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Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon '99 : The One-Act Plays
The annual anthology of original one-act plays from New York's premiere developmental theater--now a Faber paperback original
The One-Act
Deaf Day by Leslie Ayvazian
Up, Down, Strange, Charmed, Beauty, and Truth by Edward Allan Baker
War by Bill Bozzone
The Once Attractive Woman by Christine Farrell
The Golf Ball by Frank D. Gilroy
Dreamtime for Alice by Susan Kim
Goodbye, Oscar by Romulus Linney
Maiden Lane by Cassandra Medley
In the Western Garden by Stuart Spencer
All About Al by Cherie Vegelstein
The "I" Interns by Michael Louis Wells
The Ensemble Studio Theatre is best known for its Marathon of One-Act Plays, in which, over a period of six weeks, twelve plays receive their New York premieres. Included in the '99 anthology are Romulus Linney's Goodbye Oscar , wherein Oscar Wilde, exiled in Paris, gravely ill, and fighting a losing battle with his wallpaper, meets Jesus Christ in a fifth-rate café; Stuart Spencer's In the Western Garden , set on the east end of Long Island where a once-great abstract artist grapples with the gradual loss of his mind while his art dealer scrambles to possess his rumored final masterpieces; and Susan Kim's Dreamtime for Alice , in which Alice, accidentally left behind by her tour bus in the Australian outback, examines the stark realities of her life in a neurotic, hilarious, and revealing monologue that rivals Woody Allen and Spalding Gray at their best.
With work that ranges from the deeply affecting to the sublimely funny by both established and up-and-coming playwrights, this anthology is a must for anyone interested in what's happening in theater on a grassroots level.
The One-Act
Deaf Day by Leslie Ayvazian
Up, Down, Strange, Charmed, Beauty, and Truth by Edward Allan Baker
War by Bill Bozzone
The Once Attractive Woman by Christine Farrell
The Golf Ball by Frank D. Gilroy
Dreamtime for Alice by Susan Kim
Goodbye, Oscar by Romulus Linney
Maiden Lane by Cassandra Medley
In the Western Garden by Stuart Spencer
All About Al by Cherie Vegelstein
The "I" Interns by Michael Louis Wells
The Ensemble Studio Theatre is best known for its Marathon of One-Act Plays, in which, over a period of six weeks, twelve plays receive their New York premieres. Included in the '99 anthology are Romulus Linney's Goodbye Oscar , wherein Oscar Wilde, exiled in Paris, gravely ill, and fighting a losing battle with his wallpaper, meets Jesus Christ in a fifth-rate café; Stuart Spencer's In the Western Garden , set on the east end of Long Island where a once-great abstract artist grapples with the gradual loss of his mind while his art dealer scrambles to possess his rumored final masterpieces; and Susan Kim's Dreamtime for Alice , in which Alice, accidentally left behind by her tour bus in the Australian outback, examines the stark realities of her life in a neurotic, hilarious, and revealing monologue that rivals Woody Allen and Spalding Gray at their best.
With work that ranges from the deeply affecting to the sublimely funny by both established and up-and-coming playwrights, this anthology is a must for anyone interested in what's happening in theater on a grassroots level.
256 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 2000
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April 30, 2020
I always enjoy reading these EST anthologies. Not only do they feature plays by contemporary playwrights--always important for these writers to be read--but I feel they are extremely instructive for any up-and-coming playwright learning how to make use of characters, time, and stage. This one in particular featured a few plays that cleverly expanded time and space to broaden the range of what a one-act can accomplish. Those plays seem to carry the weight of full three-act endeavors. Here I am especially thinking of "Maiden Lane" by Cassandra Medley, "The Once Attractive Woman" by Christine Farrell," and "Dreamtime for Alice" by Susan Kim. Also, a really interesting play is "The I Word: Interns" by Michael Louis Wells; amazing how soon the play was staged after the controversy erupted that inspired it (the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton affair). Yet, it's not simply about that affair; in fact, not much at all. It manages an admirable artistic and intellectual distance.
Displaying 1 of 1 review