Around the World in 21 Plays : Theatre for Young Audiences

by Swortzell, Lowell

• ISBN13: 9781557833709
• ISBN10: 1557833702
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-01
• Publisher: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books

Summary

Includes: The Flying Doctor (Moliere) * The Love of Three Oranges (Langston Hughes) * Escape to Freedom (Ossie Davis) * No Worries (David Holman) * Soul Gone Home (Langston Hughes) * and more!

Table of Contents

Introduction: Reading Plays	vii
PART ONE: PLAYS FROM THE PAST FOR PERFORMANCE TODAY
England	3	(16)
Jack Juggler
The first play written expressly for children to perform
France: The Flying Doctor	19	(16)
Moliere
Sganarelle plays Doctor and everyone feels better!
Italy: The Love of Three Oranges	35	(14)
Carlo Gozzi
The scenario of a fairy-tale play to be improvised by a group of players
England: Punch and Judy: Their Tragical Comedy, Their Comical Tragedy	49	(18)
The traditional play for puppets and actors
Sweden: Lucky Peter's Journey	67	(38)
August Strindberg
A teenager searches for values and finds love
Poland: Childhood Plays	105	(24)
Stanislaw Witkiewicz
Three theatrical fantasies by an imaginative boy
France: Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters	129	(8)
Gertrude Stein
A melodrama that is not a melodrama
USA: Soul Gone Home	137	(10)
Langston Hughes
A short play about life and death in the Ghetto
PART TWO: PLAYS BY CONTEMPORARY PLAYWRIGHTS FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES
New York City: Maggie Magalita	147	(56)
Wendy Kesselman
Three generations of Hispanic women dwelling in a tiny appartment
Canada: The Ice Wolf	203	(32)
Joanna Halpert Kraus
A mythic tale of Inuit shamans, spirits, and superstitions
Sweden: Medea's Children	235	(44)
Per Lysander
Suzanne Osten
A classical legend as seen by children of divorce
Southern USA: Wiley and the Hairy Man	279	(40)
Suzan Zeder
Adventure set deep in the mysterious Tombigee Swamp
Maryland: Escape to Freedom	319	(54)
Ossie Davis
Young Frederick Douglass learns to read and yearns for freedom
Any Urban Slum: Rats	373	(16)
Israel Horovitz
A play for two rats and a baby
USA: The Pinballs	389	(42)
Aurand Harris
Life in a foster home, dramatized from the award-winning novel by Betsy Byars
Australia: No Worries	431	(56)
David Holman
In Australia, nine-year old Matty Bell and her family must move from the countryside to the big city
New York City: A Visit from St. Nicholas, or the Night before Christmas	487	(36)
Lowell Swortzell
On Christmas Eve, 1822, Clement Clark Moore's house is not quiet as a mouse---in fact, everyone is stirring!
Tennessee: Big Mary	523	(38)
Mark Medoff
As the song says, ``They hung the elephant in Eddington, Tennessee.'' A play for high school performers
USA: Afternoon of the Elves	561	(54)
Y York
Sara Kate faces illusion and reality at school, home and, especially in her backyard, a junkheap where the elves reside. Adapted from the novel by Janet Taylor Lisle
China and San Francisco: Dragonwings	615	(42)
Lawrence Yep
A father and son build an airplane in San Francisco's Chinatown at the turn of the century. Based on Yep's famous novel
England: How to Write a Play	657	(20)
Peter Terson
Everything you need to know
Afterword: A New Age in Theatre for Young Audiences	677	(12)
Play List: Other Plays of Interest	689