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by William Dean HowellsWilliam Dean Howells (1837-1920) was an American realist author and literary critic. He wrote his first novel, Their Wedding Journey, in 1871, but his literary reputation really took off with the realist novel A Modern Instance, published in 1882, which describes the decay of a marriage. His 1885 novel The Rise of Silas Lapham is perhaps his best known, describing the rise and fall of an American entrepreneur in the paint business. His social views were also strongly reflected in the novels Annie Kilburn (1888) and A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890). While known primarily as a novelist, his short story "Editha" (1905) - included in the collection Between the Dark and the Daylight (1907) - appears in many anthologies of American literature. Howells also wrote plays, criticism, and essays about contemporary literary figures such as Ibsen, Zola, Verga, and, especially, Tolstoy, which helped establish their reputations in the United States. He also wrote critically in support of many American writers. It is perhaps in this role that he had his greatest influence.
The Rehearsal Club
by Kate Fodor Laurie PetrouA mystery spans decades at the Rehearsal Club in this story of sisterhood, friendship and following your dreams under marquee lights. Twelve-year-old Pal Gallagher is a newly minted New Yorker who loves to make people laugh and is hoping to find kindred spirits in her new city. Her older sister, Naomi, lives at the Rehearsal Club, a historic boarding house for aspiring actresses. Pal quickly gets swept up in the glamor and high-stakes of the theater world, and is drawn into a decades-old mystery about Posy, a boarder who was kicked out of the Club for reasons unknown. In 1954, Olive feels like she is working harder than anyone to make it to Broadway — along with the forty-four other young women who live at the Rehearsal Club. In comparison, her carefree friend Posy is making it look easy. Tensions rise when the two audition for the same part, kicking off a series of events that lead to Posy’s departure. What really happened all those years ago? The truth involves a Broadway play called The Weekend House, a necklace and a secret that Olive has kept all these years — until Pal and her new friends start digging into the past. What they learn could change the very fate of the Rehearsal Club itself. Key Text Features chapters dialogue author’s note Correlates to the Common Core States Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3 Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3 Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6 Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.
The Reluctant Father
by Diana PalmerRevisit a tale of unexpected family and love from New York Times bestselling author Diana PalmerBlake Donavan is a loner, and he likes it that way. There’s no room in his life for love …that is, until a little girl shows up on his doorstep and calls him “Daddy”! As a bewildered Blake struggles to come to terms with newfound fatherhood, he’s thrown for another loop. The woman he loved and lost, Meredith Blake, is back in town. And there might just be a chance for Blake and Meredith to give family a second chance…
The Remarkable Flight of Marnie McPhee
by Daniel KarasikConvinced she is not like the rest of her boring family, nine-year-old Marnie McPhee decides it's time to leave Earth and take her place among the stars. But as she builds her spaceship, she realizes that maybe Earth isn't so bad after all, even if it is filled with imperfect human families. The Remarkable Flight of Marnie McPhee is a charming story of the infinite reaches of the imagination and the pleasure of dreaming.
The Renaissance Drama of Knowledge: Giordano Bruno in England (Routledge Library Editions: Alchemy)
by Hilary GattiGiordano Bruno’s visit to Elizabethan England in the 1580s left its imprint on many fields of contemporary culture, ranging from the newly-developing science, the philosophy of knowledge and language, to the extraordinary flowering of Elizabethan poetry and drama. This book explores Bruno's influence on English figures as different as the ninth Earl of Northumberland, Thomas Harriot, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. Originally published in 1989, it is of interest to students and teachers of history of ideas, cultural history, European drama and renaissance England. Bruno's work had particular power and emphasis in the modern world due to his response to the cultural crisis which had developed - his impulse towards a new ‘faculty of knowing’ had a disruptive effect on existing orthodoxies – religious, scientific, philosophical, and political.
The Renaissance Theatre: Volume II: Design, Image and Acting (Routledge Revivals)
by Christopher CairnsOriginally published in 1999, this book is a critical analysis of Renaissance theatre, including chapters on speaking theatres, performing theatre and redesigning Shakespeare.
The Renaissance and the Postmodern: A Study in Comparative Critical Values (Routledge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture)
by Thomas L Martin Duke PestaThe Renaissance and the Postmodern reconsiders postmodern readings of Renaissance texts by engaging in a dialectics the authors call comparative critical values. Rather than concede the contemporary hierarchy of theory over literature, the book takes the novel approach of consulting major Renaissance writers about the values at work in postmodern representations of early modern culture. As criticism seeks new directions and takes new forms, insufficient attention has been paid to the literary and philosophical values won and lost in the exchanges. One result is that the way we understand the logical connections, the literary textures, and the philosophical impulses that make up the literature of writers like Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton has fundamentally changed. Examining theoretical debates now in light of polemical controversies then, the book goes beyond earlier studies in that it systematically examines the effects of these newer critical approaches across their materialist, historicist, deconstructive, and psychoanalytic manifestations. Bringing gravity and focus to this question of critical continuities and discontinuities, each chapter counterposes one major Renaissance voice with a postmodern one to probe these issues and with them the value of the cultural past. As voices on both sides of the historical divide illuminate key differences between the Renaissance and the Postmodern, a critical model emerges from the book to re-engage this period’s humane literature in a contemporary context with intellectual rigor and a renewed sense of cultural enrichment.
The Replacement Wife: A Novel
by Darby KaneThe #1 International bestselling author of Pretty Little Wife returns with another thrilling domestic suspense novel that asks, how many wives and girlfriends need to disappear before your family notices?Elisa Wright is a mom and wife, living a nice, quiet life in a nice, quiet town. She’s also convinced her brother-in-law is a murderer. Josh has one dead wife and one missing fiancée, and though he grieved for them he starts dating someone new. Elisa fears for that woman’s safety, and she desperately wants to know what happened to her friend, Josh’s missing fiancée.Searching for clues means investigating her own family. And she doesn’t like what she finds. A laptop filled with incriminating information. Other women.But when Elisa becomes friends with Josh’s new girlfriend and starts to question things she thinks are true, Elisa wonders if the memories of a horrible incident a year ago have finally pushed her over the edge and Josh is really innocent. With so much at stake, Elisa fights off panic attacks and a strange illness. Is it a breakdown or something more? The race is on to get to the truth before another disappearance because there’s a killer in the family…or is there?
The Retreat from Moscow
by William NicholsonHow well do we know the people we marry' Is it wrong to decide it's time to be honest' Is love enough to save a family' In The Retreat from Moscow, William Nicholson, the celebrated author of Shadowlands, tells the powerful story of a husband who decides to be truthful in his marriage, and of the wife and son whose lives will never be the same again. Edward and Alice have been married for thirty-three years. He is a teacher at a boys school, perfectly at home with his daily crossword and lately engrossed in reading about Napoleon's costly invasion of Moscow. She is an observant Catholic, exacting and opinionated, and has been collecting poems about lost love for a new anthology. Jamie, their diffident thirty-two year old son, is visiting for the weekend when Edward announces he has met another woman. With the coiled intensity of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing and the embracing empathy of Edward Albee's best family dramas, The Retreat from Moscow shines a breathtakingly natural light on the fallout of a shattered marriage.
The Reunion
by Billy St. JohnThriller / 3 m, 4 f / Interior / When the committee of former student body officers and the valedictorian announce a ten year high school reunion, one classmate is particularly anxious to return to town for the event. Wilton Hackett, the class weirdo, has spent the years since graduation developing skills as a hacker of computers and people. A serial killer, he works days as a morgue attendant and spends nights seeking new victims to slash. He sees the reunion as the chance of a lifetime to settle old scores with the popular kids who ridiculed him in high school. The reunion with Hack is an unforgettable experience. Note: This play contains explicit language and graphic violence.
The Revenge Affair
by Susan NapierJoshua Wade was convinced that Regan was plotting to disrupt his wedding. Why else would she have agreed to organize the big day--when she clearly had a grudge against him? Regan had to admit there was unfinished business between them: a reckless one-night stand....Regan wasn't out for revenge, though she did have a hidden reason for getting close to Joshua's family. Only she could never reveal her secret plans--not even when Joshua confessed his engagement was a sham and he wanted his ring on Regan's finger!
The Reverend Billy Project: From Rehearsal Hall to Super Mall with the Church of Life After Shopping
by Bill Talen Savitri DReverend Billy, the revivalist preacher created by performance artist Bill Talen, has attracted an international following as he has railed in white suit and clerical collar against the evils of excessive consumerism and corporate irresponsibility. In his early solo performances in Times Square he delivered sermons by megaphone against Starbucks and the Disney Store; as his message and popularity spread, he's been joined by a 35-member choir (the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir) and a 7-piece band. The group's acclaimed stage show and media appearances (including a major motion picture,What Would Jesus Buy?) have reached millions. The Reverend Billy Project presents backstage accounts of recent performance actions by Reverend Billy and the troupe's director, Savitri D, recounting their exploits on three continents in vivid narratives that are engaging, shrewdly analytical, and at times side-splittingly funny. We watch as the group plans invisible theater interventions in Starbucks, designs a mermaid hunger strike to thwart gentrification plans for Coney Island, and makes an extended effort to preserve the public nature of New York's Union Square. We follow them to an action camp in Iceland and a flop of a show redeemed by a successful impromptu demonstration in a Berlin shopping mall. As thoughtful as they are funny and inventive, Reverend Billy and Savitri D's story-essays bring to life a playful yet sincere new form of political theater. "The Reverend Billy Project lucidly and perceptively explains the Reverend Billy phenomenon with wry, infectious humor and remarkable intelligence. Though many political activists have used theater and performance to achieve political ends, very few have left such articulate reports on what they did, let alone detailed road maps of the treacherous theatrical, political, and psychological territory they negotiated." ---Jonathan Kalb, Hunter College.
The Revisionist (Books That Changed the World)
by Jesse EisenbergA play by the multitalented actor: “[Eisenberg] has a wry ear and a knack for unsentimental poignancy that keeps The Revisionist emotionally compelling.”—USA TodayThough he first became known for his acting in films ranging from The Squid and the Whale to The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg has also emerged as an acclaimed literary talent—a regular contributor to the New Yorker and a highly praised playwright.In The Revisionist, his second play, young writer David arrives in Poland with a crippling case of writer’s block and a desire to be left alone. His seventy-five-year-old second cousin, Maria, welcomes him with a fervent need to connect with her distant American relative. As their relationship develops, she will reveal details about her postwar past that test their ideas of what it means to be a family.This “tightly structured, deeply human play about the truthful mess of human experience” (Exeunt Magazine) had its world premiere at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York in spring 2013, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Vanessa Redgrave and directed by Kip Fagan.“A rewarding account of cultural collision that yields unexpected reflections on the centrality of family in our lives—whether we idealize them or take them for granted…As a playwright, Eisenberg’s intentions seem clear. He takes a critical swipe at himself, and by extension, his entitled generation.”—Hollywood Reporter
The Revolution in German Theatre 1900-1933 (Routledge Revivals)
by Michael PattersonFirst published in 1981, this book represents the first work in English to give a comprehensive account of the revolutionary developments in German theatre from the decline of Naturalism through the Expressionist upheaval to the political theatre of Piscator and Brecht. Early productions of Kaiser’s From Morning till Midnight and Toller’s Transfiguration are presented as examples of Expressionism. A thorough analysis of Piscator’s Hoppla, Such is Life! And Brecht’s Man show the similarities and differences in political theatre. In addition, elements of stage-craft are examined — illustrated with tabulated information, an extensive chronology, and photographs and designs of productions.
The Ride Down Mt. Morgan
by Arthur MillerA car wreck on the slopes of Mt. Morgan puts poet and insurance tycoon Lyman Felt in the hospital. While Lyman recovers, two women meet in the hospital to discover that they are both married to him. With his secrets exposed, Lyman tries to justify himself to the two women--the prim, cultured Theo and the restless, ambitious Leah--at the same time hoping to convince himself that he is blameless. Moving between broad farce and delicate tragedy, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan reveals the struggle between honesty with others and honesty with oneself. This new edition incorporates the revisions Miller wrote for the acclaimed 1998 Public Theatre production starring Patrick Stewart.
The Rise and Fall of Rape on the English Stage: 1660–1720 (ISSN)
by Anne GreenfieldThis book examines one of the most pervasive and successful dramatic tropes of the Restoration and early eighteenth century: sexual violence.During this sixty-year span, there were over fifty tragic and tragi-comedic productions that showcased rape and/or attempted rape—a remarkable number that was unprecedented in English dramatic history. Rape was not merely depicted more frequently during the Restoration, but it was also placed at the center of more plots, given more pathetic emphasis, and even staged more centrally. Restoration dramatists were the first to revolve routinely entire plots around the rapes of their innocent heroines, to give powerful voices to these heroines post-rape, and to imbue their sexually violent scenes with new and attention-getting staging techniques, such as discovery scenes. As this book argues, sexual violence emerged at this time as a highly flexible dramatic trope that could be used to illustrate terrifying political scenarios, elicit extreme pathos in audiences, and demonstrate the bearing that lost chastity had on social stability. It is precisely the rich, multi-faceted appeal of these productions—politically, sexually, visually, and culturally—that explains the popularity and significance of this dramatic trope on the English stage.This book will be of interest to students and scholars in Restoration, eighteenth-century studies, and theatre and performance studies.
The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek
by Seth Rudetsky<P>Broadway, New York. The shows, the neon lights . . . the cute chorus boys! It's where Justin has always wanted to be--and now, with a winter internship for a famous actor, he finally has his chance to shine. If only he could ditch his kind, virtuous, upright, and--dare he say it?--uptight boyfriend, Spencer. <P>But once the internship begins, Justin has more to worry about than a cramped single-guy-in-the-city style. Instead of having his moment in the spotlight, he's a not-so-glorified errand boy. Plus, Spencer is hanging out with a celebra-hottie, Justin's best friend Becky isn't speaking to him, and his famous actor boss seems headed for flopdom. Justin's tap-dancing as fast as he can, but all his wit and sass might not be enough to switch his time in New York from nightmare-terrible to dream-come-true terrific. <P>Seth Rudetsky's second YA novel is endearingly human, laugh-out-loud funny, and for any kid who's ever aspired to Broadway but can only sneak in through the stage door.
The Rise and Fall of the Well-Made Play (Routledge Revivals)
by John Russell TaylorFirst published in 1967, this title considers the idea of the ‘well-made play’ in the context of how and why it has been devalued and how far, in allowing it to be devalued, we have lost sight of certain important elements of the theatre. The focus of the book is largely on the development of British theatre and those who have been instrumental to it. This is an indispensable introduction for any student with an interest in the history and development of the British theatre.
The Rise of Performance Studies
by James M. Harding Cindy RosenthalThe essays in this anthology are situated within the larger context of a critical engagement with Richard Schechner's work as a theatre practitioner, teacher, scholar, activist, and visionary. Through a wide variety of approaches, the contributors acknowledge the profound impact that Schechner's work has had on our understanding of performance as a mode of cultural practice and on the emergence of Performance Studies as a discipline. Some essays are embedded in intensely personal reflections on Schechner's work as a practitioner and teacher, while others take stock of critical concepts that are central to Schechner's work as a theorist and scholar. Yet it is not enough to say that the essays offer a critical survey of the broad spectrum of Schechner's cultural and intellectual endeavours. The essays all converge in an acknowledgement that few individuals within the theatre and performance communities have positioned their work so consistently or so consequentially as Schechner has within the key debates that have defined Performance Studies as a discipline.
The Rise of the Diva on the Sixteenth-Century Commedia dell'Arte Stage
by Rosalind KerrThe Rise of the Diva on the Sixteenth-Century Commedia dell'Arte Stage examines the emergence of the professional actress from the 1560s onwards in Italy. Tracing the historical progress of actresses from their earliest appearances as sideshow attractions to revered divas, Rosalind Kerr explores the ways in which actresses commodified their sexual and cultural appeal.Newly translated archival material, iconographic evidence, literary texts, and theatrical scripts provide a rich repertoire through which Kerr demonstrates how actresses skillfully improvised roles such as the maidservant, the prima donna, and the transvestite heroine. Following the careers of early stars such as Flaminia of Rome, Vincenza Armani, Vittoria Piissimi, and Isabella Andreini, Kerr shows how their fame arose from the combination of dazzling technical mastery and eloquent powers of persuasion. Seamlessly integrating the Italian and English scholarly literature on the subject, The Rise of the Diva is an insightful analysis of one of the modern world's first celebrity cultures.
The Rise of the Modern Yiddish Theater: Avrom Goldfaden And The Jewish Stage (Jews Of Eastern Europe Ser.)
by Alyssa QuintJewish Book Award Finalist: &“Turns the fascinating life of Avrom Goldfaden into a multi-dimensional history of the Yiddish theater&’s formative years.&” —Jeffery Veidinger, author of Jewish Public Culture in the Late Russian Empire In this book, Alyssa Quint focuses on the early years of the modern Yiddish theater, from roughly 1876 to 1883, through the works of one of its best-known and most colorful figures, Avrom Goldfaden. Goldfaden (né Goldenfaden, 1840-1908) was one of the first playwrights to stage a commercially viable Yiddish-language theater, first in Romania and then in Russia. Goldfaden&’s work was rapidly disseminated in print and his plays were performed frequently for Jewish audiences. Sholem Aleichem considered him as a forger of a new language that &“breathed the European spirit into our old jargon.&” Quint uses Goldfaden&’s theatrical works as a way to understand the social life of Jewish theater in Imperial Russia. Through a study of his libretti, she looks at the experiences of Russian Jewish actors, male and female, to explore connections between culture as artistic production and culture in the sense of broader social structures. Quint explores how Jewish actors who played Goldfaden&’s work on stage absorbed the theater into their everyday lives. Goldfaden&’s theater gives a rich view into the conduct, ideology, religion, and politics of Jews during an important moment in the history of late Imperial Russia.
The Rise of the Victorian Actor (Routledge Library Editions: Victorian Theatre #1)
by Michael BakerOriginally published in 1978. Between 1830 and 1890 the English theatre became recognisably modern. Standards of acting and presentation improved immeasurably, new playwrights emerged, theatres became more comfortable and more intimate and playgoing became a national pastime with all classes. The actor’s status rose accordingly. In 1830 he had been little better than a social outcast; by 1880 he had become a member of a skilled, relatively well-paid and respected profession which was attracting new recruits in unprecedented numbers. This is a social history of Victorian actors which seeks to show how wider social attitudes and developments affected the changing status of acting as a profession. Thus the stage’s relationship with the professional world and the other arts is dealt with and is followed by an assessment of the moral and religious background which played so decisive a part in contemporary attitudes to actors. The position of actresses in particular is given special consideration. Many non-theatrical sources are used here and there is a survey of salaries and working conditions in the theatre to show how the rising social status of the actor was matched by changes in his theatrical standing. A novel area of study is covered in tracing the changing social composition of the acting profession over the period and in exploring the case-histories of three generations of performers.
The Ritual Theatre of Theodoros Terzopoulos
by Freddy DecreusThe Ritual Theatre of Theodoros Terzopoulos outlines the story of the Athenian-based Attis Theatre and the way its founder and director, Theodoros Terzopoulos, introduced bio-energetic presences of the body on the stage, in an attempt to redefine and reappraise what it means today not only to have a body, but to fully be a body. Terzopoulos created a very specific attitude towards life and death, and it is this broad perspective on energy and consciousness that makes his work so appealing both to a general public and to students of arts, theatre and drama. Freddy Decreus’ study charts the career of Greece’s most acclaimed theatre director and provides a spiritual and philosophic answer in times where former Western meta-narratives have failed.
The Rivals: A Comedy (Dover Thrift Editions: Plays)
by Richard Brinsley SheridanImmensely popular comedy of manners featuring such memorable characters as the lovely Lydia Languish, her suitor, Capt. Jack Absolute; and Lydia's aunt -- Mrs. Malaprop, cleverly revolves around false identities, romantic entanglements, and parental disapproval. Brilliant comic masterpiece satirizing the pretentiousness and sentimentality of 18th-century society.