The Methuen Drama Anthology of American Women Playwrights: 1970 - 2020: Gun, Spell #7, The Jacksonian, The Baltimore Waltz, In the Blood, Intimate Apparel

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"In this exciting new anthology, Wesley Brown and Aime K. Michel bring together six wonderfully teachable plays by some of the greatest American women dramatists of the past fifty years-- Ntozake Shange, Suzan-Lori Parks, Paula Vogel, Lynn Nottage, Beth Henley, and Susan Yankowitz. The editors provide a helpful Introduction to the last 100 years of theatrical activity, from suffrage and anti-lynching plays, through the explosive 1960s, to recent Broadway triumphs, highlighting womens strugglea struggle that continues--to put their vision and voices on the American stage." Elin Diamond, Rutgers University, USA This volume celebrates the iconoclastic power of six American women playwrights who pushed the boundaries of the form outside the box of conventional drama. Each play is accompanied by a short introduction providing the biographical background of the playwright as well as discussing the dramatic style of her writing, the extent to which her work is informed by major playwrights of the period, and how the specific work illustrates the overarching themes of her body of work. The plays included are: Gun by Susan Yankowitz Spell #7: geechee jibara quik magic trance manual for technologically stressed third world people by Ntozake Shange The Jacksonian by Beth Henley The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel In the Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage

Reviews

This important collection from unjustifiably less well-known American theatre giants confirms their place in the Western theatrical and literary canon, and crucially champions women's voices and vision on stage over a fifty year period. * Drama Magazine *
This much-needed collection fills a major gap in our sense of the writers for the American theatre. Here assembled are not just the greatest hits among the plays written by women, but a coherent and thorough examination of the many careers and voices that have shaped the stage for the last century. * Melia Bensussen, Artistic Director at Hartford Stage, USA *
In this exciting new anthology, Wesley Brown and Aime K. Michel bring together six wonderfully teachable plays by some of the greatest American women dramatists of the past fifty years-- Ntozake Shange, Suzan-Lori Parks, Paula Vogel, Lynn Nottage, Beth Henley, and Susan Yankowitz. The editors provide a helpful Introduction to the last 100 years of theatrical activity, from suffrage and anti-lynching plays, through the explosive 1960s, to recent Broadway triumphs, highlighting womens strugglea struggle that continues--to put their vision and voices on the American stage. * Elin Diamond, Rutgers University, USA *

Author Bio

Aime K. Michel is Associate Professor of Theater at Bard College at Simon's Rock, USA. She was the Artistic Director of the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival for over 10 years where she produced new American plays. Before this, she was Artistic Director of the Drama Leagues Directors Project in New York City where she created the New Directors/New Works program. As a freelance director, she has directed in theaters all over the country. She was a recipient of both the Drama Leagues Directors Project Fellowship and the Boris Segal Directing Fellowship at Williamstown Theater Festival. Wesley Brown is Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University and teaches literature and creative writing at Bard College at Simon's Rock, USA. He co-edited the multicultural anthologies, Imagining America (fiction), Visions of America (non-fiction), edited the Teachers & Writers Guide to Frederick Douglass and wrote the narration for a segment of the PBS documentary, W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in four Voices. In addition, he is the author of four produced plays, Boogie Woogie and Booker T, Life During Wartime, A Prophet Among Them, and Dark Meat on a Funny Mind; three novels, Tragic Magic, Darktown Strutters, PushComes to SHOVE and a short story collection, Dance of the Infidels.