Beautiful Man Other Short Plays

THE STORIES: After being deserted in her wheelchair while her cranky nurse goes shopping, the title character of AGNES persuades a stranger to kill her, thus releasing her from her limited and unhappy life. In BREAK, two construction workers achiev

"An eviscerating satire of gender roles in popular culture, Beautiful Man imagines a world in which women are the subjects and men the objects. As three women dissect the latest Hollywood blockbuster, narrative after narrative of strong female characters fold into each other, fusing into a brutally recognizable story. In Unit B-1717, a woman is trying to clean out her storage locker and say goodbye to the past, but an overwhelming feeling of dread forces her to confront the way she has historically subjugated herself to the needs of others. In And then there was you, a mother addresses her child as they both visit milestones that offered them each independence, and in the process explores how the profound connection between mother and child evolves."--

Award-winning playwright Erin Shields has crafted three thought-provoking plays that centre on the inner lives of women, offering space for those who dare to listen.

These six plays represent the best and most humorous of Brecht's shorter works. The Jewish Wife is from the Fear and Misery in the Third Reich cycle of one-act plays, which, along with In Search of Justice and The Informer, chromicles the hardships of life in Nazi Germany. The Exception and the Rule, one of Brecht's most popular short works, grimly depicts the consequences of the mutually dependent -- yet inevitable inequitable -- relationship between the priviledged and the poor; it is included here with The Measures Taken and The Elephant Calf. Though all of these ales of horror, ad Eric Bentley calls them, have tragic undertones, they are also infused with farcical absurdities and cosmic irony so characteristic of Brecht's work.

This collection of short plays is an adaptation of traditional stories from around the world. The stories have been selected not only because they have remained favourites over time but also for their creative possibilities in terms of reading aloud, elocution and drama. The happy man's shirt is a story from Europe. From Greece we have the tales of Hercules and the cart-driver, Mercury and the woodcutter and Philemon and Baucis. The paper-maker, a story from China, tells us how the festival of lanterns began. And from Arabia we have the story of The two brothers.

THE STORIES: TO BOBOLINK FOR HER SPIRIT. Short play about the dedicated autograph hunters who lie in wait for celebrities outside of one of New York's famous restaurants. (1 man, 2 women, 2 boys, 2 girls.) PEOPLE IN THE WIND. Midnight, a bus statio

THE STORIES: THE FROEGLE DICTUM. An absurdist comedy which contrasts the widely divergent lifestyles (and personalities) of two couples to devastating effect. The action focuses on the plight of the unwashed Al, who fails repeatedly (and hilariousl