New Plays from Act's Young Conservatory

by Craig Slaight

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1880399733
• ISBN13: 9781880399736
• Release Date: September 1995
• Publisher: Smith & Kraus
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Good material for young actors in their own age range!

With the number of theatre programs for teenage actors growing, there is a need for good plays for young people to work on. The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco is helping this cause by commissioning quality plays for young actors with substantial characters in their own age range! (After all, teenagers are interesting people, too, and certainly face conflicts comparable to the highest drama!)This volume includes a play by a Hispanic playwright, a collection of scenes about high school life ("Class Action") which are inventive and funny if sometimes laboring for a message, a play revisiting America in 1968, and a wonderful piece by Pulitzer-winning Paul Zindel, "Every Nineteen Minutes The Crowd Goes Crazy," a dark comedy written with some collaboration by the young artists - which must have been a mind-blowing experience for the lucky company. "Class Action," by the way, might also be useful for the acting teacher looking for scenes to assign teenagers.Also included are journal excerpts and statements by young actors who worked on these plays, which does not shed much light on the process or do more than promote A.C.T.'s program. Production photos might have made for a better appendix.

Great Plays

This is a great collection of plays which are comissioned by award winning professional playwrights. It is great to see that these playwrights are creating a new body of theater writing which sees the world through the eyes of the young while captivating an intergenerational audience. These plays are deep, challenging, and powerful.