Front Lines: Political Plays by American Women

by Alexis Greene (Editor), Shirley Lauro (Editor)

Overview

Front Lines is a pathbreaking collection of the most important, critically acclaimed plays written by the country's leading contemporary female playwrights. Including seven full scripts and accompanying materials, Front Lines provides both major examples of the playwright's craft and an essential introduction to the politically inspired work of female dramatists of the twenty-first century.

Here is Jessica Blank's widely heralded The Exonerated (written with Erik Jensen), based on interviews with American prisoners incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. Also included is Nilaja Sun's outstanding No Child . . ., winner of the Outer Critics Circle's 2007 John Gassner Award for Best New Play—a funny, stirring one-woman show centering on an inner-city teacher's success at involving her rebellious students in their own education by putting on a play. Rounding out the collection are Emily Mann's Mrs. Packard; Paula Vogel's Hot 'n' Throbbing; Shirley Lauro's Clarence Darrow's Last Trial; Quiara Alegría Hudes's Eliot: A Soldier's Fugue; and Cindy Cooper's Words of Choice, co-adapted with Suzanne Bennett.

With a preface by distinguished playwright Shirley Lauro and an introduction by theater critic Alexis Greene, Front Lines also includes short biographies of the playwrights and a production photo of each play.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595584243
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	06/02/2009
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Alexis Greene writes about the arts, women's issues, and the environment. She is the author of Women Who Write Plays: 23 Interviews with American Dramatists; a co-author, with Julie Taymor, of The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway; and a co-editor, with Shirley Lauro, of Front Lines: Political Plays by American Women (The New Press). She is also the author of a biographical study of Wendy Wasserstein for young theater students, Wasserstein in an Hour.

Shirley Lauro's plays include the Tony-nominated drama Open Admissions and the widely acclaimed A Piece of My Heart. She is a co-editor, with Alexis Greene, of Front Lines: Political Plays by American Women (The New Press). She lives and writes in New York City.

Table of Contents

Foreword Julie Crosby ix

Preface Shirley Lauro xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction Alexis Greene xv

The Exonerated Jessica Blank Erik Jensen 1

Words of Choice Cindy Cooper Suzanne Bennett 51

Elliot, a Soldier's Fugue Quiara Alegría Hudes 91

Clarence Darrow's Last Trial Shirley Lauro 133

Mrs. Packard Emily Mann 209

No Child . . . Nilaja Sun 287

Hot 'n' Throbbing Paula Vogel 315

About the Editors 377

Permissions 379

Editorial Reviews

Alexis Greene writes about the arts, women's issues, and the environment. She is the author of Women Who Write Plays: 23 Interviews with American Dramatists; a co-author, with Julie Taymor, of The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway; and a co-editor, with Shirley Lauro, of Front Lines: Political Plays by American Women (The New Press). She is also the author of a biographical study of Wendy Wasserstein for young theater students, Wasserstein in an Hour.

Shirley Lauro's plays include the Tony-nominated drama Open Admissions and the widely acclaimed A Piece of My Heart. She is a co-editor, with Alexis Greene, of Front Lines: Political Plays by American Women (The New Press). She lives and writes in New York City.

From the Publisher

Plays tell stories, and the best ones stay with us. Compiled by theater critic Greene (Women Who Write Plays) and playwright Lauro (Open Admissions), the stories in this collection of critically acclaimed works by seven leading female playwrights address some of the most contentious of contemporary issues, and they will stick in readers' minds for a long time. Cindy Cooper's Words of Choice looks at the issue of reproductive choice in first-person accounts, poems, and satire. In Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue, Quiara AlegrA-a Hudes deftly interweaves the tales of three generations of Latino men who served in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. The Exonerated, by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, is based on interviews with men and women on death row for crimes they did not commit. Also included are plays by Paula Vogel, Emily Mann, Lauro, and Nilaja Sun. Recommended for all academic and public drama collections.
—Carolyn M. Mulac

Library Journal