Plays and Playwrights 2002

Mario Fratti

Most people all over the world know some plays by the great American playwrights Lillian Hellman, Maxwell Anderson, Clifford Odets, Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, David Mamet, Sam Shepard, Terrence McNally. What about the other one hundred young playwrights who write with passion and hope and present their plays in small theaters Off Off?

As a drama critic I see many of them. Some have value, validity, promise. I write names and titles in my diary and hope to see their work again, somewhere. Unfortunately some of them disappear forever in the fog of obscurity.

There is fortunately another drama critic, the young Martin Denton, a colleague of mine, who has done something about it. He started collections of the best plays off off. He has already published three elegant volumes. Well, they contain thirty five new plays. The best off off. And finally 35 new names are on the theatre map of New York. The writers will feel encouraged and will persist in their activity as dedicated lovers of new dramas, new visions of the world. All this thanks to Martin Denton and his collaborators Rochelle Denton and Nita Congress.

I have read these plays carefully. They are all interesting. I find sixteen of them exceptionally good. Which ones? Buy the books.
— Italian Weeklies

Paula Shulak

There are two verse plays included which is unusual in and of itself, but the excellence of their poetry also is astounding. “The Death of King Arthur” by Matthew Freeman is a masterful rewriting of the familiar Camelot story which depicts in a totally new way the psyches of the characters we know so well. ...Equally well done is J. Scott Reynolds' poetic version of another classic, this time a novel by Balzac. “The Wild Ass’s Skin” is easy to read, thought provoking and contains some of the cleverest comic verse that I have read. A morality play of the highest order, we learn a lesson as we laugh. ...I thoroughly enjoyed “The Resurrectionist” by Kate Chell and “Summerland” by Brian Thorstenson. The former takes place in 17th Century England when it was commonplace for grave robbers to sell bodies to doctors for the study of the new science of anatomy. This fascinating topic is the background for the coming of age tale of a strong young woman whose plight unfolds before us. (Incidentally this script “reads” very well which is not always the case since plays are written to be performed.) “Summerland” is also about coming of age, but in the entirely different modern setting of rugged South Dakota. It presents a young man learning about his manhood with the firm guidance of his pioneer great grandmother in the background. ...

“Match” by Marc Chun should really be seen to be fully appreciated but the ability of its author shines through even on paper. It is a brilliant juxtaposition of four subplots with an ingenious interweaving of lines from the four stories going on simultaneously. It is almost too difficult to describe but onstage it must be nothing short of miraculous I am sure. What an impact this show must have! Add to that the fact that the play deals beautifully with the questioning of life and death, especially after September 11, and you have a recipe for sure success. Finally, the play entitled “Reality” by Curtiss I’Cook is my favorite. An all black cast adds to the impact of this fascinating look at the question of what is real? The internal twists and turns of the plot keep the audience (or the reader) on their toes as we delve back and forth between two or three kinds of reality and replay the same scenes two or three times until they are “right”. There is a strong message here which is worth waiting for and you are engrossed in the action from beginning to end.
— Community News Publications of Delaware