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Steel Magnolias

Play · 1987

The entire play takes place in the late 1980s, at Truvy's in-home beauty parlor in the fictional northwestern Louisiana parish of Chinquapin, where a group of women regularly gather. Act 1, Scene 1 Truvy Jones hires a young new stylist, Annelle Dupuy, who won't talk much about herself. Truvy and Annelle do the hair of Shelby Eatenton, a young nurse who is to be married that day, and her mother, M'Lynn Eatenton, a mental health counselor. They are joined by Clairee Belcher, the widow of the town's former mayor, and local grouch Ouiser Boudreaux. Shelby and M'Lynn bicker over the wedding preparations. Shelby, who has Type 1 diabetes, talks of how disappointed she is that she should not have children due to her health, and that she and her husband, Jackson, plan to adopt. Ouiser rails against M'Lynn's husband, Drum, and their disputes over their property line. Annelle breaks down and admits that her common law husband has abandoned her, taking most of her possessions. Truvy offers to rent out her garage apartment, as her twin sons will soon be leaving home. Act 1, Scene 2 It's Christmastime, and Shelby returns home for a visit. She informs M'Lynn that she is pregnant. M'Lynn can't bring herself to be joyful as she knows a pregnancy could be devastating to Shelby's health. She accuses Shelby of ignoring her doctor's advice and Jackson of caring more about having a son than his wife's well-being. Shelby insists everything will be fine. Meanwhile, Clairee has purchased the local radio station; Annelle, after a brief period as a party girl, has started attending church and making gaudy arts and crafts; and Shelby attempts to set Ouiser up with Owen Jenkins, an old flame. Act 2, Scene 1 Shelby's son, Jackson Jr., was born three months premature, but is thriving. Clairee relates how her brother has become estranged from her nephew after he came out as gay. Ouiser is seeing Owen, but insists that they are only friends. Annelle has become a fundamentalist Christian, much to the consternation of her new boyfriend, Sammy DeSoto. Shelby and M'Lynn, to the horror of the other ladies, relate how the stress of pregnancy has caused Shelby's kidneys to shut down and she is now on dialysis. M'Lynn will be donating a kidney to her daughter the next day. Act 2, Scene 2 The organ transplant failed and Shelby fell into a coma during reparative surgery. M'Lynn relates how they were forced to disconnect Shelby's life support, and how Jackson and Drum couldn't stand to be in the room as she passed, even though 'men are supposed to be made of steel.' M'Lynn becomes furious at Annelle’s religious explanation. She breaks down screaming and crying for her daughter, wishing she had something to hit. Clairee grabs Ouiser, instructing M'Lynn to 'slap her!' This causes everyone to start laughing and breaks the tension. Annelle, who is pregnant, asks permission to name her child Shelby.

Stereophonic

Play · 2023

In 1976, a famous British-American rock band composed of drummer Simon, married couple bassist Reg and keyboardist/vocalist Holly, and longtime partners guitarist/vocalist Peter and vocalist/tambourinist Diana are in the early stages of recording their next album in a recording studio in Sausalito, California. They are assisted by two sound engineers, Grover and Charlie. Despite the significant - and scarcely precedented - studio support, the members' individual conflicts coupled with mounting tensions among the group, and eventually the engineers, causes the recording process to take around a year.

Stones in His Pockets

Play · 1996

The drama is set in a rural town in County Kerry, Ireland, that is overrun by a Hollywood film crew. The play centres around two friends, Charlie Conlon and Jake Quinn, employed as extras on the film. Charlie has aspirations to get his script made into a movie. Jake has recently returned from New York and is mesmerised, along with everyone else, by the star of the movie, Caroline. Caroline is a famous, beautiful American movie star that fails to ever successfully conquer the Irish accent. Caroline and the other American crew members do not attempt to accurately portray the town and people and only care about finishing the movie on time. Most of the locals are initially excited at the opportunity to be a part of a major film and distracted by the novelty. However, as the film continues they begin to feel abused and the glamour begins to wear off. After a night in the pub, a local teenager, Sean Harkin, is humiliated by Caroline and thrown out into the street for trying to socialise with her. The first act ends when Sean commits suicide by drowning himself with stones in his pockets. The second act continues the story with the town devastated by the loss. Jake begins to blame himself for not reaching out to the boy and Charlie tries to console him and let him not lose hope. Conflict arises when the film crew is hesitant about letting the extras have a break for Sean's funeral. It becomes even more apparent to the town that the film crew has their own agenda and no concern for the people. Jake and Charlie decide to rewrite Charlie's script and make it about Sean's story instead. They present their idea to the American director who in turn tells them the story is not romantic or commercial enough.

Strafford

Play · 1837

Strafford is an 1837 tragedy by the British writer Robert Browning. It portrays the downfall and execution of Lord Strafford, the advisor to Charles I shortly before the English Civil War. The play was first staged at the Covent Garden Theatre in London's West End. The original cast included William Macready as Strafford, William Harries Tilbury as Lord Savile, John Vandenhoff as John Pym, George John Bennett as Denzil Hollis, John Langford Pritchard as Benjamin Rudyard and Helena Faucit as Lucy Percy, Countess of Carlisle. It was one of the last plays to premiere in the pre-Victorian era when William IV was still on the throne.

Strange Bedfellows

Play · 1947

The setting is the parlor of Senator Cromwell's mansion on Nob Hill, San Francisco, during October 1896. The storyline takes place amidst the election campaign for that year, in which William McKinley was elected president. Act I Scene 1 (Afternoon of a sunny October day.) The residents of the Senator's mansion, the Cromwells, the Hamptons, and the two servants, appear one-by-one to introduce the audience to their personalities. Lillian says Vincent has asked her to ride on a tandem bicycle with him. The Senator forbids it unless a chaperone is there. When Mrs. Gimble and Mrs. Worley arrive, the Senator mistakes them for suffragettes and rails at them. But they have come because Addie is a leader in their anti-suffrage group. Vincent also visits, as the household scurries about awaiting Matthew's return from Washington, D.C. to campaign. When Matthew does appear, he brings a surprise: his wife of two weeks, the famous suffragette, Clarissa Blynn. (Curtain) Act I Scene 2 (The following Sunday morning.) Ling stops Lillian from pedaling off to distribute fliers for a suffrage meeting. Her parents are horrified at the bloomers she wears, given to her by Clarissa. "Bifurcated abominations" bellows the senator, who blames Matt for not controlling his wife. Clarissa upsets Addie by revealing her anti-suffrage group is partly funded by a liquor ring and the Barbary Coast brothels, who fear being shut down if women could vote. Julia is less surprised, and Clarissa asks why she does not support suffrage? (Curtain) Act II Scene 1 (Tuesday afternoon.) Mrs. Gimble, Mrs. Worley, and Addie hold a meeting of their anti-suffrage group in the parlor, which Julia also attends. They are surprised when another woman comes to join them: a Mrs. Sparker. A businesswoman of sorts, the other women are flummoxed as they gradually begin to comprehend the nature of her industry. Big Tillie, as her gals call her, is opposed to suffrage for practical economic reasons. As she explains, Addie and her friends grow more dismayed with their new ally, while Julia is almost amused. After the meeting breaks up, Addie and Julia are ready to switch sides, but fear their husbands' wrath. Clarissa tells them about the old Greek play Lysistrata, and suggests a modern revival right there in the Senator's home. (Curtain) Act II Scene 2 (Some hours later.) Gifford and Matthew commiserate with each other over the unpredictability of female behavior down through the ages. Addie attempts to entice Gifford in order to refuse him, but eventually finds it more effective to withhold his racing news and cocktails. Julia, wiser from the start, serves up the Senator a meager supper of unappetizing plainness, "for his health". Lillian, given an adulterated version of the strategy, torments Vincent, while Matthew gets the full carrot-and-stick approach from Clarissa. The situation comes to a crisis when the bumbling Mayor Tibbett pays a call and inadvertently lets slip the Senator's unwitting financial involvement in the Barbary Coast businesses. (Curtain) Act III (Still later.) (Curtain)

Strange Interlude

Play · 1928

The plot centers on Nina Leeds, the daughter of a classics professor at a college in New England, who is devastated when her adored fiancé is killed in World War I, before they have a chance to consummate their passion. Ignoring the unconditional love of the novelist Charles Marsden, Nina embarks on a series of sordid affairs before determining to marry an amiable fool, Sam Evans. While Nina is pregnant with Sam's child, she learns a horrifying secret known only to Sam's mother: insanity runs in the Evans family and could be inherited by any child of Sam's. Realizing that a child is essential to her own and to Sam's happiness, Nina decides on a "scientific" solution. She will abort Sam's child and conceive a child with the physician Ned Darrell, letting Sam believe that it is his. The plan backfires when Nina and Ned's intimacy leads to their falling passionately in love. Twenty years later, Sam and Nina's son Gordon Evans is approaching manhood, with only Nina and Ned aware of the boy's true parentage. In the final act, Sam dies of a stroke without learning the truth. This leaves Nina free to marry Ned Darrell, but she declines, choosing instead to marry the long-suffering Charlie Marsden, who proclaims that he now has "all the luck at last." The meaning of the title is suggested by the aging Nina in a speech near the end of the play: "Our lives are merely strange dark interludes in the electrical display of God the Father!"

Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Play · 2023

In 1943, the United States holds secret experiments involving the USS Eldridge, hoping to use a force field to turn the ship invisible and undetectable to the Germans. However, the ship is instead transported to the Abyss, where most of the crew are killed by strange humanoid creatures. In 1959, the Creel family – consisting of Victor, his wife Virginia, and their children: older son, Henry, and younger daughter, Alice – move to a new home in Hawkins, Indiana. Henry is tormented, mentally disturbed and in possession of remarkable psychokinetic abilities. Henry struggles to make friends upon joining Hawkins High School; despite that, he quickly forms a connection with Patty Newby, daughter of the school principal. Patty convinces Henry that his powers are not evil, and that he should be able to control them and use them for good. Henry creates a "vision" for Patty, where she can express herself through song while being supported by everyone around her. They form a romantic bond, meeting each other every day after school, and eventually kiss. Meanwhile, Joyce Maldonado attempts to put on a school production of Dark of the Moon. While in the attic alone, Henry is overcome by the influence of a shadowy presence – his mind enters what he calls "the battlefield", from where he proceeds to kill several animals, including Claudia Yount's cat Prancer. Henry becomes haunted by visions of a humanoid monster; he is terrified that he will be made to kill Patty. Following this, Patty's adoptive brother Bob teams up with Joyce and her friend James Hopper Jr. to investigate the animal killings. Patty convinces Henry to use his powers to track down her biological mother. As he does this, and while inside the void, he loses control and is once again visited by the monster. This frightens Patty, and when her father walks in and witnesses the scene, he is attacked and almost killed (by Henry controlled by the presence). Patty is able to encourage Henry to fight back by telling him that she believes he is good and that she loves him. Henry responds that he loves her too and is able to end the situation, but not before Patty's father is blinded and seriously injured. Mr. Newby is sent to the hospital, and Henry's mother Virginia sends Henry to Dr. Martin Brenner. It is revealed that she was supplied with drugs by Brenner; under the influence of these drugs, Virginia told Brenner everything about her son. When Mr. Newby wakes up, he tells Patty that Henry saved him from the monster. Mr. Newby draws a picture of the shadowy entity on a piece of paper and gives it to his daughter: it's the Mind Flayer. Brenner takes Henry to Hawkins National Laboratory, where the two discuss the past: It is explained that Brenner's father was the captain and sole survivor of the USS Eldridge experiment, who returned to the normal world with significant injuries and a unique blood type; the elder Brenner later revealed the truth about these events on his deathbed. Dr. Brenner later established the Nevada Experiment, an attempt to reproduce what had happened to the Eldridge. One of Brenner's fellow scientists defected and became a spy for the Soviet Union and stole key technology and transported it to a Nevada cave. At this time, a very young Henry and the Creels lived nearby, in Rachel, Nevada. While exploring the Nevadan caves and playing with a spyglass, Henry stumbled across the stolen technology when it unexpectedly activated, transporting him and the defecting scientist to Abyss. In Abyss, Henry was exposed to the influence of the shadowy entity. Though Henry returned home after 12 hours, he now possessed a unique blood type and had a changed personality. Brenner was later able to track Henry down thanks to Henry dropping his spyglass in the caves. Henry, using a sensory deprivation chamber, shows Brenner a humanoid creature through the Void. Brenner sees this creature displayed on a screen, and Henry convulses. Brenner then tries to force Henry to kill a prisoner, but Henry breaks down and ends up stabbing two guards. After this, Henry tells Brenner that he can let him go. Brenner understands that the boy is devoted to someone and therefore cannot kill; later Brenner realizes that this person is Patty and vows to find and kill her. Henry returns home, but senses that his family is not happy about his return. Using his powers, he reads his mother's thoughts and understands that she wants to send him back to Brenner. Henry gives in to the shadowy entity's influence; while possessed, he kills Virginia and Alice before falling unconscious, with Victor also falling unconscious. Awakening in dazed confusion some hours later, Henry walks to Hawkins High School to save Patty from Brenner, where the performance of Dark of the Moon is about to begin. Atop the stage rafters, Henry reunites with Patty only to be interrupted by Brenner, who appears on the other side of the stage. Brenner says that Patty is his weakness, and Patty tells Henry not to listen to him. As Henry struggles for control, he informs Patty that he managed to find her birth mother, a singer at the Stardust Casino in Las Vegas. Feeling overwhelmed, the shadowy entity once again takes control of Henry, and Henry throws Patty off the rafters, seemingly killing her. Brenner takes Henry back to Hawkins Lab, Patty is taken to the hospital, and Victor Creel is accused of the murder of Virginia and Alice based on Joyce, Bob, and Jim's assumptions about the animal killings. In 1963, Joyce and Jim bid farewell to each other as the latter is shipped off to fight in Vietnam. Some years later, an older Henry is back at Hawkins Lab and is restrained. Using the Void, Henry discovers that Patty survived her fall and was discharged from the hospital, though now needing to walk with a cane. Henry observes her in Las Vegas, where she meets her mother backstage after a performance at the Stardust. Patty and her mother recognize each other and embrace. Brenner informs Henry that the blood transfusions administered to the test subjects have been successful, with Brenner freeing Henry from his restraints as a reward. In the Rainbow Room, Henry is introduced to Eleven, one of the children. Lightning flashes and the silhouette of Vecna appears on the back wall.

Strathmore

Play · 1849

Strathmore is an 1849 historical tragedy by the British writer John Westland Marston. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London on 20 June 1849. The original cast included Charles Kean as Halbert Strathmore, Henry Hughes as Sir Rupert Lorn, Henry Howe as Bycefield, John Baldwin Buckstone as Roland, Ellen Kean as Katharine Lorn and Fanny Fitzwilliam as Janet. It is set during The Killing Time amidst repression of the Scottish Covenanter religious movement in the seventeenth century.

Strawhead

Play · 1983

Strawhead is a play by American writers Norman Mailer and Richard Hannum about Marilyn Monroe. The play is an adaptation of Mailer's 1980 book Of Women and Their Elegance, an imagined memoir told in Monroe's voice. Strawhead takes place in New York City during the last few days of Monroe's life in August 1962. During this period, she is alone with her memories, most of which revolve around her time living in New York City. The play is primarily composed of a collection of imagined interviews, that never took place, between Monroe and Mailer during Monroe's last hours. The play made its off-Broadway debut in January 1986, with Mailer's wife Norris Church in the cast and his daughter Kate Mailer in the role of Monroe.

Streamers

Play · 1976

The last in his Vietnam War trilogy that began with The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Sticks and Bones, it focuses on the interactions and personal conflicts of a group of soldiers preparing to ship out to fight in the Vietnam War in 1965. Among them are middle class African American Roger, upper class Manhattanite Richie, who is struggling with his sexual orientation, conservative Wisconsin country boy Billy, and fearful loose cannon Carlyle, a streetwise Black man. In charge of their barracks are abrasive alcoholic Sgt. Cokes, who already has served overseas, and aggressive Sgt. Rooney, who is anxious to get into combat.

Street Scene

Play · 1929

Street Scene is a 1929 American play by Elmer Rice. It opened January 10, 1929, at the Playhouse Theatre in New York City. After a total of 601 performances on Broadway, the production toured the United States and ran for six months in London. The action of the play takes place entirely on the front stoop of a New York City brownstone and in the adjacent street in the early part of the 20th century. It studies the complex daily lives of the people living in the building (and surrounding neighborhood) and the sense of despair that hovers over their interactions. Street Scene received the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Strongheart

Play · 1904

Act I (The Columbia dorm room of Frank and Dick. Afternoon.) Ralph Thorne meets Frank Skinner at the empty room. Thorne has bet $3000 with Skinner that Columbia will lose the upcoming game. He based the bet on Strongheart being sidelined due to injury, but now Strongheart has recovered enough to play. Thorne assures Skinner the bet will hold, because he will pass Columbia's signals to the opposing coach, Farley. Skinner asks why Dick Livingston bet $3000 on Columbia to win. Thorne explains it was because he had beaten Dick in poker for that amount, then suggested the bet as a way to recoup his losses before his father found out. Thorne liked the same girl as Dick, and wanted to nobble his rival. Skinner hightails it when Dick, Frank Nelson, and other students come back to the room to prepare for entertaining. Billy tells Reade he needs to keep his class notes a little longer. Strongheart arrives, to be mockingly salaamed by the others as their great chief. Strongheart is undisturbed; he knows this is the boys' way of compensating for their secret admiration of his academic and athletic prowess. Dorothy Nelson, Mollie Livingston, and their friends arrive for afternoon tea. With Mrs. Nelson to chaperone and remedy the amateur attempt to make tea, the get together is a success. Meanwhile, Thorne has switched the list of signals Dick wrote out with his own copy. Excited to meet the exotic Strongheart at last, Maud Weston flusteredly asks him how he likes America. Strongheart replies that his people like it just fine. (Curtain) Act II (Columbia football team's locker room at the Polo Grounds. Two days later.) At halftime in the big game, the Columbia players straggle into the locker room, having failed to score. Their coach Buckley encourages and excoriates them, pitching his speech to the team as a whole, while tailoring asides to individual players. At Strongheart's suggestion he blisters the freshman Ross. Strongheart knows that righteous anger will stimulate Ross to inspired effort. Their conference is interrupted by Farley's entrance, holding the list of signals he was given anonymously. Farley wants a fair game, so he has brought the list to Buckley. Strongheart sees the list is in Dick's handwriting, but he himself is accused of the treachery by Thorne. Frank as captain decides to bench him for the second half. Strongheart stays in the locker room with Tommy Nash, who has been injured. He looks out the window to follow the game, describing it for Nash, until at last his triumphantly exclaims "We win! We Win!". (Curtain) Act III (The library of the Nelson family home. Evening of the same day.) At a formal victory celebration, the boys dance with the girls in the Nelson's ballroom, while the library serves for more clandestine rendezvous. Molly advises a worried Dorothy to marry Strongheart if he asks, and don't let his race stop her. Dick asks Frank's permission to propose to his sister Dorothy, since their father is dead. Frank readily gives it. Billy accuses Molly of having sent the signals list he gave her to Farley. Strongheart clears up that misconception, but Molly will not accept Bill's apology yet. Strongheart asks Dorothy for the next dance, but explains they will have to sit it out, since the government won't allow him to dance. Strongheart tells Dorothy of his love for her, and she asks him to come back tomorrow for her answer. Strongheart confronts Thorne over the signals list, but is distracted by his asserting Frank and Dick will deny him a chance with Dorothy. Thorne is right; Frank and Dick are incensed when Strongheart says he has proposed to Dorothy. The call him a traitor, and Dick further accuses him of betraying the team. Even when Strongheart reveals the list is in Dick's handwriting, Dick says he stole it. When Dorothy chides her brother for discourtesy, he holds her back as Strongheart leaves their house, saying he will return for her answer tomorrow. (Curtain) Act IV (Same as Act III. Afternoon of the next day.) Billy and Molly make up and he proposes. The team has gathered and Strongheart proves that Thorne sent the list to Farley, then prevents the others from attacking him. Thorne exits, ostracized from the team. The other team members congratulate Strongheart then go with Frank to have some dinner, but Dick hangs back. He apologizes to Strongheart for his harsh words of last night, but says they cannot be friends. Even so, they shake hands. Billy returns to hear Strongheart softly say "And I thought I was one of them". The Butler now announces a visitor to see Strongheart. Black Eagle has come from the West: Strongheart's father has died, and his people now require him to return home. As they have paid for his post-graduate work, he feels obligated to obey their wishes. He informs Black Eagle that he may be bringing Dorothy as his wife, but is startled when the elder reacts as negatively as Frank and Dick. Black Eagle is angry that Soangataha would choose a woman not of his own people for a wife. He says how can you ask a white woman to live as we do? Dorothy has overheard his words. She proclaims her love for Strongheart and will go with him, but he realizes he cannot ask this of her. They agree to part, despite their love. Left alone, Strongheart raises his hands overhead and prays for help from the Great Spirit of his people, saying he is alone in a desert. (Curtain)

Such Things Are

Play · 1787

Such Things Are is a 1787 comedy play by the British writer and former actress Elizabeth Inchbald. It was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 10 February 1787. The original Covent Garden cast included William Farren as Sultan, John Quick as Sir Luke Tremor, William Thomas Lewis as Mr Twineall, Alexander Pope as Mr Haswell, Joseph George Holman as Elvirus, William Macready as Mr Meanright, James Fearon as Zedan, James Thompson as First Keeper, William Cubitt as Second Keeper, Isabella Mattocks as Lady Tremor. The Irish premiere took place at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin on 16 April 1787.

Suddenly Last Summer

Play · 1958

In 1936, in the Garden District of New Orleans, Mrs. Violet Venable, an elderly socialite widow from a prominent local family, has invited a doctor to her home. She talks nostalgically about her son Sebastian, a poet who died under mysterious circumstances on the fictional island of Cabeza de Lobo, not (as it is sometimes assumed) in South America, by referring to Catharine's return "from Europe" aboard the Berengaria, an Atlantic liner. During the course of their conversation, she offers to make a generous donation to support the doctor's psychiatric research if he will perform a lobotomy on Catharine, her niece, who has been confined to St. Mary, a private mental institution, at her expense since returning to America. Mrs. Venable is eager to "make her peaceful" once and for all by erasing her memories of Sebastian's violent death and his homosexuality; Mrs. Venable is especially adamant that Catharine stop talking about the latter, in order to preserve her late son's reputation. Catharine arrives, followed by her mother and brother. They are also eager to suppress her version of events, since Mrs. Venable is threatening to keep Sebastian's will in probate until she is satisfied, something Catharine's family can't afford to challenge. But the doctor injects Catharine with a truth serum and she proceeds to give a scandalous account of Sebastian's moral dissolution and the events leading up to his death, how he used her to procure young men for his sexual exploitation, and how he was set upon, mutilated, and partially devoured by a mob of starving children in the street. Mrs. Venable lunges at Catharine but is prevented from striking her with her cane. She is taken off stage, screaming "cut this hideous story from her brain!" Far from being convinced of Catharine's insanity, however, the doctor concludes the play by stating he believes her story could be true.

Summer and Smoke

Play · 1948

Summer and Smoke is set in Glorious Hill, Mississippi, from the "turn of the century through 1916", and centers on Alma Winemiller, a highly strung, unmarried minister's daughter, and the spiritual romance that nearly blossoms between her and John Buchanan Jr., a young doctor who grew up next door. She, ineffably refined, identifies with the Gothic cathedral, "reaching up to something beyond attainment"; her name, as Williams makes clear during the play, means "soul" in Spanish; by contrast Buchanan, a doctor and sensualist, defies her with the soulless anatomy chart. By the play's end, Buchanan and Alma have traded places philosophically. She has been transformed. She throws herself at him, saying "she doesn't exist any more, she died last summer — suffocated in smoke from something on fire inside her". But he has changed, he is engaged to marry a respectable, younger girl, and as he tries to convince Alma that their relationship was indeed a "spiritual bond", she realizes that it is too late to rescue it. In the final scene, Alma accosts a young traveling salesman in the park and follows him to enjoy the entertainment at Moon Lake Casino.

Summertime

Play · 1919

Summertime is a comedy play by the British writer Louis N. Parker. It ran for 52 performances at the Royalty Theatre in London's West End between 30 October and 13 December 1919. The original cast included Fay Compton, C. Aubrey Smith, Cyril Raymond, Arthur Pusey, Mary Brough and Madge Stuart. Compton plays an Australian woman visiting Devon who manages to arrange four different marriages. One review criticised the "stagey and artificial" Devon depicted in the play, comparing it unfavourably to the portrayals of the county in the works of Eden Phillpotts.

Sunrise at Campobello

Play · 1958

The play starred Ralph Bellamy as Roosevelt. Others in the cast included Henry Jones as Louis Howe, Mary Fickett as Eleanor Roosevelt; Anne Seymour as Sara Delano Roosevelt and, in his Broadway debut, James Earl Jones. Bellamy repeated his role in the film version of the play. Campobello Island was Roosevelt's summer home in New Brunswick, Canada. Early scenes in the play's actions take place there, where we see Roosevelt afflicted with paralysis of his legs, before the play's story shifts to Roosevelt's home in New York City, where he struggles to overcome the paralysis. The play ends with the 1924 Democratic National Convention speech, which catapulted him back into politics after an absence of several years. The Scenic and Lighting Design were by Ralph Alswang; the costumes by Virginia Volland.

Suspect

Play · 1937

Suspect is a 1937 mystery thriller play by the British authors Edward Percy and Reginald Denham, written under the pen name Rex Judd. It ran at the St Martin's Theatre in London's West End for 84 performances between 16 February and 1 May 1937. The West End cast included Peter Murray-Hill, Campbell Gullan, David Horne, Mary Morris, Jean Cadell and Doris Lytton. It is a murder mystery set at a country house in Cornwall. It first appeared on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre in 1940. It was adapted several times for television. In 1939 it was adapted by the BBC for a television film of the same title and featuring a number of the original cast. Further BBC television films followed in 1946 and 1958. In addition a 1952 episode of the American show Broadway Television Theatre was based on the play.

Suspense

Play · 1930

Suspense is a 1930 play by the Irish writer Patrick MacGill. Set during the First World War it focuses on a small group of soldiers who are aware that the Germans are building a mine under their trench and have to sit waiting for the enemy to detonate it. It ran for 64 performances at the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End. The cast included Robert Douglas, Roland Culver and Gordon Harker. It was produced by Reginald Denham. The same year it was adapted into a film Suspense directed by Walter Summers and starring Cyril McLaglen, Jack Raine and Hay Petrie.

Sweat

Play · 2015

The play portrays a meeting between a parole officer and two ex-convicts, and three women who were childhood friends and had worked in the same factory. in Reading, Pennsylvania. There are a group of friends that work for the steel factory, named Tracey, Cynthia and Jessie. Tracey is a middle-aged white woman. She loves to hang out at the bar with her friends and she has a gruff kind of humor. She cannot stand the way Reading has been changing over the years. Her friend Cynthia is a black woman who also loves to hang out with her friends at the bar and is a hardworking woman in the factory. She is on and off with her husband, Brucie, who is addicted to drugs. During the play, Cynthia applies and is hired for a managing job at the plant which causes tension. Jessie, another worker at the factory, is not so happy with how her life has turned out and has a problem with alcohol abuse. This is shown in many of the bar scenes. Stan, the bartender, used to work at the plant, but he was injured in a factory accident. Oscar, the busboy at the bar, is Colombian and is not acknowledged often by the patrons. Some characters use xenophobic slurs towards Latinos and show him that he isn't welcome in the Olstead factory. Jason is a white man who is Tracey's son. His best friend is Chris, Cynthia’s son. They both work at the factory and worry that they will be laid off. They both are arrested for assault and are released eight years later. Nottage shifts in time, switching scenes and showing events of eight years earlier. Variety quotes the bartender, Stan, as warning the other characters that "You could wake up tomorrow and all your jobs are in Mexico", to which the characters respond with lethargy and disbelief. Variety described Nottage as going into "the heart of working-class America". Reviews of the play have described the characters as representing blue-collar workers who voted in Donald Trump as president. The play also examines the disintegration of a friendship, after two of the women – one white, one black – apply for the same management job. The latter character gets the position, but soon the company moves jobs to Mexico. The trade union goes on strike, and company management locks out the workers. The management/worker division begins to separate the friends, and racial tensions separate them further.

Sweet Bird of Youth

Play · 1956

Chance Wayne, a failed actor who has become a gigolo, returns to his Southern hometown escorting faded film star Alexandra del Lago, whom he hopes will help him launch a movie career. He also seeks to reunite with Heavenly Finley, but her family holds him responsible for the disease that left her unable to have children. Alexandra learns that her comeback film has succeeded and declines to advance Chance's career; Chance stays in town to face the punishment her family intends for him.

Sweet Lavender

Play · 1888

The play is set in the Chambers of Mr Phenyl and Mr Hale, No 3, Brain Court, Temple. Springtime. The present day. Act 1 – Morning – "Nobody's business" Act 2 – Evening of the next day – "Somebody's business" Act 3 – A Week afterwards – "Everybody's business" Ruth Rolt, a housekeeper, has a daughter, Lavender, who is in love with Clement Hale, who is studying for the bar under a disreputable but lovable barrister, Dick Phenyl. Clement is the adopted son of Geoffrey Wedderburn, a banker, who wants him to marry his niece, Minnie. Minnie has another suitor, Horace, an American. Mrs. Rolt discovers that Wedderburn is not only Clement's adoptive father but also Lavender's real father. She is very angry and breaks off the relationship between Clement and Lavender. Wedderburn's bank is threatened with failure; he takes ill and learns humility. Mrs. Rolt forgives and nurses him, while Lavender flies back into Clement's arms to console him after the financial ruin. Phenyl unexpectedly offers his own fortune to save the bank and Wedderburn's reputation, and all ends happily.

Sweet Madness

Play · 1952

Sweet Madness is a 1952 comedy play written by the British actor Peter Jones. It premiered at the Q Theatre in Kew Bridge before transferring to the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End where it ran for 125 performances between 21 May and 6 September 1952. The cast featured Richard Attenborough, Laurence Naismith, Robin Bailey, Martin Miller, Sheila Burrell and Geraldine McEwan. It was originally known as The Song of the Centipede before being renamed for its West End transfer.

Sylvia

Play · 1995

The place is New York City, the time is the 1990s. Middle-aged, upper-middle-class Greg finds Sylvia, a dog (played by a human), in the park and takes a liking to her. He brings her back to the empty nest he shares with Kate. When Kate gets home, she reacts very negatively to Sylvia and wants her gone. They eventually decide that Sylvia will stay for a few days before they decide whether she can stay longer, but Greg and Sylvia have already bonded. Over the next few days, Greg spends more and more time with Sylvia and less time at his job. Greg and Sylvia go on long walks; they discuss life and astronomy. Already dissatisfied with his job, Greg now has another reason to avoid work. Tension increases between Greg and Kate, who still does not like Sylvia, nicknaming her Saliva. Eventually, Greg becomes completely obsessed with Sylvia, and Kate fears their marriage is falling apart. Kate and Sylvia are at odds with each other, each committed to seeing the other defeated. Greg meets a strange character at the dog run, who gives Greg tips on how to manage Sylvia and his predicament involving Kate. Greg has Sylvia spayed. Sylvia is angry and in pain, but she still loves him completely. Kate's friend pays a visit and is repulsed by Greg and Sylvia. Greg, Kate, and Sylvia sing "Every Time We Say Goodbye". Greg and Kate visit a therapist, Leslie, who is ambiguously male and female depending on her patients' state of mind. After a session with Greg, Leslie tells Kate to get a gun and shoot Sylvia: "I hope you get her right between the eyes." Kate is asked to teach abroad, in London, and tells Greg that the English have a six-month quarantine for any dogs coming into the country. Greg is unwilling, but eventually, he succumbs and gives the news to Sylvia, that he must give her away, to a family who have a farm in Westchester County. Greg and Sylvia have a heated and tender moment. Kate and Sylvia say goodbye; but, before Greg and Sylvia leave for Westchester, Sylvia returns the annotated and slightly chewed version of "Alls Well That Ends Well" that Kate has been looking for, and Kate has a change of heart. The last scene is directed toward the audience. Sylvia has died, and Greg and Kate still hold her memory in all fondness.

Take Me Out

Play · 2002

Much of the play is set in the locker room of a professional baseball team, and as such has an all-male cast that explores themes of homophobia, racism, class, and masculinity in sports. Darren Lemming, a star mixed-race center fielder for the fictional Empires Major League Baseball team, comes out as gay. His friend and teammate Kippy Sunderstrom warns Darren that the team will feel uncomfortable about his sexual orientation, but is brushed off by Darren. As Kippy wonders why Darren chose that particular moment in time to come out, a flashback to a week earlier shows Darren having drinks with his best friend Davey Battle, a religious player on a rival team. Davey tells Darren that he should want his true nature known to the world. Later, Darren meets with his new accountant Mason Marzac, a gay man uninterested in baseball until Darren's coming out. The Empires fall into a slump, prompting relief pitcher Shane Mungitt to be brought up from the minor leagues. Shane tells the team that as a child, he was raised in orphanages after his father killed his mother and then himself in a murder-suicide. The team begins winning games again, but in a television interview, Mungitt expresses his discomfort with "colored people" on the team, and that he has to shower every night with a "faggot." Shane is suspended due to the interview, causing the team to fall back into its slump. He writes an apology letter that is leaked to the public, which combined with the details about his tragic childhood, causes public sympathy to shift in his favor. Shane returns to the team, despite Darren's threat to retire in protest. In the locker room showers, Darren derides Shane for his racism and homophobia, and mockingly kisses him. In the game, Shane is sent to pitch against Davey Battle; the ball hits Davey's head, killing him. In a flashback to Darren and Davey's final encounter, Davey angrily accuses Darren of using his straight-and-narrow public reputation to conceal his sexuality. Shane is permanently suspended from major league baseball, and arrested for questioning after players say they heard him muttering about wanting to "kill someone" before the game. He refuses to speak to the police, stating that he will only talk to Kippy. Kippy is joined by Darren, and as Kippy attempts to determine whether the pitch that killed Davey was intentional, Shane discloses that the apology letter was written by Kippy on Shane's behalf. In narration, Kippy states to the audience that the Empires went on to win the World Series, and no charges were ever filed against Shane. Kippy expresses to Darren his desire to again be friends, and Darren invites Mason to the end-of-season party.

Take a Chance

Play · 1931

Take a Chance is a comedy play by the British-American writer Walter Hackett, with a plot revolving around gambling on a horseracing. It was performed at the Whitehall Theatre, running for 93 performances between 28 July and 17 October 1931. It followed closely on the heels of another of Hackett's plays at the theatre Good Losers. The original cast of Take a Chance included Ian Hunter, Ronald Shiner, Charles Quatermaine, Anthony Holles, Francis Lister, Hugh Wakefield, Barbara Hoffe and Marion Lorne.

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