Showing results by publisher "L.A. Theatre Works" in Literary History & Criticism

In the rigid theocracy of Salem, Massachusetts, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town. In a searing portrait of a community engulfed by panic—with ruthless prosecutors, and neighbors eager to testify against neighbor—The Crucible famously mirrors the anti-Communist hysteria that held the United States in its grip in the 1950’s.

Over the course of a steamy and tense afternoon, 12 jurors deliberate the fate of a 19-year-old boy alleged to have murdered his own father. A seemingly open and shut case turns complicated, igniting passions and hidden prejudices.

An early Miller gem about a young Midwesterner who finds good fortune shining on him while it passes others by. As his successes pile up, he starts to wonder if he deserves it—and what will happen when his luck finally runs out.  

George Bernard Shaw's warm and witty play continues to challenge conventional wisdom about male/female relationships. Candida concerns a beautiful married woman's choice between the two men who love her.

It's the middle of the high-flying, go-getting 80s in Maggie Thatcher's England, and Marlene has something to celebrate: she has just been made managing director of the Top Girls Employment Agency. But with no friends to speak of, and a past she'd just as soon forget, the guests at Marlene's party are a collection of famous women from history. Soon Marlene discovers that life above the glass ceiling is not all it's cracked up to be. This is a bold, searing comedy from an Olivier Award-winning playwright.

"One of Shaw's most enduring works, Pygmalion is an insightful comedy of class relations and perceptions, as played out between a Cockney flower girl and the irascible speech professor who has taken her on as a pet project.

After helping to murder Becket, King Henry II is haunted by memories of their passionate friendship. Appointing Becket as Archbishop was the King's greatest mistake, for Becket finds his allegiance shifting from king and country to God and Church.

An intense, chilling take on life behind bars, this performance strikes a fine balance of intellectual vigor and sophistication on the one hand and so much anguished passion on the other.

Devilishly attractive Lord Illingworth is notorious for his skill as a seducer. But he is still invited to all the "best" houses, while his female conquests must hide their shame in seclusion. In this devastating drawing-room comedy, Oscar Wilde uses his celebrated wit to expose English society's narrow view of everything from sexual mores to Americans.

Chekhov's masterful last play, The Cherry Orchard, is a work of timeless, bittersweet beauty about the fading fortunes of an aristocratic Russian family and their struggle to maintain their status in a changing world. Alternately touching and farcical, this subtle, intelligent play stars the incomparable Marsha Mason.

Miller’s famous autobiographical drama takes place inside the tortured mind of a 40-year-old lawyer. Quentin is haunted by his disastrous affair with a needy sex symbol—a character rumored to be based on Marilyn Monroe, Miller’s second wife. 

Ah, to be young, gifted, and broke! Three struggling artists swindle an art collector in Keith Bunin's critically acclaimed new play. Exploring a complex labyrinth of love, friendship, and true intimacy with moon-washed delicacy, Bunin's deft dialogue drives this beautifully constructed play to its soul-shattering climax.

This Pulitzer Prize and Tony award-winning play is the tale of a baby-boomer's long hard road from 1960s confusion to 1990s self-made woman...or so she hopes.

Arthur Miller’s deeply moving drama reunites two long estranged middle-aged brothers. Nostalgia and recrimination erupt as they sell off an attic full of furniture, their last link to a family and a world that no longer exists. This 1968 classic is a wrenching saga of plaintive gestures and missed opportunities. A co-production with the BBC. 

Diane Samuels' play about families, secrets and survival takes us to the days of the impending Holocaust. As conditions deteriorated in Germany in the 1930s, many tried in vain to escape. But thanks to a British humanitarian effort, about 10,000 Jewish children from Germany and neighboring countries were relocated to live with families in the United Kingdom, while their parents stayed behind. This passage to freedom became known as Kindertransport. The audio drama stars Jane Kaczmarek and Susan Sullivan, and includes a conversation with Kindertransport survivor Hilda Fogelson.

In 1943, Los Angeles exploded in the infamous Zoot Suit riots, provoked by the Sleepy Lagoon murder case that railroaded young Chicano gang members who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Valdez masterfully synthesizes fact and fiction, using the case to examine Chicano Zoot Suit culture of the '40s, prejudices, the role of the media in the judicial system, and Latino family culture.

Barbara is a major in the Salvation Army - but she's also the daughter of Andrew Undershaft, a man who's made millions from the sale of weapons of war. The real battle, however, rages between between the devilish father and his idealistic daughter as they answer the question: does salvation come through faith or finance? This sparkling comedy traverses family relations, religion, ethics and politics - as only Shaw, the master dramatist, can!