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Lanford Wilson

LANFORD WILSON

  (1937 - 2011)
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    ICM Partners  

Lanford Wilson obituary

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

         Abstinence         Angels Fall         Balm in Gilead         Bang         Bar Play         Betrothal, A         Book of Days         Brontosaurus         Burn This         Day         Days Ahead         Dying Breed         Eukiah         Family Continues, The         Fifth Of July         Gingham Dog, The         Ghosts         Great Nebula in Orion, The         Hall of North American Forests         Home Free!         Hot l Baltimore, The         Ikke Ikke, Nye, Nye, Nye         Lemon Sky         Ludlow Fair         Madness of Lady Bright, The         Miss Williams: A Turn         Moonshot Tape, The         Mound Builders, The         No Trespassing         One Arm         Poster of the Cosmos, A         Rain Dance         Redwood Curtain         Rimers of Eldritch, The         Sa-Hurt?         Sand Castle, The         Say De Kooning         Sense Of Place Or Virgil Is Still the Frogboy, A         Serenading Louie         Sex Is Between Two People         Sextet (YES)         So Long At the Fair         Stoop         Summer and Smoke         Sympathetic Magic         Talley and Son         Talley's Folly         This Is the Rill Speaking         Three Sisters, The         Thymus Vulgaris         Untitled Play         Victory on Mrs Dandywine's Island         Wandering         Your Everyday Ghost Story

Abstinence

Synopsis:
the place is the front hall of a very chic Manhattan apartment, where the hostess, Winnie, is giving a party for one of her pet charities-in this case, Liars Anonymous. A late arrival, who is intercepted by the worldly wise maid, Martha, is one Danna-who claims to be both on the wagon and a very dear friend of Winnie. She is also, as it develops, rather close to Winnie's husband, Lon, as well (they claim to have shared a wild night of passion involving the bizarre use of vegetables). But if Lon is a philanderer, Winnie, according to Danna, is worse; and then there is Joe, a handsome rogue who informs the others that he is an incredibly rich physicist, has climbed Mount Everest solo, has a titled wife, and who sweeps Danna off her feet. As the conversation grows more dazzling (and the lies more extravagant) only Martha, the maid, remains unfazed by the whole mad scene-after all, she has seen it all many times before, and who cares what these crazy people do or say anyway?

Notes:
Written for the twentieth Anniversary gala honoring New York's famed Circle Repertory Company (of which the Author is A founding member) this witty, clever And very funny short piece pokes wicked fun At Manhattan's self-impressed "smart set."

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Turn One Act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Angels Fall

Angels Fall
the scene is a small mission church in a remote part of New Mexico, where a middle-aged college professor and his lovely young wife detour unexpectedly after the highway is closed because of a possible "accident" at a nearby nuclear facility. they are soon joined by Father Doherty, the benevolent but canny parish priest; a brilliant young Navajo doctor, Don Tabaha, who is about to leave his people (despite Father Doherty's opposition) to accept a prestigious research fellowship in California; Marion Clay, an art dealer and the widow of an important regional painter; and "Zappy" Zappala, her young paramour and a tournament class tennis player. Confined within the church as they await the hoped for "all clear" signal the six, after an initial reserve, begin to reveal their stories to each other-their problems and possibilities, their hopes and fears, the personal crises which have brought them not only to this place but to turning points in their lives. Sometimes brightly humorous, sometimes deeply affecting, s

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Miami's New World Festival     1982

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Hill and Wang, New York, 1983   978-0374522315

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Balm in Gilead

Balm in Gilead
the setting is an all-night coffee shop on New York's upper Broadway, where the riff-raff, the bums, the petty thieves, the lost, the desperate of the big city come together. the movement of the kaleidoscopic in effect, a surging mosaic of overlapping and interrelating speeches and action as separate goals and characters are blended together around a common center. At the core of the play are Joe and Darlene, two young people who would seem to have the strength and the need to transcend the turmoil and ugliness of the life in which they found themselves-but are, instead, crushed by it. But their loss is quickly absorbed in the maelstrom, as the others go on desperately seeking the joy and release and purpose in life which will, most certainly, continue to escape them.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Caffe Cino, New York     1964

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Balm in Gilead", Hill and Wang, New York, 1965   978-0374521561

Music:
-

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

Parts:
Male:  16            Female:  8            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bang

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
BANG was A production in which 29 plawrights each wrote A three minute sketch. It was A benefit because the Buildings Department made us do extensive electrical repair. It was organized by Robert (O'Connor) Patrick. the following is A list of the plawrights involved: Joyce Aaron, Anthony Bastiano, Jean Claude Van Itallie, Walter Brown, Daniel Clark, Tom Eyen, Ted Harris, Robert Heide, William Hoffman, Douglas Kahn, Donald Kavares, Bruce Kessler, H.M. Koutoukas, Leonard Melfi, Mary Mitchell, Harvey Perr, Jean Reavey, Phill Bill Niblock, Lanford Wilson, Ruth Yorck.
- La mama Website

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
3 min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bar Play

Synopsis:
An argument occurs when one of the regular customers at a neighborhood bar makes insinuations about the bartender's daughter

Notes:
in Holidays

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:
Short play One Act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Betrothal, A

Synopsis:
the setting is a large tent, where two flower show exhibitors have sought refuge from a sudden rainfall. She (Ms. Joslyn) is visibly annoyed at the curt treatment which the judges have given her "Little Soldier" and makes no bones about it. He (Mr. Wasserman) is equally dismayed by the fate of his "Little Tanya," but is too soft-spoken and retiring to vent his anger. they both agree that if the judges are getting soaked it serves them right, but Mr. Wasserman's attempts at friendly conversation are confounded by Ms. Joslyn's close-mouthed surliness. But gradually it develops that (a) they happen to admire each others creations (unlike the judges) and (b) they are near neighbors-all of which leads in time to the realization that if it proved possible to combine the color of his "Little Tanya" with the texture of her "Little Soldier" a new strain of flower would result which even the most obtuse of judges would be dazzled by. Quivering with anticipation they prepare to leave, as the sun comes out, and the prosp

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London     1986

Organisations:
-

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:
Comedy Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Book of Days

Synopsis:
When murder roars through a small Missouri town, Ruth Hoch begins her own quest to find truth and honesty amid small town jealousies, religion, greed and lies. This tornado of a play propels you through its events like a page-turning mystery

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Purple Rose Theatre Company, Chelsea, Mi     1998

Organisations:
-

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:
Mystery. - - Gay, theme/character full length

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Brontosaurus

Synopsis:
Deals with the encounter between a cynical, sophisticated New York antiques dealer and the taciturn young man, her nephew and house guest, who has come to the city to study theology. As reticent and unemotional as his aunt is loquacious and brittle, the young man contends that he has undergone a mystical experience-a revelation which is as unsettling to his aunt as it is fulfilling to him. As though intimidated by his inscrutable reserve, she grows increasingly voluble, revealing in her wise-cracking chatter the defense which she has constructed to keep the world at bay-and to mask the innate sensitivity and idealism which persist despite the loneliness and futility of her existence.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1978   -

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:
Comedy Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Burn This

Burn This
the place is a Manhattan loft shared by Anna, a lithe young dancer-choreographer, and her two gay roommates-her collaborator, Robby, who has just been killed in a freak boating accident, and Larry, a world-weary, caustically funny young advertising executive. As the play begins Anna is recovering from attending Robby's funeral, comforted by her wealthy, well-meaning boyfriend, Burton, a sci-fi screenwriter whose persistent proposals of marriage Anna finds herself unable to accept. then, with sudden, unexpected explosiveness, Robby's older brother, Pale, bursts on the scene. He has come to collect his brother's belongings-but stays on to transform the action of the play and the lives of those in it. Menacing, profane, dangerous and yet oddly sensitive, Pale is both terrifying and fascinating and, in the end, the one who brings to Anna the unsettling but compelling love that, despite her fears and doubts, she cannot turn away.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Los Angeles     1987

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc (1 Mar. 1988)   978-0374521585

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, theme/character full length

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Day

Synopsis:
takes a playful look at Ace, a local gardener who goes to the beach on his lunch hour and runs into Macy, a sexpot yuppie (complete with a chic beach umbrElla and laptop computer). Macy seduces Ace into applying her tanning lotion, but then the gardener's nutty girlfriend arrives to give them all a run for their money

Notes:
part of By the Sea By the Sea By the Beautiful Sea, Three one-act plays by Joe Pintauro, Lanford Wilson And Terrence McNally

1st Produced:
Bay Street Theatre Of Sag Harbor    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in By the Sea By the Sea By the Beautiful Sea, Dramatist 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:
Play One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Days Ahead

Synopsis:
portrays the fraught psyche of a fastidious little man as he confronts the memory of an early love which he perceives as a dusty, crumbling wall through which he must dig.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Caffe Cino, New York     1965

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Rimers of Eldritch and other Plays", Hill and Wang, New York, 1967   -

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:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dying Breed

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1987

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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Eukiah

Synopsis:
Butch's haunting call for Eukiah to come out of the shadows echoes through an abandoned airplane hangar. What does Eukiah know, and what does he think he knows about a plot to kill racehorses? This brooding exploration of power lures us into a dimly lit corridor where truth and trust lean precariously against one another.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, Inc. in More Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville; by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays; and in the journal Art Teatral: Cuadernos de Minipie,    -

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:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Family Continues, The

Synopsis:
A haunting play of memory, written in a stream of consciousness, contrapuntal style, which evokes the panorama of a young man's life-birth, army service, marriage, job, parenthood, old age-within the brief span of its action. Highly innovative in its theatricality, the play illuminates not only the continuity of human life, but also the poignancy and bitterness which can infuse it.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Great Nebula in Orion and Three Other Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1973   -

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 One Act

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  flexible

Further Reference:
-

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Fifth Of July

Fifth Of July
the scene is a sprawling farmhouse in rural Missouri, which is home to Ken, a legless Vietnam veteran, and his lover, Jed, a horticulturist. they are visited by Ken's sister, June, and her teenage daughter, and by Gwen and John-the former a hard-drinking, pill-popping heiress who aspires to be a rock star, the latter her wary-eyed husband and manager. All are old friends from college days, and former activists who agitated for what they hoped would be a better world. the action centers on Gwen's offer to buy the farm, which she plans to convert into a recording center, and on Ken's Aunt Sally, who has come to the family homestead to scatter the ashes of her late husband. their talk, as the play progresses, is sharp and funny and, in the final essence, deeply revealing of lost hopes and dreams and of the bitterness that must be fought back if one is to perceive the good that life can offer.

Notes:
Lincoln Centre theatre on Film & Tape

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc (1 Feb. 1979)
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    978-0374521707

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:
Comedy Drama Comedy. - - Gay, theme/character full length

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Bibliographies/VN_drama_bib.php

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Gingham Dog, The

Synopsis:
Gloria and Vincent, a once happily married couple, are suffering through the first days of their separation. Vincent has decided to move out, and as they divide their possessions amidst the mutual recriminations and accusations, their tolerance level for each other sinks. Vincent does indeed leave but returns early the next morning in a semi-drunken state. the household possessions that had proven to be so symbolic in defining their relationship are no longer there, for they are no longer important. they bicker again, but this time, with their defenses lowered, the young, innocent and honest couple they had been during the first year of their marriage resurfaces. Neither gets their trust up far enough to admit their shortcomings, however. they lapse into a cheery charade of friendliness, until Vincent leaves Gloria for good, casting a shadow on any hope of reconciliation

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Washington Theatre Club, Washington, D.C.     1968

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Hill and Wang, New York, 1970   -

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:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ghosts

Synopsis:
In 1881 Ibsen rocked the literary and theatrical worlds with the publication of GHOSTS, a play so controversial in its time that even the head of Nya Teatern, one of Stockholm's major theatres, called it "one of the filthiest things ever written in Scandanavia." Once the uproar had died down, audiences proved far more receptive to GHOSTS than the literati had initially been, and while its Dramatic subjects of promiscuity, incest and sexually transmitted disease no longer arouse the feverish denunciations of Ibsen's time, their treatment retains the power that has made the play a masterpiece of Western literature. In this crackling new translation, celebrated playwright Lanford Wilson has revivified GHOSTS for a new audience, and as we too continue to confront the specter of horrifying sexual disease, GHOSTS has never seemed more profoundly relevant.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Henrik Ibsen

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

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:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Great Nebula in Orion, The

Synopsis:
This fascinating and brilliantly inventive play details the chance meeting, after many years, of two girlhood friends. One has "married well" and the other has achieved a successful career, but, for both, as their poignant and telling conversation reveals, there is an aching emptiness beneath the elegant veneer of their lives

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Manchester     1970

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Great Nebula in Orion and Three Other Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1973   -

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 One Act. - - Lesbian, theme/character, full length

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hall of North American Forests

Synopsis:
see individual plays

Notes:
includes the Bottle Harp, Say deKooning, A Betrothal

1st Produced:
New York     1987

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1988   -

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:
1 Acts One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Home Free!

Synopsis:
Lawrence and Joanna, a brother and sister in their mid-twenties, have cut themselves off from the world "outside," living in a cluttered playroom which they share with two imaginary companions, "Edna" and "Claypone." Surrounded by toys, including a brightly colored miniature Ferris wheel, they have created an atmosphere of almost suffocating intimacy and remove, where play becomes the business of life and reality an alien force to be kept at bay. But life intrudes all the same, and their fantasies have betrayed them into Joanna's pregnancy. Yet even this cruel irony can only be dealt with in almost antic, unreal terms, as though it too were but a facet of the dream world which Lawrence and Joanna have constructed about themselves. they continue to play and talk idly of future plans-until the birth pangs begin and their house of illusion comes crashing down. But still Lawrence cannot leave, cannot face the world beyond their door. Instead he sends "Edna" for the doctor, and as Joanna's life ebbs away he holds

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Caffe Cino, New York     1964

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Balm in Gilead", Hill and Wang, New York, 1965   -

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 One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hot l Baltimore, The

Hot l Baltimore, The
the scene is the lobby of a rundown hotel so seedy that it has lost the "e" from its marquee. As the action unfolds, the residents, ranging from young to old, from the defiant to the resigned, meet and talk and interact with each other during the course of one day. the Drama is of passing events in their lives, of everyday encounters and of the human comedy, with conversations often overlapping into a contrapuntal musical flow. In the resulting mosaic each character emerges clearly and perceptively defined, and the sum total of what they are-or wish they were-becomes a poignant, powerful call to America to recover lost values and to restore itself in its own and the world's eyes.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Hill and Wang, New York, 1973   978-1127443567

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, theme/character full length

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ikke Ikke, Nye, Nye, Nye

Synopsis:
This explosively funny and ingenious farce deals with what might have been a seduction-but while she is all for it (despite her feeble protests) he has eyes only for her telephone. And what he can't say to her face, floods out readily on the phone, with hilarious and devastating results.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New Haven, Connecticut     1971

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Great Nebula in Orion and Three Other Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1973   -

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:
Farce One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lemon Sky

Synopsis:
At seventeen, Alan visits the California home of his Father and his father's former mistress turned wife. His father's life now centers around his two young sons, a tiresome job at an aircraft plant, and two teenage girls who are boarded with the family by the state. Alan has come expecting to go to school full time and work part time at the plant, having accepted his father's encouragement to do so. But the older man is incapable of honesty, least of all emotional honesty, and his lies about school are worth about as much as his lies about love. In the end, his cruelty, insecurity and lechery bring on an inevitable collision that destroys all that the Father and son had hoped for. Alan is driven away once more, embittered by the knowledge that he must live without the Father he so desperately wants and needs.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Hill and Wang, New York, 1970   -

Music:
-

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

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  2b

Further Reference:
-

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Ludlow Fair

Synopsis:
In words of the Village Voice, this: ". . .is a bedtime story about two girl roommates. Rachel is glamorous, fast-living, sometimes lost in her own self-Dramatizations; Agnes is plain, matter-of-fact, her shyness masked by a kooky personality. the play is ostensibly about Rachael: She turned her latest boyfriend in to the police when he stole from her, and now she is remorseful-now she decides she is in love with him. Agnes tries to cheer her up with wisecracks, then tries to rekindle her self-awareness, and finally Rachael goes to sleep. Agnes is left alone, thinking about her lunch date with the boss' disappointing son tomorrow. And suddenly it is her play, the realist is the true romantic. Agnes' unprepossessing but real emotions outweigh Rachel's trumped-up, self-indulgent flourishes, and suddenly the play is simple and moving."

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Caffe Cino, New York     1965

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Balm in Gilead", Hill and Wang, New York, 1965   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Madness of Lady Bright, The

Synopsis:
traces the mental breakdown of Lesley Bright, an aging homosexual whose past returns to haunt him with the emptiness of the choices he made

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Caffe Cino, New York     1964

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Rimers of Eldritch and other Plays", Hill and Wang, New York, 1967   -

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:
One Act. - - Gay, one act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Miss Williams: A Turn

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Dancer/director Bill Mitchell says Lanford wrote this charming little jewel At Bill's request, for A proposed revue, And it is indeed due to Bill's good offices that the script has been preserved. Lanford says he wrote it in Chicago just before coming to New York. At Any rate, Bill's revue was canceled, Bill did A memorable pirate production of "the Boy Friend" instead, And Lanford used the skit in "BbAaNnGg!!" A 1965 benefit gala for La Mama. Sharon Gans played Miss Williams, Harvey Selsby played Benny, And Jeanne Lansan played Dorothy.
http://caffecino.wordpress.com/1933/03/29/miss-williams-a-skit-written-for-the-cino-by-lanford-wilson-1962/

1st Produced:
New York     1965

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Skit

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
This play is fully copyrighted and all rights to reproduction or production are the property of Lanford Wilson

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Moonshot Tape, The

Synopsis:
Having come home to visit her mother, who has been placed in a nursing home, Diane, now a well known writer, is being interviewed for the local newspaper. Only she speaks. Her remarks are in answer to such questions as where she gets the ideas for her stories; whether her youth in Mountain Grove influenced her work; and why she decided to leave home. At first obliging and matter-of-fact, Diane gradually begins to reveal more than her questioner might have bargained for-a childhood marred by the loss of her Father and her mother's coldness; the promiscuity which she was driven to in search of the love and concern which were denied her at home; and, most devastating of all, the molestation by her stepFather which shaped her character indelibly-and led to the harrowing event which she describes at the end of her recital. To the world at large Diane is someone who has shaken off the dust of Mountain Grove and has gone on to bigger and better things. To herself, however, it is painfully clear that what she is what

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1990

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mound Builders, The

Synopsis:
At an archeological dig in the Midwest, a party of university scientists are unearthing vestiges of a lost Indian civilization. Heading the group is Dr. Howe, accompanied by his wife and daughter, and by a younger associate and his wife. they are all joined by Dr. Howe's sister, a famous and jaded novelist, who is "drying out" after many years of dissipation in remote parts of the world. there is also an outsider, the acquisitive son of a local landowner, who wants the digging site to be turned into a commercialized tourist trap. Interweaving past and present through the use of slides, the action of the play probes into the lives-and conflicts-of these disparate people. their story evokes resonances that illuminate what we are and will surely become, and which underscore the irony of our collective blindness to the disturbing lessons that a close study of the past must inevitably reveal.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Hill and Wang, New York, 1976   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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No Trespassing

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Caffe Cino, New York     1964

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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One Arm

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Poster of the Cosmos, A

Synopsis:
the place is a Manhattan police station, where a young man, Tom, is being interrogated after having created a disturbance at the hospital where his friend and lover has just died from AIDS. Although only Tom speaks, it is clear that the flood of memories which bursts forth is triggered by the uncomprehending questions of the policemen who now watch him in stony silence. At first he is defensive and impatient with his questioners' inability to understand his behavior, but gradually, as he recalls his time with his lost friend, the depth of their feeling and commitment for each other emerges. Recalling a host of "little" details, Tom creates a telling portrait of two human beings who must come to understand themselves as individuals before they can comprehend their relationship to each other-much less their position relevant to society at large. Sometimes poignant, sometimes harrowing, Tom's deeply felt words also make it clear that the guilt and remorse which he feels should, in truth, be shared by all who do

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1987

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Way We Live Now", Theatre Communications Group, New York, 1990   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
One Act. - - AIDS, one act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Rain Dance

Synopsis:
In a ramshackle cantina in Los Alamos, New Mexico, on the night of July 15, 1945, four people await the test of the atomic bomb. Each of them is connected directly or indirectly with the top-secret Trinity project, and over the course of the evening the horror of what is about to be unleashed on the world begins to dawn on them. As tensions mount, and questions of science, religion and morality collide, RAIN DANCE makes palpable the thrilling and terrifying journey of our first steps into the atomic age.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Purple Rose Theatre Company, Chelsea, Mi     2001

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Drama, 90 min

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Redwood Curtain

Redwood Curtain
Geri, a seventeen-year-old Vietnamese-American has taken time out from a rigorous touring schedule as a piano prodigy to stay on her Aunt Geneva's Redwood plantation in Northern California. She's been coming here for years, but recently she's become obsessed with approaching the homeless Vietnam veterans who retreated to the forests because they couldn't cope with society after returning from the war. One such vet-eran she interviews in the forest, Lyman, she detains against his will and tells him lies about what she does know to be true about her nameless natural Father in hopes that maybe Lyman knew, or even is, him. Lyman acts guilty and tries to flee, but Geri, who says she's been studying the mysticism of the East, casts a spell over him that she says will bring him back to her. Geneva is horrified at Geri's actions, and while she warns her of the dangers of approaching these homeless men, she also sympathizes with Geri's predicament: Namely, as an Asian woman, Geri feels a deep need to know her ancestra

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Farrar Straus Giroux (1 Feb. 1993)   B00XWV39ES

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Bibliographies/VN_drama_bib.php

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Rimers of Eldritch, The

Synopsis:
As Martin Gottfried comments, "It is a simple one. A mystery, really. A man has been murdered. the mystery is, who he is, who murdered him and what were the circumstances? And to solve it, Wilson looks at the outsides and insides of his tiny, Middle Western town. He looks at a middle-aging woman who falls in love with the young man who comes to work in her cafe. He looks at a coarse, nasty woman mistreating her senile mother, who is obsessed with visions of Eldritch being evil and headed for blood-spilling. He looks at a tender relationship between a young man and a dreamy, crippled girl. But Wilson sees far more than this. He is grasping the very fabric of Bible Belt America, with its catchword morality ("virgin," "God-fearing") and its capability for the vicious. He senses the rhythm of its life and the cruelty it can impose. He understands the speech patterns of its loveless gossips, its sex-hungry boys, its compassionless preachers, its car-conscious blondes." In the end his portrait of Eldritch is full l

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1965

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Rimers of Eldritch and other Plays", Hill and Wang, New York, 1967   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  10            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sa-Hurt?

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sand Castle, The

Synopsis:
the scene is a ramshackle beach house on the California coast, where Irene, a widow and poet and college teacher, is summering with her children and the friends who make their place a second home. Owen, her older son, and Joan, her daughter, are college students-old enough to feel the need to strike out on their own, and yet still young enough to be vulnerable to the hurts which can result. Owen has conceived a hopeless passion for the pregnant wife of Calvin, a graduate student; while Joan is drawn to Clint, her mother's gentleman friend. As the play moves ahead gently in the summer twilight passions erupt, and sadness, joy and the pains of growing up are made real-as are the strength and wisdom of a loving mother who has learned the need for patience, forbearance and an understanding heart.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Caffe Cino, New York     1965

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Sand Castle and Three Other Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1970   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  1b

Further Reference:
-

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Say De Kooning

Synopsis:
pits an artist and two female lovers against the very strains of modern life they hoped to escape by summering at the beach. Not even there, though, can they avoid the pitfalls of their own demanding personalities

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Southampton, New York     1985

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

Music:
-

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Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sense Of Place Or Virgil Is Still the Frogboy, A

Synopsis:
Schuyler Browne and his friends, Josh, Ann and Mary, gather for the spring at Schuyler's family's Hampton home. Schuyler, a trust-fund kid from wealthy lineage, doesn't yet know what to do with his life. Josh, very into computers, is on the verge of making millions on a stock market deal done over the Internet. Ann, a would-be dancer, is turned down for a grant and is fearful of becoming a blue collar worker. Mary is a business manager about to open her own company, and the one to open the group to a new member, Chuck, a local carpenter working for her. As the spring passes, the friends begin to clash as all their problems and futures grow. Growing more neurotic, Ann spends her time cooking even as she continues her work in a nearby shop. Tempers fly when Schuyler insults Chuck, and Mary and Josh in turn chide Schuyler for being a snob. More time passes, and Josh, with some of his new money, makes a large contribution to the director of a dance troupe hoping Ann can have a featured role, but his kindness back

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Sag Harbor     1997

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Serenading Louie

Serenading Louie
Two young suburban couples, friends of long standing, are suddenly aware of strains and pressures that have inexorably come into their lives. Adultery is one of these-a fact for one of the wives, an imminent possibility for one of the husbands-but ambitions, frustrated and potential, and a crying out for more meaningful personal involvement within their marriages are others. As they come together to examine their plight and to probe the genesis of their unhappiness the play moves deftly in and out of the frame of reality-with the characters talking sometimes to each other and sometimes directly to the audience. Ultimately, out of the fascinating mosaic of conversations, confessions and reminiscences, a sense of deeper understanding begins to emerge, and, with it, the liberating knowledge of the loneliness that must exist within marriage and of the crucial commitment that individuals must make if they are truly and effectively to share their lives with others.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Washington Theatre Club, Washington, D.C.     01 Apr 1970

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1976
Oberon Books, London >>>    978-1840029970

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sex Is Between Two People

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Caffe Cino, New York     1965

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sextet (YES)

Synopsis:
Written in a striking, contrapuntal form, this imaginative and haunting short play is compromised of the thoughts and recollections of six characters, who sit at random, answering each other's revelations with a quiet "yes." Out of the pattern of their memories, the interweaving of their destinies, emerges a sense of their frailty, and humanity, and the disquieting vulnerability of life itself.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Commissioned by the Los Angeles Center Theatre Group (Mark Taper Forum

1st Published:
in "the Sand Castle and Three Other Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1970   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play for voices One Act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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So Long At the Fair

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Caffe Cino, New York     1963

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Stoop

Synopsis:
Both touching and disturbing, it centers on three aging ladies sitting on the stoop of a run down city brownstone, commenting quietly on the inexorable disintegration of the quality, and possibility, of life. their mood is resigned-but terrifying as well-as they accept the ebbing away of freshness and beauty and the element of hopefulness that was once so easily taken for granted.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Chanel 13, NYC    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Sand Castle and Three Other Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1970   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Summer and Smoke

Synopsis:
a nervous ardent spinster falls in love with a dissolute medical student, but their different natures make the affair impossible and they marry others

Notes:
Playwright - Tennessee Williams

1st Produced:
St. Paul     1971

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Belwin Mills, New York, 1972   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  7            Other:  1b 1g

Further Reference:
-

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Sympathetic Magic

Synopsis:
Winner of the 1997 Obie Award for best play. "Lanford Wilson's idiosyncratic SYMPAtheTIC MAGIC is his best play yet. . .the rare play you WANT. . .chock-full of ideas, incidents, witty or poetic lines, scientific and philosophical argument. . .you'll find your intellectual faculties racing." -NY Magazine. "the mystery of the unexplored universe and the mystery of artistic creation begin to re-volve around the more familiar mystery of life on earth and why we keep reproducing it. She does something unwise, he does something unforgivable. the result changes them and everyone in their intimate circle, irrevocably. the play ends where it started, with the scientist lecturing about the inexplicable nature of the universe and the "dark matter" of which it seems to be largely composed; only now we've experienced what he means. Wilson has made the dark matter in human beings tangible; particularly in the scientist, whom we come to like and understand before he does something monstrous, and who re-mains understandable-and no mons

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1997

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1998   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Talley and Son

Talley and Son
the time is Independence Day, 1944, the place the parlor of the Talley homestead in Lebanon, Missouri. As World War II rages across the seas, the Talleys are beset with crises of a different sort. Slipping into senility, the elder Mr. Talley still has flashes of explosive lucidity, when he schemes to dispose of the local bank among heirs of his own choice, and berates his charming but spineless son, Eldon, for considering the sale of the family garment business to an eastern conglomerate. Also involved in the bickering are Eldon's long-suffering wife, Netta; their son, Buddy, who is home on leave from the Army; his vapid wife, Olive; and Eldon's sister, Charlotte, a defiantly free spirit who is suffering the fatal effects of radium poisoning. And, commenting on the action, unseen by the others, is the "ghost" of the second son, Timmy, already a casualty of the Pacific war, although the family has not yet learned of his death. In the end the petty antagonisms, scandals and selfishness which infuse the play are

Notes:
aka A Tale Told. the third in the renowned cycle of plays dealing with the Talley family of Lebanon, Missouri

1st Produced:
New York     1985

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Hill and Wang, New York, 1986   978-0809012510

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Talley's Folly

Talley's Folly
the scene is the ornate, deserted Victorian boathouse on the Talley place in Lebanon, Missouri; the time 1944. Matt Friedman, an accountant from St. Louis, has arrived to plead his love to Sally Talley, the susceptible, but uncertain daughter of the family. Bookish, erudite, totally honest and delightfully funny, Matt refuses to accept Sally's rebuffs and her fears that her family would never approve of their marriage. Charming and indomitable, he gradually overcomes her defenses, telling his innermost secrets to his loved one and, in return, learning hers as well. Gradually he awakens Sally to the possibilities of a life together until, in the final, touching moments of the play, it is clear that they are two kindred spirits who have truly found each other-two "lame ducks" who, in their union, will find a wholeness rare in human relationships.

Notes:
Lincoln Centre theatre on Film & Tape

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Hill and Wang, New York, 1980   978-0374521578

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Comedy Drama Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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This Is the Rill Speaking

Synopsis:
A Play for Voices is a poetic, mosaic-style evocation of small town life told through multiple voices which shift and blend from identity to identity

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Caffe Cino, New York     1965

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Rimers of Eldritch and other Plays", Hill and Wang, New York, 1967   -

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 for voices One Act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Three Sisters, The

Synopsis:
subtle and revealing study of life in provincial Russia, the story of the play is familiar to all. What distinguishes this new version is the translator's unique responsiveness to Chekov's intentions and the care with which these intentions are realized. To prepare himself for his task, Mr. Wilson studied Russian and went back to the original text of the play. the result is a rare fidelity and sensitivity to Chekov's art for, in the words of Mel Gussow, "As translated by Mr. Wilson THREE SISTERS exudes a sympathy for all its characters, including those who can alienate an audience." Often described as one of the most Chekovian of modern playwrights, Lanford Wilson, in this eloquent translation, has not only paid tribute to the master but has given new life and meaning to his timeless masterpiece through the generous application of his own remarkable creative powers.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Anton Chekhov

1st Produced:
Hartford, Connecticut     1985

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Thymus Vulgaris

Synopsis:
the scene is the trailer where Ruby, a woman of indeterminate age and compliant disposition, lives amid an overgrown garden of "thymus vulgaris," an herb which smells suspiciously like menthol chest rub. She is joined unexpectedly by her daughter, Evelyn, a warmhearted hooker who announces that she is the intended of Solly, the "Grapefruit King," although right now she is not so sure that she wants to go through with it or, for that matter, that Solly does either. But the lure of all that money, and Solly's promise to give Ruby a home as well, do tug at her. the arrival of a well-built young motorcycle cop (who reminds Ruby of several former loves) decides the matter, however, as he has been sent by Solly to round up mother and daughter and whisk them off to a life of luxury. And why not? there are, as Evelyn says, the users and the used-and every once in a while the used deserve a break too.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1982

Organisations:
Lincoln Center Theater Company

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1982   -

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:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Untitled Play

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
music by Al Carmines

1st Produced:
New York     1967

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Victory on Mrs Dandywine's Island

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Great Nebula in Orion and Three Other Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1973   -

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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Wandering

Synopsis:
This brilliantly inventive short play covers the span of a man's life in a matter of minutes. Striking harmonics of uncanny depth and pertinence through its rapid fire dialogue, the play not only constructs the outline of a human existence, but also catches and illuminates, the essentials of all that is, or can be.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Caffe Cino, New York     1966

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Rimers of Eldritch and other Plays", Hill and Wang, New York, 1967   -

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:
1 Act turn One Act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Your Everyday Ghost Story

Synopsis:
-

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:
play One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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