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Lend Me a Tenor

Play · 1985

The play takes place in 1934, in a hotel suite in Cleveland, Ohio. The two-room set has a sitting room with a sofa and chairs at right and a bedroom at left. A center "stage wall" divides the two rooms, with a door leading from one room to the other. (Throughout the play, the audience can see what's happening in both rooms at the same time.) As Scene I of the play opens, Henry Saunders, general manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Tito Merelli, a world-famous Italian opera tenor, known as "Il Stupendo" to his many fans. Merelli is coming to Cleveland to sing the lead role in a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello. It's the biggest event in the Cleveland Opera's history. A sellout crowd and the members of the Cleveland Opera Guild will be at the opera house that evening to see the great Merelli. Saunders' harried assistant, Max, is also in the hotel suite. Saunders has charged Max with seeing to Merelli's needs, and with getting Merelli to the opera house in time for the performance. Also there is Maggie Saunders, Henry's daughter and Max's sometime girlfriend. Maggie is a fan of Tito Merelli, and hopes to meet him. Tito finally arrives at the hotel suite, accompanied by his hot-tempered Italian wife, Maria, who is jealous because Tito flirts with other women. When she finds Maggie hiding in the bedroom closet, trying to get Tito's autograph, Maria angrily assumes that Maggie is Tito's secret lover. Maria writes Tito a "Dear John" letter, and leaves the hotel. In the sitting room, Max gives Tito a tranquilizer-laced drink, trying to calm him down before the performance. (Unbeknownst to either of them, Tito accidentally takes a double-dose of tranquilizers.) When he learns that Max is an aspiring opera singer, Tito kindly gives Max a singing lesson, teaching him to "loosen up" and sing with more confidence. Tito and Max sing a duet together ("Dio, che nell'alma infondere" from Verdi's Don Carlos). When Tito returns to the bedroom, he finds Maria's note. Horrified that his wife has left him, Tito goes into a fit of passion and tries to "kill himself" with various non-lethal objects (e.g. trying to stab himself with a wine bottle). Max manages to calm Tito down, and takes the singer into the bedroom, where Tito lies down on the bed for a rest. Much later (Scene II), Max is unable to wake Tito from his nap. Max finds an empty medicine bottle and Maria's "Dear John" letter, which is written in such a way ("By the time you read this, I will be gone.") that Max mistakenly thinks Tito has committed suicide. When Saunders arrives, Max tearfully tells him that Tito is dead. Saunders is furious. The opera performance will have to be cancelled, and the audience will demand their money back. It will be a disaster for the Cleveland opera, and for Saunders himself. However, Saunders comes up with a plan. Since no one else knows that Tito is dead, Max will step into the Othello role and pretend to be Tito. Wearing Tito's costume and makeup, Max will star in the opera performance. The audience will never know that it is not Tito Merelli, and they can announce Tito's death tomorrow morning. Max reluctantly agrees to the plan. He goes into the bathroom to change, and later returns, dressed as Othello, in a costume, wig, and blackface makeup. As the curtain falls on Act One, Saunders and Max leave for the performance, just as Tito wakes up in the bedroom. As the second act opens, Saunders and Max return to the hotel suite. Max's performance as Othello was a huge success, and no one suspected that he was not Tito. Then Saunders gets a phone call, telling him that the police are downstairs in the lobby. They are looking for "a lunatic dressed as Othello, who thinks he's Tito Merelli." During Max's performance, the "lunatic" tried to force his way into the opera house, hit a policeman who tried to stop him, and ran away. Saunders tells Max to quickly change out of his Othello costume and makeup, while he goes downstairs to handle the police. Max returns to the bedroom, but is shocked and horrified to find Tito is missing from the bed. Still wearing his Othello costume, Max leaves the hotel suite and runs to find Saunders. A few seconds later, Tito Merelli returns to the hotel suite, also dressed as Othello, in a costume, wig, and blackface makeup. Frantic and on the run from the police, Tito is even more confused when other characters in the play show up to congratulate him on his "magnificent performance" as Othello. For the rest of the play, Max and Tito—who are identical in their Othello costumes and makeup—are repeatedly mistaken for each other, as they alternately run in and out of the hotel suite. Max is mistaken for Tito, and Tito is mistaken for Max by Saunders. Also, Tito and Max both find themselves being romantically pursued by Maggie Saunders, and by Diana, the Cleveland Opera's sexy and ambitious soprano. Eventually, Diana seduces Tito in the bedroom, while Maggie simultaneously seduces Max (who she thinks is Tito) in the living room. At the end of the play, things are sorted out. Maria returns to the hotel and makes up with the bewildered Tito, while Max manages to step into the bathroom long enough to change out of his Othello costume and wig, and emerge as himself. Tito and Maria leave together, while Saunders accompanies Diana to a downstairs reception. Maggie realizes that not only was Max the "Tito" that she had sex with, he was also the "Tito" who sang so passionately in tonight's opera performance. As the play closes, Max and Maggie share a kiss.

Leopoldstadt

Play · 2020

Leopoldstadt frames the narrative of a Jewish family in Vienna over a period of some 50 years. The main set is the drawing room of a wealthy family. There are five acts occurring in the years 1899, 1900, 1924, 1938 and 1955. 1899: the family gathers for Christmas, discussing ideas ranging from Theodore Herzl's Zionism to Jewish and Viennese arts and culture. Family members have integrated well with Viennese society, and enjoy their rights and civil liberties. Hanna asks Gretl to chaperone her on a date with a non-Jewish cavalry officer, Fritz. Hermann’s nephew, Pauli, expresses an interest in becoming a soldier. 1900: Gretl and Fritz strike up an affair, which Gretl eventually ends. Hermann gains knowledge of this, but ultimately dismisses Gretl's infidelity. The family gather for Passover Seder, celebrating the birth of Hermann’s niece, Nellie. 1924: Jacob, the son of Hermann and Gretl, fought in World War I alongside Pauli. Pauli was killed in battle; Jacob survived but lost an eye and has one useless arm. The family gather for a bris ceremony. This act explores the impacts of the Great War and the rise of Bolshevism. Fearing for the worst, Hermann meets with a banker to discuss transferring the family business to Jacob. 1938: the year of Anschluss. The family are gathered, with the company of a British journalist who is engaged to one of the girls in the family. The family discuss escape plans, including visas to England. The Nazis enter the property, harassing the family and seizing their belongings. The family's home is requisitioned by the Nazis and the family must leave to be transported the following day. Hermann is forced to sign the family business away to the Nazis, but Jacob retains legal ownership. It is revealed that Jacob is the legal son of Gretl and Fritz; Hermann planned and acknowledged the affair so that Jacob would not face antisemitism since he would be legally recorded as a gentile. 1955: the survivors of the Holocaust gather in the family home. Only three family members survived: Leo, who successfully gained a British visa and assimilated into British culture; Rosa, who moved to New York before the Holocaust; and Nathan, who survived Auschwitz. Leo has no memory of his life in Vienna as a Jew; the family painfully recollect their memories and acknowledge their murdered family members.

Les Blancs

Play · 1970

A white American journalist, Charlie Morris, arrives at the mission – a remote and very rustic Protestant medical missionary outpost in Africa. He meets the idealistic and slightly naive young Dr. Marta Gotterling and the cynical much older Dr. Willy DeKoven. He also meets a wise and kindly old now-blind Norwegian woman, Madame Neilsen, the wife of Reverend Torvald Neilsen, who is currently away performing baptisms and a funeral across the river. The Neilsens have been at the mission for 40 years, and Madame Neilsen knows and loves the Africans and understands their traditions – but tells Charlie that for many years now "the trouble" has distanced the Africans from the Neilsens. Major George Rice appears, dragging a young African man by a noose a young African man and possible terrorist he refers to as "it", and informs Charlie of the ongoing conflict between the Colonial Reserve and terrorist members of the African resistance. After leaving the mission, the Major shoots the young man off-stage. Charlie and Dr. DeKoven discuss Amos Kumalo, the leader of the non-violent independence movement, who has been in Europe negotiating and has returned to the country. Tshembe Matoseh, a former villager who has become a world-travelled businessman with a white wife and biracial son, returns from his home in London to the village only one day too late to see his dying father, Old Abioseh. Tshembe tells his much younger, biracial half-brother Eric, whom he hasn't seen in seven years, of his family in England, and they discuss the struggle for independence. Their oldest brother Abioseh Matoseh returns to the village from a Catholic educational institution, St Cyprian's, wearing clerical garb, and reveals that he is in the process of being ordained as a priest. Tshembe rejects Abioseh's capitulation to Roman Catholicism, and Abioseh rejects the traditional African funeral ceremony being held for their father, creating a conflict of cultures between the two brothers. Charlie is attempting to convince Dr. Gotterling to join him for a walk when Major Rice arrives and tells them of a peaceful white family nearby that has just been murdered by terrorists. Tshembe arrives to renew his friendship with Madame Neilsen, but Major Rice calls him a "kaffir" before he identifies himself, and afterwards searches him for the tattoo sign of the terrorist group. He continues to belittle Tshembe, calling him "boy", and asking him why "you educated chaps" don't "talk sense" to the terrorists. In a conversation full of tension, Charlie expresses to Tshembe a desire to transcend ingrained race relations and to deeply understand and possibly publicize the Africans and their struggle, but Tshembe points up Charlie's unspoken paternalism, his unconscious internalized superiority, and his and other whites' need to find salvation or fulfillment at Africa's expense. Tshembe confronts his confused, directionless, and misguided biracial teenage half-brother Eric about wearing makeup given to him by Dr. DeKoven and "turning into a white woman", and about his excessive drinking. Tshembe wants to take Eric to live with him in London, but Abioseh wants him to go to the boarding school at St Cyprian's. Tshembe learns that Peter (who goes by his birth name Ntali in the village), the African longtime head servant at the medical mission, is part of the terrorist group. He also learns that his own father, the now-deceased Old Abioseh, had started the resistance movement several years previously. Peter, along with a militant villager named Ngago, try to recruit Tshembe to the terrorist group, but he tells Peter that Kumalo has returned to the country for negotiations and that he will go to Kumalo and deliver the people's messages to him, instead. Peter believes that strategy to be ineffectual and says the terrorists are determined to rule by whatever means necessary. Tshembe is distraught and reminds himself, "I have renounced all spears!" Charlie questions Dr. Gotterling about Reverend Neilsen, trying to explore his motives in coming to Africa to found a mission, but she idolizes the reverend, and rejects the notion that his mission exploited the villagers in any way or took advantage of the deprivation in the area. She also tells Charlie that the Africans "haven't earned the right to criticize yet" about the way they are treated by white settlers. Major Rice appears at the mission, saying that "this colony has always depended on the sacredness of a white life", and that because of the terrorist groups and because Kumalo has been arrested and killed, he is assuming full command at the mission. He states full-scale military operations, including internment camps for all African males and relocation of all African females and children, will be implemented. Troops will be quartered at the mission. Tshembe arrives at the mission, and is told Kumalo is dead. Charlie again attempts to engage Tshembe, but in another heated exchange he tells Charlie he is tired of words and tries to explain to him that nothing can come of their talking. Charlie wants Tshembe, as an educated and successful African expat businessman, to speak to the West on behalf of Africa, but Tshembe explains that for generations, lip service by white colonizers, governments, and apparent sympathizers have yielded no results but only the continued exploitation, oppression, mutilation, and murder of Africans. He says innumerable non-violent negotiations and protests have accomplished nothing. In his mind Tshembe sees The Woman (a non-speaking, symbolic role), a symbol of the urge he feels to rejoin his African roots by way of the resistance, and murmurs, "She has come for me now", but when internally impelled to choose sides he shouts in anguish, "I am just one man!" When Eric expresses his desire to join the terrorists, Abioseh reminds him he is half-white. Eric accidentally reveals to him that Peter is part of the terrorist group, which Abioseh condemns. When Tshembe appears Abioseh appeals to him as an upright, educated African like himself to wait till "the terror" has passed or is suppressed so that the two of them and others like them can step in afterwards and be peaceful leaders. Tshembe calls Abioseh an Uncle Tom and a Judas, but Abioseh is determined to report Peter to Major Rice, even though Peter was a village elder who helped raise the two brothers. Dr. DeKoven tells Charlie that the charitable medical work done at the unmodernized, unelectrified mission actually enables colonialism because keeping the villages and tribes uneducated and poor promotes subservience, white paternalism, and colonialism. He recounts that Reverend Neilsen had poured scorn on the villagers' proposal and petition for proportionate native representation in the legislature, which they had planned to take to the government in the capital. After that the villagers stopped coming to the mission except for medical needs. After their petitions went unheard in the capital and in Europe, the resistance movement was born. The natives stopped paying taxes, and the colonial government sent in soldiers, which then led to the terrorist groups. Tshembe goes to the mission to warn Peter that his cover has been blown, but Major Rice and Abioseh arrive first. The Major announces that Reverend Neilsen has been killed in a terrorist raid and that he has called in fresh troops, helicopters, jets, and mechanized units for a new coordinated military offensive. He calls for Peter and, after humiliating him by making him grovel and praise white rule, he shoots and kills him when upon being confronted he admits to cutting the flare system at the mission compound. Speaking to Charlie, Major Rice calls the country "my country" and exults over "our beautiful hills", concluding, "We wish the blacks no ill, Mr. Morris. But they are our hills." After he leaves, Dr. DeKoven tells Charlie that Major Rice is Eric's father, having raped Tshembe's and Abioseh's mother Aquah, who died in childbirth; he adds, "they say, from shame". Ngago calls the Kwi people together and describes the three centuries of murders, massacres, rapes, land grabs, oppression, and imprisonment committed by white colonizers. He calls on the men to kill and drive out the invaders. As the country erupts in chaos, the whites are told to evacuate from the mission within 24 hours. As Charlie and the doctors leave, Dr. Gotterling and Madame Neilsen each separately tell Charlie to write the truth of what he has seen and knows. Madame Neilsen tells Tshembe that, at 68, she is too old to leave and that Africa is her home and her final resting place. She reveals that Reverend Neilsen unfortunately believed that God intended that the races must remain separate, and that he wanted Aquah's unborn biracial child (Eric) to die and Aquah with it. Tshembe tells her he doesn't know what to do, regarding the terrorist movement. She tells him that Africa needs warriors and that colonialism will go on unchecked if not stopped. When they part, Tshembe kills his brother Abioseh and cries out in anguish. Madame Neilsen sits quietly by her husband's casket inside the mission that night, and blows out her candle, sitting in the dark. As villagers enter the compound, Eric sets fire to the mission.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Play · 1985

Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a 1985 play by Christopher Hampton adapted from the 1782 novel of the same name by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The play was first staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company and opened at The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon on 24 September 1985 starring Lindsay Duncan, Alan Rickman, Juliet Stevenson, Lesley Manville, and Fiona Shaw. It made its Broadway debut in 1987, with Duncan and Rickman reprising their roles. The play has since been revived several times on Broadway and the West End. The play was adapted into the 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons, directed by Stephen Frears and starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Les Pavés du Ciel

Play · 1953

(Taken from the Broadway version); Shots are heard by the audience before the curtain rises. When the stage is revealed, Henri appears to be dead with his wife Lucile Miremont, in a striking white satin gown, holding a gun over the corpse. Lucille targeted Henri for cheating on her. Henri surprisingly springs to life, as the bullets were blanks. A strange absurd comedy ensues, including Lucile reloading her weapon with real bullets, shooting Henri a second time, and resulting in Henri transforming into a grandfather clock. A further plot point involves Lucile Nicole unsuccessfully trying to seduce Pierre, Henri's married son. In the end Lucille awakes to discover the events were all a nightmare.

Lettice and Lovage

Play · 1987

Lettice and Lovage is set in England. The action takes place in three primary locations: the Grand Hall of Fustian House, Wiltshire, England; Miss Schoen's office at the Preservation Trust, Architrave Place, London; and Miss Douffet's basement apartment, Earls Court, London. This synopsis delineates the action of the production seen by American audiences in 1990. Lettice Douffet is showing a group of tourists around Fustian House, an old, dreary, and (as the name suggests) fusty sixteenth-century hall. The rain-drenched tourists are clearly bored and miserable. Lettice is reciting a rehearsed monologue pointing out the not-very-interesting history of the hall. As the tourists leave in a kind of stupor, Lettice feels dejected. The scene shifts to several days later at the same spot. Lettice is again reciting her boring monologue, but suddenly she is filled with inspiration and begins improvising a wildly untrue (yet entertaining) story about the staircase in the hall. The tourists are jolted from their reveries and thoroughly enraptured by her tale. Some days later, Lettice is once again telling the "history" of the hall, only her tale has become even more fanciful and grandiose. She is filled with confidence and the (larger) audience of excited tourists hangs on her every word. Lettice is challenged by a disagreeable fellow who demands to see her references for the story. She successfully averts his questions, much to the enjoyment of the rest of the crowd. The next scene reveals Lettice telling an even larger version of the now completely ridiculous yet salacious story to salivating tourists. She is this time interrupted by Lotte Schoen, who dismisses the rest of the crowd, insisting she must speak to Lettice alone. Lotte reveals she works for Preservation Trust, which owns Fustian House. She tells Lettice she must report to the Trust the next day to have her position reviewed. The next afternoon Lettice is shown in to Lotte's office. She defends her embellishment of the facts by stating that the House's architecture and history is too dull. Lettice says she lives her life by a code her mother taught her: "Enlarge! Enliven! Enlighten!". Lotte chafes at the discovery that Lettice's mother was an actress and sits dumbfounded at Lettice's assertions of her mother's colorful past and its influence on her. Lotte tells Lettice that she has twenty-two letters of complaint about her false recitations at Fustian House. She fires Lettice, who despairs and wonders what a woman of her age can do. She leaves the Trust, but not before telling Lotte a story about Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary had dressed herself in a red dress the day of her execution to defy her accusers. As she tells the story, Lettice drops her cloak to reveal a red nightdress. It is ten weeks later. Lettice is in her basement flat with her cat, Felina. The apartment is adorned with theatrical posters, furniture, props, and relics. Lotte Schoen unexpectedly arrives at the flat and is dismayed by the sight of the cat, saying she has an aversion to them. Lotte then produces a letter of reference she has written for Lettice to obtain a new position giving tours on boats on the Thames. Lettice is very moved by her gesture and apologizes for behaving rudely. She insists they have a celebratory drink together. They spend a long scene drinking and talking, where they begin to find similarities in their very different personalities—notably, a disgust with modern English architecture and all things "mere". Inebriated, Lotte begins telling of a man with whom she was once in love, who aspired to be a terrorist by blowing up modern buildings in London to oppose the destruction of historical architecture. Lotte divulges he and she had a secret alliance called E.N.D.—Eyesore Negation Detachment. She says she ran out on her end of the bargain and did not plant a bomb intended to blow up a wing of the Shell Building. Her betrayal of the agreement ruined the relationship and, consequently, her life. Lettice listens with much sympathy. Lotte invites her to dinner and tells her it is her Mary, Queen of Scots story that really prompted her to come. Lettice tells her the rest of the story—how Queen Mary also wore a wig to her execution, prompting the executioner to grab her wig and not her head after it was detached. Lotte reveals that she is wearing a wig and requests Lettice to take it off, in an act of solidarity. Six months later, Lettice is being interviewed in her home by a lawyer, who says she is accused of a "peculiarly unpleasant crime". We learn through a series of questions and answers that Lotte and Lettice had become fast friends and taken to enacting famous historical trials and executions in Lettice's flat. It becomes clear that, during one of these theatrical displays, Lotte was inadvertently injured and that the lawyer is at Lettice's home to inform her of an indictment against her. Lotte again shows up unexpectedly. The lawyer insists on hearing the whole story, claiming Lettice's defense relies upon it. Lotte insists it cannot be spoken at a trial. As Lettice continues her story (acting it out along the way and embellishing it with stories of Lotte's now rather theatrical behavior), Lotte becomes more and more agitated. We learn Lettice's cat startled Lotte in the midst of their performance, causing her to become injured. The lawyer tells them both that they must testify to this to get the case against Lettice thrown out. Lotte says, if the information gets out, it will ruin her life and career. Lotte claims Lettice tricked her into the acting games and suggests her theatricality is one big act. She cruelly insults Lettice and walks out. Lettice stops her with a heartfelt speech about how the technological modern age is leaving her behind. Lotte storms back in, outraged that Lettice is "giving up". They make up and decide to re-invent E.N.D., only without bombs. They plan to give tours at the "fifty ugliest new buildings in London", using Lotte's architectural knowledge and Lettice's flair for the dramatic (and propensity for lying). The play ends with the two women toasting the audience.

Libel!

Play · 1934

Sir Mark Loddon, a war hero and Member of Parliament, is suing a newspaper for libel. The paper claims that he is an impostor, a fellow soldier and friend of Loddon from the war who happened to resemble the original Loddon. The play is set in the courtroom as the trial for the lawsuit takes place. Loddon takes the stand as the first witness. He recounts being taken prisoner during the war, then escaping a few years later. After the war he married his pre-war fiancée, Enid, and was elected to the House of Commons. However, he says he has no recollection of events from before he was taken prisoner, a condition he attributes to shell shock. On cross-examination, defence lawyer Thomas Foxley accuses Loddon of being Frank Wenley, a soldier who escaped with Loddon and had strikingly similar features. Another soldier from the escape, Patrick Buckenham, testifies that Loddon and Wenley looked so much alike that they could have been twins. He believes Wenley killed the real Loddon. Loddon's attorney elicits testimony that Buckenham is being paid a stipend by the newspaper and had previously attempted to blackmail Loddon. Dr. Emile Flordon testifies to treating a severely beaten patient who was wearing a jacket from Loddon's brigade. The patient has recovered physically, but his injuries have left him mentally incapacitated. This man could be Wenley, or he could be Loddon. Foxley calls Enid Loddon to the stand, and she testifies that she no longer believes her husband is the real Mark Loddon. Just as it seems Loddon will lose his case, he has a sudden memory and asks to take the stand again. Loddon explains that the injured man was a German soldier that he encountered while escaping. He beat the man and switched clothing to aid the escape. He cuts open the lining of the jacket that Flordon had brought from his patient. Loddon pulls out a photograph of Enid from before the war, saying it was a gift from her before he left. The defence accepts this demonstration as proof of Loddon's identity. He wins his case and reunites with his wife.

Liberation

Play · 2025

Liberation is a 2025 American memory play by Bess Wohl. Developed by the Roundabout Theatre Company, it explores second-wave feminism, memory, and the complexities of social change across generations. The play premiered off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre in February 2025, directed by Whitney White, and transferred to Broadway in October 2025 at the James Earl Jones Theatre. The production won the 2026 Tony Award for Best Play. On May 4, 2026, it was announced that Bess Wohl won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Liberation.

Liberty Hall

Play · 1892

Liberty Hall is a comedy-drama play by the British writer R. C. Carton which premiered in London on 3 December 1892, at the St James's Theatre. It ran for 192 performances, until 20 May 1893. The cast was: Mr Owen – George Alexander William Todman – Edward Righton Hon Gerald Harringay – Ben Webster Mr Pedrick – Nutcombe Gould J. Briginshaw – H. H. Vincent Robert Binks – Richard Saker Luscombe – Vernon Sansbury Mr Hickson – Alfred Holles Miss Hickson – Ailsa Craig Crafer – Fanny Coleman Amy Chilworth – Maude Millett Blanche Chilworth – Marion Terry Source: The Era. The play was revived at the St James's for a single matinée performance in March 1894 and 16 performances in November 1895.

Life

Play · 1800

Life is an 1800 comedy play by the British writer Frederick Reynolds. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 1 November 1800. The Irish premiere took place at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin on 20 January 1801. The original Covent Garden cast included William Thomas Lewis as Sir Harry Torpid, Joseph Shepherd Munden as Paul Primitive, John Fawcett as Lackbrain, John Emery as Crafty, Charles Farley as Jack Clifford, Charles Murray as Marchmont, Frances Chapman as Mrs Belford, Catherine St Ledger as Mrs Decoy and Harriet Siddons as Rosa Marchmont.

Life's Vagaries

Play · 1795

Life's Vagaries is a 1795 comedy play by the Irish writer John O'Keeffe. It was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 19 March 1795. The original cast included John Bernard as Lord Torrendel, William Thomas Lewis as Lord Arthur D'Aumerle, Joseph Shepherd Munden as Sir Hans Burgess, John Quick as Dickins, John Fawcett as George Burgess, John Henry Johnstone as Timolin, Edward Townsend as Robin, Charles Farley as Leillet, Tryphosa Jane Wallis as Augusta and Jane Pope as Lady Torrendel. Its first Dublin performance was at the Crow Street Theatre on 7 January 1796.

Light Up the Sky

Play · 1948

The story concerns the tryout of a fictional play, The Time Is Now, at the Colonial Theatre in Boston. The play itself is neither seen nor heard. The setting is the living room of the star's luxury suite, in the Ritz-Carlton hotel across the street from the theater. The first act takes place at 5:30 pm, before the tryout starts, with hopes high and nerves on edge. Miss Lowell sits at a typewriter in the living room, with just Orson for company. One or two at a time the other characters come in and are introduced: Carleton FitzGerald, the overly emotional director; Frances Black, the shockingly outspoken wife of the producer; Owen Turner, the experienced older playwright just stopping by for a drink; Stella Livingston, the star's pessimistic mother who prophisises doom; Peter Sloan, the starry-eyed young trucker turned author, whose novice effort is now being given a tryout; Sidney Black, the excited, over-eager producer sponsoring his first play; and finally, Irene Livingston, the self-absorbed, aristocratic-behaving star. The second act occurs at 12:30 am, after the performance has had a seemingly disastrous finish, many in the audience having laughed and walked out before the ending. Sloan is blamed for the failure, and in turn vents about the harsh treatment lavished on him by those who earlier praised his work. Turner counsels him to accept compromises in his play in order to salvage it. Meanwhile, joyfully raucous Shriners, attending a convention, roam the hotel hallways and even burst into the suite on occasion. The act ends with Sloan storming out, headed for the airport. The final act is set at 3:30 am; the rest of the characters are still conducting a gloomy post-mortem on the performance. They are disturbed by the entry of an uninvited guest, William H. Gallegher, a Shriner, who announces the play is a success. He has copies of the early morning papers, from which it is learned the audience were largely his drunken compatriots, with the critics hailing the play as very good but needing some work. Sidney Black phones a plain-clothes detective, who brings Sloan unwillingly back from the airport. Grasping the changed state of affairs, Sloan takes charge of the others, who now look to him for advice on how to proceed.

Lily of the Valley

Play · 1942

Lily of the Valley is a drama in three acts by Ben Hecht. The play is set inside New York City's county morgue and centers around a visiting preacher who hears the ghosts of the dead. Other central characters include a police lieutenant and a photographer for the morgue. It premiered on Broadway at the Windsor Theatre on January 26, 1942. It had a short run of just eight performances. It was produced by Gilbert Miller and directed by Hecht. Harry Horner designed both the lights and sets. Helene Pons designed the costumes. The cast was led by Siegfried Rumann as the Rev. Swen Houseman, Clay Clement as Lieutenant Balboa, Myron McCormick as the longshoreman Shorty, Minnie Dupree as Emma Jolonick, Katharine Bard as Frances, Will Lee as Joe, Grania O'Malley as Annie, Alison Skipworth as Mag, and Richard Taber as Blakie Gagin among others.

Lincoln

Play · 1906

Lincoln is a historical play in four acts by the American actor and playwright Benjamin Chapin. Chapin was a celebrated Abraham Lincoln impersonator, and his play centered around three key events from the life of the American president: the 1861 defeat of Fort Sumter which initiated the American Civil War; the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863; and the last day of Lincoln's life prior to his assassination at the Ford's Theatre. The events themselves were not actually seen on stage, but rather Lincoln's reactions to news of events from within the White House in conversations with his advisors and his family.

Little Accident

Play · 1928

Little Accident was a 1928 Broadway three-act comedy written by Floyd Dell and Thomas Mitchell (who also played Norman Overbeck in the play). It was based on Dell's 1927 novel An Unmarried Father. It was produced by Crosby Gaige and directed by Joseph Graham and Arthur Hurley running for 303 performances from October 9, 1928, to July 1929 at the Morosco Theatre and the Ambassador Theatre. It was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1928-1929. The play and the novel were made into the 1930 film The Little Accident starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Anita Page and the 1939 film Little Accident starring Hugh Herbert and Florence Rice. Both films were released by Universal Pictures.

Little Ladyship

Play · 1939

Little Ladyship is a 1939 comedy play by the British writer Ian Hay. It premiered at the King's Theatre, Glasgow before beginning its West End run at the Strand Theatre and later transferring to the Aldwych Theatre. The original West End run lasted for 126 performances. The cast included Cecil Parker, Lilli Palmer, David Tree, Joan Greenwood, Aubrey Mather, Norma Varden, Diana King and Iris Vandeleur. In March 1939, the BBC broadcast a recorded version of the play on television.

Little Women

Play · 1912

Little Women is a play in four acts by Marian de Forest which was adapted from the novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott. The only full-length stage adaptation of the work authorized by the Alcott family, the work was first staged on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre in 1912. It was subsequently revived on Broadway in 1917, 1931, 1944, and 1946. The play was frequently performed in regional theatre in the United States during the early to mid 20th century.

Loggerheads

Play · 1925

Loggerheads was a 1925 Broadway three-act comedy written by Ralph Cullinan and produced by Barry Macollum and Whitford Kane with Macollum also playing Padna Collins and Kane playing Corny Halpin. It ran for 72 performances from February 9, 1925 to April 1925 at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Actress Gail Kane was not related to Whitford Kane. Time Magazine—from a February 23, 1925 article—says this about the play: "An Irish sea-coast comedy, with a sob here and there, slipped quietly into the tiny Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village and was welcomed quietly. In the main, it was an honest play, possessed one excellent performance, and was interesting to the audience scarcely at all. The story told of a feud patched up by the fisherman's daughter who wanted to be a nun. Amid the rolling of exceedingly old country “r's,” she married her mother off to the son of the hated opposition. Joanna Roos (as the daughter) gave the performance."

London Calling

Play · 1930

The comedy centres on two brothers Willie and George Craft, whose American mother and British father long have been divorced. Willie Craft has been raised in America by his mother, George by his father in London, England. When George appears for a surprise visit to Manhattan, he and Willie soon fall for a designing woman, Anne Hunter. Their mother decides she is not suitable and prevents her from seeing them, and in the process tries reconciling with their father.

London Wall

Play · 1931

London Wall is a play by the British writer John Van Druten that was first staged in 1931. It based on the romantic entanglements of the staff at a firm of British solicitors in London. It premiered in May 1931 and ran for 170 performances at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End. The play remained largely forgotten until it was rediscovered by the Finborough Theatre with a production in 2013 and a subsequent West End adaptation at the St James Theatre. In 2014 the play received its American premiere when it was staged by Mint Theater Company in New York City; this production was filmed and later broadcast as part of the WNET Off-Broadway Series, Theater Close Up.

Long Day's Journey into Night

Play · 1956

The play takes place on a single day in August 1912. The setting is Monte Cristo Cottage, the seaside home of the Tyrones in Connecticut. The four main characters are the semi-autobiographical representations of O'Neill, his older brother, and their parents, including his father, actor James O'Neill. The play portrays a family struggling to grapple with the realities and consequences of each member's failings. The parents and two sons blame and resent each other for various reasons; bitterness and jealousy serve as proxies for ultimately failed attempts at tenderness and compassion. The family's enduring emotional and psychological stress is fueled by their shared self-analysis, combined with articulate honesty. The story deals with addiction, unfulfilled dreams, moral flaws, and the struggle of family relationships.

Look Before You Leap

Play · 1846

Look Before You Leap is an 1846 comedy play by the British writer George William Lovell. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London's West End on 29 October 1846. The cast included Henry Howe as Brandon, John Baldwin Buckstone as Tom Tilly, William Farren as Mr. Oddington, Benjamin Nottingham Webster as Jack Spriggs, Julia Glover as Miss Brown, Priscilla Horton as Mary Oddington, Mrs Edwin Yarnold as Elinor Mortimer, Julia Bennett as Fanny Hardman.

Look Homeward, Angel

Play · 1957

Look Homeward, Angel traces the coming of age of Eugene Gant, as well as the lives of his family members. It takes place in the town of Altamont, North Carolina. Eugene's mother, Eliza, runs a boarding house, "Dixieland", where boarders often interact with and affect the lives of the Gants. His father, William Oliver, runs a marble sculpture shop, where his prized possession, a statue of an angel, is kept. The play begins by showing life in the boarding house when a young woman, Laura enters and requests to stay there. Gant enters drunk, but is eventually helped by his daughter, Helen. The next scene sees Eugene and his brother, Ben, discussing life and love. Eugene meets Laura, and they appear to fall in love, though Eugene lies about his age, claiming to be older. Eliza and Gant fight over the matter of selling his shop and the angel statue. Eliza enters the boarding house and begins arguing with Ben, cumulating in her slapping him. The next scene, days later, sees Gant and Eugene working in his shop. Laura enters to confront Eugene about the truth—she has lied about her age and he has as well. Eliza enters, ready to sell Gant's shop, until he at last announces that rather than use the money for Dixieland's expenses, he would take the money, put Gene in college, and begin traveling. Eliza rips up his check in a fit of fury and exits. Immediately following, Ben falls ill. He is then seen on his deathbed, where he dies. The third act opens with Eugene and Laura in their bedroom.

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