[100] Plays of Summer

Posted: 3/5/10 at 4:34pm

Hey everyone! For a personal project this summer, I am going to read 100 plays in 101 days (between the last day of the spring semester and the first day of the fall semester) and blog about in a blog I am going to call 100 Plays of Summer :). I was wondering if I could get your imput as to which plays I should read. I am really down for anything- classics, one acts, new stuff, old stuff, anything. What are some of the plays you think are most worth reading? Hopefully, on the blog I will create a discussion about each work, itll be a type of online book club. Please, any input you have is more than welcome!

Posted: 3/5/10 at 6:12pm

wow! with all the opinionated people on this site, i thought id get some responses...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/5/10 at 6:22pm

Well besides the obvious plays such Our Town, Streetcar etc... I'd say some more contemporary things (some favorites of mine)

Side Man
The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Killer Joe
Children of a Lesser God
'Night Mother
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean
The Pillowman
Impossible Marriage
The Shape of Things

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 3/5/10 at 6:37pm

That's a great idea, actually. I have have to swipe it for myself.

The Pillowman
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
The Lonesome West
reasons to be pretty
Fat Pig
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
Bug
Dog Sees God
The Seafarer
I Hate Hamlet
Mother Courage and Her Children
True West
Picasso at the Lapin Agile
Updated On: 3/5/10 at 06:37 PM

Posted: 3/5/10 at 8:04pm

thanks SO much, you guys. im comprising my list!

[FeelingElectric2]

Posted: 3/5/10 at 8:31pm

I'd love to read your blog, since I'm gonna be spending the majority of my Summer reading on plays :)

Posted: 3/5/10 at 8:40pm

thank you so much! im going to start blogging on may 14th :)

[vodkastinger]

Posted: 3/5/10 at 9:53pm

Some of my favorites...

M. Butterfly
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
The Zoo Story
America Hurrah
Rabbit Hole
Kimberly Akimbo
The Cherry Orchard
The House of Bernarda Alba
How I Learned to Drive
Fires in the Mirror
Exit the King

[willep]

Posted: 3/5/10 at 10:27pm

Equus
The Pillowman
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Picasso at the Lapin Agile

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/5/10 at 11:11pm

Blackbird
The Clean House
Rabbit Hole
The American Plan
Three Days of Rain
The Pillowman
The Beauty Queen of Leenane
The Orphans' Home Cycle

[Kad]

Posted: 3/6/10 at 12:12am

Angels in America- Kushner
Dead Man's Cell Phone- Sarah Ruhl
The Heidi Chronicles- Wendy Wasserstein
'Art'- Yasmina Reza
The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler- Jeff Whitty
Agnes of God- John Pielmeier
Thom Pain (based on nothing)- Will Eno
The Little Foxes- Lillian Hellman
Twelfth Night
The Little Dog Laughed- Douglas Carter Beane
Woyzeck- Georg Buchner
The Bald Soprano- Ionesco
Amadeus- Peter Schaffer

[One Song Glory]

Posted: 3/6/10 at 1:02am

Wit
Twilight of the Golds
Doubt
Baby in the Bathwater
No Exit
The Children's Hour
Stop Kiss
An Actor's Nightmare
Arsenic & Old Lace
The Trojan Women

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 3/6/10 at 1:21am

Pterodactyls by Nicky Silver
The Skin of Our Teeth by Thorton Wilder

I highly recommend reading those two back to back.

Uncle Vanya
The Seagull
Fool for Love
All My Sons

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 3/6/10 at 1:32am

Random additions:

She Stoops to Conquer
The Crucible
All My Sons
Arms and the Man
August: Osage County
Equus
Anything Shakespeare, but some personal favorites: Measure for Measure, The Winter's Tale, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest.
Metamorphoses (The Mary Zimmerman version, based off the myths of Ovid)
Spoon River Analogy

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 3/6/10 at 1:32am

double post

Updated On: 3/6/10 at 01:32 AM

[Weez]

Posted: 3/6/10 at 4:24am

So as to get the fullest impression of Shakespeare without dedicating 38 (or however many you count XD) full days to him, go for two of each. Two Comedies, two Tragedies, two Histories, two Others. For Comedies, I would probably go with Twelfth Night and Comedy of Errors, for Tragedies I would go Hamlet and Othello (but Romeo and Juliet or King Lear would be good ideas too), for Histories I would go with one from each tetralogy (Henry IV part 1 or Henry V from the second, Richard III or Henry VI part 1 from the first), and for the Others you'll want a Romance (like The Tempest or The Winter's Tale) and a Problem (like Measure for Measure or Troilus and Cressida).

Orrrrr you could just dedicate 38 full days to him. That works too.

Updated On: 3/8/10 at 04:24 AM

[RachelO]

Posted: 3/6/10 at 10:58am

Some fantastic comedies:

The Nerd - Larry Shue
Conditions - William J. Hackenbrook

Posted: 3/6/10 at 11:35am

thank you so much, this is really amazing you guys. as for the shakespeare thing, im definitely taking your advice, weez. its such a daunting task to get everything i want to get in...in. i wish i had 300 days to do this. ahhh!