Contemporary Drama: Performing Identity

Featuring both modern classics and innovative, lesser-known works, the selection of plays in Contemporary Drama represent some of the best writing that the theatre has to offer. This collection includes the rare Czech play, Fire in the Basement, and the "lost" play by Jean Genet, Splendid's, as well as contributions by Pirandello, Guare, Wolfe, Wertenbaker, Mamet, and Parks.

The collection of plays in Contemporary Drama was chosen from a diverse array of styles. These plays:

-Each have an accompanying introduction, with an overall focus on performance -- not the staged performance of a play, but the everyday performances all of us carry out.
-Make the book particularly useful for those at the beginning stage of their engagement in theatre, emphasizing theatre's enduring connection to our conscious and unconscious everyday activities.
-Show characters enacting familial, social, professional, and political roles, and what happens when the characters fail, deviate, or refuse to "play."