The Baby Dance

by Jane Anderson

A drama by Jane Anderson.

Genres: Plays, Theatre

84 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Multiple authors with the same name. This author is entered with three spaces.



Jane Anderson’s plays have been produced Off-Broadway and in theaters around the country, including Actors Theater of Louisville, Arena Stage, Williamstown, The McCarter Theater, Long Wharf, and The Pasadena Playhouse. Plays include: The Quality of Life (2008 Ovation Award, Best New Play), Looking for Normal (2001 Ovation Award, Best New Play), The Baby Dance, Defying Gravity, Food & Shelter, Tough Choices for the New Century, Lynette at 3AM, and The Last Time We Saw Her. Her most recent play, The Escort (nominated for an LA Drama Critics Circle Award) was commissioned by the Geffen Playhouse and had its premiere in 2011. Works written and directed for film and television: The Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio; Normal (Emmy nominations for best writing, directing and best made-for-TV film, three Golden Globe nominations and Director’s Guild and Writer’s Guild nominations for best directing and writing); When Billie Beat Bobby; The Baby Dance (Peabody Award, a Golden Globe nomination and three Emmy nominations for best writing, directing and made-for-TV film); the first segment of If These Walls Could Talk II, starring Vanessa Redgrave (Emmy nomination for best writing). She wrote The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom for which she received an Emmy, a Penn Award and Writers Guild Award for best teleplay. Her other screenwriting credits include: How to Make An American Quilit and It Could Happen to Your.

Reviews

[Dante Surra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not typically a fan of naturalism but this is the best naturalistic text I've ever read. I grew up with very rich and very poor family and this nails how both act and interact.

[Juanita Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This audiobook is actually a 1.5 hour live taped play. I loved it and got to work with tears in my eyes. Of course this play has all the elements of a good cry. A set of parents incapable of conceiving a child. A set of parents so poor that they must consider selling their child in order to give it a good life and maintain the life of the kids they already have. Both sides being forced to face their prejudices against one another everyone else in the world. The most appropriate point in the entire play for me? The husband of Wanda, the pregnant women ask the other husband why, if they were so liberal, they asked for a healthy white child. Complete silence as the man takes in that his actions don't match his quoted values. A thought provoking hour and a half.

[Chriscarrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

contains one of the funnest lines to say, (southern accent) "The pill don't work seems to me. No, I think the problem is I'm too fertile for birth control."

[Clara Bennet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is heartbreaking.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit old hat but satisfyingly blunt in its take on adoption.