English Theater

George Webber, a first-time author, writes a book that makes frequent references to his home town of Libya Hill. The book is a success, except in Libya Hill, where the residents believe that it paints an extremely distorted portrait of their town. They send Webber menacing letters, including death threats.

After a night of drunken debauchery following the defeat of the academy's headmistress, Lucas awakens to trouble on all fronts. The steady balance of power within the Imperium has been shaken by his presence, and the resulting aftermath is a town full of heavily armed and well-staffed enemies that seek Lucas' death. Lucas must not only survive their assault but also manage his own slowly crumbling internal affairs when his party begins to fracture. Angered by Lucas' increasingly selfish actions, some of his closest allies are tempted to turn against him.

Years after a near-fatal car accident almost destroyed his career, Erik Patko has finally returned to the Broadway stage, starring alongside his famous parents Lord Justyn and Lady Rebecca in a revival of the classic musical Opera Ghost. Even his girlfriend Priscilla joins the chorus after her college graduation, but instead of soaking up the accolades, Erik is tormented by his leading lady and growing more and more dependent on opiates to manage his anxiety and depression. When a masked vigilante fighting hate crimes in the Theatre District enacts vengeance on his tormentors, Erik fears ...

The Starriders are back and in trouble, once again! First, it was the drug kingpin, the Golden Dragon. Then it was local street punks, the Virus, wreaking havoc and with the Starriders in their cross hairs. Now, Kris, Jason, Kip and Rhand face their toughest obstacle, yet: prankster rivals Whitney High. This may turn out to be their strongest challenge ever... and the funnest! Summer is soon to come to a close, and they're all off to the International Youth Performing Arts Festival, at the massive convention/theme park Millennial Gardens, there to compete against other teens in a variety of...

Tom Rittenhouse is in over his head. After only one season, his best friend Lord Justyn is leaving him to run their dinner theater alone. With seven days to perfect their production of Franken-freak, Tom braves a Nor’easter on his birthday to lead their first dress rehearsal. To add to his stress, the set is plagued by strange accidents and mysterious messages. When an employee vanishes, Tom fears one of his feuding castmates may be out for blood. With danger, ghosts, and nylon stockings around every corner, this is certain to be a birthday Tom will never forget.

Why Shakespeare? What explains our continued fascination with his poems and plays? In Living with Shakespeare, Susannah Carson invites 40 actors, directors, scholars, and writers to reflect on why his work is still such a vital part of our culture.

A series of essays about the craft of acting, the various major techniques actors use, and some information about a specific technique that makes acting fun, exciting and a joy to engage in, without the self-imposed suffering actors sometimes inflict on themselves.

Who works in a theater? What is the green room? How do actors know where to stand on stage? Who controls the lights? Go on a guided tour of a theater to find out! Meet an actor and a director, see how the lighting works, hear the orchestra tune up, and watch as cast and crew get ready to perform.

Out in the Spotlight: Broadway Musicals and the LGBTQ+ Community Broadway has always been a stage for transformation, but for the LGBTQ+ community, it has been a sanctuary for self-expression, a space to challenge societal norms, and a platform for voices that were often silenced. Out in the Spotlight delves deep into the evolution of LGBTQ+ representation in musical theater, from subtle subtext and coded messages to the bold, unapologetic stories we see today. Written by a lifelong theater lover and accomplished musician, this book offers an insider’s look at the intersection of Broadway...

Four original, full-length plays: The King of Infinite Space In the ruins of an old prison at the edge of a landscape blasted by war, teenagers enact the story of the previous generation’s struggle for survival. Scenes from a Broken Hand A young man inherits an old car from his activist parents and drags his best friend on a cross-country journey in search of meaning and understanding. Motherland A teacher in a small Slovak town tries to free herself from old ways of thinking and living in the wake of the Velvet Revolution and the fall of Communism. The Wind on the Water A Jewish ...

A once-aspiring Broadway playwright of the 1950s, Mark Gessel, now 88, looks back on his life from the dayroom of a New Jersey nursing home. While his body may be infirm, his mind is still razor-sharp and brimming with stories from the heyday of New York City’s cultural scene in the middle of the twentieth century. While old age has made it difficult for Mark to physically write his stories, he tells them with passion, humor and self-reflection to his dutiful son, who gives him a computer to make recording them easier. The white lights of Broadway illuminate Mark’s story of youthful ...

Three theatrical adaptations of ancient stories: Agamemnon A queen, her son, and his teacher await the return of their king after ten years of brutal war. Gilgamesh The oldest story in the world, in which a king finds and loses a great friend, and then sets off in search of an answer to the question of eternal life. The Golem In 17th-century Prague, a rabbi and his family turn to ancient mysticism in a desperate attempt to protect their community from approaching violence.

Why would the multimillionaire producer of Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, and Miss Saigon take his limo from Manhattan to the struggling former steel town of Levittown, Pennsylvania, to see a high school production of Les Misérables? To see the show performed by the astoundingly successful theater company at Harry S Truman High School, run by its legendary director, Lou Volpe. Broadway turns to Truman High when trying out controversial shows such as Rent and Spring Awakening before they move on to high school theater programs across the nation. Volpe’s students from this blue-collar town go on to become Emmy-winning producers, entertainment executives, newscasters, and community-theater founders.

In 1959, the year Terry Galloway turned nine, the voices of everyone she loved began to disappear. No one yet knew that an experimental antibiotic given to her mother had wreaked havoc on her fetal nervous system, eventually causing her to go deaf. As a self-proclaimed "child freak," she acted out her fury with her boxy hearing aids and Coke-bottle glasses by faking her own drowning at a camp for crippled children

With his weddings and honeymoons behind him, it is time for Xeal/Alex to return to his climb to the top, only a new force seems to have other ideas regarding that. In a battle where one's will can only carry them so far, just how far can Xeal/Alex's will carry him, and will he break eternal dominion completely in the process?

Xeal/Alex has once again thwarted the designs of the major workshops and can once again return his attention to the quests that Prince Victor has assigned him. Meanwhile in reality, Abysses End has returned with the next group of their young members and Alex must deal with the issues they cause. All while preparing himself and others to making the push for tier-five and share his, Sam's, and Nicole's news with others.

The Greatest Generation is dwindling to nothing at a rapid pace. Many of them are already gone. In many cases, all we have left of them are photographs, old letters, and the dim memories of what we were told by them when we were very young. Often they preferred not to talk about their difficult times and so we have nothing of those years when they came of age. Orville K. Fleetwood was one of those who said little to his family after he returned home from serving in World War II. What we do have are his letters home from Europe written at the end of the war. Three of his brothers also served...

George Arliss (1868-1946) was an actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who decided to spend his retirement years during World War II in London, literally Ground-Zero for German bombers. He took care of his blind and seriously ill wife amidst nightly aerial assaults from Nazi planes, V-1 and V-2 rockets flying over their home. Throughout the bombardments, Arliss maintained a lively correspondence with his American friends who were safely located in the states. Now for the first time, the George Arliss wartime letters have been published and vividly echo the 21st century trauma endured by ...

Danger prowled under both the cold gray waters of the North Sea and the shimmering blue waves of the tropical Atlantic during World War II as Adolf Hitler's Third Reich attempted to strangle Allied shipping lanes with U-boat attacks. German and British submarines combed the vast oceanic battlefield for prey, while scientists developed new technologies and countermeasures.

In this program, listeners will find glamour and gaffes on and off the stage, clarifying snippets of queer theory, terrifyingly selfish bosses, sex, quick sex, KFC binges, group sex, the kind of honesty that banishes shame, glimmers of hope, blazes of ambition, tender sex, mad dashes in last night's heels plus a full face of make-up, and a rom-com love story for the ages. This is where the unspeakable becomes the celebrated. This is the diary of a drag queen - one dazzling, hilarious, true performance of a real, flawed, extraordinary life.