lifestyle as an actual inhabitant of it, Coward&’s carefully cultivated image defined the aspirations of untold numbers of actors, artists, and writers who succeeded him, and Hoare&’s meticulously researched biography peels away the layers of this complex persona to reveal the man underneath it all, whom The Times (London) decreed upon his death to be the most versatile of all the great figures of the English theater.
Noir Suspicions
by David Landau Nikki SternMystery / 4m, 3f / In this hard boiled comic mystery sequel to the ever-popular Murder at Cafe Noir, ex-private eye Nick Archer is now the confused manager of Cafe Noir on the island of Mustique. He is confronted with a corpse on the dock, a mysterious femme fatale, a French blackmailer and a businessman who wants both the cafe and the woman. Rick is arrested after the blackmailer is murdered in his club. It is up to the audience to convince the magistrate that he is innocence. A tribute to Casablanca with many references to the classic movie, Noir Suspicions is guaranteed to delight audiences whether or not they are familiar with Murder at Cafe Noir
Noises Off: A Play in Three Acts
by Michael FraynNoises Off is not one play but two - simultaneously a traditional sex farce, Nothing On, and the backstage farce that develops during Nothing On's final rehearsal and tour. The two farces begin to interlock, as the characters make their exits from Nothing On only to find themselves making entrances into the even worse nightmare going on backstage, and exit from that only to make their entrances back into Nothing On. In the end, at the disastrous final performance in Stockton-on-Tees, the two farces can be kept separate no longer, and coalesce into one single collective nervous breakdown. Noises Off won both the Evening Standard and the Olivier Awards for Best Comedy when it was first produced, and ran in the West End for nearly five years. Michael Frayn's most recent play, Copenhagen, won both the Evening Standard Best Play Award in London and the Tony Best Play Award in New York.
None But Witches: Poems on Shakespeare's Women
by Elizabeth SylviaAccording to the author, Shakespeare was unable to create fully realized female characters. "It doesn't matter, finally, if they are witty or can solve a vexing problem," she writes in her introductory poem. "All they do is orbit, casting here and there reflected light...." In this collection she gives new voices to Shakespeare's queens, daughters, lovers, and witches.
Nonsense and Meaning in Ancient Greek Comedy
by Stephen E. KiddThis book examines the concept of 'nonsense' in ancient Greek thought and uses it to explore the comedies of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. If 'nonsense' (phluaria, lēros) is a type of language felt to be unworthy of interpretation, it can help to define certain aspects of comedy that have proved difficult to grasp. Not least is the recurrent perception that although the comic genre can be meaningful (i. e. contain political opinions, moral sentiments and aesthetic tastes), some of it is just 'foolery' or 'fun'. But what exactly is this 'foolery', this part of comedy which allegedly lies beyond the scope of serious interpretation? The answer is to be found in the concept of 'nonsense': by examining the ways in which comedy does not mean, the genre's relationship to serious meaning (whether it be political, aesthetic, or moral) can be viewed in a clearer light.
Nora Em Auschwitz
by Lázaro Droznes Anabela Alves Lopes Afonso Romão PintoEste drama ficcional relata o processo de ensaios da CASA DE BONECAS de Ibsen, para ser representada em junho de 1944, quando uma delegação da Cruz Vermelha Internacional visitou o campo de concentração de Tezerin, a fim de verificar em que condições viviam os judeus. A atriz que antes fazia o papel de Nora foi transferida para Este e a obra reflete as dificuldades que a sua substituta, recém-chegada a Tezerin, enfrenta. Durante a visita da Cruz Vermelha, o campo transformou-se num grande palco de teatro no qual milhares de pessoas representaram diversas cenas para impressionar favoravelmente os delegados.
Nora in Auschwitz
by Lázaro Droznes Luigia Pantalea RovitoQuesta finzione drammatica racconta le prove per CASA DI BAMBOLA di Ibsen, la cui rappresentazione fu organizzata quando, nel mese di luglio del 1944, una delegazione della Croce Rossa Internazionale si recò in visita al campo di concentramento di Terezin con lo scopo di verificare le condizioni di vita degli ebrei. L'attrice inizialmente impegnata nel ruolo di Nora era stata deportata all'Est, e l'opera riflette le difficoltà incontrate dalla sua sostituta, arrivata di recente a Terezin. Durante la visita della Croce Rossa, il campo venne trasformato in un enorme palcoscenico, sul quale migliaia di persone diedero vita a numerosi spettacoli per impressionare favorevolmente i delegati.
Norma Jeane Baker of Troy (Oberon Modern Plays Ser.)
by Anne CarsonAnne Carson’s new work that reconsiders the stories of two iconic women—Marilyn Monroe and Helen of Troy—from their point of view Norma Jeane Baker of Troy is a meditation on the destabilizing and destructive power of beauty, drawing together Helen of Troy and Marilyn Monroe, twin avatars of female fascination separated by millennia but united in mythopoeic force. Norma Jeane Baker was staged in the spring of 2019 at The Shed’s Griffin Theater in New York, starring actor Ben Whishaw and soprano Renée Fleming and directed by Katie Mitchell.
Normal People: The Scripts
by Sally RooneyDelve deeper into the Emmy- and Golden Globe–nominated Hulu series based on Sally Rooney's bestselling novel with this must-have collection of the Normal People scripts, featuring behind-the-scenes photos and an introduction by director Lenny Abrahamson.&“You know, I did used to think that I could read your mind at times.&”&“In bed you mean.&”&“Yeah. And afterwards but I dunno maybe that's normal.&”&“It&’s not.&”Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in the west of Ireland, but the similarities end there. In school, Connell is popular. Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation, something life-changing begins.With an introduction by director Lenny Abrahamson and featuring iconic images from the show, Normal People: The Scripts contains the complete screenplays of the acclaimed Emmy- and Golden Globe–nominated television drama that The New York Times called &“an unusually thoughtful and moving depiction of young people&’s emotional lives.&”
North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work
by Michael BlandingThe true story of a self-taught Shakespeare sleuth&’s quest to prove his eye-opening theory about the source of the world&’s most famous plays, taking readers inside the vibrant era of Elizabethan England as well as the contemporary scene of Shakespeare scholars and obsessives.Acclaimed author of The Map Thief, Michael Blanding presents the twinning narratives of renegade scholar Dennis McCarthy, called &“the Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community,&” and Sir Thomas North, an Elizabethan courtier whom McCarthy believes to be the undiscovered source for Shakespeare&’s plays. For the last fifteen years, McCarthy has obsessively pursued the true origins of Shakespeare&’s works. Using plagiarism software, he has found direct links between Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and other plays and North&’s published and unpublished writings—as well as Shakespearean plotlines seemingly lifted straight from North&’s colorful life.Unlike those who believe someone else secretly wrote Shakespeare, McCarthy&’s wholly original conclusion is this: Shakespeare wrote the plays, but he adapted them from source plays written by North decades before. Many of them, he believes, were penned on behalf of North&’s patron Robert Dudley, in his efforts to woo Queen Elizabeth. That bold theory addresses many lingering mysteries about the Bard with compelling new evidence, including a newly discovered journal of North&’s travels through France and Italy, filled with locations and details appearing in Shakespeare&’s plays.North by Shakespeare alternates between the enigmatic life of Thomas North, the intrigues of the Tudor court, the rivalries of English Renaissance theater, and academic outsider Dennis McCarthy&’s attempts to air his provocative ideas in the clubby world of Shakespearean scholarship. Through it all, Blanding employs his keen journalistic eye to craft a captivating drama, upending our understanding of the beloved playwright and his &“singular genius.&”
Northrop Frye On Shakespeare
by Northrop FryeCriticism and interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard III, Henry IV, Hamlet, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Measure for Measure, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.
Northrop Frye's Writings on Shakespeare and the Renaissance (Collected Works of Northrop Frye #28)
by Northrop Frye Troni Y. Grande Garry SherbertThis collection of Northrop Frye's writings on Shakespeare and the Renaissance spans forty years of his career as a university teacher, public critic, and major theorist of literature and its cultural functions. Extensive annotations and an in-depth critical introduction demonstrate Frye's wide-ranging knowledge of Renaissance culture, the pivotal place of the Renaissance in his oeuvre, his impact on Renaissance criticism and on the Stratford Festival, and his continuing importance as a literary theorist.This volume brings together Frye's extensive writings on Shakespeare and other Renaissance writers (excluding Milton, who is featured in other volumes), and includes major articles, introductions, public lectures, and four previously published books on Shakespeare. Frye's insightful analyses offer not just a formidable knowledge of Renaissance culture but also a transformative experience, moving the reader imaginatively towards an experience of created reality.
Not About Nightingales
by Tennessee WilliamsThis early full-length play put a young Tennessee Williams' passion for social justice in the spotlight. "Haunting, searing, unforgettable" —London Herald In early 1998, sixty years after it was written, one of Tennessee Williams' first full-length plays, Not About Nightingales, was premiered by Britain's Royal National Theatre and was immediately hailed as "one of the most remarkable theatrical discoveries of the last quarter century (London Evening Standard). Brought to the attention of the director Trevor Nunn by the actress Vanessa Redgrave (who has contributed a Foreword to this edition), "this early work...changed our perception of a major writer and still packs a hefty political punch" (London Independent). Written in 1938 and based on an actual newspaper story, the play follows the events of a prison atrocity which shocked the nation: convicts leading a hunger strike in a Pennsylvania prison were locked in a steam-heated cell and roasted to death. Williams later said: "I have never written anything since that could compete with it in violence and horror." Its sympathetic treatment of black and homosexual characters may have kept the play unproduced in its own time. But its flashes of lyricism and compelling dialogue presage the great plays Williams has yet to write. Not About Nightingales shows us the young playwright (for the first time using his signature "Tennessee") as a political writer, passionate about social injustice, and reflecting the plight of outcasts in Depression America. The stylistic influences of European Expressionism, radical American theatre of the 1930s, and popular film make it unique among the group of four early plays. Not About Nightingales has been edited by eminent Williams scholar Allean Hale, who has also provided an illuminating historical introduction.
Not Enough Rope
by Elaine MayFarce / 1m, 2f / Interior / In a rooming house, a young man is unpacking when in walks a young lady looking for rope. She wants to hang herself. Well, the man hasn't any, but has some twine; so in desperate seriousness, they barter. Finally she takes the twine to her room, puts on the phonograph, and prepares to hang herself; while he unpacks. The first effort fails, but the second is succeeding nicely, when suddenly the record stops. She tries to get down to fix the phonograph, but can't. And both the young man and the doddering old lady who wheels herself into view will not lend a hand to help her. It's only because he decides to move out of this crazy place, and needs the twine to pack, that the girl finally is freed.
Not Quite Snow White
by Ashley FranklinA picture book for magical yet imperfect children everywhere, written by debut author Ashley Franklin and perfect for fans of such titles as Matthew A. Cherry's Hair Love, Grace Byers's I Am Enough, and Lupita Nyong'o's Sulwe.Tameika is a girl who belongs on the stage. She loves to act, sing, and dance—and she’s pretty good at it, too. So when her school announces their Snow White musical, Tameika auditions for the lead princess role.But the other kids think she’s “not quite” right to play the role. They whisper, they snicker, and they glare.Will Tameika let their harsh words be her final curtain call?Not Quite Snow White is a delightful and inspiring picture book that highlights the importance of self-confidence while taking an earnest look at what happens when that confidence is shaken or lost. Tameika encourages us all to let our magic shine.
Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops
by Ken MandelbaumNot Since Carrie is Ken Mandelbaum's brilliant survey of Broadway's biggest flops. This highly readable and entertaining book highlights almost 200 musicals created between 1950 and 1990, framed around the notorious musical adaptation of Carrie, and examines the reasons for their failure. "Essential and hilarious," raves The New Yorker, and The New York Times calls the book "A must-read."
Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops
by Ken MandelbaumIf you love Broadway musicals, this book is for you. While Broadway has had its share of musical triumphs, it has also seen hundreds of musicals that had brief runs, lost millions of dollars, and broke the hearts of their creators and performers. For every hit musical, there are roughly five others that are quick flops, and even the most celebrated names in show business are not immune to them. Ken Mandelbaum offers the behind-the-scenes story of the development of almost two hundred musical flops that played Broadway between 1950 and 1990, along with a reevaluative and often revisionist study of their quality. Here they all are, from such legendary catastrophes as Carrie, Kelly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Legs Diamond, to flops that starred Lucille Ball and Bette Davis, to the failures of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Jule Styne, Jerry Herman, Alan Jay Lerner, Gower Champion, and many others. Not Since Carrie makes a case for the strengths of certain unsuccessful works, points out some that might be worthy of revival, and allows the reader to relive some of Broadway’s most infamous moments. A reexamination of neglected, forgotten, and often catastrophic musicals, Not Since Carrie will remain the definitive volume on a colorful and vital segment of "lost” theatre history. Ken Mandelbaum has written on musical theatre for The New York Times, Playbill, Stagebill, Billboard, Show Music, and Sony/Columbia Records. He is currently the musical theatre critic for Theater Week magazine. In 1989, he won acclaim for his first book, A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett (St. Martin’s Press). He lives in New York City, and his favorite song is "I Wish It So” from the flop Juno. If you subscribe to a music service like Amazon or Spotify, you can listen to many of the songs described. At the end of the book there is a Shows Index and a Names Index.
Not So Grimm Fairy Tales
by Patricia MontleySatire / 15f (doubling possible) / Bare stage / Five scenes present unusual variations on familiar tales. In Little Red and the Big Bad She Wolf Red is invited by Mae Wolf to quit Harvard Business School and get a start in the service selling business despite Granny's opposition (she is Mae's senior partner). In Bumble Stiltskin and the Baby Business Rumpel's put upon wife implores the Queen to keep her royal baby and offers to set up a Day Care Center if she gets government support. Also included are Snow White and the Anti Freeze, Jack and the Marijuana Stalk and Cinderella.