Plays Everyone Should Read- Page 2

[Shiksa Goddess2]

Posted: 4/30/06 at 10:25pm

The Normal Heart- So. Amazing.

[EganFan2]

Posted: 4/30/06 at 10:32pm

The Importance of Being Earnest (my favorite)

...anything by Oscar Wilde
Updated On: 4/30/06 at 10:32 PM

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 12:15am

If it is not a required book for any of your classes, I highly reccomend buying the Bedford Introduction to Drama. Lots of classic plays from different time periods in that book. You can find the fourth edition online for about 12 dollars because they have started printing the Fifth edition. Well worth the investment.

[blueroses]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 12:49am

The Member of the Wedding
The Glass Menagerie
A Streetcar Named Desire
Long Day's Journey into Night
Moon for the Misbegotten
Glengarry Glenn Ross

[zzannahk]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 6:23am

My all-time favorite

Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad

[knows_too_much]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 6:44am

Anything and Everything by David Mamet(sp) THE BEST modern playwrite of our time.

[katurian]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 9:35am

Definitely The Laramie Project. One of the most moving plays I've ever read.

[Drew7810]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 9:41am

Long Day's Journey Into Night
For Colored Girls...
Equus
Streetcar

[GypsyRoseLee]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 10:25am

Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg. Pretty much anything Greenberg.

[Alex LaVelle]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 10:30am

And some comic drama:

Plays by Plautus and Terence, because so much of modern comedy is based on the works of these two men; if you are familiar with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, then Plautus will seem familiar to you as his works are the basis for Forum. For Plautus, I would suggest The Swaggering Soldier/Miles Gloriosus (depending on the translation, the title will vary between these). For Terence, I would suggest Andria/The Girl from Andros (again, title will vary). There is not a great number of surviving works by these writers; I believe the works of each could be counted in the single digits; Terence only has 6 works that still exist (and in spite of this, he is still a major contributor to the canon of plotlines for the modern sitcom).

Moliere: the king of satire. The Misanthrope is probably his most often discussed work, but there are plenty to choose from. I rather enjoyed The Imaginary Invalid (aka, The Hypochondriac).

Labiche, Corteline, Feydeau. These three men basically defined farce. As you progress from Labiche to Courteline to Feydeau, the subject matter will get somewhat darker. When Labiche began writing, it was unheard of for marital affairs (or at least the threat/perception thereof) to be a source of comedy, but a challenge was issued to work this into comedy, and Feydeau finally succeeded and gave us a lot of material for the modern sitcom.

Niccolo Macchiavelli's Mandragola. If Plautus and Feydeau's works mated, this would be their offspring. It is based very much on the works of Plautus and other early comic writers (in the Roman tradition), but it includes a lot of the concepts seen in Feydeau. And it is the same Macchiavelli responsible for The Prince.

Dario Fo's works provide an interesting look at comedy and satire as a tool to express political ideas. In our time, this is pretty common (Stuff Happens, anyone?), but Fo was one of the early pioneers of explicitly working politics into drama. His Elizabeth I gives a very interesting look at what living with the monarch could have been like.

Anton Chekhov. Not by any stretch of imagination one of my favorite playwrights, but I'd be remiss in not mentioning him. I would recommend starting off with The Cherry Orchard first, since it is possibly the most obviously comic of his works and then slipping into the darker comedies such as Uncle Vanya. There has always been debate about how comically these works should be presented, but Chekhov insisted that they were comedies, not tragedies, and fought tooth and nail against them being presented as such, even on his deathbed.

Beckett, specifically Waiting for Godot. I had to read this one a couple of times to enjoy it; upon the first reading, it is comprehensible, but to really appreciate it and start to enjoy it, rereading it helps. This work was Beckett's first, and it changed the face of theatre and comedy.

Neil Simon. Particularly the stuff that is less well known. He and his brother basically set the tone for comedy contemporarily; the two took a very same approach, one with stage and one with television. I would recommend The Sunshine Boys.

I have to second You Can't Take It With You. Not only is it one of the funniest works I know (seeing it helps get the humor across, but I think it is intrinsic in the work itself; some would argue this, though), but when it debuted (1930s?), it was one of the first works to really showcase an atypical group of people in a society focused on normalcy.

She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith. The Equity theatre company we house on campus at my school produced this earlier in the semester, and all in all, this show is brilliantly written. Incidentally, the character of Tony Lumpkin became something of a pop icon in England after this was written.

Skin of Our Teeth, by Thornton Wilder. Not one of my favorite shows, again, but it does have a lot of merit. This particular show is something of an acquired taste, but I find it more interesting than Our Town.

The next two works I tend to think of as tragicomedy of sorts, but some people may disagree....

Sartre's No Exit. In a way, it has a lot in common with Waiting for Godot. It's a very quick read, a very good read. It is my favorite play from high school.

MASTER HAROLD...and the boys by Athol Fugard. To call this one a comedy is pushing it perhaps, but it's not really a tragedy, either. It is a very intersting picture of apartheid South Africa. (Also, the recording of this is some of Matthew Broderick's best work, I think.)

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 6:20pm

These are all really great suggestions. Some I have read. Some I have not. This is much appreciated, so keep em' comin!

Updated On: 5/1/06 at 06:20 PM

[The W.A.N.D]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 7:00pm

GlenGarry Glen Ross is one of the most amazing works of theater I have ever had the pleasure to see. I belive that everyone with a strong stomach should see this play right away and be in the presance of greatness.

"Selling Real Estate takes brass balls."

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 7:08pm

I'd say read or at least familiarize yourself with "the classics" and then just read stuff that interests you. I found that I love the way Neil LaBute writes. Of course, he's not some astounding writer that people will have to study and read for years to come, but I like the way he writes and I can connect with it.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 7:11pm

Three Days of Rain (it's a very deep character analysis)
The Shape of Things (another character analysis)
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Hitchcock Blonde

[elvenprincess971]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 7:18pm

I second "The Laramie Project" (I cant BELIEVE I didn't think of that one until someone else mentioned it)

[JustABroadwaybaby2]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 8:08pm

our town!

[Color and Light]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 8:47pm

-Anything and everything by Conor McPherson, particularly "The Weir".
-"The Diviners" by Jim Leonard, Jr.

Updated On: 5/1/06 at 08:47 PM

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 8:53pm

Angels in America

Sylvia- A.R. Gurney

[willact4food]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 8:58pm

I second 'Wit' and 'The Laramie Project'.

Read 'Lost in Yonkers'!

Neil Simon's best work to date, in my opinion.

[Buddy Kiss]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 9:15pm

Ditto to everything that has been mentioned...

Look up Sarah Kane. She will warp your world.

Vagina Monologues and The Good Body by Eve Ensler is also incredible.

And don't miss Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moises Kaufman.

[robyn525600]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 9:42pm

Normal Heart

[chad2]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 9:51pm

Spinning into Butter

[ihearttheatre]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 9:54pm

Great thread- I'm bookmarking it. I have a lot of reading to do! :)

[dotvmike]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 10:49pm

We just did A.R. Gurney's The Dinning Room this past fall at my college and it was really enjoyable to work on...very interesting play!

[theatreboi11]

Posted: 5/1/06 at 10:58pm

Aloha Say the Pretty Girls, Marasol, 6 Degrees of Seperation, A Flea in Her Ear, Intimate Apparel