Book description
A collection of four plays by new American writers curated from the
Emerging Writers Group at the Public Theater, New York. These plays
represent the finest works developed by the Public Theater, addressing
contemporary social preoccupations: race, class, heritage, economic
hardship, family values and identity. The plays included are: Perish by
Stella Fawn Ragsdale: when Porter's father kidnaps her son, she must go
back to the woods of East Tennessee to find him, where she is distracted
by a mysterious firebird. Textured with poetry and grit, this play
follows the plight of women in Appalachia and the disappearance of the
working class. The Hour of Feeling by Mona Mansour: in 1967, fuelled by
a love of English Romantic poetry, a young Palestinian academic, Adham,
and his new wife, Abir, take a trip to London, where he will deliver a
career defining lecture. While the situation in his home
"country" deteriorates and his marriage threatens to dissolve,
Adham confronts his fear of failure and the reality that he may be an
outsider no matter where he goes. Bethany by Laura Marks: when the going
gets tough, the tough get going, and the going has gotten very tough
indeed for Crystal. Her job is in jeopardy, her house has been
repossessed and her daughter taken by social services. It's time for
Crystal to get going. But in her effort to get her daughter back and put
her life on the right track, Crystal is forced to question just how far
she's willing to go to survive. Neighbors by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins:
Black face, not on my doorstep, not today. Richard Patterson is not
happy. The family of black actors that has moved in next door is rowdy,
tacky, shameless, and uncouth. And they are not just invading his
neighborhood-they're infiltrating his family, his sanity, and his
entirely post-racial lifestyle. This wildly theatrical, explosive play
on race is an unconventional comedy which uses minstrelsy both to
explore the history of black theater and to confront tensions in
'post-racial' America. Stella Fawn Ragsdale was born and raised in
East Tennessee. Her most recent play Perish, part of a trilogy inspired
by her Appalachian heritage, will be produced as part of the HighTide
Festival in theUK. Stella recently has an MFA in Dramatic Writing from
NYU. Mona Mansour began her theater careeras an actress and now teaches
improv and writing classes to adults over 60 in NYC. Her plays include
Me and the SLA (Groundling Theater, Seattle Fringe Fest - Best of the
Fest), Girl Scouts of America (co-written with Andrea Berloff) was part
of the Public Theater's New Work Now!, and had a successful outing at
NYC Fringe 2006. Mona was recently chosen as "One of 50 to
Watch" by the Dramatists Guild. Laura Marks is a current
playwriting fellow at the Juilliard School. Her play Bethany won the
Leah Ryan Prize for Emerging Women Writers, Synchronicity Theatre's
SheWrites award, and was chosen by John Guare as runner-up for Yale's
David C. Horn Prize. A native Kentuckian, she studied at Boston
University and Indiana University. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a
Brooklyn-based playwright and performer from Washington, D. C., whose
plays include: Neighbors, Face #1-3 and Content. He is a former NYTW
Playwriting fellow and is currently a member of the Soho Rep
Writers/Directors Lab. He also holds an M. A. in Performance Studies
from NYU.
