Reviews (1)

A terrific introduction to a non-traditional artist
Dan Mufson quite masterfully brings together all of the elements required to provide real insight into the work of Reza Abdoh.It is a shame that more people have not been exposed to his work.My daughter enjoyed thebook as well, and getting her to read anything of any length is usually achallenge. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Abdoh, Reza    3. American    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Dramatists, American    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Theatre    7. General    8. History    9. Homosexuality and literature    10. Interviews    11. Performing Arts    12. Performing Arts/Dance    13. Television - History & Criticism    14. Theatrical producers and directors    15. United States    16. Biography: general    17. Business & Economics / Economic Development    18. Drama texts: from c 1900 -    19. English    20. Plays & playwrights: from c 1900 -    21. Theatre, drama    22. USA   

Editorial Review

It doesn't do this play justice to say that much of the action takes place in a hospital room around the bed of a comatose woman. On the other hand, it may explain why critics have been so impressed. From unpromising material--standard urban settings, stilted exchanges, missed cues, private jokes, half-finished sentences--Diana Son has crafted a subtle, moving drama about vulnerability and risk. When Callie, a twentysomething New York traffic reporter, promises to take on a cat owned by Sara, "some friend of an old friend of someone," she arranges to leave quickly after Sara drops off the cat so that she doesn't get drawn into a dull evening with a stranger. Callie is an expert at avoiding conflict, which serves her well in the city. Sara, on the other hand, has willingly left her job at a Quaker school in St. Louis to teach third-graders in the Bronx. Although both are "straight" women, they circle each other warily, nursing an unspoken attraction. The playwright's choice to shuttle back and forth in time, between the hospital room and police station and the early days of Callie and Sara's friendship, lends a bittersweet quality to even their lightest exchanges, allowing us to wonder, along with the two women, whether the violent outcome of their single kiss makes it a bad idea. Read more

Reviews (7)

A favorite.
Diano Son captures this touching store told in scenes that jump from present to past. Every other scene tells the present and past of two women who fall in love without the knowledge of their sexuality. When one is beat and injured by a madman in the city, they must confront their families with their sexuality. One, too unstable to be on her own, needs the other. The story is touching, melodic and wonderful.

A favorite.
Diano Son captures this touching store told in scenes that jump from present to past. Every other scene tells the present and past of two women who fall in love without the knowledge of their sexuality. When one is beat and injured by a madman in the city, they must confront their families with their sexuality. One, too unstable to be on her own, needs the other. The story is touching, melodic and wonderful.

Beautiful, Powerful
This is an excelent exploration of love and what constitutes it, and a painful reminder of hate--specifically homophobia. The message here is one worth hearing, and the telling of it is skilled and a pleasure to read. Highly Recommended. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American    2. American Contemporary Drama    3. Crimes against    4. Drama    5. Fiction    6. Hate crimes    7. Homophobia    8. Lesbian    9. Lesbian Studies    10. New York    11. New York (State)    12. Plays    13. Plays / Drama    14. Young women    15. Fiction / Lesbian   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. AIDS (Disease)    3. American    4. American Contemporary Drama    5. American drama    6. Drama    7. Gay men    8. Literature: Classics    9. Patients    10. Plays / Drama    11. Special Subjects In Literature    12. Drama texts: from c 1900 -    13. Performing Arts / General    14. Theatre, drama    15. USA   

Subjects:  1. Acting    2. Anthologies (multiple authors)    3. Auditions    4. Drama    5. Gay men    6. Monologues    7. Plays    8. Plays / Drama    9. Scenes and Monologues    10. Songbooks - General    11. Theater - General    12. Drama texts: from c 1900 -    13. Performing Arts / Theater / General   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. American    3. American drama    4. Drama    5. History    6. History and criticism    7. Plays / Drama    8. Political plays, American    9. Politics and literature    10. Sociology    11. United States    12. American English    13. Cultural studies    14. English    15. Gay & Lesbian studies    16. Plays & playwrights: from c 1900 -    17. USA   

Reviews (1)

A must read for any theatre lover!
I stumbled across this "Staging Gay Lives" when I was despertley looking for the play, "What's Wrong With Angry?" by Patrick Wilde.This play became the base for a very popular queer film called,"Get Real".This book of 10 queer themed plays was the onlyplace I could find this play.After getting the book, I also enjoyed theother 9 plays that were in the book.This book of plays, is a must readfor any theatre lover out there.Weather gay or straight, I think thatanyone can appreciate the sincere realism of these 10 beautifuly writtenplays. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. American    3. American drama    4. Anthologies (multiple authors)    5. English drama    6. Gay men's writings, American    7. Gay men's writings, English    8. Plays / Drama    9. Sociology    10. Drama texts: from c 1900 -    11. English    12. Gay studies (Gay men)   

Reviews (3)

A keeper
Because I have a large library of books, I am very selective as to the ones I keep to read again. This was one of those books. I can recommend it without reservations.

Inspirational Love Story
Coming Home by Lois Cloarec Hart will lift you up and break your heart at the same time. It will make you laugh and cry in the same breath.It is a story that will inspire those that read it.
Wonderful heartwarming story with delightful characters throughout!
I couldn't be happier reading this story. You get to know all the characters so well that you keep wanting only the best for them.This was a wonderful story of two families and their friends.You wish you could join them in their weekend barbecues. They have so much fun and are full of life.I picked the book up and didn't put it down until I finished - it was a day well spent!The whole novel was strongly written and the pages just flowed.Terry, Jan and Rob are super people that I couldn't get enough of.This is a story you will read more than once.The writer will grab hold of your emotions and won't let go until the last page.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. Lesbian    4. Romance - General    5. Drama / General   

Reviews (1)

A variety of Un-American Angels
Possibly the most interesting thing about Per Brask's 1995 collection of essays on Kushner's groundbreaking play is the interview with the playwright that ends the collection.This conversation reveals a franker,less careful of offending others Kushner that has been missing from somesubsequent published interviews.Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. AIDS (Disease) in literature    3. American    4. Drama    5. Dramatists, American    6. Gay men in literature    7. General    8. Homosexuality    9. Interviews    10. Plays    11. Plays / Drama    12. Theater    13. Angels in America    14. Cohn, Roy M    15. Drama texts, plays    16. Gay & Lesbian studies    17. In literature    18. Kushner, Tony    19. Theatre, drama   

Subjects:  1. 16th century    2. 17th century    3. Criticism, Textual    4. Drama    5. Duchess of,    6. Early modern and Elizabethan,    7. Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600    8. England    9. English drama    10. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    11. History    12. Homosexuality and literature    13. Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish,    14. Plays    15. Plays / Drama    16. Drama / British & Irish    17. English    18. English drama--Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600--Criticism, Textual    19. Plays & playwrights: 16th to 18th centuries    20. Gay Studies and Literature    21. Literary Criticism    22. Francis Beaumont    23. John Fletcher   

Subjects:  1. Drama    2. English Drama    3. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    4. Gay & Lesbian    5. Gay/Lesbian Nonfiction    6. Gays' writings, English    7. General    8. Great Britain    9. History    10. History and criticism    11. Homosexuality and literature    12. Literary Criticism    13. Performing Arts    14. Sexuality In Literature    15. England    16. English    17. Gay & Lesbian studies    18. Literary Criticism / Drama    19. Theatre, drama    20. c 1500 to c 1600    21. c 1600 to c 1700    22. c 1700 to c 1800    23. c 1800 to c 1900   

Subjects:  1. AIDS & HIV    2. AIDS (Disease)    3. Acquired Immunodeficiency Synd    4. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome    5. Apocalyptic literature    6. Gay & Lesbian    7. Gay Studies    8. Gender Studies    9. Religious aspects    10. Social Science    11. Sociology    12. Theater - History & Criticism    13. United States    14. psychology    15. AIDS: social aspects    16. USA   

Subjects:  1. American    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Dictionaries    5. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Theatre    6. Gay actors    7. Gay dramatists    8. Gay theatrical producers and d    9. Gay theatrical producers and directors    10. Performing Arts    11. Performing Arts/Dance    12. Reference    13. Specific Groups - Lesbians    14. Specific Groups - Male Gay Studies    15. United States    16. Dictionaries of biography (Who's Who)    17. Drama / General    18. Gay & Lesbian studies    19. Theatre, drama   

Subjects:  1. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    2. Theater - History & Criticism    3. Gay & Lesbian studies    4. Theatre, drama    5. USA   

Editorial Review

This reprint (with some revision and a new chapter) of John Clum's classic 1991 study should be shelved beside Alan Sinfield's Read more

Reviews (1)

Out of the Closet and on the Stage
Scholar John Clum's critical textual analysis of Gay Theatre, is not a historical account of the plays themselves. In this work, he critically looks at a wide variety of gay plays, some well known others not.In conclusion Clum writes that this type of drama has much wider universality to audiences (both gay and straight) than what is often perceived. A must for scholars of both Theatre and gay studies! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. American    3. American drama    4. Drama    5. English drama    6. English-speaking countries    7. Gay & Lesbian    8. Gay Studies    9. History    10. History and criticism    11. Homosexuality and literature    12. Literary Criticism    13. Plays / Drama    14. Sexuality In Literature    15. English    16. Gay studies (Gay men)    17. Plays & playwrights: from c 1900 -    18. United Kingdom, Great Britain   

Subjects:  1. Drama    2. Gay couples    3. Gay men    4. General    5. Plays   

Reviews (33)

Witty and moving analysis of Shakespeare's fate in media
One doesn't usually expect to find oneself laughing when reading a book of criticism written by an academic, much less a book on Shakespeare.But Burt's book is frequently just that, funny to the point of making me laugh out loud.Burt has a refreshingly off-beat sense of humor, and the materials he has discovered--such as an adult movie version of Hamlet--aer themselves often hilarious as well, though not always intentionally so. But far from being just a laugh riot, the book is also a serious, critically sophisticated analysis of Shakespeare's fate incontemporary mass media, where much of hte lnagugae is cut or confined to well-known quotations.Burt's final chapter on films about teaching Shakespeare is quite moving, and Burt has the courage to raise difficult questions without pretending he is able to answer them. He is right to think that the questions are more important than the answers.Burt is to be congratulated for writing his book in a clear and engaging prose style without sacrificing the complexity of his thought.

Pioneering book
In his wonderful and fascinating book Unspeakable ShaXXXspeares, Richard Burt, the leading scholar of Shakespeare and film studies, pioneers research into the manifold ways Shakespeare enters into American popular culture.Concentrating mostly on film but attending as well to television sit-coms, Burt offers penetrating insight into everything from mainstream adaptations of Shakespeare to "low" spin-offs in which Shakespeare's language almost entirely disappears.Burt explores both what film and mass media have done to Shakespeare and also what Shakespeare enables our culture to do trhough film and other electronic media.Readers intersted in this book will be happy to know that Burt has since edited a related collection entitled Shakespeare After Mass Media and has co-edited Shakespeare, the Movie II.

Merely Telling, Not Showing
In the least scathing word I can think of, Richard Burt is inimitable.On to the bash.Come on, someone has to stand up to the plate and do it!He represents and produces the academic filth and corruption that have come to characterize this modern world.He is a bottomless black hole who uses his pretentious charm and intelligence (and devilish good looks) as forces to draw in impressionable young people to his vile inner recesses.His outer core is his classroom teaching world, where he pretends to know more than he does, and when he knows he's wrong, he doesn't dare admit it for fear of losing his pathetic reputation.And his innermost core is represented by a website entitled Naughtyprofessor.com.He's like one of those little sucker fish attached to the underbellies of larger fish, trying in vain to extract some salient substance - but he fails every time.Give it up, Burt.Read more

Subjects:  1. Film & Video - History & Criticism    2. Gay Studies    3. Gay/Lesbian Nonfiction    4. Literature - Classics / Criticism    5. Performing Arts    6. Popular Culture - General    7. Shakespeare    8. Sociology - General    9. Theater - History & Criticism    10. Performing Arts / Theater / History & Criticism   

Subjects:  1. 1869-1932    2. Cinema/Film: Book    3. Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)    4. Film & Video - History & Criticism    5. General    6. Performing Arts    7. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    8. Popular Culture - General    9. Racism    10. United States    11. Women entertainers    12. Women's Studies - History    13. Ziegfeld, Flo,    14. Cultural studies    15. Films, cinema    16. Gay & Lesbian studies    17. Social history    18. Theatre, drama   

Subjects:  1. Feminism & Feminist Theory    2. Feminist theater    3. Gay Studies    4. Gay and lesbian studies    5. Gay theater    6. Performing Arts    7. Performing Arts/Dance    8. Theater - General    9. Theater - History & Criticism    10. United States    11. Women's studies    12. Gay & Lesbian studies    13. Performing Arts / Theater / General   

Subjects:  1. Drama    2. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    3. Gay men    4. London (England)    5. Performing Arts    6. Performing Arts/Dance    7. Plays / Drama    8. Prostitution    9. Theater - General    10. Drama / General    11. Drama texts: from c 1900 -    12. Performing Arts / Theater / General   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Drama    3. English drama    4. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    5. Homosexuality    6. Performing Arts/Dance    7. Plays / Drama