Items13The creator’s order
  1. 1Our town (1938)Our town (1938) 7.7/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1938Start by picturing the bare stage as the Stage Manager talks you into seeing a New Hampshire town. You supply the view and then watch the furniture and gestures do the work of kitchens and streets. The play is readable without a production because it teaches you how to picture the scene as it goes.0
  2. 2A Raisin in the Sun (1958)A Raisin in the Sun (1958) 7.4/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1958Take a moment with the description of the Youngers’ crowded living room before anyone speaks. The care that once went into the furniture is still visible under the wear, and the morning scramble makes the lack of space personal. The Vintage script gives you a room you can picture before anyone…0
  3. 3The importance of being earnest and four other plays (2003)The importance of being earnest and four other plays (2003)Published Jan 1, 2003Start with the cucumber sandwiches in the title play of this collection. Algernon reserves them for his aunt while eating them himself, turning polite small talk into evidence of what he can get away with. Try reading his exchanges out loud once. The interruptions have a rhythm before anyone has to…0
  4. 4The wolves (2017)The wolves (2017)Published Jan 1, 2017The players have jersey numbers for names, and the opening warmup puts more than one conversation in play at once. Reading gives you the chance to follow one voice and then go back for another. It may take a few pages to sort the players out, which is part of what a production also asks of you.0
  5. 5Death and the king's horseman (1975)Death and the king's horseman (1975) 8.5/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1975In the opening marketplace, Elesin and the Praise-Singer turn speaking into a competition as much as a ceremony. Read their exchange slowly enough to hear how one speaker picks up the other’s images. The Methuen student edition adds context. A performance brings out the music and gathering of…0
  6. 6Topdog/Underdog (2001)Topdog/Underdog (2001)Published Jan 1, 2001Parks opens with Booth practicing his card hustle, giving you a rhythm to hear before his brother Lincoln arrives. Notice where the repeated lines change as the brothers speak to each other. If the card movements are hard to picture on the page, the talk still tells you who is trying to control the…0
  7. 7Sweat (2017)Sweat (2017)Published Jan 1, 2017Nottage begins in 2008, then takes you back to 2000 and the bar where factory workers have been meeting for years. Keep the dates in view when you read. Hearing people’s old jokes and assumptions after the opening makes the same lines carry more weight, even before an actor delivers them.0
  8. 8Fences (1986)Fences (1986) 5.1/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1986Before Troy speaks, Wilson has put a bat and a ball made of rags in the yard beside an unfinished fence. Those objects give you a way into the talk about what Troy once did and what his son Cory hopes to do. Pause at the opening directions before reading their exchanges. You can picture the yard…0
  9. 9A Doll's House and Other Plays (2002)A Doll's House and Other Plays (2002)Published Jan 1, 2002While Torvald calls instructions through a door, Nora slips herself a macaroon. Watch what else she does in the opening before she gives it any words. The action is easy to follow in this Penguin collection, translated by Deborah Dawkin and Erik Skuggevik. Reading the directions closely lets you…0
  10. 10Arcadia (1993)Arcadia (1993) 8.6/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1993The same country-house room holds people from 1809 and from the late twentieth century. Read with an eye on the objects and papers each group leaves for the next scene to pick up. That’s easier to check when you can turn back a page. A production adds the visual pleasure of seeing what two…0