Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays

Book Overview

A ten-minute play is a streak of theatrical lightning. It doesn't last long, but its power can stand your hair on end. This splendid anthology contains enough wattage to light up a small city. For in its pages, thirty-two of our finest playwrights hone their skills on a form that has been called the haiku of the American stage. The plays that Nina Shengold and Eric Lane have collected in this volume range from monologues to an eight-character farce. Eminently producible, ideally suited for the classroom and audition, Take Ten is a marvelous resource for teachers and students of drama, as well as a stimulating read for lovers of the theatre. Contributors include: John Augustine, Cathy Celesia, Laura Cunningham, Joe Pintauro, Mary Sue Price, Megan Terry, Jose Rivera, Romulus Linney, David Mamet, Jane Martin, David Ives, and many others.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679772820
• ISBN13: 9780679772828
• Release Date: March 1997
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

A superb anthology of a fascinating genre

"Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays," edited by Eric Lane and Nina Shengold, is an excellent collection of theater pieces. The editors celebrate the 10-minute play as a unique and powerful sub-genre of drama; in their introduction, they note that the 10-minute play made its "official debut" as a genre at the Actors Theatre of Louisville's 1977 Humana Festival of New American Plays.This anthology contains 32 plays by a diverse group of authors. Included are some of the most important names in the American theater: Tony Kushner, Christopher Durang, David Mamet, August Wilson, etc. There are also many names that are new to me. The plays cover many different themes: love and heartbreak (both of the gay and straight varieties), violence, crime, sports, phone sex, death, racial politics, etc. There are many different tones and stylistic approaches: tragic, whimsical, surreal, raunchy, etc. The plays include one-character monologues, 2-character pieces, and multi-character pieces.There are many highlights to this excellent collection. My favorite pieces included the following: David Ives' "The Philadelphia," a witty Twilight Zone-ish comedy; Mary Miller's charming "Ferris Wheel"; Jose Rivera's "Gas," which takes place on the U.S. homefront during the Persian Gulf War; Frederick Stroppel's "Judgment Call," an ironic look into the world of baseball umpires; and Diana Son's "R.A.W. ('Cause I'm a Woman)," a sort of Asian counterpart to Ntozake Shange's "For colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf." These are just a few of the many fine pieces in this collection.I highly recommend "Take Ten" to those with an interest in playwriting, in multicultural studies, or in provocative and experimental literature in general.

For Actors and Competitors

This is by far the best scene book I own. All the pieces are unusual and interesting, powerful and captivating. Popular playwrights such as David Ives and Christopher Durang are included and many of the scenes are appropraite for various age groups. My speech team recently won with two of the pieces, Anything for You and The Man Who Couldn't Dance. Both excellent pieces. My only complaint was that the scenes are often longer than 10 minutes, despite the title of the book.

I loved it

I absolutely LOVED this delightful collection of plays. I think they would be funny to watch, and wonderful to act out. It was quite a collection, varying from plain silly to deep and touching. It would also be very good for student productions, as a night of ten minute theater. All in all, it is a hilarious, deeply entertaining read, recommended for anyone with interest in the theater.

The best collection of one act plays I've seen.

Take Ten:New 10-Minute Plays is a wonderfull book. A great collection of for the most part easily staged plays that were all neither too long or too short. The large assortment makes for a tough descision on a favorite, and several stick out in my mind. I highly recomend this book, it is thouroghly enjoyable.

"Ferris Wheel" by Mary Miller brought down the house!

TAKE TEN is a wonderful source book for any theater. It highlights not only work by well-known authors but new ones as well. "Ferris Wheel" by Mary Miller is one of the best. This short play has proven to be a crowd pleaser not only in the United States but around the world. Its genuinely funny love story relates to audiences of all ages.