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Identifying an apprehension about the nature and constitution of urbanism in North American plays, Westgate examines how cities like New York City and Los Angeles became focal points for identity politics and social justice at the end of the twentieth century, and how urban crises inform the dramaturgy of contemporary playwrights.
Have you ever had a friend who just seems to attract trouble, no matter what she does? That's Allure. Just 21, she barely made it out alive from an abusive relationship with her psycho baby daddy, Greg. Poor girl just wants to be loved, but the harder she tries to find the right man, the more wrong her life gets. Whether it's Lavante, who has to stuff socks in his pants to make himself feel manly; or Derek, who would be a fine catch if his bipolar disorder didn't almost get Allure killed; or Bryce, a sweet and sexy cop whose first love is the crack pipe; Allure bounces from one drama to another. Then there's James, strong and stable—until he knocks her up and hits the road. Get ready to laugh—and cry—at Allure's crazy love life.
Part of every legend is true. Or so argues Jody Enders in this fascinating look at early French drama and the way it compels us to consider where the stage ends and where real life begins. This ambitious and bracing study explores fourteen tales of the theater that are at turns dark and dangerous, sexy and scandalous, humorous and frightening—stories that are nurtured by the confusion between truth and fiction, and imitation and enactment, until it becomes impossible to tell whether life is imitating art, or art is imitating life. Was a convicted criminal executed on stage during a beheading scene? Was an unfortunate actor driven insane while playing a madman? Did a theatrical enactment of a crucifixion result in a real one? Did an androgynous young man seduce a priest when portraying a female saint? Enders answers these and other questions while presenting a treasure trove of tales that have long seemed true but are actually medieval urban legends. On topics ranging through politics, religion, marriage, class, and law, these tales, Enders argues, do the cultural work of all urban legends: they disclose the hopes, fears, and anxieties of their tellers. Each one represents a medieval meditation created or dramatized by the theater with its power to blur the line between fiction and reality, engaging anyone who watches, performs, or is represented by it. Each one also raises pressing questions about the medieval and modern world on the eve of the Reformation, when Europe had never engaged more anxiously and fervently in the great debate about what was real, what was pretend, and what was pretense. Written with elegance and flair, and meticulously researched, Death by Drama and Other Medieval Urban Legends will interest scholars of medieval and Renaissance literature, history, theater, performance studies, and anyone curious about urban legends.
In A Thug & His Queen: What Won't You Do?, three worlds are quickly and suddenly colliding. There is Danez and Ronnisha, who live the good life apartment downtown and have love that is stronger than anyone could imagine. Danez's best friend, Lamarcus, is finding himself quickly falling for Rain, a woman everyone else is not sure can be trusted. Qoree has Chocolate Bunny, or Lala, by his side. Little do any of these couple know, their lives are about to change...all over money. One night Lamarcus is kicking it with Rain when he has a surprise guest: Qoree. Qoree is furious that Lamarcus and Danez are making moves in his hood, The Land, without asking him first. Once Lamarcus winds up in the hospital, Danez makes it his goal to get not only get revenge , but also what was taken from Lamarcus' house, money, all while keeping himself and Ronnisha safe. InA Thug & His Queen: What Won't You Do?, betrayal, suspicion, and boldness will lead these three couples in differentdirections ...directions that will soon enough lead to one place and one goal. Ronnisha will quickly find out what it means to be a thug's queen, and everything that comes along with it...
For the middle class and the affluent, local ties seem to matter less and less these days, but in the inner city, your life can be irrevocably shaped by what block you live on. Living the Drama takes a close look at three neighborhoods in Boston to analyze the many complex ways that the context of community shapes the daily lives and long-term prospects of inner-city boys. David J. Harding studied sixty adolescent boys growing up in two very poor areas and one working-class area. In the first two, violence and neighborhood identification are inextricably linked as rivalries divide the city into spaces safe, neutral, or dangerous. Consequently, Harding discovers, social relationships are determined by residential space. Older boys who can navigate the dangers of the streets serve as role models, and friendships between peers grow out of mutual protection. The impact of community goes beyond the realm of same-sex bonding, Harding reveals, affecting the boys’ experiences in school and with the opposite sex. A unique glimpse into the world of urban adolescent boys, Living the Drama paints a detailed, insightful portrait of life in the inner city.
Welcome to Fool's Paradise where the women are devious, the men are ruthless, and the raw, undeniable climate of smut dominates. This is Douglass Gilmore's kingdom, a family business that grew to become one of New York City's premier adult clubs. But money, power, and seduction makes for an explosive combination—and something dangerous is about to go down... The most famous stripper at Fool's Paradise has been gunned down in the parking lot. Was it a lovers' quarrel? A rivalry between jealous dancers? Or a deliberate attempt to destroy the man behind the curtain? Douglass has won plenty of enemies in the business. Now, with the cops, the FBI, and the mob at his door, everything is on the line...and Douglass has only once chance to defend the family empire—or lose it all.
Theatres of Independence is the first comprehensive study of drama, theatre, and urban performance in post-independence India. Combining theatre history with theoretical analysis and literary interpretation, Aparna Dharwadker examines the unprecedented conditions for writing and performance that the experience of new nationhood created in a dozen major Indian languages and offers detailed discussions of the major plays, playwrights, directors, dramatic genres, and theories of drama that have made the contemporary Indian stage a vital part of postcolonial and world theatre.The first part of Dharwadker's study deals with the new dramatic canon that emerged after 1950 and the variety of ways in which plays are written, produced, translated, circulated, and received in a multi-lingual national culture. The second part traces the formation of significant postcolonial dramatic genres from their origins in myth, history, folk narrative, sociopolitical experience, and the intertextual connections between Indian, European, British, and American drama. The book's ten appendixes collect extensive documentation of the work of leading playwrights and directors, as well as a record of the contemporary multilingual performance histories of major Indian, Western, and non-Western plays from all periods and genres. Treating drama and theatre as strategically interrelated activities, the study makes post-independence Indian theatre visible as a multifaceted critical subject to scholars of modern drama, comparative theatre, theatre history, and the new national and postcolonial literatures.
Desire Jones is a young, hot-to-trot teen who lives life on the edge. Abandoned by her mother, she yearns for love and attention. Her uncle shelters her, but life is impossible to bear with his abusive wife. To make things worse, she gets involved with Malik, who shatters her hope and trust by leaving her pregnant and infected with HIV. So hardened, she decides to do the unspeakable, purposely infecting people with her disease. Of course, no one knows of her intent, not even her best friend, Jennifer, who unwittingly helps Desire find her victims. Will Desire realize the error of her ways before it's too late? Tia Hines delivers a powerful message in this cautionary tale full of action and drama.
When Destiny's wild behavior lands her in serious trouble with the law, it's up to her brother to again rescue her. Having no choice, he accepts a favor from a rogue cop--a favor that he'll soon regret taking that will cost much more than they're willing to pay.
Macelle Mahala’s rich study of contemporary African American theater institutions reveals how they reflect and shape the histories and cultural realities of their cities. Arguing that the community in which a play is staged is as important to the work’s meaning as the script or set, Mahala focuses on four cities’ “arts ecologies” to shed new light on the unique relationship between performance and place: Cleveland, home to the oldest continuously operating Black theater in the country; Pittsburgh, birthplace of the legendary playwright August Wilson; San Francisco, a metropolis currently experiencing displacement of its Black population; and Atlanta, a city with forty years of progressive Black leadership and reverse migration. Black Theater, City Life looks at Karamu House Theatre, the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, Pittsburgh Playwrights’ Theatre Company, the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, the African American Shakespeare Company, the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival, and Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company to demonstrate how each organization articulates the cultural specificities, sociopolitical realities, and histories of African Americans. These companies have faced challenges that mirror the larger racial and economic disparities in arts funding and social practice in America, while their achievements exemplify such institutions’ vital role in enacting an artistic practice that reflects the cultural backgrounds of their local communities. Timely, significant, and deeply researched, this book spotlights the artistic and civic import of Black theaters in American cities.