100 Greatest American Plays

March 1, 2017
The best way to experience a play is to see it. If that isn't possible, reading is always an option. To prepare for either activity, a look at this helpful compilation is highly recommended. In it, Hischak provides concise summaries, brief analyses, cast lists, production histories, and more on 100 American theater works selected in answer to this question: Which are the most important nonmusical stage works to come from America since the first colonial-era plays? The richness of history is displayed in chronologically arranged entries that include seldom-performed antiquities like East Lynne and Ten Nights in a Barroom as well as more recent works like Proof and August: Osage County, and many more in between. All of the major U.S. playwrights are represented, and the production histories also include information about film and television versions. There is a bibliography and an appendix listing the playwrights included along with their represented plays, as well as one listing the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for American Plays, and the Tony Awards for Best Play. A welcome addition to the literature or performing arts sections of most library collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)