"This work is first rate! It is exciting to find this collection of truly short plays by truly accomplished playwrights ... ideal for school reading and workshop productions." -Kliatt Applause
is proud to continue to publish the series that for over 60 years has been the standard of excellence for one-act plays in America. From its inception, The Best American Short Plays has
identified new, cutting edge playwrights who have gone on to establish award-winning careers, including Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, Wendy Wasserstein, Terrence McNally, and David Mamet.
This new volume includes John Guare's What a Threshold, Beckoning; John Ford Noonan's Raunchy Dame in the Chinese Raincoat; Craig Lucas's Your Call is Important; Tina Howe's Water Music; and
Joe Pintauro's Twenty Dollar Drinks. The subject matter of this 14-play collection, with half of the plays by women, is up to the minute: In Jules Tasca's The Death of Bliss a young Palestinian
wife pleads with her husband not to become a suicide bomber. Melanie Marnich's The Right to Remain was commissioned by Mixed Blood Theatre for its Bill of (W)Rights project, designed to explore
the state of the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights at the beginning of 2004. Peter Maloney's Leash is set in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. And for variety's sake, Deborah Brevoort's Blue Moon
Over Memphis is a Noh Drama about Elvis Presley. Other plays rounding out the collection include Jordan Harrison's Fit for Feet; Mildred Ruiz's Rhythmicity, in collaboration with Steven Sapp,
Reg.E .Gaines, Rha Goddess, Reggie Cabico, Willie Perdomo, and Gamal Chasten; Mary Gallagher's Perfect; and Lavonne Mueller's The Wounded Do Not Cry, the latter inspired by the life of Frances
Slanger, forgotten heroine of the Normandy invasion. Susan Miller's The Grand Design was staged in Los Angeles at the Canon Theatre in an evening of original one act plays benefiting Cure
Autism Now, starring Lily Tomlin and Eric Stoltz, It was also performed by Marsha Mason and Scott Cohen at Town Hall in New York City for Brave New World, a marathon of plays commemorating
9/11. It was also a finalist for the Actor's Theatre of Louisville's Heideman Award.
