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Women in Congress
by Jules TascaA Hilarious version of Aristophanes' Greek classic. Praxagora, the leader of the women of Athens, plots to take over the government which is run by men and replace it with a new order run by women. Praxagora has the women of Athens dress up as men and vote in congress to turn over the reins of leadership to the women. When this measure is passed, the women unanimously vote Praxagora in as the Chief Executrix. Praxagora and the women then proceed to turn the Greek world topsy turvy legislating free love, male female role reversal and a communistic utopia that brings on the unlikely proceedings to a funny festive conclusion.
Women in Dramatic Place and Time: Contemporary Female Characters on Stage
by Geraldine CousinFirst published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Women in Love: And Other Dramatic Writings (Books That Changed the World)
by Larry KramerScreenplays and scripts from the playwright of The Normal Heart.&“A valuable showcase of an important writer&’s early career.&”—The Bay Area Reporter Larry Kramer has been described by Susan Sontag as &“one of America&’s most valuable troublemakers.&” As Frank Rich writes in his Foreword to this collection of writings for the screen and stage, &“his plays are almost journalistic in their observation of the fine-grained documentary details of life . . . that may well prove timeless.&” The title work, the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Women in Love, is a movie &“as sensuous as anything you&’ve probably ever seen on film&” (The New York Times). The screenplay is accompanied by Kramer&’s reflections on the history of the production, sure to be of interest to any student of film. This volume also includes several early plays, Sissies&’ Scrapbook, A Minor Dark Age, and the political farce Just Say No, illuminating the development of one of our most important literary figures. &“Since his screenplay for Women in Love, Kramer has been a prophet of psychic health and catastrophe among us.&” (from The American Academy of Arts and Letters citation). Women in Love &“A visual stunner and very likely the most sensual film ever made.&”—New York Daily News &“Throughout Larry Kramer&’s literate scenario, the Lawrentian themes blaze and gutter. The sooty mind-crushing coal mines that Lawrence knew like the back of his hand are re-created in all their malignance. The annealing quality of sex is exhibited in the most erotic—and tasteful—lust scenes anywhere in contemporary film.&”—Time
Women in Roman Republican Drama
by Sharon L. James David Konstan Dorota DutschLatin plays were written for audiences whose gender perspectives and expectations were shaped by life in Rome, and the crowds watching the plays included both female citizens and female slaves. Relationships between men and women, ideas of masculinity and femininity, the stock characters of dowered wife and of prostitute all of these are frequently staged in Roman tragedies and comedies. This is the first book to confront directly the role of women in Roman Republican plays of all genres, as well as to examine the role of gender in the influence of this tradition on later dramatists from Shakespeare to Sondheim. "
Women in Russian Theatre: The Actress in the Silver Age (Gender in Performance)
by Catherine SchulerWomen in Russian Theatre is a fascinating feminist counterpoint to the established area of Russian theatre populated by male artists such as Stanislavsky, Chekov and Meyerhold. With unprecedented access to newly-opened files in Russia, Catherine Schuler brings to light the actresses who had an impact upon Russian modernist theatre. Schuler brings to light the extradordinary lives and work of eight Russian actresses who flourished on the stage between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Women in Theatre 2#3 (Contemporary Theatre Review Ser.)
by Julia PascalFirst Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The Women of Shakespeare (Routledge Revivals)
by Frank HarrisFrank Harris argues that the way women are presented in Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets are a reflection of the real-life women in his life, namely his wife, mother, mistress and daughter. Originally published in 1911, The Women of Shakespeare also analyses the traditional criticism of the time and places his own views in this context. This title will be of interest to students of English Literature.
Women of Trakhis
by SophoclesAmong the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Women of Trakhis is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg. A powerful drama centered on a desperate wife’s attempts to hold onto her wandering husband, the great Herakles, Women of Trakhis is the tragic tale of how age-old jealousy takes down one of the ancient world’s most feared and storied heroes. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.
Women of Will
by Tina PackerFrom one of the country's foremost experts on Shakespeare and theatre arts, actor, director, and master teacher Tina Packer offers an exploration--fierce, funny, fearless--of the women of Shakespeare's plays. A profound, and profoundly illuminating, book that gives us the playwright's changing understanding of the feminine and reveals some of his deepest insights. Packer, with expert grasp and perception, constructs a radically different understanding of power, sexuality, and redemption. Beginning with the early comedies (The Taming of the Shrew, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Comedy of Errors), Packer shows that Shakespeare wrote the women of these plays as shrews to be tamed or as sweet little things with no definable independent thought, virgins on the pedestal. The women of the histories (the three parts of Henry VI; Richard III) are, Packer shows, much more interesting, beginning with Joan of Arc, possibly the first woman character Shakespeare ever created. In her opening scene, she's wonderfully alive--a virgin, true, sent from heaven, a country girl going to lead men bravely into battle, the kind of girl Shakespeare could have known and loved in Stratford. Her independent resolution collapses within a few scenes, as Shakespeare himself suddenly turns against her, and she yields to the common caricature of his culture and becomes Joan the Enemy, the Warrior Woman, the witch; a woman to be feared and destroyed . . . As Packer turns her attention to the extraordinary Juliet, the author perceives a large shift. Suddenly Shakespeare's women have depth of character, motivation, understanding of life more than equal to that of the men; once Juliet has led the way, the plays are never the same again. As Shakespeare ceases to write about women as predictable caricatures and starts writing them from the inside, embodying their voices, his women become as dimensional, spirited, spiritual, active, and sexual as any of his male characters. Juliet is just as passionately in love as Romeo--risking everything, initiating marriage, getting into bed, fighting courageously when her parents threaten to disown her--and just as brave in facing death when she discovers Romeo is dead. And, wondering if Shakespeare himself fell in love (Packer considers with whom, and what she may have been like), the author observes that from Juliet on, Shakespeare writes the women as if he were a woman, giving them desires, needs, ambition, insight.Women of Will follows Shakespeare's development as a human being, from youth to enlightened maturity, exploring the spiritual journey he undertook. Packer shows that Shakespeare's imagination, mirrored and revealed in his female characters, develops and deepens until finally the women, his creative knowledge, and a sense of a larger spiritual good come together in the late plays, making clear that when women and men are equal in status and sexual passion, they can--and do--change the world. Part master class, part brilliant analysis--Women of Will is all inspiring discovery.From the Hardcover edition.
Women of Words in Le Morte Darthur
by Siobhán M. WyattOffering a new reading of Malory's famed text, Le Morte Darthur, this book provides the first full-length survey of the alterations Malory made to female characters in his source texts. Through detailed comparisons with both Old French and Middle English material, Siobh#65533;n M. Wyatt discusses how Malory radically altered his French and English source texts to create a gendered pattern in the reliability of speech, depicting female discourse as valuable and truthful. Malory's authorial crafting indicates his preference for a certain "type" of female character: self-governing, opinionated, and strong. Simultaneously, the portrayal of this very readable "type" yields characterization. While late medieval court records indicate an increasingly negative attitude towards female speech and a tendency to punish vociferous women as "scolds," Malory makes the words of chiding damsels constructive. While his contemporary writers suppress the powers of magical women, Malory empowers his enchantress characters; while the authors of his French source texts accentuate Guinevere's flaws, Malory portrays her with sympathy.
Women On Fire
by Irene O' GardenMonologues Characters: 1-12female . Unit set . This evening of twelve emotionally charged monologues starred Judith Ivey Off Broadway, where its run was extended twice. From ad exec to Midwest mom to care-giver to construction worker, each character is on fire in her own way - with passion, fear, self-discovery, even shopping! Exploring the breadth of women's issues with humor and wisdom, the monologues offer excellent roles for one or more mature actresses. Women on Fire earned the highest rating for audience satisfaction from the Wall Street Journal/Zagat Theatre Survey. . "Bewitching ... astounding ... heartbreaking." - The New York Times ". "Heartwarming, riveting drama." - NYTheatre.com . "Fresh, spirited ... plumbing the secret depths of ordinary women." - Backstage. . "Hot pick." - New York Newsday . . "A rare and exquisite evening.... Lyrical, touching substantial and ultimately profound.... Cancel all other appointments and treat yourself to this extraordinary evening of sublime writing." -Southampton Press . "Passionate and insightful.... Each character is memorable." - Riverhead Independent
Women on the Stage in Early Modern France: 1540-1750
by Virginia ScottFocusing on actresses in France during the early modern period, Virginia Scott examines how the stereotype of the actress has been constructed. The study then moves beyond that stereotype to detail the reality of the personal and artistic lives of women on the French stage, from the almost unknown Marie Ferr_ - who signed a contract for 12 livres a year in 1545 to perform the 'antiquailles de Rome or other histories, moralities, farces, and acrobatics' in the provinces - to the queens of the eighteenth-century Paris stage, whose 'adventures' have overshadowed their artistic triumphs. The book also investigates the ways in which actresses made invaluable contributions to the development of the French theatre in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and looks at the 'afterlives' of such women as Armande B_jart, Marquise Du Parc, Charlotte Desmares, Adrienne Lecouvreur, and Hippolyte Clairon in biographies, plays, and films.
Women, Politics and Performance in South African Theatre Today: Volume 2
by Goodman LFirst Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Women, Politics and Performance in South African Theatre Today Vol 3 (Contemporary Theatre Review Ser. #Vols. 9, Pts. 3.)
by Lizbeth GoodmanThis title available in eBook format. Click here for more information.Visit our eBookstore at: www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk.
Women, Rhetoric, and Drama in Early Modern Italy
by Alexandra CollerSixteenth-century Italy witnessed the rebirth of comedy, tragedy, and tragicomedy in the pastoral mode. Traditionally, we think of comedy and tragedy as remakes of ancient models, and tragicomedy alone as the invention of the moderns. Women, Rhetoric, and Drama in Early Modern Italy suggests that all three genres were, in fact, remarkably new, if dramatists’ intriguingly sympathetic portrayals of and sustained investment in women as vibrant and dynamic characters of the early modern stage are taken into account. This study examines the role of rhetoric and gender in early modern Italian drama, in itself and in order to explore its complex interrelationship with the rise of women writers and the role women played in Italian culture and society, while at the same time demonstrating just how closely intertwined history, culture, and dramatic writing are. Author Alexandra Coller focuses on the scripted/erudite plays of the sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth centuries, which, she argues, are indispensable for a balanced view of the history of drama and its place within contemporary literary and women’s studies. As this book reveals, the ascendancy of comedy, tragedy, and tragicomedy in the vernacular seems to have been not only inextricably linked to but also dependent on the rise of women as prominent stage characters and, eventually, as authors in their own right.
Women Writing and Directing in the USA: A Stage of Our Own
by Kiara PipinoWomen Writing and Directing in the USA: A Stage of Our Own features interviews with some of the most successful theatre artists currently working on and off Broadway and beyond. The book provides an insight on what it means and what it takes to be a successful female-identifying playwright and director in the USA, where the professional theatrical landscape is still mostly dominated by straight white men. The interviews explore a wide range of themes, including if and how the artists’ female perspective influenced their art, the social and cultural significance of their work, and how theatre and women working in theatre can participate in awakening greater social awareness. Readers will learn about some of the most current and relevant American theatre artists, such as Young Jean Lee, Pam MacKinnon, Dominique Morisseau, Rachel Chavkin, and Martyna Majok. Written for students in directing and playwriting courses, Women Writing and Directing in the USA: A Stage of Our Own features inspirational and informative stories that will help young theatre artists find and pursue their artistic voices.
Women's Playwriting and the Women's Movement, 1890-1918 (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)
by Anna FarkasThe influence of the women’s movement has long been a scholarly priority in the study of British women’s drama of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but previous scholarship has largely clustered around two events: the New Woman in the 1890s and the suffrage campaign in the years before the First World War. Women’s Playwriting and the Women’s Movement, 1890–1918 is the first designated study of British women’s drama from a period of exceptional productivity and innovation for female playwrights. Both the British theatre and women’s position within British society underwent fundamental changes in this period, and this book shows how female dramatists carefully negotiated their position in the heated debates about women’s rights that occurred at this time, while staking out a place for themselves in an evolving theatrical landscape. Farkas also identifies the women’s movement as a key influence on the development of female-authored drama between 1890 and 1918, but argues that scholarly prioritizing of the "radicalism" of work associated with the New Woman and the suffrage campaign has had a distorting effect in the past. Ideal for scholars of British and Victorian theatre, Women’s Playwriting and the Women’s Movement, 1890–1918 offers a new perspective which emphasizes the complexity of women playwrights’ engagement with first-wave feminism and links it to the diversification of the British theatre in this period.
Women’s Voices on American Stages in the Early Twenty-First Century
by Leslie Atkins DurhamWomen have claimed a spot at the center of American theatre, and the characters they craft, the stories they tell, the questions they pose, and the ideas they materialize have the potential to shape the cultural imagination of a large group of theatre-goers as a complex new era unfolds. Sarah Ruhl is the early twenty-first century's most widely produced and frequently honored American female playwright. While critics have heretofore emphasized the whimsical elements of her dramaturgy, this study highlights her feminist engagement with current social and ethical concerns. Ruhl's popular, feminist plays are best appreciated when they are read in concert with the work of her contemporaries - Lisa Loomer, Diana Son, Joan Didion, Jenny Schwartz, Young Jean Lee, Kate Fodor, Yasmina Reza, Bathsheba Doran, Lynn Nottage, and Kia Corthron - whose writing also wrestles with the vexing issues facing Americans in the new century.
Wonder in Shakespeare
by Adam Max CohenIn the first part of this book, Adam Max Cohen embraces the many meanings of wonder in order to challenge the generic divides between comedy, tragedy, history, and romance and suggests that Shakespeare's primary goal in crafting each of his playworlds was the evocation of one or more varieties of wonder.
Wonderful Days
by Antonio Morcillo Lopez Nadia HlebA play about the political transition in Catalonia. A play about memory. A play about our recent silenced stories and those unforgettable violent and difficult times. This play follows a group of friends who live in a small town, a place like any other. They observe and participate in historical changes while their own lives are disrupted. These friends secretly perform theater in a cold ramshackle garage, while the former regime change transforms the political, social and emotional realities of their lives. This play is based on the novel "Dies Meravellosos" by Jordi Coca.
Wondrous Brutal Fictions: Eight Buddhist Tales from the Early Japanese Puppet Theater
by R. Keller KimbroughWondrous Brutal Fictions presents eight seminal works from the seventeenth-century Japanese sekky and ko-j ruri puppet theaters, many translated into English for the first time.
Wooden Os
by Vin NardizziWooden Os is a study of the presence of trees and wood in the drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries - in plays set within forests, in character dialogue, and in props and theatre constructions. Vin Nardizzi connects these themes to the dependence, and surprising ecological impact, of London's commercial theatre industry on England's woodlands, the primary resource required to build all structures in early modern England.Wooden Os situates the theatre within an environmental history that witnessed a perceived scarcity of wood and timber that drove up prices, as well as statute law prohibiting the devastation of English woodlands and urgent calls for the remedying of a resource shortage that was feared would result in eco-political collapse. By considering works including Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, the revised Spanish Tragedy, and The Tempest, Nardizzi demonstrates how the "trees" within them were used in imaginative ways to mediate England's resource crisis.
The Woods, Lakeboat, Edmond: Three Plays
by David MametThe Woods, described by the Chicago Daily News as a beautifully conceived love story,” is a modern dramatic parable in which a young man and woman who spend a night in his family’s cabin experience passion, then disillusionment, but are in the end reconciled by mutual need. In Lakeboat, eight crew members aboard a merchant ship exchange their wild fantasies about sex, gambling, and violence. In Edmond, a man set morally adrift leaves anunfulfilling marriage to find sex, adventure, companionship, and, ultimately, the meaning of his existence.
The Woodsman
by Steven FechterDrama / 4m, 3f / Walter is a quiet man who must lead a quiet life. As a convicted sex offender fresh out of state prison, he sees no choice. He works in a warehouse. He lives alone. He sees a therapist named Rosen. His only visitor is his brother-in-law Carlos. He also gets visits from a demon in the form of a beautiful Girl. Often brooding by his window, Walter watches children as they head for school. One day Nikki, a tough-talking woman from work, drops by. She doesn't waste time making the first move. Next morning Walter confesses his dark past. But Nikki doesn't run away. Things are looking up – until Walter follows a twelve-year-old girl named Robin into a city park. Nothing happens, but Walter is scared. Then police Sgt. Lucas pays Walter a visit applying some rough intimidation. Walter disappears. A panicky Nikki asks Rosen to help her find him. Walter is back at the park, waiting. When Robin arrives Walter is gently seductive. But the seduction is aborted when Robin reveals a shocking secret. Forced to confront his past, Walter finds the compassion to help and not hurt. In doing so, he grabs a chance for redemption. The Woodsman was made into the critically acclaimed 2004 film starring Kevin Bacon. ”The Woodsman is an interesting, valuable and insightful play...” – The Stage
Woody Allen: A Casebook
by Kimball KingFirst Published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.