Plays for Actresses

Plays for Actresses

A First-of-Its-Kind Collection of Seventeen Splendid Plays with All-Female Casts, Each of Them Abounding with Career-Making Roles for Women

About the Book

Gather any group of actresses, from students to stars, and someone will inevitably ask, "Where are all the great roles for women?" The roles are right here, in this unprecedented and magnificently diverse collection of plays with all-female casts. The seven full-length and ten one-act selections range in tone from the unabashed theatricality of Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning Three Tall Women to the blistering black comedy of Laura Cunningham's Beautiful Bodies.
 
Their characters include uprooted Japanese war brides, outrageously liberated Shakespearean heroines, an avenging African American housewife, and nuns who double as Catholic schoolgirls.

Whether you're looking for a script to produce or a scene for an acting class, this book will provide you with a wealth of juicy, challenging female roles as it introduces you to some of the finest playwrights at work today.
Read more
Close

About the Author

Eric Lane
Eric Lane has edited 14 contemporary play anthologies for Viking Penguin and Vintage Books with his longtime collaborator, Nina Shengold, earning them a Lambda Literary Award nomination. His plays have been performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia. Plays include Ride, Filming O’Keeffe, Ibis, Riverbed, Heart of the City, Times of War, and Dancing on Checkers’ Grave. Eric wrote the book for A Thousand Faces: The Lon Chaney Musical. He wrote and produced the award-winning short films First Breath and Cater-Waiter, which he also directed. For ABC-TV’s Ryan’s Hope, he received a Writers Guild Award. His honors include the La MaMa Playwright Award, the Berilla Kerr Award, plus fellowships at Yaddo and St. James Cavalier in Malta. Eric is an honors graduate of Brown University. More by Eric Lane
Decorative Carat

About the Author

Nina Shengold
Nina Shengold's plays include Finger Foods, War at Home, Homesteaders, and Romeo/Juliet, and have been produced around the world. Her one-act No Shoulder was filmed by director Suzi Yoonessi, with Melissa Leo and Samantha Sloyan. Nina won a Writers Guild Award for her teleplay Labor of Love, starring Marcia Gay Harden; other teleplays include Blind Spot, with Joanne Woodward and Laura Linney, and Unwed Father. Her books include the novels Clearcut, River of Words: Portraits of Hudson Valley Writers (with photographer Jennifer May), and a growing posse of pseudonymous books for young readers. A graduate of Wesleyan, she is currently teaching creative writing at Manhattanville College. Nina lives in New York's Hudson Valley, where she has been books editor of Chronogram magazine since 2004. More by Nina Shengold
Decorative Carat

By clicking submit, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and understand that Penguin Random House collects certain categories of personal information for the purposes listed in that policy, discloses, sells, or shares certain personal information and retains personal information in accordance with the policy. You can opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information anytime.

Random House Publishing Group