Playwright: Young Jean leeLicensing: Dramatists Play Service, The all-male Take Me Out tells the story of baseball player Darren Lemming. A wisenheimer beyond her years, this super engaging pregnant teen made smart-aleckyness an art form. Well, heres a plot point you wont be expecting a man falls in love with a goat. It is a charming tale about what happens when lovers share a stage kissor when actors share a real one. Marion (aunt) Felix Van Pelt (paternal grandfather) Lucille " Lucy " Van Pelt is a fictional character in the syndicated comic strip Peanuts, written and drawn by Charles Schulz. As someone who spends a fair amount of time complaining on the internet that there aren't enough female heroes out there, this may seem a strange and out of character thing to say. . Emotion, history, and passion combine in this remarkable theatrical accomplishment. Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison (US/UK)(Drama / 2f, 2m)Its the age of artificial intelligence, and 85-year-old Marjorie a jumble of disparate, fading memories has a handsome new companion whos programmed to feed the story of her life back to her. Lots of modern plays tell war stories, but they usually use a human perspective. Ugly Lies the Bone by Lindsey Ferrentino (US/UK)(Drama / 3f, 2m)Newly discharged soldier Jess has finally returned to her Florida hometown. However, feel free to browse tips and download any public domain (free) monologues on our site. The boys are left to contend with Grandma, with Bella and her secret romance, and with Louie, her brother, a small-time hoodlum in a strange new world called Yonkers. Perfect for auditions or class. Martin needs names, names like film legends Sylvia Glenn and Leatrice Monsee, for the leads. But when the dark nature of their quest breaks through the fantasy of these girls cos-playing - they find that no game can mask the deep loss theyve recently shared unless they truly discover who they are. 3. August Osage County, by Tracy Letts. . Glorie is tense, unhappy and guilt-ridden, her only child having been killed in an auto accident when she was driving. From Kushner to Karam, Miller to Mamet, and Nottage to O'Neill, these are the 25 modern and contemporary plays every actor should know. The tensions and prejudice they face form this seminal American drama. My Fair Lady 11. She brings with her not only vivid memories of Afghanistan, but painful burns that have left her physically and emotionally scarred. Caryl Churchill cleverly uses four chatty, retired British women as the voice that warns of the coming apocalypse. If part of a series, please only include the first novel unless subsequent novels have different leading characters. Sabriel, Sabriel fantasyblog.ciaraballintyne.com Harper Collins Sabriel because she was a badass who fought monsters and went on adventures. Looking for more? Her rival, Hotshot, wants to sabotage her success, which results in a fast-paced story of NASCAR drivers and their kooky fans, all in pursuit of high-octane glory. The TV industry seems obsessed with the silent-but-deadly female archetype. Playwright: Tim J. LordLicensing: Not available (read an excerpt). She finds unexpected answers and larger questions among the glittering legacies of India's past. Youll meet Andre, a wealthy older art collector, and his much younger lover and protege, Franklin. It is a charming tale about what happens when lovers share a stage kissor when actors share a real one. 21 Best Contemporary Dramatic Monologues For Women From Published Plays 1. Plays For Two Women. Witty and charmingly outlandish, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow offers a fresh, surprisingly insightful take on the human vs. technology theme. This remarkable and true-to-life scene is the premise for the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Anna in the Tropics. Over the course of a single month, these unlikely roommates infuriate, bewilder, and ultimately reach each other. who talk to each other. But at what price? Playwright: Will ArberyLicensing: Concord Theatricals. Photo: 2018 Playwrights Horizons . Contemporary romance with a strong, independent female/ heroine, established in her life and in a strong and successful career or self-employed. The play runs for less than an hour, which is just the right length; it provides enough time to absorb the jarring content, but not enough for viewers and readers to tire of the conceit. By Jex Butterworth. Blink is an intimate, quirky little romantic comedy dont worry, its not too sweet. Ask MetaFilter is a question and answer site that covers nearly any question on earth, where members help each other solve problems. When a Tibetan lama and a monk come to their home unexpectedly, asking to take their child away for a life of spiritual training in India, the parents must make a life-altering choice that will test their strength, their marriage, and their hearts. After everyone gets straightened out romantically, Vandergelder finds himself affianced to the astute Dolly Levi herself. This Pulitzer-winning play isnt saccharine or melodramatic, but heartbreakingly honest; anyone who has ever walked (or crawled) through the valley of the shadow will find connection to the emotional story. Oedipus isnt the central figure; instead, the story focuses on Mellie, a woman with a disability that has alienated the gods and the town of Thebes. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is based on the Mark Haddon novel of the same name, gives readers a peek into Christophers ultra-logical view of the world. By Janet Allard (US)(Comedy / 6f)In this breezy "NASComedy" the fast lane is stalled to a screeching halt by the arrival of a woman driver on the NASCAR scene, and egos get bruised as Holly "Legs" Nelson starts stealing the show, driving so fast some think she's cheating. He was known as a modern playwright because he wrote with realism, and had a doubtful way of portraying the gods in his plays. As a tour guide at Fustian House, one of the least stately of Londons stately homes, she theatrically embellishes its historical past, ultimately coming up on the radar of Lotte Schon, an inspector from the Preservation Trust. The characters are flawed and funnyand youll be glad you dont have to hang out with them in real life. In a play, character's action description and thought are revealed by _____ or _____. Playwright: Lynn NottageLicensing: Dramatists Play Service. Erin La Rosa 3. Playwright: Quiara Alegra HudesLicensing: Dramatists Play Service, A corporate collapse might not seem like fertile fodder for a play, but Enron takes it on with glee. Civil war is raging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Mama Nadi is trying to keep her head above water. Set in 16 th -century Verona, the story centres around two young lovers whose families hate each other, and as you can imagine, it really doesn't . Lettice and Lovage by Peter Shaffer (US/UK)(Comedy / 3f, 3m)Lettice Duffet, an expert on Elizabethan cuisine and medieval weaponry, is an indefatigable but daffy enthusiast of history and the theatre. Without being heavy handed or boring, Schreck tackles everything from abuse to the people who are ignored by the Constitution (hint: its most of us). A play about ambition, growing up, and how to find our souls in the heat of it all. I don't know if they're recent enough to be considered contemporary, but the plays of Jane Martin (a pseudonym for a never-revealed playwright who may or may not be Jon Jory) are great for interesting female charcters. Complex psychological and philosophical ideas about the nature of consciousness are explored here, but it is the Major's badass fighting that makes this cyberpunk thriller such a delight. Its 1981, and the Carney family is celebrating the harvest at their farm in Northern Ireland. Lynn Collins plays Portia in The Merchant of Venice Lady Macbeth in Macbeth Lady Macbeth is thought of as a very strong woman. The Flick is a monster of a play; it runs for 3 hours. But she has two lacquered daughters, her own Regan and Goneril, who are covetous of the family fortune and resent the manner in which she is enjoying it. Its an interesting, and sometimes opaque, examination of the psychology of modern straight white males. (Titles 59 and 60 are set for publication in 2019). Given the generally understated nature of the writing and the mundane movie-theater setting it feels like a lot. 23. The play tackles a host of themes ranging from the intellectual to the personal (e.g., the difficulties young women face in the competitive world of academia and the sacrifices sometimes required for success). In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl (US/UK)(Dramatic Comedy / 4f, 3m)In a seemingly perfect, well-to-do Victorian home, proper gentleman and scientist Dr. Givings has innocently invented an extraordinary new device for treating "hysteria" in women (and occasionally men): the vibrator. She describes her role as a socialist Zionist, her emigration to Palestine in 1921, the birth of her two children and the breakup of her marriage. By Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore (US/UK)(Comedy / 3f, 7m)A cast of has-been actors plan to revive their careers in "Drop Dead!," a potboiler murder mystery directed by "Wonder Child of the Broadway Stage" Victor Le Pewe. Together, they cope with growing up, growing apart, falling in love and chasing their dreams. With a cast of just three, Blackbird is intimate and intense. Playwright: Branden Jacobs-JenkinsLicensing: Dramatists Play Service, 47 Best Modern Musicals (Written After 2000). She runs a brothel that takes in women who have been ruined by soldiers. She challenges the. Where better to begin than with four housewives in a suburban New Jersey cul-de-sac? Antagonism between a gay man and the wife of a Southern Baptist minister gives way to profound compatibility as they swing dance, tango, foxtrot, and cha-cha while sharing barbs and intimacies along with the dance steps. Women were considered the weaker gender and always in need of being protected. #17. Orgasms. The economic collapse has affected Hannah and David's relationship, and Moore's comedy subversively captures the truth buried beneath the laughs. Perhaps the good-natured sweetness and innocent enthusiasm that radiates from each of the 11 vignette-style love stories. The script is nuanced and heart-rending, offering an in-depth look at privilege of all kinds. Playwright: Yasmina Reza (translator: Christopher Hampton) Licensing: Dramatists Play Service 17. Adjacent to the doctor's laboratory, his young and energetic wife tries to tend to their newborn daughter and wonders exactly what is going on in the next room. Quinn, a former soldier in the Irish Republican Army, receives a menacing visit from an IRA leader. Playwright: Bruce NorrisLicensing: Dramatists Play Service. Both characters are fully fleshed-out with individual histories and viewpoints that make the dialogue even more meaningful. This contemporary play is equal parts funny and tragic, revealing the wild passions and anger that flow beneath a seemingly civilized middle-class life. When two actors with a history are thrown together as romantic leads in a forgotten 1930s melodrama, they quickly lose touch with reality as the story onstage follows them offstage. 365 Days/365 Plays isnt a single modern play as you might guess from the name, its a collection of 365 plays. On the surface, Fairview seems like a relatively standard family drama. In the UK/Europe, click here. Rest by Samuel D. Hunter (US/UK)(Drama / 3f, 4m)A retirement home in northern Idaho is being shut down, and only three residents and a bare-bones staff remain. A hilarious evisceration of the blind eye we all turn to climate change and the bacchanalian catharsis that awaits us, even in our own backyards. In the other is her equally stubborn cousin Liam, a secular and entitled young man, who has his shiska girlfriend, Melody, in tow. By sophia mcdougall. Not Dick Morris's type. If Martin can sign them he can get the money. Directed by Nicholas Ray, the film basically flips the gender roles of older Westerns.the men become supporting characters to two female leads who will meet in a . Always the fight. According to legend, it was no less a personage than the legendary Orson Welles who nicknamed the man born Herbert Walton Gleason Jr. in New York City on this date in 1916 "The Great One.". The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Playwright: Rajiv JosephLicensing: Dramatists Play Service. (You might recognize the characters; theyre all proxies for well-known cultural icons.) End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter (US)(Drama / 1f, 3m)A musical drama of Judy Garland's "come-back" concerts Christmas 1968: with a six-week booking at London's Talk of the Town, it looks like Judy Garland is set firmly on the comeback trail. In one corner is Daphna Feygenbam, a Real Jew who is volatile, self-assured, and unbending. Playwright: Gina GionfriddoLicensing: Dramatists Play Service. Thats exactly what happens in HIR Isaac returns home to discover that his abusive father, after having a stroke, is under the control of his now-liberated mother. Men's Journal is a rugged and refined lifestyle publication covering the coolest new gear, luxury and adventure travel, food and drink, health and fitness, and more. Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl (US/UK)(Dramatic Comedy / 2f, 5m)Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld, where she reunites with her father and struggles to remember her lost love. As the (worldly and un-) personalities clash, Charles current wife, Ruth, is accidentally killed, passes over, joins Elvira, and the two blithe spirits haunt the hapless Charles into perpetuity. Theater has always been a sign of the times and we are living through an unprecedented period of social awakening and unrest. The treatment? Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) The genre emerged as a musical expression of the second-wave feminist movement [228] as well as the labour , civil rights , and peace movements . Below is a tip of the wonderful iceberg of plays by women. Playwright: Paula VogelLicensing: Dramatists Play Service. But when a beloved computer science professor suddenly disappears, can Doreen trust her friends with her inner squirrel so she can save the day? The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, Appreciating the Density of Shakespeare in Real Time. The main plot is fine, but the real delight is in the sweet subplot that features Lemmings accountant falling in love with the game.Take Me Out is fun and snappy; it won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2003, Playwright: Richard GreenbergLicensing: Dramatists Play Service. As they grew to become the cultural icons we know today, their movements collided and their friendship was severely tested. The Oldest Boy: A Play in Three Ceremonies by Sarah Ruhl (US/UK)(Drama / 1f, 4m)In this moving exploration of parenthood, an American mother and a Tibetan father have a three-year-old son believed to be the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama. Euripides was one of the most well-known playwrights of ancient Greece. Diane C. McPhail composes a complex portrait of life in the American South at the height of the Civil War, with an outspoken young woman remaining firm in her convictions at a time when such behavior from women was looked down upon. The tool is a great reminder that females, even in a love story, can discuss other matters that don't include a man or romance. A remarkably powerful and compassionate portrait of a contemporary American woman striving for grace. Another mortal in a universe filled with superheroes is quick-witted Okoye ( Danai Gurira ). (Or, if Ben Brantley is to be believed, lucid to the point of simple-mindedness. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Instead of the poker party that begins the original version, Ms. Madison has invited the girls over for an evening of Trivial Pursuit. Push through the discomfort, and its not hard to see why this play was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2009. The reason? As Jess advances farther in the game, she begins to restore her relationships, her life, and, slowly, herself. He wants to sell an old piano that has been in his family for generations, but he shares ownership with his sister and it sits in her living room. What is the cost of revealing your true self in a time of trouble? For even more plays that go beyond the ingenue visit our website. Written by multiple award-winning playwright Jane Shepard. Its 1929, and youre a Cuban immigrant in a Florida cigar factory in Tampa. Robb, has been treating readers to two In Death books per year, bringing the series total to 58 books and counting at the end of 2018. It's on top of my to-read pile, so this is a big of a blind recommendation but I think Simon Stephens'. And for the sexism of these chauvinist drivers? Livingstones questions force all three women to re-examine the meaning of faith and the power of love, leading to a dramatic, compelling climax. The premise of The Hot Wing King is simple; Cordell is out to win an annual hot wing competition in Memphis. That is, until he finds his muse Viola. re: Plays with mainly female characters. Hes a straight-as-an-arrow lawyer and shes a free spirit always looking for the latest kick. How to Transcend a Happy Marriage blurs the lines of monogamy and asks how deeply friends, lovers, and strangers connect. The racist, xenophobic, and misogynist dialogue is uncomfortably familiar. More goes down in the session than music in this riveting portrayal of rage, racism, the self-hate, and exploitation. This debut play from playwright-of-the-minute Jez Butterworth (Jerusalem, The Ferryman) is a dream for a university aged actors. SBF 1, an English literature professor, and SBF 2, a corporate lawyer, keep each other balanced as they face their fears of rejection, hopes for romance, and reminisce about black girlhood wounds. Boy Willie tries to persuade his stubborn sister that the past is past, but she is more formidable than he anticipated. Because it feels like this is Wendy Wasserstein's bag. Playwright: Phil PorterLicensing: Concord Theatricals, If youre tired of violence against women being used as a plot device in theater, film, and TV, Revolt, She Said, Revolt Again is a must-read. The curious structure is a surprisingly effective way to illuminate issues of racial disparity and prejudice. Dont let the sharp wit and breezy dialogue of The History Boys food you this charming play has plenty to say. In 1859, an Irish playwright wrote a play (The Octoroon) about slavery in the United States; An Octoroon tells the story of a modern playwright trying to rewrite the original show. Chicha, The Emperor's New Groove Walt Disney Animation Chicha has a "no nonsense" attitude and. Happy Days by Samuel Beckett (US/UK)(Drama / 1f, 1m)Winnie is embedded waist-deep in a low mound under the blazing sunlight and is awoken by the sound of a bell. _____ this 19th-century and Edwardian playwright whose plays foreshadowed modern plays _____ his strong-willed characters dominated his tragedies _____ showed new concerns about . The women were mainly strong and are . Beatrice is one of the most brilliantly witty and straight talking of Shakespeare's female characters. A tasty recipe of hysterical laughs, sexual innuendoes, unsuccessful repressions, and delicious discoveries. After he casually comes out as gay at a press conference, Lemming believes everything will be fine. Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), Rebecca (1940) A warning to second wives and new girlfriends about the importance of tossing out all things and people belonging to your predecessor. Found inside - Page 213De Filippo's plays are a . Yes, you read that correctly. War Horse is about you guessed it a horse that goes to war. Last Dance by Marsha Norman (US)(Comedy / 2f, 2m) Claiming that she is tired of love, an aging but still beautiful poet from the American South who now lives on the coast of France has decided to give away her young lover. Playwright: David Lindsay-AbaireLicensing: Dramatists Play Service. Brothers Lincoln and Booth yes, the names are intentional are just trying to stay afloat after a challenging upbringing. How will the widows respond as their idyllic town and lifestyle faces attacks? A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (US/UK)(Drama / 3f, 7m, 1 boy)Set on Chicagos South Side, the plot revolves around the divergent dreams and conflicts within three generations of the Younger family: Walter Lee, his wife Ruth, his sister Beneatha, his son Travis, and matriarch Lena. Get the book. In the years since, its become one of the most popular plays for high school and community theater groups. Addiction, trauma, and family relationships intertwine as in life painting a crushing picture of people who are simply trying to hang on. Playwright: Christopher DurangLicensing: Dramatists Play Service, Madeleine George explores the Watsons of the world as in Sherlock Holmes trusty assistant and the roles they play in the most important developments in human history. When Annie tries to make good on her promise to her friends, she is forced to take a good look at the world that surrounds her. 9. The Agitators by Mat Smart (US/UK)(Drama / 1f, 1m) Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass are young abolitionists when they met in Rochester in the 1840s, full of hopes, dreams, and a common purpose. My Tweets Tag: strong female characters The Spanish Tragedy - Act One, Scenes 3-5: "They reck no laws that meditate revenge" Scene Three: In the Portuguese Court, the Viceroy of Portugal mourns his son, Prince Baltazar, who he believes was killed in battle. Mulan was one of my personal heroes as a child she's a fearless warrior and genuine delight.