The complete memoirs of Neil Simon, the greatest—and most successful—American playwright of all time, the author of such iconic works as Lost in Yonkers , The Odd Couple , Biloxi Blues , and The Goodbye Girl , now with an insightful Introduction by Nathan Lane. This omnibus edition combines Neil Simon’s two memoirs, Rewrites and The Play Goes On , into one volume that spans his extraordinary five-decade career in theater, television, and film. Rewrites takes Simon through his first love, his first play, and his first brush with failure. There is the humor of growing up in Washington Heights (the inspiration for his play Brighton Beach Memoirs ) where, despite his parents’ rocky marriage and many separations, he learned to see the funny side of family drama, as when his mother thought she saw a body on the floor in their apartment—and it turned out to be the clothes his father discarded in the hallway after a night of carousing. He describes his marriage to his beloved wife, Joan, and writes lucidly about the pain of losing her to cancer. The Play Goes On adds to his life’s story, as he wins the Pulitzer Prize and reflects with humor and insight on his tumultuous life and meteoric career. “Neil Simon’s terrific memoirs are worth revisiting” ( New York Post ). Now, with the whole story in one place, he traces the history of modern entertainment over the last fifty years as seen through the eyes of a man who started life the son of a garment salesman and became the greatest—and most successful—American playwright of all time.

The story behind the notorious World War One femme fatale known as Mata Hari - from the author of Kindertransport. It is 1917. The First World War has taken its toll on 'gay Paree'. Everyone is struggling, not least the notorious exotic dancer, Mata Hari, formerly Margaretha Zelle from Holland. Arrested for passing information to the Germans but steadfastly proclaiming her love for France, her sincerity and innocence, Mata Hari is interrogated by two Frenchmen who are convinced that everything she says and does is a lethal fiction. For years Mata Hari has been seen as a femme fatale and a dangerous spy. But the 'truth' behind this remarkable woman is a good deal more complex, with many having their own motives for their version of her story. Why is everything about her not quite what it seems? And what really lies beneath her many masks? Diane Samuels' play The True Life Fiction of Mata Hari was first performed at the Palace Theatre, Watford, in 2002, with Greta Scacchi in the lead role.

THE STORY: A Man enters a small boutique, hoping to find a suitable gift for his young mistress, who is facing a grave operation. Unaccountably he quickly finds himself confiding in the Proprietress, speaking without hesitation of the pain he feels at having his telephone calls to his loved one unreturned, of his fear that her condition may be fatal. The Proprietress consoles him, suggesting that perhaps she wants to spare him, that she needs to face her ordeal alone and without added burden that his involvement would impose. As they speak specters of other deep-seated concerns arise: the difference in age between the Man and his mistress; his unfulfilling marriage; the emptiness of material success without love to enrich it; the void that might have been filled had there been the possibility of children; the frustration of being unable to make a true and total commitment to another person. It is almost as though the Proprietress might be-or has become-the absent mistress. As the play ends the Man and the Proprietress embrace, two strangers grateful for the small miracle which, if only for a brief moment, has let them share closeness always hoped for but seldom achieved.

""A Dream of Love"" is a play written by William Carlos Williams, consisting of three acts and eight scenes. The story revolves around a young couple, Jack and Edith, who are deeply in love but face numerous challenges in their relationship. Jack is an aspiring writer who struggles to make ends meet, while Edith comes from a wealthy family and is torn between her love for Jack and her family's expectations. As the play progresses, the couple's relationship is put to the test as they navigate through various obstacles such as financial struggles, infidelity, and societal pressures. The play also touches upon themes of class struggle, the pursuit of artistic passion, and the complexities of human relationships.Throughout the play, Williams employs poetic language and vivid imagery to convey the emotional depth of the characters and their struggles. The play ultimately culminates in a dramatic conclusion that leaves the audience questioning the true nature of love and the sacrifices one must make to pursue it.Overall, ""A Dream of Love"" is a poignant and thought-provoking play that explores the complexities of love and the human experience.Direction, No. 6.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Larry Kramer has been described by Susan Sontag as "one of America's most valuable troublemakers." As Frank Rich writes in his Foreword to this new collection of writings for the screen and stage, "his plays are almost journalistic in their observation of the fine-grained documentary details of life ... that may well prove timeless." The title work, the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Women in Love, is a movie "as sensuous as anything you've probably ever seen on film" (The New York Times). The screenplay is accompanied by Kramer's reflections on the history of the production, sure to be of interest to any student of film. This volume also includes several early plays, Sissies' Scrapbook, A Minor Dark Age, and the political farce Just Say No, illuminating the development of one of our most important literary figures. "Since his screenplay for Women in Love, Kramer has been a prophet of psychic health and catastrophe among us." -- from The American Academy of Arts and Letters citation

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is a humorously dark folk tale woven together with a high-energy concert. This music/theatre hybrid starring international Klezmer sensation Ben Caplan is inspired by the true stories of Jewish Romanian refugees coming to Canada in 1908. It's about how to love after being broken by the horrors of war. It's about looking into the eyes of God.

Comedy Joseph Fields and Peter de Vries adapted from the novel by Mr. de Vries Characters: 2 male 4 female Interior Set Tom Ewell played the Broadway part of a suburban husband in a 5 year childless marriage. He and his wife decide to adopt a baby but a loud mouth neighbor upsets the apple cart when the adoption investigator comes to call. However not to be outdone Ewell finds himself in the clutches of the investigator who has suddenly turned color. Later she announces that she is pregnant and is going off to have the baby. She will see that the man and his wife receive the child in due time through the agency. Shortly after the baby arrives however the wife learns of the matter and starts packing to go home to Mother. But it turns out that the adopted baby was not fathered by the husband and also that the wife is now herself pregnant; and matters are mended. "It offers laugh after laugh." N.Y. World Telegram & Sun.

THE STORY: It's Bella's twenty-ninth birthday. Friends and former lovers meet for a drink to celebrate. But as the Bloody Marys flow, the bar becomes a battlefield. In the uncivil war between the sexes, what happens when the females have the real f

Crime doesn't pay—or does it? When a con makes you rich, life gets a lot more complicated. For generations, the Voysey family business has been secretly cheating its clients. Edward, a junior partner who plans to take over the company from his aging father, is horrified when he discovers the embezzlement that has been keeping his relatives in the lap of luxury. But nobody wants Edward to dismantle the firm's criminal legacy—not his associates, not the woman he loves, and certainly not his large, pampered family. As the risk of exposure looms larger, and his sense of right and wrong becomes increasingly distorted, Edward comes to fully understand the consequences of his "inheritance." THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE is a witty, impeccably crafted portrait of a family in the midst of a surprisingly modern moral dilemma.

Cast in the style of a vaudeville Wild West Show, this highly theatrical play explores the theme of Americas mistreatment of the indigenious tribes was a celebrated hit on Broadway starring Stacy Keach. The hero is Buffalo Bill, whose life is defined and destroyed by an unfulfilled vision. Like all tragic heroes he has a fatal character flaw: he knows and loves the Native Americans, but craves money and fame. He helps destroy the buffalo herds, reducing the Native Americans to starvation. Ultimately, ambition leads him to even greater cruelty, destroying both the tribes and himself.

"In an unflinching look at love, sex, and fertility, and inspired by real stories of mothers during the Canadian birth-control movement of the early twentieth century, one of Canada's most celebrated playwrights vividly recreates a couple's struggles with reproduction. It's Ottawa in the 1920s, before birth control is legalized. Sophie, a young working-class girl, falls madly in love with her sister's suitor, and eventually marries, a stablehand named Jonny. After two difficult childbirths, doctors tell Sophie she shouldn't have any more children, but don't tell her how to prevent it. When Sophie inevitably becomes pregnant again, she faces a grim dilemma."--

"Kate likes her men tall, dark and smouldering. She has a fatal attraction to bad men. Then she meets Steve... Steve is a feminist. Can Kate overcome her love of lipstick, cupcakes and Heathcliff? Can Steve forgo the ethical confetti and learn to be a little bit more ravishing in bed? Can the two of them reinvent romance for the twenty-first century? How to Date a Feminist is a hilarious new spin on the Hollywood romcom featuring two proposals, two weddings, an elopement and a cast of unforgettable characters."--

"The primetime television sitcom business of making America laugh is a cut-throat industry swarming with abundant greed, deceit, and deliciously evil players and of course the nave yet creative buffoon who wants to change the world. Life can become a canceled sitcom if one is not careful."--Publisher's website.

Father Tom Farley has found peace and lost his faith. He invokes the gods of pop theology and atones with sacramental burgundy. Seminarian Mark Dolson is aflame with love for his Lord, in hot water for his ideas... and subjected to a baptism of fire by the priest he calls "a song and dance theologian, a phony and a drunkard". "Don't kick ass", counsels Father Tim. "Better than kiss it", says Mark.

Howard Katz is a new play by Patrick Marber, who has been called "the greatest British playwright to have emerged in the 1990s." (The Financial Times) Following on the success of his play Closer, Patrick Marber's Howard Katz has been hailed as "a gripping piece of work" (Sunday Telegraph). This haunting play is centered on its title character, a hard-as-nails talent agent now down on his luck. Marber traces the story of the mighty Katz through almost dream- like flashbacks, capturing a man in freefall, while he determinedly clings to life. Marber's tale is a universal one about the search for faith and the power of love to touch even the most hardened soul. "Howard Katz is one of the most fascinating, relevant, and thoughtful plays to hit London in recent years." -- Time "A dream-play, a nightmare-play, a sad-funny life and death play. A must." -- Sunday Times (London)

Marjorie Perloff writes: “Among the great modernist poets, Mina Loy was surely the greatest wit, the most sophisti- cated commentator on the vagaries of love, the one whose brittle and sardonic laughter continues . . . to pursue us.” Stories and Essays of Mina Loy is the first book-length volume of Mina Loy’s narrative writings and critical work ever published. This volume brings together her short fiction, as well as hybrid works that include modernized fairy tales, a Socratic dialogue, and a ballet. Loy’s narratives address issues such as abortion and poverty, and what she called “the sex war” is an abiding theme throughout. Stories and Essays of Mina Loy also contains dramatic works that parody the bravado and misogyny of Futurism and demonstrate Loy’s early, effective use of absurdist technique. Essays and commentaries on aesthetics, historical events, and religion complete this beguiling collection, cementing Mina Loy’s place as one of the great writers of the twentieth century.

Rural Central Texas, 1909. A young Russian-Jewish immigrant, newly arrived in America through the port of Galveston, pulls his banana cart into the hamlet of Hamilton. Fleeing the vicious pogroms of his homeland, he has sought refuge in the land of the free. Able to speak only Yiddish, alone in the midst of a staunchly Christian community, he begs for shelter. Over the next thirty years, he makes a home and raises a family in this tiny town. THE IMMIGRANT is the story of a young Russian-Jewish couple and the local couple that take them in, as religion meets religion, culture meets culture, fear meets fear, and love meets love. This is the true story of Haskell Harelik, "the Immigrant". "THE IMMIGRANT received a well-deserved standing ovation on opening night at the Mark Taper Forum...superb." Pros, Variety "A lovely and loving evening of theater. Harelik's story is tender and touching" Ed Kaufman, Hollywood Reporter "A funny new play... The scenes evoke the rural era with the firm-handed clarity of a Jewish Horton Foote...they glow." Linda Winer, U S A Today

In David Adjmi’s contemporary take on the young queen of France, Marie is a confection created by a society that values extravagance and artifice. But France’s love affair with the royals sours as revolution brews, and for Marie, the political suddenly becomes very personal. From the light and breezy banter at the palace to the surging chants of “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité!” in the streets, Marie Antoinette holds a mirror up to our contemporary society that might just be entertaining itself to death. -- Publisher's website.

"When the play begins there is Harry Berlin, looking like a shaved, mustachioed beatnik who has sunk so low that honest beatniks would disown him. He has no future except to jump off the bridge and is about to do so when Milt Manville comes along and intervenes. Milt and Harry turn out to be college classmates. As Harry, in his rags, slowly drops hints of his tale of woe, Milt, a picture of prosperity, is all sympathy. but LUV has ample place in its bosom for more than one miserable fellow. Milt is also full of frustration, for his wife won't release him and let him marry the girl he loves. Presently Milt's wife, Ellen, appears. As she stands under the lamppost, her expression congealed and fur-coated body rigid, it is clear that she too is torn by anguish. Now we have a trianglematched in misery. Milt has had an inspiration. Why not bring Ellen and Harry together and thus win the freedom to marry the other girl? But Ellen looks despairing; she needs sprucing up. Milt tidies her dress and slip, combs her hair, rouges her lips, powders her cheeks, delicately touches up her eyelashes and sprays her with perfume. Could a husband be more tender with a wife he hopes to palm off? The events that follow need not be detailed. All you will wish to kow is that whatever marriages are mand and unmade, Milt, Ellen and Harry end up in sorrow and agony, and the greater their misunderstandings and problems, the more you laugh"--Page 4 of cover

A romantic drama with music inspired by the days of music hall and beyond, from the author of the modern classic Kindertransport. It is 1919. The Great War is over and Poppy Wright arrives in London from the north of England to make her mark in the world. Deep in the heart of the East End she finds work in Smith's tailor and costumiers workshop, where she meets dashing chauffeur George, and falls in love. This is a time of change and opportunity, emerging from the losses of war, when all are questioning who they are and what roles they can play in forging a new, modern era. It's time to ditch the corset and discover who really wears the trousers. Poppy + George is a beguiling romance that draws on a world of female impersonators, popular song and double entendre. It was first performed at the Watford Palace Theatre in February 2016.