The scenes contained in this volume are presented exactly as written by the playwrights, with no internal deletions. The introductions to each follow the headings "Characters," "Scene," and "Time"; the playwrights' stage directions are contained in parentheses. If any two-character scene is interrupted by a third character, some external business, or an event which would be difficult to reproduce in a classroom or audition situation, we have enclosed the section in brackets as a suggested cut.
Spotlighting the best of Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional, and experimental writings since 2000, Duo! offers strong dramatic pieces for performance and study. Culled from the work of over one hundred playwrights - veterans as well as up-and-coming talents - this follow-up compendium to the popular edition of the 1990s is by turns comic, serious, or both, but always intensely human.
Filled with rich characters and universal storylines, Duo! speaks to people of all ages and backgrounds and tackles all the paramount issues of our time - from race and gender to class and politics to love and sex. Tracy Letts confronts the aftermath of betrayal on a night too hot for sleep in August: Osage County; Karen Finley exposes sexual politics outside the Oval Office in George and Martha; Lynn Nottage delineates gentility, the fear of being alone, and the passage of time in Intimate Apparel; Richard Greenberg weighs the costs of being godly or becoming merely human in the baseball-themed Take Me Out; and Tina Howe bends time, showing the universal power of dramatic recognition across the ages, in Water Music.
Culled from the work of over 100 playwrights and encompassing the seminal issues of our time, this follow-up compendium is by turns comic and serious but always intensely human. Pieces include scenes from August: Osage County, George and Martha, Intimate Apparel, Take Me Out, and Water Music.
