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Scripts what I've read.
Here are the threatened/promised reviews.
Again, the scripts are from Leading Women: Plays For Actresses. I can read incredibly fast, which is how I got through 5 in 3 hours. I also skimmed the last one.
Anton in Show Business by Jane Martin (this is a pseudonym, widely regarded to be a front for John Jory, who founded the Actor's Theatre of Louisville)
This play reinforced my conviction that I do not like "Jane"'s voice, that I think she's too pretentious and self-referential, that I'm flat-out annoyed by her prideful cleverness. It's a play that centers around a production of The Three Sisters in San Antonio but is cast in New York as it is being produced by a regional theater. The three sisters are played by a Hollywood starlet, a fresh, naïve young girl who's just moved to NY from Texas, and an older, worn, bitter woman who's been in over 200 Off-Off Broadway shows, who happens to be in remission from breast cancer. There's slapstick, there's "poking" at racial stereotypes, and there's a character that interrupts and meta-critiques from the audience, who turns out to be a critic. For a newsletter. There are no words to say how much that trope puts my teeth on edge. (The "audience member" interrupting and providing meta-commentary.)
So, no. I didn't like it.
Collected Stories by Donald Margulies
Two woman show - one 55-61, one 24-30. It follows the arc of the relationship between the two of the them from professor/student to mentor/protégée to the sudden but inevitable betrayal (not really). Not bad. It's sort of All About Eve meets Dinner With Andre. I like it - it's a nice character study and it has some good things to say. I don't like Margulies' habit of telling-not-showing, but that it is a criticism of his stage directions, which the audience is generally unaware of. I just think he doesn't give the actors or the directors enough credit or latitude.
Breath, Boom by Kia Corthron
Incredibly cinematic. Its main thread follows a woman, Prix, from age 16 to 30 as she goes about her life as an Original Gangster and how she interacts with her homegirls, rival gang members, fellow inmates, and her parents. It was so episodic that I think I need to read it again to get a firm handle on it. It's pretty as all hell, though. Very well-written.
Five Women Wearing the Same Dress by Alan Ball
Easily my favorite of the group, probably because it skewers weddings, bridesmaid dresses that look like floats, and "society" culture all in one neat little package.
Smoking Lesson by Julia Jordan
This was the last one I read, so I'll have to go back and read it again so I can pay full attention to it. I have an affection for it because it's set in Minneapolis. "Smoking Lesson takes place under the railroad trestle where three Midwestern girls once found a drowned child. Every year, the girls return on the anniversary, and tonight, their fifteen-year-old leader will tempt fate with the older male drifter accused of the crime." That description doesn't do it justice, but it's better than what I can come up with.
Again, the scripts are from Leading Women: Plays For Actresses. I can read incredibly fast, which is how I got through 5 in 3 hours. I also skimmed the last one.
Anton in Show Business by Jane Martin (this is a pseudonym, widely regarded to be a front for John Jory, who founded the Actor's Theatre of Louisville)
This play reinforced my conviction that I do not like "Jane"'s voice, that I think she's too pretentious and self-referential, that I'm flat-out annoyed by her prideful cleverness. It's a play that centers around a production of The Three Sisters in San Antonio but is cast in New York as it is being produced by a regional theater. The three sisters are played by a Hollywood starlet, a fresh, naïve young girl who's just moved to NY from Texas, and an older, worn, bitter woman who's been in over 200 Off-Off Broadway shows, who happens to be in remission from breast cancer. There's slapstick, there's "poking" at racial stereotypes, and there's a character that interrupts and meta-critiques from the audience, who turns out to be a critic. For a newsletter. There are no words to say how much that trope puts my teeth on edge. (The "audience member" interrupting and providing meta-commentary.)
So, no. I didn't like it.
Collected Stories by Donald Margulies
Two woman show - one 55-61, one 24-30. It follows the arc of the relationship between the two of the them from professor/student to mentor/protégée to the sudden but inevitable betrayal (not really). Not bad. It's sort of All About Eve meets Dinner With Andre. I like it - it's a nice character study and it has some good things to say. I don't like Margulies' habit of telling-not-showing, but that it is a criticism of his stage directions, which the audience is generally unaware of. I just think he doesn't give the actors or the directors enough credit or latitude.
Breath, Boom by Kia Corthron
Incredibly cinematic. Its main thread follows a woman, Prix, from age 16 to 30 as she goes about her life as an Original Gangster and how she interacts with her homegirls, rival gang members, fellow inmates, and her parents. It was so episodic that I think I need to read it again to get a firm handle on it. It's pretty as all hell, though. Very well-written.
Five Women Wearing the Same Dress by Alan Ball
Easily my favorite of the group, probably because it skewers weddings, bridesmaid dresses that look like floats, and "society" culture all in one neat little package.
Smoking Lesson by Julia Jordan
This was the last one I read, so I'll have to go back and read it again so I can pay full attention to it. I have an affection for it because it's set in Minneapolis. "Smoking Lesson takes place under the railroad trestle where three Midwestern girls once found a drowned child. Every year, the girls return on the anniversary, and tonight, their fifteen-year-old leader will tempt fate with the older male drifter accused of the crime." That description doesn't do it justice, but it's better than what I can come up with.