Stage Voices

BOOK: APPLAUSE TO RELEASE 'PLAYING WITH A PURPOSE: MONOLOGUES FOR KIDS AGES 7-15', JUNE 2013

(From Broadway World, 4/30.)

Kids today face a different world-and a different set of challenges-than did the children of even 15 years ago. Young actors need a highly diversified selection of monologues to choose from when studying, practicing, or auditioning for theatre.

Playing with a Purpose: Monologues for Kids Ages 7-15 (June 2013, $16.99), from Applause Books' well-known One on One monologue series, fills a pressing need for a new volume of monologues that convey a worldview that kids can more easily relate to. In the introduction, the editors state:

"Ingenious directors, teachers, and parents have put youth theatre together in their communities, passing strong speeches along and compiling notebooks, but core work is scattered everywhere.Monologues, those delicate objects of passion, anger, heartbreak, or whimsy, are like the theatre itself; they exist in the present moment and can become unobtainable because of rights issues or mere neglect. Beautiful pieces from the past can be lost as new work, new plays, new artists take their places. Reclaiming this material was part of our task, much like locating a forgotten folk- or fairytale or finding a melody heard long ago."

Playing with a Purpose includes monologues from the ancient Greeks and Shakespeare; other classics like Lewis Carroll, James Joyce, and Mark Twain; contemporary dramatists including realist Carson McCullers and magical realist José Rivera; plays based on literature like Treasure Island and Roald Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World; and even monologues written by middle school students who worked with theatre artists from the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.

Playing with a Purpose will be released on June 18, 2013.

9781557838414
Paperback
$16.99
256 pages
5.25" x 7.75"
Applause Books,
an imprint of Hal Leonard

Stephen Fife (Santa Monica, CA) has written extensively about actor training for the New York Times, Village Voice, American Theatre, and many other publications; he has also worked with kids as an acting teacher/coach, writing teacher, and stage director over a period of 37 years, in a variety of different formats and programs in the New York City and Los Angeles areas. For the last five years, he has worked directly with kids in his company, the Young Actors Workshop.

Bob Shuman (New York City) is the owner of the Marit Literary Agency and the theater website Stage Voices, as well as a publisher, a playwright, and currently a professor at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx. He is a recipient of Hunter College's Irv Zarkower Award for excellence in playwriting and is a fellow of the Obie-winning Lark Theater Company. He is the co-author of Simply Elegant Flowers with Michael George and co-editor of Duo!: The Best Scenes for Two for the 21st Century, One on One: The Best Women's Monologues for the 21stCentury, and One on One: The Best Men's Monologues for the 21st Century. 

View book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/One-Playing-Purpose-Monologues-Applause/dp/1557838410

Read more about Applause to Release PLAYING WITH A PURPOSE: MONOLOGUES FOR KIDS AGES 7-15, June 2013 by broadwayworld.com

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HEY, LOOK WHAT'S COMING IN JUNE--OUR NEW YOUTH MONOLOGUE BOOK FROM APPLAUSE

 GETTING THE PART--DRAMATIC PIECES FOR THE ASPIRING ACTOR 

Celebrating the young actor, One on One, Playing with a Purpose introduces over 85 monologues, for ages 7-15.  The anthology is drawn from classic repertory, Broadway shows, the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning writers, plays from veteran and up-and-coming dramatists—and even kids themselves! The parts are courageous, funny, heartbreaking, and universal; the characters, contemporary, modern, maybe outrageous, even timeless, and always deeply human. Ideal for students of theatre, youth groups, acting classes, playwrights, and auditioning thespians, the collection includes roles as time-honored as Peter Pan and Juliet, as powerful as Anne Frank and Antigone, and as mischievous as Puck and Huckleberry Finn.  Highlighted are Oz extras, fairy tale favorites, pirates, zombies, anime holdouts, and Edith Ann, as well as a Cyclops, a robot, a Jabberwocky, Man-in-the-Moon marigolds, barking sharks, and Hollywood arms—the best of writing from:  

AESOP*J. M. BARRIE*CARRIE HAMILTON AND CAROL BURNETT*LEWIS CARROLL*MIGUEL DE CERVANTES*NILO CRUZ*EURIPIDES*HERB GARDNER*JEAN-ROCK GAUDREAULT*FRANCES GOODRICH AND ALBERT HACKETT*WENDY GRAF*LORRAINE HANSBERRY*HOMER*ISRAEL HOROVITZ*QUIARA ALEGRÍA HUDES*HENRIK IBSEN*JAMES JOYCE*CAROL S. LASHOF*LISA LOOMER*KEN LUDWIG*DONALD MARGULIES*CARSON MCCULLERS*OYAMO*JOSÉ RIVERA*WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE*SOPHOCLES*TOM STOPPARD*CARIDAD SVICH*MARK TWAIN*LILY TOMLIN*JANE WAGNER*NAOMI WALLACE*LUCY WANG*LANFORD WILSON*DAVID WOOD*CRAIG WRIGHT*KELLY YOUNGER*PAUL ZINDEL*PLUS MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM THE LOS ANGELES PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, WORKING WITH THEATRE ARTISTS FROM CENTER THEATRE GROUP*AND MANY MORE . . .

Bob Shuman, MFA, is the owner of the Marit Literary Agency and the Web site Stage Voices (www.stagevoices.com), which includes his theatre writing and criticism. He has written songs for and acted in children’s theatre; he is also a playwright, college professor, author, Fellow of the Lark Theatre Company, recipient of Hunter College’s Irv Zarkower Award for excellence in playwriting, and co-editor of four previous drama anthologies. Bob lives in New York City.

Stephen Fife, MFA, founded and ran The Young Actors Workshop, directing kids 7–15 in original musicals he wrote for them, including Charming and Young Forever. The first literary manager for Primary Stages, he has also written plays such as Blue Kiss, Sizzle Sizzle, and Savage World, as well as feature articles on theatre for the New York Times, New Republic, Village Voice, New York Newsday, and others. His memoir Best Revenge: How the Theater Saved My Life and Has Been Killing Me Ever Since recounts his work with Joseph Chaikin. Steve lives in Santa Monica, California.

Marit E. Shuman began work on this book when she was 14 years old. From New York, she attends The Horace Mann School. She is a lover of musical theatre and is a member of The Horace Mann Theatre Company, The Horace Mann Glee Club, and the Girl’s Ensemble.

Eloise Rollins-Fife started work on this project when she was a 13-year-old eighth grader at The Archer School for Girls. Her favorite things to do are sing, act, read, write, listen to music, and hang out with her friends. Her dream job would be as a writer/director.

(c) 2013 by Marit E. Shuman and Bob Shuman.  All rights reserved.

SHAKESPEARE, THE RUTHLESS BUSINESSMAN

(Jill Lawless’s article appeared on AOL, 4/1/13.)

LONDON -- Hoarder, moneylender, tax dodger -- it's not how we usually think of William Shakespeare.

But we should, according to a group of academics who say the Bard was a ruthless businessman who grew wealthy dealing in grain during a time of famine.

Researchers from Aberystwyth University in Wales argue that we can't fully understand Shakespeare unless we study his often-overlooked business savvy.

"Shakespeare the grain-hoarder has been redacted from history so that Shakespeare the creative genius could be born," the researchers say in a paper due to be delivered at the Hay literary festival in Wales in May.

(Read more)

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/01/shakespeare-ruthless-businessman-scholars-reveal/

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EXCLUSIVE: READ FREE EXCERPT FROM JOANNE BRASIL’S NOVEL ‘BIG MAMMA’S #1 WITH COLESLAW, TO GO’

Thanks so much for visiting Stage Voices for the latest in Theatre news and writing. Currently, we are privileged to be offering a free chapter from playwright JoAnne Brasil’s first novel--in a series of four--called Big Mamma’s #1 with Coleslaw, To Go.

The revised and expanded edition is set in Phoebus, a small military town in southeastern Virginia and told by the narrator and protagonist Cecelia O’Malley.  As the inside cover of the original novel puts it, “Raised by the Irish immigrant owners of Billy’s Bar-B-Que . . . Cecyl escapes after high school graduation and moves to Boston where she supports herself by working as a janitor. Ill-prepared for the larger world of late 1960’s America . . . Cecyl is usually caught off-guard, but she always rebounds with a tenacity and love that draw us to her spirit.”

Originally titled Escape from Billy’s Bar-b-que--the book went into a second printing--Alice Walker (author of the Pulitzer winner, The Color Purple)--who published the work through her Wild Trees Press in 1985—has written “To those who have wanted to dismantle racial pigeonholes and leap over social barriers in a single bound, this book will offer special insight and encouragement.” 

Additional praise includes:

“This is a novel written the way people talk. That leads us into the way people feel, and we are rewarded with one woman’s story and a valuable reminder that hearts and times do change—and for the better.”--Gloria Steinem 

“This fragile novel packs a surprising wallop you’ll feel for a long time afterward.”--Patricia Holt, the San Francisco Chronicle

“Brasil has written a brilliant story about the way people talk, the way they feel and, as Cecyl puts it, the way they should ‘treat each other normal’.”--Publishers Weekly

 “Cecyl is funny and sad, brave and devastatingly honest. JoAnne Brasil is uncompromising and true. So is her brave heroine.”--Dorothy Bryant (self-published Berkeley literary icon)

“Off-beat Characters on the Mark. . . . Brasil’s story is both hopeful and convincing, and given the size of the social walls Cecyl runs into this is no small accomplishment . . . perceptive and well-written. . . . ”--Daily Californian (UC Berkeley paper)

JoAnne Brasil is a writer living in Salem, MA. She’s worked as a news reporter for the Brattleboro Reformer in Brattleboro, VT, was a letter-writer for Smithsonian, wrote an astrology column for Poets & Writers magazine, and was the host of a Sunday morning radio program for WBUR Public Radio in Boston. She has written numerous plays, scripts and short stories, and is now in the process of completing the third in the Escape from Billy’s Bar-B-Que novels.

Copyright 2013, JoAnne Brasil. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

For rights inquiries contact: Bobjshuman@gmail.com

Visit JoAnne Brasil’s Web site: http://www.joannebrasil.org/

JoAnne Brasil at Hildegard's Wander Theater: http://wandertheater.org/index.htm

Photos: Top of page, German production of The Wander Theater:  JoAnne Brasil (r) and actor Andrea Rump (l) at the Project Theater (it was part of the Dresden Yiddish Theater and Music Week). Above, American production: JoAnne Brasil (r) and Georgette Beck (l) in front of the Griffen Theater in Salem, MA. Photos courtesy of JoAnne Brasil.

SCHOLARS SAY SHAKESPEARE WROTE HIS OWN PLAYS

 (Dalya Alberge’s article appeared in the Guardian, 3/30.)

A group of 22 of the world's leading Shakespeare scholars have come together to produce a book that details what they consider to be definitive evidence that the Bard really did write his own plays.

Since the 1850s, 77 people have been suggested as the likely author, with Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere – the 17th Earl of Oxford – and Christopher Marlowe the most popular candidates, and Queen Elizabeth I among the most outlandish. The academics feel the anti-Shakespeare campaign has intensified lately, and that the elevation of Shakespeare authorship studies to master's degree status has been the final straw.

Three eminent experts on Bacon, Oxford and Marlowe are among the Shakespeareans who demonstrate in a series of essays precisely why only Shakespeare could have written his plays and poems, apart from his collaborations. Cambridge University Press will publish Shakespeare Beyond Doubt: Evidence, Argument, Controversy on 18 April, days before the Shakespeare birthday celebrations in Stratford-upon-Avon on 20-21 April. The publication – which they say will be scholarly, but accessible for general readers – is co-edited by Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells, noted scholars from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the academic charity.

(Read more)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2013/mar/30/shakespeare-scholars-silence-doubters

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*****PETER MORGAN: 'THE AUDIENCE' (REVIEW PICK, UK)

 

(Charles Spencers’s review appeared in the Telegraph, 3/6.)

What a great if faintly guilty pleasure this play proves. In times past, the dramatist Peter Morgan would have been locked up in the tower for such impudent lese-majesty, and might have counted himself lucky to have kept his head on his shoulders.

But as he showed in his screenplay for The Queen about the crisis that engulfed the Royal Family following the death of Princess Diana, Morgan admires his monarch. And in this marvellous piece, with Helen Mirren once again giving a magnificent performance as the Queen, he penetrates at least some her mystery, with compassion, grace,affection and humour.

(Read more)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/9910160/The-Audience-Gielgud-Theatre-review.html

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BRETT NEVEU: "THE OPPONENT” (REVIEW PICK, CHI)

(Chris Jones’s article appeared in the Chicago Tribune, 10/23.)

The last several Brett Neveu plays — and this Chicago-spawned, Los Angeles-based scribe is nothing if not prolific — have been set in some nebulous, minimalist, metaphorical universe. They didn't land anywhere in particular, at least not beyond the writer's imagination and the viewer's mind.

But "The Opponent," the latest Neveu play, is specific, all right. It's set in a gym in Lafayette, La. If there were any doubts about that, there is a huge boxing ring stuffed into the tiny Old Town confines of A Red Orchid Theatre.

(Read more)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/theaterloop/ct-ent-1024-opponent-review-20121023,0,2491158.column

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STAGE VOICES IS CURRENTLY FINISHING A BOOK PROJECT . . .

We thank you for your continued support—and we will be back to posting regularly at the end of  September.

All Best,  Stage Voices

SHIRLEY JONES MEMOIR TO GALLERY

 

(from Lunch Weekly, 8/14)

Memoir
Star of movies including Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The Music Man, and the TV series The Partridge Family, Shirley Jones' memoir, written with Wendy Leigh, presenting "the real Shirley Jones -- an earthy, gutsy woman," writing candidly about her life as a mother, stepmother, and divorcee -- from her first husband's bisexuality, alcoholism, and mental illness to her current marriage to TV comic Marty Ingels, including stories about some of Hollywood's biggest names (among them Partridge Family co-star, David Cassidy), to Jennifer Bergstrom at Gallery, with Mitchell Ivers editing, for publication in June 2013, by Dan Strone at Trident Media Group (world). 

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BOOK: GARY MARMORSTEIN’S ‘A SHIP WITHOUT A SAIL: THE LIFE OF LORENZ HART’ (REVIEW)

 

(Michael Feingold’s article appeared in the Village Voice, 7/18.)

'I was small [when I was born], and am still small, because my heavy brain does not permit me to grow in a vertical direction." The cockeyed witticism, from a jocular self-interview that the teenage Lorenz Hart published in a high school periodical, shows that his signature attitude toward life was already firmly in place, years before he had begun to write the song lyrics that made him one of the immortal figures of the American musical theater. The line's ironic bravado, barely concealing an undercurrent of painful rue, crystallizes Hart's tone, a perfect balance of outward humor and inner hurt.

(Read more)

http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-07-18/theater/a-ship-without-a-sail-the-life-of-lorenz-hart-looks-at-the-woeful-triumphant-career-of-the-great-lyricist/

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