Explore Plays

A Walk in the Woods is a 1988 play by Lee Blessing. It depicts the developing relationship between two arms limitation negotiators, one Russian and one American, over a year of negotiation. The play was nominated for both a Tony award and a Pulitzer Prize.

Ah, Wilderness! is a comedy by American playwright Eugene O'Neill that premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on October 2, 1933. It varies from a typical O'Neill play in its happy ending for the central character, and depiction of a happy family in turn of the century America. It is O'Neill's only well-known comedy.

America Hurrah is a satirical play by Jean-Claude van Itallie, which premiered at the Pocket Theatre in New York City on November 7, 1966. The play was an early expression of the burgeoning 1960s counterculture, expressing discontent with American consumerism and involvement in the Vietnam War. It consists of three one-act plays: "Interview," "TV," and "Motel."

Don, Teach, Bobby conspire to steal a coin collection from a man. Don, who owns the junk shop where all the scenes take place, sold a coin to a man for much less than what he now suspects it's worth. He and his young gofer, Bobby, plan to steal the coin back. Teach, a poker buddy of Don's, persuades Don that Bobby is too inexperienced and untrustworthy for the burglary. Teach suggests himself as Bob's replacement on the mission. Teach suggests they steal the whole coin collection and more. Don insists on their poker buddy Fletcher going with Teach. Teach continues to argue that he can do without Fletcher. At night, Teach and Don make final preparations to begin the burglary while waiting for Fletcher. Teach argues that he'll go without Fletcher and declares Fletcher a liar and a cheater at cards. Teach is preparing to go on his own and Don is telling Teach to calm down and leave his gun, when Bob appears at the store. Bobby attempts to sell Don a rare coin, similar to the one Don sold. When asked where he got the nickel, Bob evades. It seems Teach thinks that Bobby and Fletcher organized a competing burglary behind their backs. He asks Bob where Fletcher is. Bobby says Fletcher got mugged and is in a hospital, but when Don calls the hospital, no Fletcher. Bob says he got mixed up what hospital but by this time a suspicious Teach strikes Bobby on the head with a metal object. Then another friend calls corroborating Bobby's story and naming the correct hospital, which Don calls and confirms. Don admonishes Teach for wounding Bob and orders him to get his car so they can take him to the hospital.

The action takes place over the course of several weeks in August inside the three-story home of Beverly and Violet Weston outside Pawhuska, Oklahoma. The play is reminiscent of Alexandre Dumas, fils' play The Lady of the Camellias (a.k.a. "Camille"), centering as it does on the waning days of a sharp-tongued addicted dying woman who is surrounded by a large cast of eccentric lazy hangers-on revealed as various love-hate relationships unfold. The similarity is emphasized by links between the names of the main characters, "Violet" in Letts' play and "Violetta" in "La Traviata" (the opera made from Dumas' "Camille"). However, at the end of Letts' play, the man is dead and the woman lingers on.

The farcical comedy focuses on Prudence and Bruce, two Manhattanites who are seeking stable romantic relationships with the help of their psychiatrists, each of whom suggests the patient place a personal ad. Bruce is a highly emotional bisexual who tends to cry easily, a trait homophobic Prudence sees as a weakness. Their first meeting proves to be disastrous and the two report back to their respective therapists - libidinous Stuart, who once seduced Prudence, and eccentric Charlotte, who stumbles over the simplest of words, references the play Equus as a good source of advice, and interacts with Bruce and all her patients with the help of a stuffed Snoopy. Clearly the two are more troubled than their patients. Charlotte suggests a revised ad, which once again attracts Prudence, but this time she and Bruce manage to get past their initial loathing and discover they actually like each other. Complications ensue when Bruce's jealous live-in lover Bob decides to assert himself and do everything possible to maintain his status quo.

The two leads, Anna and Claire, argue over Claire's new found "Love" while Anna's Scottish maid, Catherine, is brought to tears by her employer's harsh verbal rebukes. Things get tense as Anna, a mistress to a wealthy gentleman, tries to talk Claire out of her profession of love for another: a young woman. Claire, on the other hand, has already made plans with her young love to meet at Anna's house in the hopes that she will be able to persuade her new love to engage in a "vile assignation." Things go awry, however, when the girl arrives and recognizes that an emerald necklace that Anna is wearing belongs to her mother. The plot line focuses on whether Anna and Claire will be able to find a way to hold on to both the girl and her wealthy but unfaithful father. The play is delivered through quick, witty Victorian-era dialogue, mixed with double entendres and vernacular expressions, to explore the relationship between the two women and their maid. Through humor and nuance, the play explores the negotiation, conflict, compromise and reconciliation that arise in their relationship.

Bus Stop is a drama, with romantic and some comedic elements. It is set in a diner in rural Kansas, about 20 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri during a snowstorm from which bus passengers must take shelter.

Calendar Girls is a stage play based on the film of the same name After a successful tryout at the Chichester Festival Theatre and a lengthy national tour, a stage adaptation of the film started previewing in April 2009 at the Noel Coward Theatre in the West End. The cast included Lynda Bellingham, Patricia Hodge, Sian Phillips, Brigit Forsyth, Elaine C. Smith, Julia Hills and Gaynor Faye. Calendar Girls has had several different casts to keep the show fresh. This is also to allow producers to bring in well known actresses into the play who don't want to commit to long runs. It was adapted by Tim Firth and directed by Hamish McColl. Whilst the play has been a financial success (it took in over £1.7million in advance ticket sales), the critical reception has been mixed. The play closed at the Noel Coward Theatre in London on 9 January 2010, before embarking on a second national tour, beginning on 27 January 2010. Toronto's Mirvish Productions announced in February 2010 that a Canadian production of the play will open in Toronto in April 2011, with the North American premiere taking place at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg in March 2011.

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is the story of a Southern family in crisis, focusing on the turbulent relationship of a husband and wife, Brick and Maggie ("The Cat") Pollitt, and their interaction with Brick's family over the course of one evening gathering at the family estate in Mississippi, ostensibly to celebrate the birthday of patriarch and tycoon "Big Daddy" Pollitt. Maggie, though witty and beautiful, has escaped a childhood of desperate poverty to marry into the wealthy Pollitt family, but finds herself suffering in an unfulfilling marriage. Brick, an aging football hero, has neglected his wife and further infuriates her by ignoring his brother's attempts to gain control of the family fortune. Brick's indifference and his near-continuous drinking dates back to the recent suicide of his friend Skipper. Big Daddy is unaware that he has cancer and will not live to see another birthday; his doctors and his family have conspired to keep this information from him and his wife. His relatives are in attendance and attempt to present themselves in the best possible light, hoping to receive the definitive share of Big Daddy's enormous wealth.

The plot involves George Schneider, a recently widowed writer who is introduced to soap opera actress Jennie Malone by his press agent brother Leo and her best friend Faye. Jennie's unhappy marriage to a football player has dissolved after six years, and she is uncertain if she is ready to start dating again. Neither is George, whose memories of his first wife threaten to interfere with any effort to start a new romance.