The American Stage: Writing on Theater from Washington Irving to Tony Kushner
Edited by Laurence Senelick
Published by: The Library of America
Publication Date: April 15, 2010
List price: $40 hardcover; 912 pages

In his Foreword to editor Laurence Senelick's impressive collection of essays about the American theatre, actor John Lithgow writes, "there is no greater evidence of the important role theatre has played in our national story than this list of men and women who have written so expansively about it." The list he is referring to includes a wide spectrum of writers — from critics to novelists to poets, playwrights and parodists. To drop just a few names of the 78 writers included in this hefty compilation, there are musings about the 19th-century stage from the likes of Walt Whitman and Mark Twain, reviews of provincial productions of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Antony and Cleopatra by Willa Cather, reflections on New York's Yiddish theatres at the turn of the century by Hutchins Hapgood, Ezra Pound's views on theatrical modernism, S. J. Perelman's ribbing of Clifford Odets, Edmund Wilson's appreciation of Minsky's Burlesque, Harold Clurman's dissection of Stanislavski's Method, Gore Vidal on Eugene O'Neill, Tony Kushner on Arthur Miller, and many, many more. As the publisher notes, these pieces were written by artists who had a talent "to distill both the immediate experience and the recollected impression, to draw the reader into the charmed circle and conjure up what has already vanished." Through their words the living American theatre in all its forms — highbrow or low, mainstream or experimental — is brought vividly to life.

The Lee Strasberg Notes
Edited by Lola Cohen
Published by: Routledge
Publication Date: March 15, 2010
List price: $24.95 paperback (also available in hardcover); 232 pages

The late Lee Strasberg, co-founder of The Group Theatre in the '30s, director of the Actors Studio and this country's leading proponent of "Method" acting, was — and remains — a major force in theatre in America. His teaching revolutionized the way in which actors could train, resulting in some of the profession's most remarkable practitioners, such as James Dean, Kim Hunter, Geraldine Page, Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Marilyn Monroe, Julie Harris, Dustin Hoffman, Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson. The list goes on and on. Strasberg's teaching legacy lives on at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute, and now for the first time notes of his original teachings have been compiled and edited in a book by Lola Cohen, an acting teacher at both the Institute and at NYU's Tisch School of the Art's Acting Program. According to publisher notes, "the book is based on unpublished transcripts of Strasberg's own classes on acting, directing and Shakespeare. It recreates his theoretical approach, as well as the practical exercises used by his students." Featured in this volume are Strasberg's teachings on training and exercises, characters and scenes, directing and the Method, and Shakespeare and Stanislavski. The book, which also includes a Preface by Anna Strasberg and Foreword by Martin Sheen, is both a valuable resource for the serious student of acting and directing as well as a fascinating look at the art for the curious civilian.

Children's Theater: A Paradigm, Primer, and Resource
By Kelly Eggers and Walter Eggers
Published by: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Publication Date: March 28, 2010
List price: $50 cloth; 296 pages, illustrated

The enriching, enlightening and entertaining world of children's theatre is introduced in a new book by two of its champions, Kelly and Walter Eggers. Kelly Eggers is a teacher and director who founded and sustains New Hampshire's Oyster River Players and her husband Walter is a professor of English at the University of New Hampshire. The couple draws the reader into this world by using their small theatre company as a model, exploring the specific dynamics of the company, and ultimately they expand their exploration to include children's theatre in different cultural settings, stressing its inestimable educational value. "Through forays into philosophy and history," notes the publisher, "as well as personal testimonies, the authors present a coherent argument for the need for children's theatres in nearly every community." The book is also a practical resource, listing over 600 U.S. children's companies and agencies and another 400 worldwide.

Shakespeare and the American Musical
By Irene G. Dash
Published by: Indiana University Press
Publication Date: February 26, 2010
List price: $24.95 paperback; 248 pages; 21 b&w illustrations

In her ongoing exploration of Shakespeare's work, Irene G. Dash — whose previous books include "Women's Worlds in Shakespeare's Plays" and "Wooing, Wedding, and Power: Women in Shakespeare's Plays" — turns her attention to the Bard on Broadway, illustrating the alliance between Shakespeare and the American musical by focusing on five important shows produced from 1938 through 1971. The plays discussed are The Boys from Syracuse (The Comedy of Errors); Kiss Me, Kate (The Taming of the Shrew); West Side Story ( Romeo and Juliet); Your Own Thing (Twelfth Night); and Two Gentlemen of Verona. Dash puts forth the argument that the Shakespearean works were not only the springboard for these musicals but that his plays were "pivotal in the refashioning of the musical theater formula from the stock plots and song forms of the 1930s musical comedy to the more organic 'integrated musical,' where songs and dance sequences were used to advance the plot rather than break the action." Continued...