From Faustiana to the Fall of Athens

Description

The collection includes nine full-length plays, FAUSTIANA, ARABIC TWO, AVIATORS, THE SHAKESPEARE ROAD, HOTEL VICTORY, BUFFALOES, THE SKY POOL, THE ARDENT PHILANTHROPIST, and THE FALL OF ATHENS, and one long one-act, STILL LIFE WITH APPLES. FAUSTIANA: To expiate his guilt over the misdeeds of his past, Faust decides, with the aid of Sly (alias Mephistopheles), to build the Ideal City. However, as with all bargains with that dodgy gentleman, Faust finds there are unexpected twists — tragic, comic and romantic — to the deal. With a cocky young servant criticizing his every move, an architect brought by Sly who may or may not be a reincarnation of his tragically lost Marguerite, plus an enigmatic Fisherman on whom the success of the city’s plan depends, Faust finds, in maturity, a depth, understanding and balance that he never had in his reckless youth. A high-spirited, timeless but timely exploration of life’s compromises and possibilities. ARABIC TWO: In this comedy, a young couple, Peter and Polly, married five years, cheerfully greet the audience with “Welcome to a divorce! Since you were all there at the beginning, at the wedding, we invite you back to witness the end.” Peter is about to desert his quirky and uninhibited wife for a more socially prominent mate. Polly does everything in her power — including taking a shower among the potted plants of the wintergarden — to keep the man she loves. A fast-paced romp, with sparkling repartee, ARABIC TWO is an exploration of marriage — a private world for two which no one else can either enter or understand. AVIATORS: In a house poised between land and sea, a husband and wife, both academics, are facing personal and professional crises when a mysterious young woman enters their lives. Many secrets from past and present burst open as the husband’s life begins to unravel and as his wife seems more and more under the illusion that he is her onetime hero, Charles Lindbergh. A witty, imaginative and perceptive play about marriage, family, betrayal, redemption, and the forces that try to pull a couple down as they struggle to rise above them. THE SHAKESPEARE ROAD: A comedy in which an egotistical actor and actress attempt to revive their careers by tackling Shakespeare. In a dressing room they’re forced to share, these two spirited theatre animals must come to terms with their talents, their lives, and with each other as a mysterious disembodied voice directs, advises, goads, and inspires them to reach resolutions in their art and lives which, before they began this theatrical and interior journey, they would have felt beyond their reach. With fast-paced barbs reminiscent of Shaw and Coward, and generous helpings of scenes from Shakespeare, this play is a tour de force for two actors who enjoy challenging themselves, each other, and the audience. HOTEL VICTORY: It is a few years after the end of World War II. Billy Maitland, a young wheelchair-bound ex-Army Corporal is the sole remaining patient in a VA hospital when a new patient, Flight Commander Simon Trevelyan, arrives — accompanied by his American ex-WAAF wife. When Billy, who worships FDR, discovers that his new fellow-patient was a former pilot in the Royal Air Force, he insists the cynical and disillusioned Simon join him in reliving the war, with Billy pretending to be FDR and Simon pretending to be Winston Churchill. In a time before PTSD was identified and when treatment for the effects of the horrors of war were little understood, their doctor thinks this play-acting might help them recover from the physical and mental traumas of their combat experiences. As the two servicemen’s extremely different personal and historical stories unfold, HOTEL VICTORY portrays the aftereffects of battle and contrasts war as it is experienced by the Grand Figures of history vs. the way it is experienced by the men and women they send into the fight. BUFFALOES: A young woman returns home to find her gauche and uneducated beautician mother has hired The Perfect Daughter, taken a handsome young cowboy lover, is learning French, and is adopting a buffalo. What is Mom up to? Has this lower-middle-class older woman who is taking on all these airs lost her mind? And where did her sudden wealth come from? These are only a few of the mysteries lawyer Vicky and her ineffectual husband have to figure out in this fast-moving comedy which explores the mother-daughter relationship and the nature of familial and many other kinds of love. THE SKY POOL: The scene is the glass-roofed solarium atop a high-rise apartment building. As several seasons pass, the public and private lives of the solarium’s pool members unfold before the eyes of the young handsome pool guard. He has different relationships with each: A domineering mother and teenage daughter with lives full of money and unhappiness. A widowed mother and teenage daughter with financial problems. Two lively intelligent sisters in their 60s — one who had a lifelong relationship with one man but never married, the other a widow with sorrows in her past, present and future. Portraying three generations of women and their attractive pool attendant and confidant, THE SKY POOL is a tale of urban life and the social pecking order, where neighborly encounters, deceptively civilized, disguise the great theme of modern existence: “Who’s ahead?” THE ARDENT PHILANTHROPIST: The story of a prominent Washington family whose personal problems and rivalries threaten to undermine their efforts to save their late head of the family’s reputation as it comes under attack by a journalist of formidable power. It seems the deceased head of the clan, a man of great generosity and impeccable reputation, actually had a past which only one of his children, plus his wife, knew about. Now a snooping television journalist threatens to expose it all. The public’s right to know and the individual’s right to privacy clash in this insightfully entertaining play in the civilized tradition of S. N. Behrman and Philip Barry. As timely as today’s headlines, THE ARDENT PHILANTHROPIST poses the question: “Does everyone have to know everything about everybody?” The answer might be yes — unless the revelations happen to be about one’s self. THE FALL OF ATHENS: A timeless contemporary drama which references a legend from the past to tell a story of today. After a long absence, the rebellious Antigone returns to Athens bringing with her a strong handsome Spartan and presents him as her champion in the Athenian games. Since Athens and Sparta are at the least rivals and at the most enemies, her actions are considered scandalous and cause repercussions in the royal household and in her beloved city which even she could not have foreseen. Moving and intellectually stimulating, THE FALL OF ATHENS portrays the clashes that arise in multi-cultural societies. It cries out against prejudice and is a plea for mutual understanding between all peoples before tragedies ensue. STILL LIFE WITH APPLES: A husband tries to escape to an empty attic room but his wife follows announcing the imminent arrival of a “cousin” whom neither can remember. Young nubile Joanna arrives — but she doesn’t speak, disturbing them both. When she does begin to speak — single seemingly senseless words — the wife and the henpecked husband respond to her quite differently. Who is she? And why has she come? As her monosyllabic answers to their questions become odder and odder and her behavior becomes wilder and wilder, the husband and wife begin to question the motives of this mysterious intruder. What does she want? Which of the two does she threaten? … A suspenseful one act in the absurdist tradition.

Introductory Essay

FROM FAUSTIANA TO THE FALL OF ATHENS opens with a 38-page introductory essay: THEATRICAL RELATIONS — HOW TO COLLABORATE IN THIS COLLABORATIVE ART

“What, after all, are the keys to good theatrical relationships? Respect for each other’s ideas and talents. Steady cooperation. Understanding of each other’s points of view, each other’s challenges and difficulties. Withholding judgment until each talent shows the best they can contribute.” —Ruth Wolff