Plays

Theatre.  Where literature and human magic combine to bring to life to alternative worlds.  If you like theatre, Peter Pan, or Public Radio, listen to Fiasco on the This American Life archive.  

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde- Wildean social satire.  Extremely quotable.  Also a good movie. 

Much Ado About Nothing*, A Midsummer Night’s Dream*, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Hamlet, and many more by William Shakespeare.  Also watch the most recent A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing movies (Much Ado uses coconuts like in Monty Python).  Anna and I used to read these aloud to each other. 

Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee - read this in my 8^th grade reading class with the best teacher I ever had.  Has good historical and scientific content. 

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee- I love the transcendentalist lines in this play.  It is a beautiful and enlightening piece. 

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett- an absurdist play, some like them, some don’t. 

The Zoo Story, The Sandbox, and American Dream by Edward Albee- all of these plays are absurdist.  They are humorous and shocking and recommended for older readers. 

Antigone by Sophocles- I read this on my own for school and liked it- some nice sections and a good example of classical Greek literature.  Worth seeing a stage version.  I saw one in Chicago where Creon was dressed as a politician and entered with actors playing members of the secret service. 

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring- a funny play about two old women and I can’t say more or I’ll ruin it! Also a good movie.