Comedy Jean Kerr and Eleanor Brooke. Larry Larkin draws a comic strip and, to put it bluntly, would take
all prizes as the world's No. 1 egotist. Larry is engaged to his
secretary Dunreath Henry, a very nice girl, who sees Larry as he
sees himself - not as everyone else sees him. To create a triangle,
Francis X. Dignan then appears; ostensibly he's to draw Larry's strip
while Larry takes a month off to honeymoon with Dunreath; but Dignan
immediately decides his purpose in life is to save Dunreath from
what he calls "the fate worse than the fate worse than death." There's
also Norman, a small boy ftom Australia, whom Larry adopts to show
what a good guy he really is. Dignan and Norman, between them, eventually
manage to convince Dunreath that she's really in love with Dignan,
and the three of them go off together while Larry happily broods
on his own greatness. Play with music. Jean-Claude van Itallie. Creating a mosaic of imaginative and stylistically diverse scenes,
interspersed with original songs; the author provides a close and
revealing examination of the American penchant for selecting leaders
who remind them as much as possible of themselves. Sharply satiric,
the action underscores not only the platitudes and tawdriness of
American politics, but also the blind reflexiveness of the voters.
People do, in effect, get what they deserve - and it is increasingly
apparent that the line between president and king, democracy and
monarchy (or even totalitarianism), has grown slimmer than one might
care to contemplate. Play. Amlin Gray. 8 men, 2 women (many roles can be doubled). Unit Set The story begins in Norway, where the stern Lutheran Church teaches
that emigration to America is sinful and that anyone who defies the
church's stand will be punished by a vengeful God. Two brothers,
Jens and Thomas Ansen, who live with a third brother, Kal, on his
farm, defy the church and leave for Wisconsin when Kal announces
his intention to marry, as Kal's farm is too poor to support so many
people. The Pastor Dagsrood is furious because their departure will
encourage others to leave, and he accuses the precentor of the church,
Harstad, of weakness in teaching God's will. But Harstad, dubious
that America is such a swamp of irreligion as the church contends,
informs Dagsrood that he too has decided to emigrate, in answer to
the call sent by some Norwegians in Wisconsin for a pastor. His defiance
persuade others who are suffering poor harvests to leave Norway as
well, including Kal Ansen and his young bride, Kaja. The second act
dramatises, with stunning effectiveness, the settlers' struggles
in seeking a new and better life in a strange, and often hostile,
country. The strength which enables them to surmount not only obstacles
like blizzards and locusts but also the tortured consciences and
twisted faith that tormented the immigrants' spirits and minds. Play Tennessee Williams. (Produced in New York as The Seven Descents
of Myrtle.) Lot is a weak and ailing youth who suffers from an attachment to
the memory of his late mother. He has come to his ancestral home,
a derelict house on the edge of a soon to be flooded river, with
his new bride, Myrtle, a television actress. Somewhat reminiscent
of Blanche Dubois from Williams's classic play A Streetcar Named
Desire, Myrtle is a luckless young woman trapped in.a world of
romantic illusions, one of which is to nurse Lot back to health so
they can consummate their marriage. Myrtle soon discovers, however,
that Lot only wants to use her to steal the deed to the property
from his embittered half-brother, Chicken, a Stanley Kowalski type,
brimming with masculinity and assertiveness ... and a few romantic
plans of his own. Comedy. William Douglas Home Cedric is a best-selling novelist living comfortably with his butler,
Hawkins, who has served him for fifty years. There have been many
women in Cedric's richly disordered life but now he is contemplating
marriage to the only one he has loved. The object of his proposal,
Evelyn, has just been to her husband's funeral, whom she married
on the rebound from Cedric. Now she is confronted by Cedric's charming
and candid proposal and must make a decision. Comedy:. E Hugh Herbert. Corliss Archer, going on sixteen, is a trial to her family and at
the same time a pure delight. She can't stand not being grown up,
and when Private Earhart is entertained by the Archers, Corliss plays
the young lady and almost precipitates a catastrophe when she considers
it a point of honour not to give away the secret that Mildred is
the girl her brother Lennie has married. It started when Mildred
and Corliss sold kisses for charity and Mildred was accused by the
Archers of being a bad influence. This led to complications that
seemed serious to the parties concerned, but are delightfully funny
to others. Meantime, Lennie became engaged to Mildred in spite of
the feud between the Pringles (Mildred's family) and the Archers,
and Corliss had to be let in on the secret. That was nothing compared
with what happened when the Pringles, on what seemed good evidence,
gleefully informed the Archers that Corliss is going to have a baby.
As a matter of fact it is Mildred who is in that situation and Corliss,
sworn to secrecy, will not speak. This being so, the Archers and
Pringles take Corliss' silence as an admission of guilt. Not until
the very end is Corliss cleared. Comedy. Frank Vickery Three women are in East Glamorgan hospital for cancer treatment.
Each woman must cope not only with the uncertainties of her health,
but with the inevitable secrets and half-truths which are maintained
by relations and nursing staff. It's up to Marlene, the strongest
and most outspoken of them all, to keep the atmosphere in the ward
cheery. Her activities make her bedfellows' time in hospital somewhat
more interesting than it would otherwise have been! Comedy. Clare Boothe. 10 men, 3 women. 3 Interior. Cindy Lou Bethany is a Southern lamb in a house-party of cynical, cold Northern wolves. She confidently expects to be chosen for the role of Velvet O'Toole in the movie version of the novel, Kiss the Boys Good-Bye, a popular Southern tale that has swept the nation. (A not-too-subtle reference to Gone With the Wind.) After making a spectacle of herself, Cindy Lou wakes up completely disillusioned, but not to defeat. Visions of the shame of General Sherman and a long line of Southern gentlemen and ladies will not permit her to accept defeat at the hands of Damn Yankees. Cindy Lou learns she has been brought to see the film's famous producer as part of a plot by the director, who wants to cast an actress friend in part of Velvet, and hopes that the contrast between that actress and the inept Southern belle will do the trick. But Cindy Lou brings all her charm to bear, and precipitates amazing crises. And as a result the blasé house guests learn a few things, and the Northerners are completely routed. In the end, Cindy Lou finds she may have anything she wants, and she is not slow to make her choice. Comedy Oliver Hailey. 3 men, 2 women. Interior. Coming together for the funeral of their father (whom they all detested
and, on occasion, tried to kill off) three bothers assemble at the
family homestead in rural Texas. The eldest, Darryl, is a thrice-divorced
ne'er-do-well who relishes the memory of having forcibly introduced
his siblings to the world of aberrant sex; Big Boots, the middle
brother, is a confused and threatening type who has been serving
a jail sentence for strangling his wife; while Tommy Joe, the youngest
of the three, is a "sensitive"
sort who gives piano lessons and has been looking after Little Boots,
his brother's young son, during the latter's stay in prison. Completing
the cast are Charlene, the town bawd, whose favors all the brothers
have shared, but who now believes that she is on the verge of a permanent
relationship with Tommy Joe; and Sarah, the recently widowed (and
now pregnant) housemaid who has also conceived a desperate, but unrequited,
passion for Tommy Joe. Trouble looms when Big Boots, who now earns
his living massaging males in Dallas, demands the return of his son,
much to the distress of his brother. Questions of sexual confusion
arise hilariously from the rowdy, macho confrontations which ensue,
and long-standing resentments test whether blood is, indeed, thicker
than,water. In the end, however, a sort of tenuous truce is achieved,
with passions still simmering but with the reassuring hope that family
feeling will, in the long run, bring order out of the antic chaos
which still reigns as the curtain falls. |