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Play. Alexander Chervinsky, adapted from the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov.
Translated by Michael Glenny Banned initially, this satirical and allegorical attack upon Marxism, Leninism and the Bolshevik revolution was eventually published in Russia in 1986. Philip Philipovich's latest experiment is to transplant organs from a human to a dog and so create a 'New Man'. Coarse and vulgar, 'New Man' aggressively asserts his rights and even obtains State backing for killing his enemies, the cats. 'A thoroughly entertaining and stimulating couple of hours.' Scotsman Play Mikhail Bulgakov, Adapted by Frank Galati. 9 men, 5 women (several roles may be doubled). Unit Set The action centres on the difficulties encountered by Professor
Preobrajansky, an innovative medical practitioner who specialises
in sexual rejuvenation (by organ implantation), in his running battle
with the management committee of his apartment house - who want the
Professor to give up some of his many rooms. Fortunately the professor
(who counters their demands by insisting that he needs even more
space) has been able to enhance the sex lives of some quite highly
placed people (with occasional side effects, such as having their
hair turn green) and his life has been protected and enriched by
such rarities as fresh meat and French wines. But when the professor
takes in a stray dog, Sharik, and transplants human testes and a
pituitary gland into his scrawny body, his troubles begin to multiply.
Sharik not only learns to walk upright and talk, but becomes "Comrade
Sharikov", the head of the Moscow Communal Property Administration
in charge of exterminating homeless cats. He also spouts Marx and
Engels, guzzles the professor's vodka, breaks wind at the dinner
table, pinches the maid, and refers lovingly to his benefactor as "Dad" -much
to the latter's annoyance. Eventually Preobrajansky, his patience
at an end (and convinced that once a cur, always a cur), performs
a reverse operation, returning Sharik to his former state - and confounding
the authorities when they come in search of the contentious "Comrade
Sharikov". Play Mark Medof : A sequel to this author's renowned success When
You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? In the first act, subtitled The Dirty Picture Man, Stephen
(Red) Ryder, the reluctant 19-year-old hero of the original play,
is now a 27-year-old Vietnam veteran who has lost a hand in the war.
Part owner and manager of a movie house in Austin, Texas, which has
recently begun to show porno films, he recounts, in an engrossing
and revealing monologue, the events of his present life - his numbing,
sometimes disquieting duties as concessionaire and general factotum
in the cinema; his involvement with a local religious cult; and the
still lingering doubts about his manhood which have remained with
him ever since, eight years earlier, he had found himself thrust,
almost accidentally, into the role of a hero. The second act, subtitled Terminal,
takes place four years later, when Stephen returns to his former
home in New Mexico to attend his mother's funeral. There he encounters
people from his past: his former sweetheart, Angel, once a waitress
in the diner where the events of the first play took place; his avaricious,
brutal stepfather, Ray, who tries to browbeat him into signing over
half of his late mother's property; and a former high school classmate,
Dickie, now the night manager of the local bus terminal, who still
carries around a newspaper account of Stephens bravery and secretly
wants to challenge him. In the ensuing confrontations, each of these
characters reveals more about himself, or herself, than each might
have wished, but each in his own way also comes to terms with what
he or she has become in the years since the fateful night of terror
when the legend of Stephen "Red" Ryder first came into being. Drama. Ralph Pape. 2 men, 3 women. Unit Set. An idealistic young woman, Carol Ann Gates, has spent most of the
1980s in a forlorn quest for love and self fulfillment. After several
years in Los Angeles and New York, she accepts an invitation from
her older sister, Melanie, to stay with her and her daughter, Patricia,
in their native Oklahoma. En route, she misses her connecting flight
and encounters Ray, a handsome young man who believes their meeting
is no accident and offers to' drive her home. She accepts his offer
and invites him to stay with her family. While there, Ray has a series
of volatile exchanges with John, Melanie's former lover who has re-appeared
after six years ...and also finds himself falling in love with Patricia,
who returns his feelings. He reveals to her that he is on a "mission
of great importance," the impact of which only becomes clear in the
play's penultimate scene. HEARTS BEATING FASTER takes the audience
on a compelling journey through the lives of five incredibly vivid
characters, whose fears and dreams mirror the changes that have been
taking place in this country - and in ourselves - over the last dozen
years. Play. Romulus Linney. 4 men, 2 women. Unit set Set in the 1860s, the action of the play centers on the desire of
the Episcopal Bishop of North Carolina to bring the word of God to
a valley so remote and untamed that brothers marry sisters and the
people live lives of brutal violence and grinding poverty. Accompanied
by an ex-convict named Starns, who once lived in the area and knows
its ways, and a young orphan boy, Billy, the sometimes overbearing
bishop sets about bringing order and decency" to the valley. Returning
to civilization to raise funds, he leaves Starns behind as his deacon,
and before long Starns, aided by Billy, has indeed worked wonders
- transforming a wild woman and her deranged lover into a respectable
married couple, leading the grizzled mountaineers in hymns, and building
a church which, to allay local superstitions, has no corners. When
the bishop returns he is amazed, but also disturbed that perhaps
earthly pleasures are replacing the poverty which is more befitting
for beholding the glory of God. He also announces that he has decided
to renounce his calling and embrace the Roman church - which leaves
Starns bereft of his illusive authority and, ironically, powerless
to halt the slide of his now questioning flock back to the easy and
evil ways of old. Comedy.
Eric Chappell Assumed identities, breakneck pace and hilarious mishaps of farce
mix with the tension and startling plot reversals of a thriller in
this clever, amusing play. The Spencers arrive for a peaceful holiday
in a luxurious Spanish villa, closely followed by actor Howard Booth
and his girlfriend. Unfortunately, Sam and Howard have matching holdalls
which have become mixed up. Yet a third, identical holdall, full
of money, brings the sinister Raynor to the villa ... David Cosgrove, from an idea by Simon Hart : Light Drama with music 4M 1F Interior set Take a trip back in time to 3rd February 1959, and the Surf Ballroom
in Clear Lake, Iowa. The Winter Dance Party featuring Buddy Holly,
the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens is just ending and the boys leave
for that fateful flight on the day the music died, securing their
place in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. With their pilot Roger they
find themselves at the Celestial Soda Fountain in the company of
the barmaid Stella. Soon the truth becomes all too clear: each of
the boys has some unfinished business to address within themselves
before the path to eternity is complete, and along the way the characters
raise the roof to cosmic heights with all their greatest hits. Play. Robert Schenkkan. 4 men, 2 women. Exterior Bobby lives with his maternal grandmother, Martha,
in Waylon, Texas, where not much goes on and work is hard to come
by. Martha has worked for 30 years in the local beauty shop, and
has raised Bobby since her daughter and son-in-law's death in a car
accident, which Bobby, as a young boy, survived. Even after he'd
grown and moved away, Bobby would return to Martha after each financial
failure and drunken stupor. But it was always a tough living arrangement
since Martha maintained incredible optimism and total belief in God,
and Bobby rejected religion, was always pessimistic and remained
angry over his parents' death. Bobby's latest business adventure
has him set up a used appliance shop right on Martha's front lawn
- used appliances and paraphernalia litter the yard. The business
goes nowhere, sending Bobby into another tailspin and more fights
with Martha over whether God will help him through another tough
time. After taking a part-time job as a guard - and getting fired
from it - Bobby challenges Martha to a duel: If God produces a miracle
in 24 hours, he will change his ways; if not, Martha must give up
religion. Within just a few minutes, the face of Jesus appears on
one of the abandoned refrigerators. Martha's good friend Jesse witnesses
it, but also knows it's not a real miracle. She keeps quiet while
watching Bobby parade the phenomenon, and market it like crazy. Martha,
at first delighted by her very own miracle, becomes increasingly
upset as she loses her job, and any sense of privacy, to the mobs
and the cameras. Jessie finally calls Bobby's bluff and turns off
her porch light - the real reason the face appeared, coupled with
some well-placed trees. Bobby's trumped-up world collapses, but with
a little help from a stranger and Martha's regained world, Bobby
sheds some of his anger, Martha relaxes in her views and they come
together with a better understanding that believing in themselves
and each other will make their lives full again. |