Synopses & Reviews
A ten-minute play is a blaze of theatrical energy. In this follow-up to their groundbreaking collection
Take Ten, editors Eric Lane and Nina Shengold have put together a veritable bonfire of talent.
Take Ten II: More 10-Minute Plays provides a fast-track tour of the current theatrical landscape, from the slapstick ingenuity of David Ives
Arabian Nights to the searing tension of Diana Sons 9/11 drama
The Moon, Please, to Susan Millers luminous fable
The Grand Design. This remarkably diverse anthology includes thirty-five short plays by such major American playwrights as Christopher Durang, Warren Leight, Romulus Linney and Donald Margulies, alongside a host of exciting new voices.
Actors, directors, producers and teachers will find Take Ten II an invaluable source of meaty roles for people of every age, ethnicity and gender; lovers of theatre will find it a richly satisfying read. These deceptively short plays throb with life in all its variety: harrowing, hilarious, and breathtakingly vital.
Synopsis
A dazzlingly diverse anthology of thirty-five short plays spanning the theatrical spectrum.
A ten-minute play is a blaze of theatrical energy. In this follow-up to their groundbreaking collection Take Ten, editors Eric Lane and Nina Shengold have put together a veritable bonfire of talent. Take Ten II: More 10-Minute Plays provides a fast-track tour of the current theatrical landscape, from the slapstick ingenuity of David Ives' Arabian Nights to the searing tension of Diana Son's 9/11 drama The Moon, Please, to Susan Miller's luminous fable The Grand Design. This remarkably diverse anthology includes thirty-five short plays by such major American playwrights as Christopher Durang, Warren Leight, Romulus Linney and Donald Margulies, alongside a host of exciting new voices.
Actors, directors, producers and teachers will find Take Ten II an invaluable source of meaty roles for people of every age, ethnicity and gender; lovers of theatre will find it a richly satisfying read. These deceptively short plays throb with life in all its variety: harrowing, hilarious, and breathtakingly vital.
Playwrights included:
Taylor Mac Bowyer
Laura Shaine Cunningham
Anthony David
Steven Dietz
Christopher Durang
Linda Eisenstein
Simon Fill
Craig Fols
Sigrid Heath
David Ives
Caleen Sinnette Jennings
Honour Kane
Eric Lane
Edward Bok Lee
Warren Leight
Romulus Linney
Donald Margulies
Susan Miller
Chiori Miyagawa
Itamar Moses
Sean O'Connor
Mark O'Donnell
Dael Orlandersmith
Rich Orloff
Joe Pintauro
Craig Pospisil
Toni Press-Coffman
Claire Reeve
Elaine Romero
Susan Sandler
Nina Shengold
Diana Son
Alison Weiss
Mary Louise Wilson
Garth Wingfield
Alexander Woo
About the Author
Nina Shengold won the ABC Playwright Award and the LA Weekly Award for her play "Homesteaders." Her one-acts have been performed all over the country, and her TV scripts include Hallmark Hall of Fame's "Blind Spot," starring Joanne Woodward, and "Silent Night." A founding member of the theater company Actors & Writers, she lives in upstate New York.
Eric Lane is an award-winning playwright, filmmaker and book editor. Plays include: Times of War, Cater-Waiter and Dancing on Checkers Grave, which starred Jennifer Aniston. His new play Heart of the City has been optioned for off-Broadway. Eric has written and produced two short films: First Breath and Cater-Waiter, which he also directed. Honors include a Writers Guild Award, La MaMa Playwright Award, Berrilla Kerr Award and two-time ONeill Center finalist. He has won fellowships at Yaddo and St. James Cavalier in Malta. Eric is Artistic Director of Orange Thoughts Productions, a not-for-profit theater & film company in New York City.
Shengold and Lane are the editors of Plays for Actresses and Take Ten: New Ten-Minute Plays, both in Vintage. For Penguin they edited Moving Parts: Monologues from Contemporary Plays, The Actor's Book of Scenes from New Plays, and The Actor's Book of Gay & Lesbian Plays, which was nominated for the Lambda Literary Award.
Table of Contents
Antigone's red /Chiori Miyagawa --Arabian nights /David Ives --Classyass /Caleen Sinnette Jennings --The Cure /Romulus Linney --Daniel on a Thursday /Garth Wingfield --Deer play /Mary Louise Wilson --El depresso espresso /Laura Shaine Cunningham --El santo Americano /Edward Bok Lee --Emotional baggage /Nina Shengold --Faith /Eric Lane --Fight dreams /Alison Weiss --The find /Susan Sandler --The grand design /Susan Miller --It's not you / Craig Pospisil --Kitty the waitress /Christopher Durang --Left to right /Steven Dietz --The levee /Taylor Mac Bowyer --Marred bliss /Mark O'Donnell --Men's intuition /Itamar Moses --The moon please /Diana Son --My red hand, my black hand /Dael Orlandersmith --Night visits /Simon Fill --Nine ten /Warren Leight --Playwriting 101: the rooftop lesson /Rich Orloff --Rosie in the shadow of the melrose /Craig Fols --A fustle of wings /Linda Eisenstein --Sinnery of a Sunday /Honour Kane --The sniper /Anthony David,Elaine Romero --Space /Donald Margulies --Stuck /Claire Reeve --Table 5 at Empire Szechwan /Alexander Woo --Twenty dollar drinks /Joe Pintauro --21 /Sigrid Heath --Virginia Street /Toni Press-Coffman --A whole house full of babies /Sean O'Connor.