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Robert Brustein

ROBERT BRUSTEIN

  (1927 - )
Nationality:    USA
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Robert Sanford Brustein (born April 21, 1927 in New York City) is an American theatrical critic, producer, playwright and educator. He founded both Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut and the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he remains a Creative Consultant, and has been the Theatre critic for the New Republic since 1959. He comments on politics for the Huffington Post.

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

         Airport Hell         Anchorbimbo         Beacham's Poetry Reading Or the Golden Treasury         Chekhov On Ice         Cherry Orchard, The         Divestiture         English Channel, The         Father, The         Last Will         Lysistrata         Mortal Terror         Nobody Dies On Friday         Poker Face         Rachmaninoff         Sarah In Blunderland or The Mad Hatter's Tea Party         Seagull, The         Sex For A Change         Shlemiel the First         Six Characters In Search Of An Author         Spring Forward, Fall Back         Terrorist Skit         When We Dead Awaken         Wild Duck, The

Airport Hell

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
American Repertory Theatre

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 Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Anchorbimbo

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
American Repertory Theatre

1st Published:
in Boston Theatre Marathon of Ten Minute Plays Volume 4, Bakers Plays,    -

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 Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Beacham's Poetry Reading Or the Golden Treasury

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
American Repertory Theatre

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
play Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Chekhov On Ice

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
American Repertory Theatre

1st Published:
in Boston Theatre Marathon of Ten Minute Plays Volume 2, Bakers Plays,    -

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 Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Cherry Orchard, The

Synopsis:
the story of mortgage with the grounds of the proud house being sold to pay off debts

Notes:
Original Playwright - Anton Chekhov

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, NY,    -

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Divestiture

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
American Repertory Theatre

1st Published:
in Boston Theatre Marathon of Ten Minute Plays Volume 3, Bakers Plays,    -

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 Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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English Channel, The

English Channel, The
The English Channel examines the murky relationship between great writers and their proclivity to "borrow" ideas and material, tracing Shakespeare's relationship with The Earl of Southampton, the Dark Lady of the Sonnets, and Christopher Marlowe during the turbulent months before Marlowe's death.

Notes:
The English Channel is the first piece in a trilogy of plays by Robert Brustein about the life of Shakespeare. The second installment is Mortal Terror followed by The Last Will.

1st Produced:
Vineyard Playhouse on Martha's Vineyard    Sep 2007

Organisations:
Suffolk Theatre

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
dramatic comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Father, The

Synopsis:
In the course of twenty-four hours, the increasingly chilly, twenty-year marriage of the Captain and the wilful Laura escalates into a war to the death.

Notes:
Original Playwright - August Strindberg

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, NY,    -

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Last Will

Last Will
The Last Will finds William Shakespeare retired at his country home on Stratford after decades of struggle and success in the city of London. In the last stages of a fatal illness, his deteriorating mind obliterates the distinction between fiction and fact, and the playwright begins acting as a character in his own plays. Richard Burbage, leader of Shakespeare's acting company, attempts to persuade him to return to London and to playwriting, as Will wrestles with his suspicions, delusions, family resentment, and final testaments.

Notes:
The Last Will is the final piece in a trilogy of plays by Robert Brustein about the life of Shakespeare. The first installment is The English Channel followed by Mortal Terror.

1st Produced:
Modern Theatre, Boston    Feb 2013

Organisations:
Commonwealth Shakespeare Company of Boston

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
full length drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lysistrata

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Aristophanes

1st Produced:
American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, Ma    -

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mortal Terror

Mortal Terror
Mortal Terror is set in 1605, the year of the Gunpowder Plot, a terrorist conspiracy to blow up the houses of Parliament. Shakespeare, delicately balancing his allegiances to assure his own survival, is commissioned by King James to write a play to justify his right to the throne. That play is Macbeth.

Notes:
Mortal Terror is the second piece in a trilogy of plays by Robert Brustein about the life of Shakespeare. The trilogy begins with The English Channel and concludes with The Last Will.

1st Produced:
Modern Theatre, Boston    Sep 2011

Organisations:
Suffolk Theatre

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Nobody Dies On Friday

Synopsis:
Marilyn Monroe stays with Lee Strasberg's family

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Best Plays of 1998" published by Smith and Kraus   -

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:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Poker Face

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
American Repertory Theatre

1st Published:
in Boston Theatre Marathon of Ten Minute Plays Volume I, Bakers Plays,    -

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 Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Rachmaninoff

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
American Repertory Theatre

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
play Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sarah In Blunderland or The Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Synopsis:
Sarah Palin finds herself at the Mad Hatter's tea party

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Boston Center for the Arts    22 May 2011

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Satire

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Seagull, The

Synopsis:
Can the young people's dreams be realised or will their desires turn sour when confronted by the cruelties of the adult world?

Notes:
Original Playwright - Anton Chekhov

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, NY,    -

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sex For A Change

Sex For A Change
Now an annual tradition, the Boston theater Marathon utilizes hundreds of actors and dozens of directors to sponsor 50 ten-minute plays in 10 hours (five plays per hour!), each one supported by a different New england theatre company

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Boston theater Marathon XI - 2009 anthology - 50 Ten Minute Plays Boston theater Marathon XI - 2009 anthology - 50 Ten Minute Plays ~ By Kate Snodgrass (ed) - Smith and Kraus, 2010   978-15752577164

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:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Shlemiel the First

Synopsis:
the village of Chelm is home to a host of blithering, dithering men and their long-suffering, loving wives. When the local sages determine that the musings of their leader, Gronam Ox, demand a wider audience, their local factotum, Shlemiel , dutifully takes up his new charge of spreading the wisdom of Chelm, eager to experience what lies beyond the horizon. Shlemiel's wife, Tryna Rytza may be exasperated with Shlemiel, but he's her shlemiel and she argues that his place is at home - as place keeper if not breadwinner. Ox's wife, Yenta Pesha, also intercedes in vain to keep Shlemiel from his quixotic mission. and so a Shlemiel is loosed upon the world to spread the knowledge of Chelm. On the first evening of his journey, Shlemiel is tricked by a roadside bandit, who is quite clever in comparison with his dimwitted mark. there is a mischievous turnabout for our messenger, and he wanders back into what he believes is a strange new world populated by doppelgangers of his beloved hometown, in this case into Chelm the Second. Shlemiel's mental aberration of a dual family has his wife and children treating him with uncharacteristic tenderness, like a too soft boiled egg. as a result, in Shlemiel's mind, the alternate Tryna and children become idealized in comparison with their originals back in Chelm the First. However, the village elders, similar to Shlemiel, believe they have received an alternate Shlemiel who must maintain a respectful separation from the married women in town. Only the women understand Shlemiel's mistaken geography, but the men must learn the error of their ways themselves for true change to occur. Shlemiel falls heavily for Tryna2; will he jeopardize his marital vows?
- Gary McMillan, DC theatre Scene

Notes:
Based on the story by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Conceived And Adapted by Robert Brunstein. Music by Hankus Netsky And Zalman Mlotek. Lyrics by Arnold Weinstein.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Theater J

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Six Characters In Search Of An Author

Synopsis:
the illusion of a rehearsal for a play is interrupted by the arrival of six people in search of an author

Notes:
Original Playwright - Luigi Pirandello (Sei personaggiin cerca d'autore)

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, NY,    -

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  11            Female:  6            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Spring Forward, Fall Back

Synopsis:
Three generations of men and their different tastes in music

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Terrorist Skit

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
American Repertory Theatre

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
play Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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When We Dead Awaken

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Henrik Ibsen

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, NY,    -

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Wild Duck, The

Synopsis:
greatest account ever written of the destructiveness of missionary zeal

Notes:
Original Playwright - Henrik Ibsen

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, NY,    -

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  18            Female:  3            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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