The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama, and Death in Nineteenth-Century America
Nigel Cliff
Random House, 2007
by Robin Galen Kilrain~
Riots over Shakespeare. Well, more precisely, over two famous Shakespearean actors and the nations and classes of fan base they represented. Though it would be easier to blame the violent eruption on the curse of Macbeth, being performed inside New [...]
Mis-directing the Play: An Argument Against Contemporary Theatre
Terry McCabe
Ivan Dee, 2001
by Robin Galen Kilrain~
Some people believe that directors rightly operate in a gray area between serving playwrights’ intentions and satiating their own creativity. Terry McCabe is not one of them. To him, the issue is black and white: The playwright is the only creative, in [...]
Slings & Arrows: The Complete Collection
Created by Susan Coyne, Bob Martin and Mark McKinney
Acorn Media (Blu-ray edition), 2010
by Robin Galen Kilrain~
The Blu-ray edition of Slings & Arrows: The Complete Collection was recently released, and I can’t think of a more worthy departure from a book being the Thing. If you haven’t yet experienced this witty [...]
The Actor’s Guide to Greed
Rick Copp
Kensington, 2005
by Robin Galen Kilrain~
If you can overlook the somewhat off-topic title and misleading campiness of the cover art, you’ll find a deftly plotted murder mystery within the jacket of The Actor’s Guide To Greed, the third in Rick Copp’s series of “Actor’s Guide” novels. But wait, there’s more! Generously [...]
The Confessions of Edward Day
Valerie Martin
Random House, 2009
by Robin Galen Kilrain~
If you’re like me, the ominous aura and compelling foreshadowing will draw you in to this novel. Author Valerie Martin will seduce you, as the nighttime ocean does Edward Day at the beginning of his “confessions.” Swim parallel to the shore for a while — [...]
No Place Like Home: A Memoir in 39 Apartments
Brooke Berman
Random House, 2010
by Robin Galen Kilrain~
You may have been there yourself. Well, maybe not literally there (428 East 9th Street in the East Village, New York City).Or there (285 Mott Street in SoHo). Or even there (48 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn). But perhaps, instead, in a [...]
Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art Out of Desperate Times
Susan Quinn
by Robin Galen Kilrain
When Susan Quinn writes, “First the stock market collapsed, then the banks closed, then ordinary people began to lose their jobs,” she isn’t describing this country’s recent financial history but that of America in the [...]
by Robin Galen Kilrain~
Banned Plays: Censorship Histories of 125 Stage Dramas
Dawn B. Sova
By Robin Galen Kilrain
Blocked from view. Deemed not fit for the theatre-going public. Cut, sliced and diced. Each of the shows referred to by Dawn Sova in Banned Plays: Censorship Histories of 125 Stage Dramas has been “challenged” sometime during the past 2,500 [...]
by Robin Galen Kilrain~
Tips : Ideas for ActorsJon Jory
Jon Jory doesn’t want you to read straight through his book. He’s in favor of “tip dipping,” instead. Comparing the cover-to-cover consumption of Tips: Ideas for Actors to downing numerous espressos one after another, Jory suggests that spreading out its ingestion may prove more useful. And enjoyable. [...]
by Robin Galen Kilrain~
Playwrights at Work: The Paris Review Interviews George Plimpton, editor
You’re familiar with their names: Beckett, Wasserstein, Shepard, Hellman, Albee and Pinter among them. And probably with the disparate styles of their plays, as well. The hows and whys leading to those end products, however, may have eluded you. Until now. It’s just [...]
