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A comical, anachronistic, and witty retelling of the Greek myth, composed "after Kleist by way of Molière with a little bit of Giraudoux." "The story of Jupiter's cuckolding of Amphitryon has come in a variety of theatrical styles over the centuries. Plautus, by all accounts, had great success with it as a burlesque for the Romans; Molière turned it into a farce, of course; Kleist made a romance of it; and Giraudoux fashioned it into a fantasy. In the new version, Mr Overmyer seems to aim for the sophistication of a Saturday Night Live skit, a sort of Classics Comics for the theater." -Wilborn Hampton, The New York Times

Eric Overmyer's remarkable adaptation of Ibsen's PEER GYNT, set in the Pacific Northwest and in South America. "Writing skills unequalled among American playwrights, [a] brilliant wordsmith ..." -Richard Stayton, Los Angeles Herald Examiner "A cosmically inclined theatrical court jester." -Mel Gussow, The New York Times "Overmyer is a dazzling verbal acrobat, as well as a serious student of pop culture. Both linguist and cultural anthropologist ..." -Michael Kuchwara, A P

Eric Overmyer's sparkling adaptation and synthesis of Beaumarchais's THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO and Ödön von Horváth's FIGARO GETS A DIVORCE. FIGARO/FIGARO follows the iconic characters of Figaro, Susanna, the Count and Countess Almaviva, and other favorites through the ups and downs inherent in all relationships - husband and wife, master and servant, family ties and the like. "Ödön von Horváth's magnificent 1936 FIGARO GETS A DIVORCE was conceived as a modern sequel to Beaumarchais's 1784 classic THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO and, naturally, has always invited comparison to the earlier work. In presenting the two in tandem, director Stan Wojewodski and adaptor Eric Overmyer have made the comparison easy and enjoyable and, remarkably, have created a single piece that occasionally shimmers with inspiration, acquiring an independent artistic identity." -Jonathan Kalb, The Village Voice "One of the more provocative productions to be seen in the last days of 1994 was the Yale Repertory Theatre's FIGARO/FIGARO ... a project that deserves more productions. It's full of rich possibilities." -Vincent Canby, The New York Times

A dreamy, meditative telling of the story of the father of ragtime Scott Joplin's rivalry with fellow musical genius Louis Chauvin. "Eric Overmyer is not a playwright who does things simply, so it's probably not enough to say that his latest theatrical conceit, THE HELIOTROPE BOUQUET BY SCOTT JOPLIN AND LOUIS CHAUVIN is a dream play. It's really three dreams wrapping themselves around one another like languid tendrils of opium smoke stirred by a ceiling fan. The first dreamer is Scott Joplin, widely heralded as the king of the ragtime composers, although when we initially meet him, slumped over a piano by the dim light of a Harlem morning, fame and inspiration are behind him, and his tortured mind is obsessed with sultry images of the 'poxy girls' in the House of Blue Light, a New Orleans sporting house he frequented as a youth. The second, more impertinent, dreamer is Louis Chauvin-Joplin's match, if not his better, in the art of syncopation-who had the misfortune (or the contrariness) to leave nothing behind him when he died of multiple sclerosis at twenty-six. The only concrete evidence of his genius is Heliotrope Bouquet, the slow drag two-step he wrote with Joplin, who saw to it that the sheet music got published. The third dreamer is Mr Overmyer himself, who has seized upon this fleeting collaboration and its few tangible details as the pretext for some graceful musings about the ephemeral nature of art and reputation …" David Richards, The New York Times "Resounding with the bittersweet mood and slow grace of the ragtime music it celebrates, Eric Overmyer's THE HELIOTROPE BOUQUET BY SCOTT JOPLIN AND LOUIS CHAUVIN is an elegiac fever dream of a play, a skillful weaving of fact and fancy played against a backdrop of memory, loss and the redemptive power of art… Overmyer's insertion of fantastical elements into conventional narrative has been used to comic, or at least whimsical, effect before, notably in his ON THE VERGE, OR THE GEOGRAPHY OF YEARNING. But in HELIOTROPE, the playwright spins this technique into a poignant composition peppered with moments of joyful release… Overmyer's rich, clever dialogue gives the play a sumptuous feel… Running under an hour and a half, HELIOTROPE is less like the ambitious ragtime opera that consumed Joplin's final years than the brief but startling collaboration that gives the play its name. Ending on a tentative note of hope and revival, Overmyer adheres to Joplin's musical tenet of 'sweet resolution' even as the cynical Chauvin's admonition lingers: 'Sweet resolution,' he tells Joplin, 'is the difference between music and life.'" Greg Evans, Variety

"PICK UP AX…has a smart, sassy script that's studded with bright, funny dialogue… Clarvoe's very hip script centers on the fortunes of two bright young men, Keith Rienzi and Brian Weiss, who have bootstrapped themselves from a free-wheeling, penny-ante operation into a multi-million dollar computer software corporation through Keith's inventive brilliance and Brian's business instincts. But at twenty-seven, Keith is losing some of his whiz-kid brain, Brian's financial pipeline is drying up, and their supplier is refusing to deliver vital microchips to them. Just when these two aging wunderkind are facing disaster, in walks…Mick Palomar, a slick operator armed with an M B A and a flair for old-fashioned extortion…" Richard Christiansen, Chicago Tribune "PICK UP AX is a fast, funny, entertaining play about a fascinating subject: the growing pains of the personal computer industry… PICK UP AX is likely to be an audience-pleaser because of the sheer exuberance and wit of the script…" Brin., Variety

At the height of the AIDS crisis, Adam searches for answers, comfort, and a new place for sexuality as he witnesses the decline and inevitable loss of his beloved best friend."Victor Bumbalo's ADAM AND THE EXPERTS may be the most important play to deal with the AIDS crisis in gay society since William Hoffman's AS IS and Larry Kramer's THE NORMAL HEART sounded their anguished alarms four and a half years ago. Since those two dramas were first produced Off-Broadway, thousands have died, and thousands more who have gotten AIDS fight to survive. Mr Bumbalo's play expresses a mood of exhaustion, fatalism and embattled determination that, as the decimation continues, has become an overshadowing fact of homosexual life. It has, at least, become possible, Mr Bumbalo's play suggests, to find some bitter humor amid the tragedy. ADAM AND THE EXPERTS is quite funny in a dry satiric way. Most of the humor is situational, deployed by the playwright to reveal the pathetic, ludicrous defenses that people adopt to shield themselves from terrifying realities ..." -Stephen Holden, The New York Times

In October 1983 a truck filled with explosives blew up in a Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 242 soldiers. SEMPER FI explores the aftermath of that terrorist attack on the Marine Lieutenant Colonel who was in charge. "Every once in a while, a script comes along that's so articulate, so well crafted, so free of cliches, you want to cry because they aren't all like that. Michael Brady's SEMPER FI is such a script…" Mary Shen Barnidge, Chicago Reader "…Michael Brady's fine new play SEMPER FI … a drama dealing with a Marine Lt Colonel caught between a rock and a hard place-he was put in charge of the Marine unit in Beirut right before it was bombed by the terrorist truck in 1983. Ironically, he had pleaded for tighter security before this happened, but was refused. Now it appears he'll be the scapegoat. Brady creates characters you'll really care about…" Mary Ann Nichols, WCRB-FM "…blind faith is the subject of Michael Brady's drama SEMPER FI, about the October 1983 bombing of the U S Embassy in Beirut… The play is the dramatic equivalent of the truck bomb that destroyed the embassy… The drama explodes with the emotional intensity of the event that took more than two hundred American lives…" Alicia MacArthur, The Salem Evening News

"Some shows have warnings for strobe lights. Some have them for loud gunshots. Some for smoke. MISSISSIPPI GODDAMN, a new play by Jonathan Norton should have one for intensity. Granted, anyone attending a play about civil rights pioneer Medgar Evers set in 1963 Jackson, Mississippi, should expect some strife. Blood in the battle for racial equality is no surprise, but friendly fire is. Playwright Norton sets expectations on edge by focusing on the fight from the living room of the black neighbors next door to the Evers' home. …playwright Norton's novel take in an unflinching pressure cooker…. Considering the intensity, can you handle it? Considering the history, how can you not? Playwright Norton takes this historical kernel and creates a world in which only [an] adolescent youth pursues [an] idealistic aim and she does it with reckless abandon. Everyone else has the more measured concerns that come with growing up and growing comfortable: family, job and property. Their position tempers their pursuit of racial equality, so much so that the people he is championing perceive Evers as a threat. On this score, the play transcends race and asks, `At what cost, comfort?' To that end, playwright Norton turns the comfortable environ against itself. With people driving by and knocks on the door, front and back, the middle class palace becomes a prison…. In a risky playwriting move, Norton moves the action four years back in time. As confusing as it is, some of the mystery of the first act is preserved by reserving the backstory 'till the second. Patterns emerge but by inverting the sequence, it comes off as discovery instead of predictability. Call it `The Prequel Effect'.… The tension mounts terrifyingly. There's even some visceral combat…. There are some changes, though. The Evers, Medgar and Myrlie, who we heard so much about in the first act, make their first appearance in the second…. The other great change is that Robbie is young and impressionable. As thrilling as the events of the second act are, a close second is watching the effect they have in forming her attitudes. It becomes its own play. This historical thriller is an ensemble achievement of the first order with long sequences building tension in both acts, but without its emotional base it would be a roller coaster ride that was fun for as long as you rode it and nothing more. Be among the first to see it, because it's going places. Just don't say I didn't warn you."David Novinski, TheaterJones

This adaptation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales explores the bawdy humor of The Miller's Tale, The Merchant's Tale, The Nun's Priest's Tale, and The Wife of Bath's Prologue. Prochaska infuses The Franklin's Tale with a hefty dose of comedy as the characters navigate their way through a rocky coastline and an awkward love triangle.Faithful to the original, this text is accessible to a young twenty-first century audience for whom it may be an introduction to Chaucer's wise and gentle satire on love, marriage, and sex. "CANTERBURY TALES is not centered on sex but [it] does not shy from the pilgrims' raunchiness, and…it was taken directly from Chaucer's original stories of an odd-lot of women and men headed for England's famous cathedral… Adapter Reiner Prochaska has pulled off a marvelous script, translated into modern English; he begins with Geoffrey Chaucer's strange language that was spoken in his time, long before the age of Shakespeare, when England still paid homage to Rome and the pope. No religious overtones, let me reassure readers, creep into the tales of fellow travelers who are much more concerned with life's harrows and `country matters' than God's or the Vatican's doings. In that era, they could not count on sticking around a long time and that made every day precious. And that's what Chaucer captured and playwright Prochaska affirms."Roy Meachum, The Tentacle

"…It's as if Joseph Zettelmaier couldn't contain all his ideas into a single play. So he created a script that could accommodate a whole slew of dramatic agendas. In the end, it's as if he's wrapped up two plays into a single script. And the amazing thing is that both are pretty entertaining. The first act is an adoring and witty homage to film noir. There's a hard-drinking, down-and-out private eye, Frank, and the slinky dame who hires him to solve a murder. Turns out, she's one of four authors of pulp novels suspected of killing the agent who represented all of them. There are plot twists. And twists on twists. And loads of witty dialogue, too, as Zettelmaier walks an ever-so-fine line between homage and spoof…. Zettelmaier is a wonderfully facile storyteller. But he doesn't always play by the rules, which we discovered so delightfully [in] his play ALL CHILDISH THINGS… And then there's Act Two. Frank's investigation moves forward, but along the way, Zettelmaier finds a way to immerse us in each of the four writers' genres of pulp. It's a clever device. And it works, giving us more information about each of them than if he followed a more traditional exposition. There's the slinky dame-Desiree St Clair is her unlikely name-who writes romance novels, while Bradley Rayburn writes science fiction. (He's also an inventor, a pastime that provides a major plot twist late in the play.) Walter Kingston-Smith is a writer of so-called "hero pulp," while R A Lyncroft creates particularly gruesome horror novels…. …savvy plotting and clever repartee…"David Lyman, Cincinnati Enquirer

"Plenty of glamorous backstabbing, diva dissing and sexual double-crossing…has every right to claim the name Dynasty for itself. But the title character in Betty Shamieh's bouncy, bumpy comic melodrama is the real thing. A queen, I mean, and not just of the self-dramatizing type. Scratch that. She's more than a queen. She's a pharaoh, one Hatshepsut, who reigned over Egypt for 20 odd years in the 15th-century B C, and the distinction is important in a time when women rarely ruled, at least not officially. (Ancient days, huh?) A subversive speculation on the nature of power!"Ben Brantley, The New York Times "Funny, both witty-Shamieh's sharp-tongued women lacerate one another and their shared opponents-and farcical! FIT FOR A QUEEN may have attracted attention due to its election-season parallels…but it's Senenmut who is [Shamieh's] favorite kind of antihero: the oppressed subject who refuses to play angel, the recipient of horrors who manages to deliver some horrors of her own. She's bundled contradictions, as the best-written characters always are: power-hungry but empathetic; hardened through experience but naive enough to be betrayed; often the smartest person in the room, so always surprised when she's outwitted." Harvard Magazine "If the premise sounds like a history lesson, this play delivers a hilarious, beautifully written tale of what it takes to be a woman in power and how absolute power does inevitably corrupt absolutely…the writing is both poetic and powerful and the comedy is intelligent and sharp. The wily Senenmut has an evil streak that rivals many a Shakespearean villain."Tribeca Trib "FIT FOR A QUEEN reveals the life and reign of Hatshepsut in a way never before explored, thus ensuring Hatshepsut's name is not lost to the ages."Huffington Post

"It seems to me that for fertility in droll inventions, the perpetual outpouring of unforeseen misunderstandings, for the inexhaustible gaiety of dialogue, Feydeau's new play is superior to everything he's written so far. The most astonishing thing is the sureness with which everything is controlled, explained, justified, in the most extravagant buffoonery. The cross-purposes rebound non-stop, and every time one is introduced, one thinks, `Yes, that's true, it couldn't happen any other way.' There is no idle detail, not one that hasn't its function in the action, not a word which will not have, at a given moment, its repercussion in the comedy, and this word, I don't know how it's done-it's the gift of the dramatist-sinks into the memory, and reappears just at the moment when it has to cast a vivid light on an incident, which we did not expect, but which seems entirely natural, which charms us both by its unpredictability and by our impression that we did predict it… The first act lasts no less than an hour, and there isn't a moment's boredom; the absurdities burst one after another with a marvelous abundance and intensity. I have seen nothing like it." Francisque Sarcey, Le Temps

"A raunchy riff on Dr Seuss's yuletide tale… The little tyke has become a bottle-blonde adult who spends her days in a trailer appointed with Airstream functionality and seasonal kitsch…brassy, very funny…a holiday offering that dirties up Christmas while ultimately reveling in its spirit." Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times "This irreverent, adults-only sequel…dares to be as tasteless as possible while replicating Seuss's trademark rhythms…flawless…juggling comedy, musical interludes, and audience interaction." Regina Robbins, Time Out New York "Though the years haven't been kind to Cindy Lou…the booze-guzzling, cigarette-sucking bleached blonde stays lovably upbeat…a comical riot, shining with moxie-laden tastelessness and irreverence. [Cindy Lou] engages front row audience members, sings with gutsy verve and even raps a bit. After an hour of lunacy, a sweet, sentiment ending is added, sending audience members off with a warm smile and probably exhausted from laughter."Michael Dale, Broadway World "In Matthew Lombardo's one-woman show, Cindy Lou Who is all grown up-and she isn't quite the adorable child you remember from Dr Seuss's classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Chronicling the forty years that have passed since Cindy caught the Grinch in her living room, Lombardo's sixty-minute R-rated comedy, spoken entirely in rhyming couplets, is a comic tour de force."Carey Purcell, The Village Voice "The funniest Christmas show in town!"BroadwayBox"If your fond childhood memories include Dr SeussThe Grinch, his dog Max, and a Ville filled with WhosYou might like a sequel from 40 years henceThough if you're a Grinch, too, you might take offense.The new play WHO'S HOLIDAY! by Matthew LombardoIs strictly R-rated, so don't bring your kiddoYet if your mind's open and you trust rave reviewsHis Off-Broadway treat will come as good news!Cindy Lou's now a grown-up, with all that it bringsCocktails and cursing and smokes are her things.She's led an adult life that's chock full of spiceHer shocking backstory's more naughty than nice.She's hosting a Christmas Eve fête for her friendsIt's her way of trying to make some amendsFor all that she did before going to jailWill the party succeed, or will it just fail?At the ending we're left with a serious thoughtWhich underscores all of the laughter she wroughtThat 'white trailer trash' Cindy Lou just needs kindnessIt's good that WHO'S HOLIDAY!'s here to remind us."Deb Miller, D C Metro Theater Arts

Angel, a gay gold digger sets his sights on a newly out and proud billionaire. Dragging his best friend along for the ride and leaving collateral damage in his wake, Angel's plans hit a wall when the billionaire's best friend, Chi Chi, steps in and takes over. Vengeful ex-wives, imaginary lover, closeted twin brothers: Angel will crawl over all of them for the prized wedding ring.

"BIG SCARY ANIMALS sets its sights on the idea that we don't know how to talk about our differences, tackling it with intelligence and humor. Lyle makes his point that words do matter and we should pay more attention to them; but he also effectively satirizes how overly sensitive we can be. … it provides something sorely needed: Laughter. Lots of it. As he's proven time and time again, Lyle has impeccable timing with a punchline or comic situation." Mark Lowry, TheatreJones "Lyle toys with your expectations and loyalties and forces the audience to see The Other in a sympathetic (or critical) light, and does so through one of the densest string of laugh-out-loud comedies you'll ever see. …this smart, 85-minute comedy created a sense of community that is, at its heart, the goal of all theater." Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice "The show has a handful of serious moments, but the most thoughtful among these is the concept that no matter how different people think they are, from food to decorating to political and religious opinions, there is common ground and it may be found in the place where we laugh together." Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News "…genuinely, undeniably, wonderfully funny…character-based, infinitely empathetic comedy." Christopher Soden, Sharp Critic

"In Feydeau's work, all misunderstandings and slamming doors, THE LOSER is a moment of pure hysteria, a kind of quintessence of the author's work. In a sort of comic pendant to Zola's Nana, Feydeau puts on stage characters guided only by the power of their desires, the will to possess someone else, the exclusive passion for pleasure. In such a society however the places are limited, the combinations difficult. On stage this provides a game of musical chairs that is perfectly hilarious. Those who are not at first motivated by the follies of love end up joining the dance. It all provides a cavalcade which explodes into craziness and hilarious situations. However, there is also in THE LOSER a panic force, an urge to go to extremes which encourages certain dark views of the tragic dimension of the human condition." Dans la bibliothèque de Clèanthe "George Feydeau created THE LOSER in 1896 with codes appropriate to a now remote era. Arranged marriages often brought men and women together while leaving each the opportunity to let his or her heart take an interest somewhere else. Being caught in the act in the presence of the police was the rule when one or another of the parties wished to put an end to a less truly satisfying union. In THE LOSER the dialogue is studded with double meanings and cleverly placed stings. This awareness of conventions works marvelously when it is recreated in the 2lst century." Stanislas Claude, Publik Art

"Exceedingly funny…poignant and closely observed… These Saint Louis-based flight attendants are very much products of the new airline realities… They are 50-ish veterans hoping to stay healthy and stave off the latest round of layoffs with their early retirement packages that get crummier with every offering. They stay in a lousy motel, the kind of place where the cable could not be more basic, you don't want to touch the remote control with your bare hands and you have to go down to the desk to get your pillows. And they don't find travel even remotely glamorous, not when there's a kid at home alone and an overly solicitous T S A officer at every airport. These are women dealing with the daily grind through the hubs of life; there are themes in this play to which every road warrior, of the nonexecutive platinum sort, will relate. Which is not to say they don't have a little fun… If you want to get all meta (and why not?), you might say that Wegrzyn is taking the idea of the stewardess on a layover, long a staple of the bedroom farce, and throwing her into a totally different kind of hotel with a totally different, and barely legal, potential lover and fellow adventurer. That theme gives this happily unpredictable 90-minute play a real patina of sadness, a sense of how a once-glamorous profession has been reduced to the quotidian by changing mores and corporate budget-cutters…there's no funnier show in Chicago." Chris Jones, The Chicago Tribune "There was a time when air travel was considered glamorous, but then, there was a time when baseball fans wore suits and hats to Wrigley Field (the past truly is a foreign country). The three veteran flight attendants at the center of Marisa Wegrzyn's MUD BLUE SKY…bear little resemblance to the Pan Am stewardesses of the old days, with their fashionable uniforms and youthful air of freedom and adventure. Wegrzyn's characters are lower-middle-class grunts at the mercy of cash-strapped airlines and rude passengers who leave unspeakable messes in the lavatory. Whereas the job may have once provided fresh opportunities for women-as long as they fit a certain mold-this play's trio seem convinced they're headed nowhere… Wegrzyn deftly blends comedy and despair as the characters attempt to cut loose-pot, porn, and cognac are involved-and forget that each of them is staring down a future that's either uncertain, uninspiring, or both… The play is a funny and forgiving argument in favor of making human connections, however brief or tenuous." Zac Thompson, Chicago Reader

"There's an arresting metaphor at the heart of HICKORYDICKORY, one that Wegrzyn makes literal in her foray into magical realism: Each of us is outfitted with a 'mortal clock' that counts down the seconds until we're fated to die… In most of us they're situated in our chests, the chain wrapped tightly around our beating hearts. For an unfortunate few, however, the mortal clock is lodged in the head; these poor souls know exactly how long they have left and can hear every second tick away… Wegrzyn raises powerful themes here of mortality, responsibility and parental sacrifice. 'When you know' how long you have left, says the fiery Cari Lee, 'you don't tell the people you love' … HICKORYDICKORY's heartrending climax ought to stop your own clock for at least a few seconds." Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago "[Wegrzyn] is a quirky, gently anarchic and refreshingly populist writer unafraid of seemingly outlandish conceits, dark humor and broad theatricality… Most conceptual plays like this…tend to collapse in on themselves, eventually overrun by the logical implications of being able to know and shift time. But remarkably, Wegrzyn has created an internal logic that is difficult to defeat, however much a critic might try… Better yet, HICKORYDICKORY does not get trapped in some kind of trippy sci-fi gestalt…but remains human, sweet, compassionate and honest." Chris Jones, The Chicago Tribune

JONAH is a rumination on the story of the man and the sea. Jonah's a man on the run. He hops a Greyhound to Joppa and then grabs a cabin on the ocean-bound Carnival Princess. Drinking away his sorrows at the ship's Grass Skirt Grill, the lounge band Sheila and the Lovetones plays him into a stupor before he tumbles into the waves. Len Jenkin's JONAH is a contemporary retelling of the unfaithful servant; some love stories about the evil city of Ninevah, a Dairy Queen, and of course, the whale. "Best New Play: …incredible results…Jenkin's JONAH… The frenzied take on the Biblical beach tale featured kaleidoscopic characters and heartwarming stories interwoven in a way that was meaningful, intellectual and fun-a…hat trick." Dallas Observer

"Entertainment guaranteed!"Los Angeles Times "Matthew Lombardo's riveting new play is as funny as it gets in theatre! …A seductive, funny and frequently moving piece."The Hollywood Reporter "Howlingly funny! …Fun, touching and exceedingly funny!A must see!Pasadena Star News "Hilarious!"L A Weekly "This play is a masterpiece!"Santa Monica Press "Scores of zingers, one-liners, retorts and anecdotes leaves the audience roaring so loud the actors often struggle to be heard!"Daily Variety "A+… Matthew Lombardo's brilliant script crackles with a number of zingy one-liners! His screamingly funny play will have you rolling in the aisles"!Palm Beach Post "A raucous comedy! Lombardo has penned a hysterically funny script with serious undertones that features a cascade of PG-rated zingers, R-rated retorts and X-rated anecdotes."Sun Sentinel "Fours stars! …A terrific play! The biting wit is bawdy and hysterical! May LOOPED live on and on. I'll drink to that."The Washingtonian "Pure theatrical magic! Scathingly funny! Deliciously inappropriate. Sometimes, the saying goes, you have to laugh to keep from crying. Try to fight either as hard as you can. You will end up doing both."The Washington Times

"Matthew Lombardo's smartly tangled drama is harrowing, highly amusing and a pleasure!" The New York Times "Theatrically exciting! …Entertaining with lively dialogue, powerful exchanges and authentic performances! …Nuns have been portrayed as righteous and wrathful but few so fiercely as Lombardo's lioness of a sister!" Daily Variety "An electrifying experience! …HIGH is profoundly shattering and emotionally devastating! Lombardo's writing gets better, stronger and more human each and every time! …HIGH deserves a long and vital life!" Rex Reed, New York Observer "Matthew Lombardo's play offers an engrossing evening of theater! His writing saves the nonbeliever from discomfort by making his case in a framework of sincerity and passion, treading in the footsteps of Shaw's SAINT JOAN. And, as long as we venture into comparative literature, there is a case to be made for saying HIGH is EQUUS on crack cocaine." San Francisco Examiner "HIGH suggests no easy or comforting answers. Its characters may suffer, but the searing play suffers from nothing!" Philadelphia Inquirer

A theater professor is suspected in the murder of one of his students, with whom he was having an affair.

RUNDOWN is the story of Pay, a Vietnam veteran, who is involved in a civilian massacre, and his best friend, Spear, a radical antiwar activist, whose activities lead to the death of two American soldiers. "… He leaps out with a fresh vision, rich use of language and poetic imagery, a clear understanding of the vein of violence that runs beneath the top-soil of civilization. In all this, he's often compared to early Sam Shepard, and correctly so. RUNDOWN is one of the best Vietnam era plays yet written." Bernard Weiner, San Francisco Chronicle "RUNDOWN is not just another painful epic about yet another battered Vietnam vet returned from the wars. It is a probing theatrical invention that pits emotional and intellectual recall against the spectrum of forces without and within us that channel and forge our lives…. …What ranks this piece above the commonplace is its impressionistic style, arresting metaphors and vivid imagery. The vigorous writing speaks in human terms. The poetic drama remembers to create characters of flesh and blood while discussing ideas." Sylvie Drake, Los Angeles Times

This collection includes 34 one acts and monologues by notable American women playwrights. 67201 by Adele Edling Shank: Love and fantasy in the afternoon. THE BEST OF STRANGERS by Lee Hunkins: Two women sharing a hospital room cope with breast cancer, husbands, and racial barriers. BOARDERS by Constance Congdon: Three short plays about apartment dwellers, with an epilogue by their landlady. BREAKFAST SERIAL by Megan Terry: A child abuser meets his match. BRUSSELS SPROUTS by Janet Neipris: Former lovers meet under very different circumstances the second time around. THE CORD AND THE TRACK by Helen Duberstein: Two older men discuss younger women. CURTAIN CALL by Roma Greth: An actress balances on an emotional tightrope strung between approaching retirement and a fading career. THE DEATH OF HUEY NEWTON by Lynda Sturner: A couple reflect on the twists and turns their lives have taken since their 1960s glory days. DRY SMOKE by Adele Edling Shank: The story behind a fatal fire. FOOD by Neena Beber: Two women are starving for something, anything, that might provide fulfillment. THE GHOST STORY by Lenore Bensinger: The title hints at half of it; the other half involves a psychic advisor, a couple of children, a golden retriever, double fudge brownies, and the C.I.A. HAITI (A DREAM) by Karen Sunde: The plight of a Haitian family aboard a rickety boat seeking their dream of America. HALFWAY by Roma Greth: There is a question as to who is the inmate and who is the attendant in this halfway house for mental patients. HELEN MELON AT THE SIDESHOW by Katy Dierlam: The carnival "Fat Lady" delivers a monologue. IN THE BEGINNING by Rebecca Ritchie: Lilith shares with Eve a few eye-opening tidbits about Adam. JIM'S COMMUTER AIRLINES by Lavonne Mueller: Two pilots undergo trauma when one's mother decides to fly incognito on the rickety airline he owns. LIFE GAP by Y York: A story about a very poor family and the do-gooder who wants to help them. METAMORPHOSES by June Siegel: Life changes experienced by three women. THE NIP AND THE BITE by Judy GeBauer: A brief, explosive story of American violence on Mexican soil. OCEAN DREAM by Nancy Rhodes: A young woman recovers her childhood during an afternoon on the beach. ORIGAMI TEARS by D Lee Miller: The love/hate relationship of an older married couple coming to terms with the husband's death. PANICKED by Sally Ordway: A performance artist's witty examination of life turns into a howl of help to alien beings. A PERMANENT SIGNAL by Sherry Kramer: The famous Siren sisters step down from the heavens to harvest the sweetness they planted eons before. The crop is not what they expected. A PLACE WHERE LOVE IS by Sally Dixon Wiener: A terminally ill father and his daughters struggle to understand one another. POOF! By Lynn Nottage: The laws of the universe tumble when a meek woman finally speaks up. REPAIRS by Susan Miller: Finishing a basement is either a neurotic retreat from reality or a way of patching up the cracks. THE SLEEP SEEKER by Staci Swedeen: A woman struggles with unbearable memories. SPRINGTIME by María Irene Fornés: The eternal story of love and betrayal. STEPPING OFF A CLOUD by Christina Cocek: A comedy about getting it together. TRIPS by Sally Ordway: Two women pass their time on the porch of a retirement home by counting passing cars. WATCHING THE DOG by Sybille Pearson: A play within a play set in a veterinarian's office. WATER PLAY by Sally Nemeth: The rain will not stop. Rising seas reclaim the land. In a loft barely above the water line, scientist Evangeline tracks the deluge. WELL DONE POETS by Laura Quinn: A math major, a biology major, and an economics major explore feminist poetry with the help of several pitchers of beer. WORKOUT by Wendy Wasserstein: A running commentary on, to, and about a woman's life and her exercise routine.

"The murdered Algerian in Albert Camus's The Stranger isn't even worthy of a name. We know the killer is a Frenchman who goes by Meursault, but the victim is anonymous. Now THE STRANGEST, by Betty Shamieh (ROAR, FIT FOR A QUEEN), reframes the point of view once again: from a criminal Frenchman to an Algerian woman, from the colonizer to the colonized. Umm belongs to a storytelling family, and she attempts to join their traditionally male ranks by turning her drama into a suspenseful riddle. A mix of Arabic storytelling flourishes and Ionesco-like absurdum!" The New York Times "Shamieh structured THE STRANGEST as a murder mystery where one of three brothers will be shot in the end. In the play, Abu, the father of the young man who is shot, was known as a powerful storyteller. Nevertheless, the most powerful voice is Umm, Abu's wife. Reminiscent of commedia del arte…the play not only mitigates the colonial deletion of native voices in Camus's novel, but also challenges the general silencing of women." Arab Stages "THE STRANGEST, suggested by the classic novel, turns the tale inside out, exploring the mysterious murder through the device of a traditional Arab storytelling café in which the audience is immersed." New York Magazine

NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Charles Gordone's Pulitzer signified two "firsts": he was the first African American playwright to receive a Pulitzer, and NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY was the first off-Broadway play to receive the award. "Charles Gordone's NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY…seemed to grow in theatrically, raw energy, power and stature…. The denizens of Johnny's bar, like those of Harry Hope's saloon in THE ICEMAN COMETH, are waiting for a fulfillment of their dreams, which are illusions, and in some cases delusions…. …Its humor is full of bile. On one level this was an extraordinarily funny play and it now seems even funnier in the most malicious way…. …NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY is a drama of great force and commitment, one that must be seen-wherever it is playing. If nothing else-and there is much else-Gordone has a marvelous talent for dialogue, for bitter epithets and insults; for confrontations (each one a striking set piece); for small details that reveal character…and for creating whole and vivid characters."Mel Gussow, The New York Times

"In a world where immigrants are often seen as monolithic others, this play, written by an immigrant, opens a window on their challenges and struggles …El Guindi's script is spirited, profane, hilarious and pointed; line after line leaves its mark." Amy Wang, The Oregonian/ OregonLive.com "Innovative, darkly funny work… In his plays, El Guindi tends to explore the experiences of immigrants and people of color, and the complex, troubling racial dynamics that can play out in the most seemingly progressive places… The dialogue is quippy, sharp-edged, and so full of subtly disappointed pronouncements that much of it wouldn't be out of place in a Wes Anderson movie… What's especially powerful about THE TALENTED ONES is that it deviates from many "good immigrant" narratives that reduce immigrant characters-whether real or imagined-to blandly virtuous caricatures… El Guindi's risky, weird comedy is enough to keep you in your seat." Megan Burbank, The Portland Mercury "The new play is just offbeat enough to be unexpectedly funny and bizarre…THE TALENTED ONES' worldview still manages to be kind of beautiful-knife wounds and all." Shannon Gormley, Willamette Week "There is comedy-side-splitting and dark. It's a haunting play because the truths are so real and the action so raw… A play that should have no problems finding its way into theaters across the country." Judy Nerdy, Judy Nerdy Play Reviews