The Theatre of Naomi Wallace - by Scott T Cummings & Erica Stevens Abbitt (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Naomi Wallace, an American playwright based in Britain, is one of the more original and provocative voices in contemporary theatre. Her poetic, erotically-charged, and politically engaged plays have been seen in London's West End, off-Broadway, at the Comédie-Française, in regional and provincial theaters, and on college campuses around the world. Known for their intimate, sensual encounters examining the relationship between identity and power, Wallace's works have attracted a wide range of theatre practitioners, including such important directors as Dominic Dromgoole, Ron Daniels, Jo Bonney, and Kwame Kwei-Armah. Drawing on scholars, activists, historians, and theatre artists in the United States, Canada, Britain, and the Middle East, this anthology of essays presents a comprehensive overview of Wallace's body of work that will be of use to theatre practitioners, students, scholars, and educators alike.

Review Quotes

"A crucial and long overdue study of one of the fiercest, most poetic and sensual voices that the American theatre has ever produced. A book that celebrates Wallace's grace, intellectual wit, and probing intelligence." - Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

". . . This volume analyzes and celebrates the playwright's many achievements . . . Throughout the book, Wallace is compared to Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks, Caryl Churchill, Samuel Beckett, Jane Austen, W.B. Yeats, Walt Whitman, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bruce Springsteen. This list is a testament to the playwright as well as to those who generated it - the astute, diverse, impassioned writers who recognize and relish the prismatic spectrum that is Naomi Wallace . . . Wallace's own bibliographies . . . send their readers on historical and philosophical journeys. The editors and contributors of The Theatre of Naomi Wallace have extended such journeys into a collective pilgrimage, paying homage to an extraordinary playwright with an extraordinary book." - Modern Drama

About the Author

Shannon Baley, St. Edward's University, USA Buell Wisner, Georgia Perimeter College, USA Vivian Gornick, critic, essayist, and memoirist Walter Bilderback, Wilma Theater, USA Lindsay B. Cummings, University of Connecticut, USA Josephine Machon, Middlesex University, USA Beth Cleary, director, playwright, and scholar Art Borreca, University of Iowa, USA Neil Chudgar, Macalester College, USA Peter Rachleff, Macalester College, USA Adam John Waterman, American University of Beirut, Lebanon Dominic Dromgoole, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, UK Ron Daniels, director Riccardo Hernandez, scenic designer Jessica Dromgoole, producer and director David Gothard, director Ismail Khalidi, poet, actor, and playwright Dominique Hollier, actor, translator, and dramaturg Raz Shaw, director Erin B. Mee, scholar, activist, and director Jo Bonney, director Abdelfattah Abusrour, writer, actor, and painter Robin D. G. Kelley, University of California, Los Angeles, USA