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Barbara Field

BARBARA FIELD

  
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Judy Boals, Inc  

Barbara Field, playwright, has had work produced across the United States, Canada and Europe. She served as playwright-in-residence at the distinguished Guthrie Theater from1974 to 1981, creating a number of pieces: her translations include Marriage (Gogol), Monsieur de Moliere (Bulgakov), and Pantalgleize (Ghelderode). adaptations for the Guthrie from novels include Camille (Dumas) and Playing With Fire, a response to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. an adaptation commissioned by the Seattle Children's Theater of Great expectations later played at the Guthrie and traveled the country on an 8-month tour. a revival of Great expectations recently won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award. Field's adaptation of a Christmas Carol has been a part of the Guthrie's and the Missouri Rep's seasons for 27 years. For the Seattle Children's Theater she adapted the Boxcar Children in 1999. Her adaptation of Dreams in the Golden Country was recently performed at the Kennedy Center and on a national tour. Her adaptation of Scaramouche was recently seen at the Washington Shakespear Theatre. Her original work includes Neutral Countries, first produced at the actors Theater of Louisville's Humana Festival in 1983, where it was named Best American Play; Coming of age for the Indiana Rep; Quality Time for the Pennsylvania Stage Company; Boundary Waters for California's South Coast Rep (it subsequently won a 1992 DramaLogue award); and Off the Ice for the Repertory Theater of St. Louis. Currently, she is working on I Was a Rat! for the Seattle Children's Theatre. She has written one original opera libretto, Rosina (composer Hiram Titus), which was commissioned and produced by the Minnesota Opera, and has subsequently been seen elsewhere around the country. With Titus she created a musical, the Skinflint, for the Repertory Theater of St. Louis. She has just completed a new comedy, the Book of Vashti. Field is a founding member of the Playwrights' Center, Minneapolis, and is a site reporter for the National endowment for the Arts. a book of seven of her plays for the Guthrie Theater, New Classics from the Guthrie Theater was published in 2003 by Smith & Kraus
biography courtesy of the Playwrights' Centre

Research:    Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)

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

         Book Of Vashti         Boundary Waters         Boxcar Children         Camille         Christmas Carol         Crackatook, The         Great Expectations         I Was A Rat!         Jack and the Beanstalk         Marriage         Neutral Countries         Pen         Playing With Fire         Winds Of Change
Book Of Vashti

Synopsis:
Queen Vashti is about to be replaced by a newcomer to the palace. Politics, sex, and scheming intermingle in the palace

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Genre:
full legth Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Boundary Waters

Synopsis:
a Nobel Laureate in physics, Declan, invites his close friends and fellow scientists to the woods of Boundary Waters National Park to get away from their blackboards and observe the snowy owl. While waiting for a fleeting glimpse of the great bird, Spindlequick cooks elaborate meals no one would expect in the wild, and informs Natalie that she has been named the coveted Feynmann Lecturer for the year. Though pleased, the idea of delivering a speech means travelling close to where her estranged son lives, forcing Natalie to decline the offer, triggering an all-night discourse, full of revelations, with her husband, David. the ongoing discussion is constantly interrupted, first by the appearance of Cometti, a former student of Declan's, and his new girlfriend, Sylvia then by everyone's own misadventures. Cometti, invited by mistake and not exactly welcome, wants to reveal to Declan his almost finished solution to 'cosmic strings' and maybe learn of the missing link he needs for his equation. But the rules of ca

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
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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:
full legth Comedy

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Boxcar Children

Synopsis:
Four children are abandoned and set up home together in a boxcar

Notes:
Based on the book by Gertrude Chandler Warner

1st Produced:
Seattle Childrens Theatre    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Plays for Young Audiences   

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Camille

Synopsis:
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Notes:
Original Playwright - Alexandre Dumas fils

1st Produced:
Actors Theatre of Louisville, Louisville     01 Sep 1987

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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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:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Christmas Carol

Synopsis:
This is the classic tale of our favorite holiday miser, Scrooge, who is visited by four spirits, including his old business partner Jacob Marley and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Through a series of visits to Scrooge's youth, to the Fezziwig's office party, and finally to a future vision of his lonesome dark grave if Scrooge continues his ways, the ghosts show Scrooge the way to embrace the holidays and generosity. This fast-paced adaptation shares one of the greatest ghost stories of all time, and is a holiday classic your audiences will love.

Notes:
from Charles Dickens

1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
http://www.playsforyoungaudiences.org/scripts/a-christmas-carol-field   

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:
adaptation 90 min

Parts:
Male:  24            Female:  14            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Crackatook, The

Synopsis:
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Notes:
part of the Ruth Easton New Play Series offers one-night-only readings one Monday a month between December and April, 2013

1st Produced:
-     2013

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1st Published:
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Music:
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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:
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Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Great Expectations

Synopsis:
Using a simple unit set (which is carefully described in the playbook) and making resourceful use of a brilliantly theatrical storytelling technique, the play conveys all the energy and warmth of Dickens' richly human story with cinematic quickness and fluidity. Beginning with his humble boyhood at the home of his long-suffering sister and her husband, the kindhearted Joe Gargery, the play follows Pip through his encounter with the escaped convict, Magwitch; his experiences with the bizarre Miss Havisham and her haughty ward estella; and on to his removal to London where, after his "expectations" are mysteriously made known, Pip aspires to become a gentleman. Moving deftly from scene to scene and place to place, the play involves the audience at every step-building steadily to the exciting climax where Pip gives moving evidence that, in growing up, he has also come of age as a compassionate and altogether admirable human being

Notes:
from Charles Dickens

1st Produced:
Seattle Children's Theatre     1983

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, 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 90 min

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  2b 1g doubling

Further Reference:
-

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I Was A Rat!

Synopsis:
In a similar vein as Wicked or the Ugly Stepsister, I Was a Rat! shows us a different perspective on a well-traveled tale. Poor little Roger (even rat-boys need proper names) has nowhere to turn. Luckily, Bob the cobbler and his wife, Joan, have a warm home and welcoming hearts. If only Roger were able to stay out of trouble long enough to enjoy them. He even manages to get thrown in jail for being a dreaded sewer monster! Thank goodness, the Princess arrives in time to straighten the whole mess out, and return Roger to his new home and loving family.

Notes:
from the novel by Phillip Pullman

1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
playsforyoungaudiences.org, 2010   

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:
Youth audience

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Jack and the Beanstalk

Synopsis:
the lively musical tale of the spirited, yet gullible, young Jack and his poor widowed mother. Jack sells his beloved cow Suzette for a handful of supposedly magical beans, much to his mother's dismay. But, to their surprise an enormous beanstalk has grown overnight! Jack becomes charmed by the kind, and culinarily gifted, Mrs. O, and steels himself to defeat the monstrous Ogre. In the end Jack takes down the Ogre, and saves the hen that lays golden eggs, a magical harp, and the Ogre's wife.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Repertory Theatre Of St. Louis     1995

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Plays for Young Audiences   

Music:
Hiram Titus, composer

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
TYA 90 min

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Marriage

Synopsis:
Deciding that it is time he was married, Podkoliosin, a long-time bachelor (and minor court councillor), engages a matchmaker, Fiolka, to find him a wife of suitable social status-not to mention fortune. Fiolka comes up with agafya, the spinster daughter of a wealthy merchant, who is seeking a husband of demonstrably higher social position. Podkoliosin deigns to visit the charming agafya, only to discover that the bustling Fiolka has rounded up four other suitors as well, which leads to some unseemly-and hilarious-bickering among the preening competitors. the suitors are all quite different (one enormously fat, one painfully skinny, one terribly tiny, another notoriously prissy), which enriches the farcical contretemps that result-and adds to the relish with which Podkoliosin's sidekick, the scheming Kochkariev, sets about winning agafya for his friend. In the end he succeeds, but perhaps too well, as he also provides Podkoliosin with a glimpse of what marriage really entails and, as the curtain falls, the terrified would-be suitor makes his escape-leaping unceremoniously from a second story window and back to the comforting routine of blissful bachelorhood.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Nikolai Gogol

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, 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:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Neutral Countries

Synopsis:
During World War I in Belgium the dangers of emotional neutrality become apparent when a young man becomes the prize in a three-way struggle among his revolutionary mother, his academic father, and an apolitical mercenary

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Music:
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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:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Pen

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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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:
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Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Playing With Fire

Synopsis:
as the play begins, an exhausted and dying Victor Frankenstein has finally tracked down his Creature in the lonely, frozen tundra of the North Pole. Determined to right the wrong he has committed by, at last, destroying the malignant evil he believes he has created, Frankenstein finds that he must first deal with his own responsibility and guilt-for, as their fascinating confrontation develops, it is evident that the Creature has become a pathetic, lonely and even sensitive being who wants only to find love and that he, Frankenstein, by intruding into the very secrets of life, is truly the evil one. as the two debate, scenes from the past flash by: Frankenstein's young bride, whom the Monster killed out of pique when the scientist failed to provide him with a mate of his own; the brilliant, quick-witted Professor Krempe, Frankenstein's university mentor; and moments between the youthful Victor and his brother, who also fell victim to the Creature's vengeance. Ultimately the exchange between Frankenstein and the Creature becomes a confrontation between parent and child, scientist and experiment, rejection and love, and even good and evil-culminating in the Creature's agonizing question, "Why did you make me?" It is a question the exhausted Frankenstein cannot answer and, as the play ends, the Monster lives on, condemned to pass his remaining days in the awful loneliness he has so desperately sought to escape.

Notes:
after Frankenstein by Shelley

1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, 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:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Winds Of Change

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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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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