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Naomi Wallace

NAOMI WALLACE

  (1960 - )
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Abrams Artists Agency  UK representation - Knight Hall Agency Ltd

Naomi's latest feature FLYING BLIND, which she co-wrote with Bruce Mcleod premiered at the Edinburgh film festival to great reviews in June 2012. Naomi Wallace's work has been produced in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Naomi is currently writing new plays for the Public Theatre, the Oregon Shakespeare festival and various French Theatres and a libretto for Kristin Norderval. Her major plays include One Flea Spare, In the Heart of America, Slaughter City, the Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, Things of Dry Hours, the Fever Chart: Three Short Visions of the Middle East and And I And Silence. Her work has received the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Kesselring Prize, the Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award, and an Obie. She is also a recipient of the MacArthur Genius Fellowship. Her award-winning film Lawn Dogs is available on DVD. Her latest film, the War Boys, co-written with Bruce Mcleod, was released in 2010. In 2009 One Flea Spare was incorporated into the permanent repertoire of the French National Theatre, La Comedie Francaise. It will be produced by La Comedie in 2012. Wallace is the only living American playwright to enter the repetoire. Only two American Playwrights have ever been added to La Comedie's repertoire in 300 years, the other being Tennessee Williams.

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below is a list of Naomi Wallace's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         And I And Silence         Birdy         Fever Chart, The: Three Versions of the Middle East         Girl Who Fell Through A Hole In Her Jumper, The         Hard Weather Boating Party, The         In the Fields Of Aceldama         In the Heart Of America         In the Sweat         Inland Sea, The         Liquid Plain, The         Manifesto         Night Is A Room         No Such Cold Thing         One Flea Spare         One Short Sleepe         Retreating World, The         Slaughter City         Standard Time         State Of Innocence, A         T(ext) Shirt Project, The         Things Of Dry Hours         Trestle At Pope Lick Creek, The         Two Into War         War Boys, The

And I And Silence

And I And Silence
Two imprisoned young women, one African American and the other white, form a perilous bond. As they serve time they forge a plan for survival. they practice hard. If they dont get it right theyll lose everything: the outside world is even more dangerous to their friendship than the jail itself. Exploring the fierce dreams of youth and the brutal reality of adulthood in 1950's segregated America, And I and Silence is a dark, often humorous portrait of desire and daring.

Notes:
And I And Silence received A reading in last year's Vibrant  An Anniversary Festival of Finborough Playwrights.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Worn Red Theatre

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  4            Other:  -

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Birdy

Synopsis:
Birdy is called Birdy because he adores pigeons (keeping a large collection in his bedroom) and wants to learn how to fly. When falls from a great height he's hardly hurt, and he and his best buddy Al could swear that just for a moment he hovered. In war-time some years later the adult Sergeant Al is brought to the military hospital where a shell-shocked Birdy refuses to speak or eat, adopting a strange crouching position and flapping his arms. His mission is to find the key that will unlock his childhood friend from his apparently disturbed condition, but as time goes by Al starts to wonder if under the circumstances Birdy is better off left as he is - in some sort of peace.

Notes:
Based On the Novel By William Wharton. Alan Parker's hit film Adaptation was set during the United States' Vietnam War but Naomi Wallace's stage version returns to the novel's original Second World War setting

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1997
Broadway Play Publishing, New York   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Fever Chart, The: Three Versions of the Middle East

Fever Chart, The: Three Versions of the Middle East
Three multifaceted works exploring the urgency and complexity of the Middle East's political landscape, through the voices and bodies of the people who inhabit it. In A State of Innocence (1f 2m), an Israeli soldier encounters a mysterious Palestinian woman in a dreamscape of the Rafah Zoo. Between this Breath and You (1f 2m) takes place in a clinic in West Jerusalem, where a Palestinian father, after the death of his son, confronts a young Israeli woman about the meaning of loss. In the Retreating World, an Iraqi bird collector tells of his conscription into Saddam's army and life in the aftermath of the surrender to US forces.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Theatre Communications Group, USA
Broadway Play Publishing, New York   978-1559363372

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Girl Who Fell Through A Hole In Her Jumper, The

Synopsis:
In this witty adventure for young audiences by MacArthur "genius" award winner Naomi Wallace, a young girl called Noil finds herself in a strange new place, and must accomplish three and a half magical tasks before she can return home. Noil is clever and resourceful, and with some assistance from a singing narrator and a talking roach, she emerges from the hole in her sweater in time for breakfast

Notes:
written with Bruce McLeod

1st Produced:

Organisations:
London New Play Festival

1st Published:
Broadway Play Publishing, New York, 2003   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Childrens Youth Audience

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  5 m/f

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Hard Weather Boating Party, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
33rd Humana Festival

1st Published:
in Humana Festival 2009: the Complete Plays, Playscripts Inc   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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In the Fields Of Aceldama

In the Fields Of Aceldama
A disturbing portrait of life on a mid-west American farm where Mattie and Henry and their 17-year old daughter Annie attempt to outdo each other in hurtfulness and humiliation

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
London New Play Festival

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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In the Heart Of America

Synopsis:
Can love co-exist with a state of war? Remzi and Craver are soldiers serving in the Gulf. they worship each other's bodies when around them bodies are being destroyed. But after the end of the war, why does Remzi not return to Kentucky, and why have he and Craver been haunted by Boxler and Mae Ling, ghosts from another American battleground?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
American Theatre Magazine, NY - March, 1995
Broadway Play Publishing, New York   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama. - - Gay, theme/character full length

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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In the Sweat

Synopsis:
an uncompromising play for young people, dealing with racism, homophobia and violence.

Notes:
written by Naomi Wallace And Bruce McLeod; BT/National Connections

1st Produced:

Organisations:
BT New Connections

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  5 (age 17+)

Further Reference:
-

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Inland Sea, The

Synopsis:
We are in the early 1760s and Aquith Brown, younger brother of the famous landscaper, Capability, is trying to create the perfect view from a great house in Yorkshire. there is a village marring this and the villagers seem reluctant to move. A morality play about improving on Nature, the INLAND SEA is about class, labour and sexuality. It features spirits both living and dead and uncovers a dark crime from the past.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 2002   -

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Liquid Plain, The

Synopsis:
On the docks of late 18th-century Rhode Island, two runaway slaves, Adjua and Dembi, plan a desperate and daring run to freedom. When a chance encounter triggers an unexpected collision of worlds, painful truths are uncovered, and the brutality of past crimes spills into the next generation.

Notes:
the Liquid Plain won the Horton Foote Award for promising new American play in 2012

1st Produced:
-     2012

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://www.broadwayplaypub.com/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama 100 min

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Manifesto

Synopsis:
Anyone can perform this play by an award-winning playwright simply by wearing the t-shirt upon which it is written

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
T(ext) Shirt Play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Night Is A Room

Synopsis:
Liana and Marcus have a marriage others envy. Dore has grown accustomed to an isolated existence in her modest flat. After a surprise reunion on Marcus's 40th birthday, their worlds are shattered by an unexpected turn of events. A world premiere production from Residency One playwright Naomi Wallace, Night is a Room is a searing exploration of love's power to both ruin and remake our lives.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Signature Theatre, NY, USA >>>     03 Nov 2015

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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No Such Cold Thing

No Such Cold Thing
the thirteenth play about Afghanistan played separately and this review is taken from the text. Naomi Wallace sees the tragedy of the country in human terms. Meena and Alya are teenaged sisters divided by conflict. Meena, at 15 two years the older, has travelled with her Father to the West and left Mum and Sis behind. their reunion is difficult due to the cultural divide, with each promoting what they know. It becomes something much deeper, partly through the catalyst of a US serviceman, Sergio, By an explosive and very moving ending their relationship becomes apparent, as does the pain that this war is causing on all sides. .
- British theatre Guide

Notes:
part of A three month long festival About the culture And history of Afghanistan. Entitled the Great Game: Afghanistan. the festival will be divided into three parts, each focusing on A period of Afghan history: 1979 - 1996 : Communism, the Mujahideen And the Taliban

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

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Genre:
Historical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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One Flea Spare

One Flea Spare
Hilarious and deeply moving by turns, One Flea Spare is set in plague-ravaged 17th Century London where social roles and the boundaries that describe them have been into chaos. the definition of morality is up for grabs. History is being tantalised. And whilst the wealthy William Snelgrave dreams of sweating, swearing tars, and of how sailors satisfy their "baser instincts" so far away from female company, his own wife, untouched for 40 years, is discovering that her dreadfully burned body may not be numb after all. the human heart craves comfort, contact, tenderness; survival may take many forms

Notes:
US premiere in spring 1996 At the prestigious Humana Festival in Louisville. It received its New York premiere in March 1997 At the Joseph Papp Public theatre

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Bush Theatre Plays" Faber, London, 1996
Broadway Play Publishing, New York   B00E2UHE9E

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  1 girl

Further Reference:

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One Short Sleepe

One Short Sleepe
-

Notes:
Humana Festival 2008: the Complete Plays brings together All eleven scripts from the 2008 Humana Festival of New American Plays, the 32nd Annual cycle of world premiere productions staged At Actors theatre of Louisville. the seven full-length plays And four ten-minute plays represent An exceptional Array of work by some of the most exciting new voices in American theatre

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York   978-0970904683

Music:
-

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Retreating World, The

Retreating World, The
I remember, I remember - everything we say these days begins with "I remember -".' An ex-Iraqi soldier pauses to share his humour, passion and wisdom on conflict - and pigeons!

Notes:
Part of "Two into War"

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London >>>,    978-1840025668

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Monologue Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Slaughter City

Synopsis:
Lives, loves and heartbreaks amid the sweat, blood and gore of an American meat-packing factory

Notes:
U.S. Premiere At the American Repertory theatre in Cambridge Massachusetts

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1996
Broadway Play Publishing, New York   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama. - - Gay/Lesbian, of interest

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Standard Time

Synopsis:
Frustrated by elusive promises of the American dream - fast cars, brand names and easy money - a young man takes his destiny into his own hands

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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State Of Innocence, A

Synopsis:
set in the bulldozed Palestinian zoo at Rafah and centering on a dialogue between agrieving Palestinian mother and a young Israeli soldier.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon, London,    -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
40 min Play One Act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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T(ext) Shirt Project, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
with plays by David Henry Hwang, Tony Kushner, Jane Martin, Naomi Wallace, Wendy Wasserstein, And Mac Wellman.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Humana Festival 1999: the Complete Plays, ed Michael Bigelow Dixon & Amy Wegener, Smith & Kraus, 1999   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Things Of Dry Hours

Synopsis:
the play deals with poverty, calling forth hard-time lives during the Great Depression. People scramble and scrape for work. If they can find it. Running like a major thread through the characters' close connection, they must tangle with the theme of populist Marxism finding fertile ground at the point in history which the play calls forth. they must portray simple, not very articulate individuals who cannot debate major issues, yet who belong in that time and place. Overall not a promising situation. Two of those people are black, Father and daughter Tice and Cali Hogan, way down on the bottom of that particular food chain. the other person with whom they reluctantly connect is a violence-prone young white man, Corbin Teel. Set in another steel town with vicious labor struggles, Birmingham, Alabama. there former factory hand, sometime churchifying preacher Tice also preaches the gospel according to Marx. His daughter Cali remains sour about all faiths and much else in life, men included, while she scrubs and purifies white peoples' dirty linen to eke out a clean living. they reluctantly open their door to Corbin, a fellow laborer, though no Marxist, seeking asylum after probably killing someone. He brings triple danger, being white, a fugitive and capable of more brutality. When refused sanctuary, Corbin threatens to reveal Tice's involvement with the movement at a time when Tice's life would thereby be in even greater peril. Consequently the three of them tensely remain together. And, eventually Corbin gently, openly hankers after Cali, despite her attempts to avoid him. - alternative newspaper PULP

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Pittsburgh Public Theater, Usa     2004

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Trestle At Pope Lick Creek, The

Synopsis:
High atop a railroad trestle that spans a bone dry creek, two teenagers plan to race across the bridge against an oncoming locomotive. At first their scheme adds excitement to life in a small factory town during the Great Depression, then sensual experience awakens dangerous passions in an era of stifled ambitions. With theatrical flourish and lyrical finesse, Naomi Wallace delves into a world where people struggle to change lives that bear down upon them

Notes:
British Professional Stage Premiere, Traverse 2001

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Humana Festival 1998: the Complete Plays, ed Michael Bigelow Dixon & Amy Wegener, Smith & Kraus, 1998
Broadway Play Publishing, New York   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Two Into War

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Gifts of War And the Retreating World

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Menagerie Theatre

1st Published:
Broadway Play Publishing, New York   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Two Monologues

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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War Boys, The

Synopsis:
Three young Texans spend their nights patrolling the Mexican border to earn $10 bounty for every Mexican they catch crossing it. Every night they swap boasts and banter. But on this evening, they each enter confessional mode, seeking a repeat performance of the night before, and they reveal themselves as deeply damaged

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "In the Heart Of America and Other Plays" published by Broadway Play Publishing   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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