The latest edition of this useful series offers 12 one-acts reflecting the wide range of contemporary American theater. For those who prefer their theater comic, there is David Ives' humorous meditation on identity, Degas, C'est Moi, and Susan Cinoman's slice-of-life look at shopping rituals, Fitting Rooms. Those who think drama should be made of sterner stuff should sample Cassandra Medley's moving Dearborn Heights, about discrimination in the North, and Jonathan Levy's Old Blues, a touching portrait of a barber-shop quartet suddenly facing aging and mortality. Not every play here will be to everyone's taste. Yet those who find Mac Wellman's surrealistic Sandalwood Box just too weird can skip to Janusz Glowacki's more gently absurdist Home Section, and vice versa. American theater is obviously large and vital enough to contain many voices. It speaks volumes about editors Stein and Young's selective acumen that the collection so well reflects this diversity. Jack Helbig
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Publisher: Applause Books
Released: 1999
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