200 Plays Every Theater Major Should Know

Oresteia - The Libation Bearers (458 BC)

Aeschylus Electra and Orestes, daughter and son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, plot to kill their mother in revenge for their father's death. They also conspire to kill their mother's new lover, Aegisthus. After they kill their mother, the Furies begin to haunt Orestes. The theme of Exile runs throughout. Orestes was exiled at the beginning of the play.

Prometheus Bound (456 BC)

Aeschylus Prometheus, a Titan, is being punished not only for stealing fire, but also for thwarting Zeus's plan to obliterate the human race. He is chained to a mountain in the Caucasus. The Oceanids appear and attempt to comfort Prometheus by conversing with him. He tells them of a marriage that would lead to Zeus's downfall. Prometheus is then visited by Io, a human maiden pursued by a lustful Zeus, who is turned into a cow and chased away. Finally, Hermes the messenger-god is sent down by the angered Zeus to demand that Prometheus tell him who threatens to overthrow him. Prometheus refuses, and Zeus strikes him with a thunderbolt that plunges Prometheus into the abyss.

Oresteia - Eumenides (458 BC)

Aeschylus Theme of Justice runs throughout. Orestes is tormented with the guilt of killing his mother. The Furies, the greek goddesses of vengeance, chase him to the Shrine of Apollo. Apollo encouraged Orestes to kill Clytemnestra and therefore feels compelled to help him. Orestes, Apollo and the Furies agree to go to trial before the goddess Athena. Athena declares Orestes innocent. She appeases the Furies by telling them the Athenians will make sacrifices to them every year. Vengeance is then banished and the Furies are renamed the Eumenides, the kindly ones.

Oresteia - Agamemnon (458 BC)

Aeschylus - father of Greek Tragedy Revenge, Justice and Fate are the themes. Agamemnon is the King of Argos. He sacrifices his daughter, Iphigenia, to appease the Gods in having favorable winds before sailing to Troy for the Trojan War. When he comes home, Queen Clytemnestra takes revenge on her husband by killing him. She also kills Cassandra, given to Agamemnon as a prize of war.

The Persians (472BC)

Aeschylus - father of Greek Tragedy Setting is Susa in Persia. Elders gather at the court to listen for news of Xerxes battle against Persians. Meanwhile, Queen Atossa, Mother of Xerxes, has a dream that Xerxes chariot's wheels were Asia and Greece. Asia is smooth, Greece is violent. She conjurs up dead husband Darius's ghost to interpret. The messenger comes with a report of defeat of Persians at the Battle of Salamis and how Xerxes escaped. Queen inquires about the greatness of Athens.

The Second Shepherd's Play (1350 - 1450)

Anonymous Part of the Wakefield Cycle plays - This play gained its name because in the manuscript it immediately follows another nativity play involving the shepherds. The shepherd's are approached by Mak, disguised as a lord who camps with the shepherds, then steals a sheep. He has his wife hide the sheep in a cradle, pretending it is her newborn baby. The shepherds are initially fooled, but realize that they have failed to bring any gifts to the "baby", and go back. When they remove the swaddling clothes they recognize their sheep, but decide not to kill Mak but instead roll him in canvas and throw him up and down, punishing him until they are exhausted. The angel then appears to them to go see the Christ child.

The Wakefield Mystery Plays (1350 - 1450)

Anonymous Series of 32 sacred, traveling cycle plays in the Medieval period, most likely performed in Wakefield, England. Texts based on the Bible.

Everyman (1500)

Anonymous The Lord looks down on Everyman for pursuing riches and pleasures. He calls upon Death to take Everyman on a journey to prepare to make an account before God. He tries to bribe Death, but Death refuses. He asks Death for a second chance if he can make his account before God. Death assures him that from the place to which he is going there is no returning. At last, however, Death consents that Everyman may try to find someone to bear him company on the journey. He encounters Fellowship, the Kinsmen, and Worldly Goods, inviting them to go on his journey. They refuse. When encountering Good Deeds, she is weak on account of "neglect". Only after Everyman is taken to Confession and does penance for his sins does Good Deeds get strength enough to accompany him. Good Deeds and Knowledge advise him to take with him on the journey Discretion, Strength, and Beauty, and, as counsellors, his Five Senses. At the grave, only Knowledge and Good Deeds remain by his side. Good Deeds accompanies him to the Heavenly realm to plead his cause before his Maker, and Knowledge, remaining behind, hears the joyful songs of the angels.

The Lark (1953)

Anouilh The play covers the trial, condemnation, and execution of Joan, but has a highly unusual ending. Joan remembers important events in her life as she is being questioned, and is subsequently condemned to death. However, Cauchon realizes, just as Joan is burning at the stake, that in her judges' hurry to condemn her, they have not allowed her to re-live the coronation of Charles VII of France. The fire is therefore extinguished, and Joan is given a reprieve. The actual end of the story is left in question, but Cauchon proclaims it a victory for Joan.

The Birds (414 BC)

Aristophanes Comedy - Two fugitives of the human species find their way into the domain of the birds, who are determined to revenge themselves for the many hostilities they have suffered from man; they are held as captives, but save themselves by proving clearly that the birds are preëminent about all creatures, and advise them to collect their scattered powers into one enormous State. Thus the wondrous city, Cloud-cuckoo-town, is built above the earth.New gods are ordained, of course after the image of birds, yet are brought into distress when sacrifices can not reach them due to the wall of Olympus gods. They send an embassy, consisting of Hercules, Neptune and a Thracian god who cannot talk Greek in correct fashion, but discourses in gibberish. These, however, are compelled to accept whatever terms the birds please to offer, and they leave to them the sovereignty of the world.

Lysistrata (412 BC)

Aristophanes - Comedy The beautiful Athenian woman, Lysistrata, is troubled by the continuation of the war. To stop the war she bands all the Athenian women together to hold off sex from their husbands until the war ceases.

The Frogs (405 BC)

Aristophanes - Comedy The play turns upon the decline of tragic art. Euripides was dead; so were Sophocles and Agathon; there remained none but second-rate tragedians. Bacchus misses Euripides, and wishes to bring him back from the infernal world. In this he imitates Hercules, but though equipped with the lion-hide and club of the hero, he is very unlike him in character.Bacchus rows himself over the Acherusian lake, where the frogs pleasantly greet him with their croaking. The proper chorus, however, consists of the shades of the initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries, and odes of wonderful beauty are assigned to them. Aeschylus had at first assumed the tragic throne in the lower world, but now Euripides is for thrusting him off. Pluto purposes that Bacchus should decide this great contest through listening to their art form. Bacchus eventually ends up taking Euripides and Aeschylus back to the living world with him and Sophocles takes the underworld.

The Crucible (1953)

Arthur Miller Act I - The Reverend Parris is suspicious that his daughter, Betty, is sick because of witchcraft. Abigail, his niece is involved. They were seen dancing the forest, naked, with Tituba, the servant. Tituba consorts with the dead and has been asked by the Putnam family to conjure the spirits of their 7 dead children. Their only daughter, Ruth, is now sick like Betty. Abigail threatens the girls not to breathe a word. Act II - Abigail had previously had an affair with John Proctor when Elizabeth Proctor was sick. Accusations fly of who all might be into witchcraft. Among the accused is Mary Warren, who is the Proctor's servant. She knits a doll (poppet) for Elizabeth, who still does not trust John after his affair with Abigail. Rev. Hale, a witch expert, is investigating all accused of being in witchcraft. He discovers Elizabeth has a poppet with a needle in the stomach. Abigail claimed to feel needles in her stomach that day. Mary says the doll is Elizabeth's. Act III - the Courtroom. John Proctor is trying to free his wife and is questioned on his religious practices. Elizabeth is said to be pregnant and will not be hanged yet. John has signed witnesses to attest to her character. When all girls are brought to court, it is stated by Mary that they are only pretending. The girls accuse Mary of bewitching them with a cold wind. All comes out that Proctor had an affair with Abigail. Abigail and the girls begin screaming that Mary is sending her spirit at them. Mary accuses Proctor of being the devil's man prompting the witchcraft. Act IV - Salem Jail Cell. The town is all in a frenzy as many are confessing to witchcraft. Rev. Hale and Rev. Parris are trying to get John to make a false confession to save his life. Elizabeth and John exchange some quality time together reconciling. John now cannot falsely confess to witchcraft only to live. He rips up his confession in front of the court. Elizabeth says "He'll have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" And so he goes to his death. The curtain falls just before John Proctor is hanged.

Death of a Salesman (1949)

Arthur Miller After many years on the road as a traveling salesman, Willy Loman realizes he has been a failure as a father and a husband. His sons, Happy and Biff, are not successful—on his terms (being "well liked") or any others. His career fading, Willy escapes into dreamy reminiscences of an idealized past. Willy gets angry at Biff for his lack of success and slips into a flashback of what happened in Boston the day Biff came to see him. Willy had been having an affair with a receptionist on one of his sales trips when Biff unexpectedly arrived at Willy's hotel room. A shocked Biff angrily confronted his father, calling him a liar and a fraud. From that moment, Biff's views of his father changed and set Biff adrift. After dining in a restaurant together, Happy and Biff leave their father alone in the restaurant. Willy still clings to high expectations for Biff and cannot accept him for who he really is. He still cannot confront his son about his own moral lapses and indiscretions and weeps while he prepares to go to bed. Willy kills himself, apparently intentionally by crashing his car so that Biff can use the life insurance money to start his business

The Barber of Seville (1782)

Beaumarchais - farcical drama Rosine (known as Rosina in the opera), the ward of Dr. Bartholo, is kept locked in her room by Bartholo because he plans to marry her, though she despises him. Young Count Almaviva loves her from afar and uses various disguises, including one as Alonzo, a substitute music teacher, in his attempts to win her. Bartholo's roguish barber Figaro is part of the plot against him. Indeed, it is Figaro who steals the key to Rosine's room for Almaviva. Unfortunately, Almaviva is in his disguise as Alonzo when he meets Rosine. Though in love with "Alonzo," Rosine is convinced by the suspicious Bartholo that Alonzo intends to steal her away and sell her to a wicked count. Disappointed, she agrees to wed Bartholo that very night. All of Figaro's ingenuity is required to substitute Count Almaviva for Bartholo at the wedding ceremony.

Threepenny Opera (1928)

Brecht musical drama in three acts written by Bertolt Brecht in collaboration with composer Kurt Weill, produced in German as Die Dreigroschenoper in 1928 and published the following year. The play was adapted by Elisabeth Hauptmann from John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728). Antihero gangster Macheath ("Mackie") marries Polly Peachum, daughter of a leader of a ring of London beggars. Mr. Peachum contrives to have Macheath arrested; Macheath escapes but is betrayed to the police by a prostitute, Suky Tawdry. Condemned to the gallows, Macheath is saved by a last-minute pardon on Queen Victoria's coronation day.

Mother Courage and Her Children (1941)

Brecht - chronicle play of the Thirty Years' War The plot revolves around a woman who depends on war for her personal survival and who is nicknamed Mother Courage for her coolness in safeguarding her merchandise under enemy fire. The deaths of her three children, one by one, do not interrupt her profiteering.

The Good Woman of Setzuan (1938)

Brecht - drama, a "parable in 10 scenes" The play is set in China between World War I and World War II. The title character, Shen Te, is a poor but warmhearted prostitute. Because she alone was willing to shelter three gods, they have favoured her with a gift of money. She purchases a tobacco shop but finds that her kinsfolk and other customers take advantage of her kindness. To save her business, Shen Te adopts an alter ego; dressing as a man and acting the role of her tough, pragmatic cousin Shui Ta, she is able to exact just payment. She is forced to assume this role so often that, as Shui Ta, she is accused of murdering Shen Te. In the climactic trial scene, Shui Ta reveals that he and Shen Te are the same person.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1944)

Brecht - play consisting of a prologue and five scenes Brecht's play is set within the context of a dispute over land claimed by two communes in the Soviet Union after World War II. The main action of the play consists of a parable that is performed to celebrate the decision in the dispute. The parable, set during a feudal insurrection in the 13th century, concerns the struggle of two women over the custody of a child. The dispute between the governor's wife, who abandoned the child during the insurrection, and the young servant who saved the child and cared for him is settled by an eccentric judge who places the child in a chalk circle and declares that whichever woman can pull him from the circle will be granted custody. When the servant, not wanting to harm the child, lets the governor's wife have him, she is awarded the child, having demonstrated greater love than the natural mother.

Life is a Dream (1635)

Calderon de Barca Frightened by a horoscope that Prince Segismund will bring dishonor to the kingdom, King Basilo states that he was killed in childbirth, then locks him in a tower guarded by Clotaldo. Segismund becomes a man. Rosaura, daughter of Clotaldo's quondam benefactor stumbles across Segismund's prison. The guard recognizes her. Meanwhile the King has Segismund brought to court while in a drugged sleep, to wake to all the appearances of royal splendor. His tragic story is related to him, he meets his cousins, Astolfo and Estrella, and falls promptly in love with the latter. He then is filled with vengeance toward his father. The guards prevent him and return him to his prison. The King gives his nephew to Estrella to give them the kingdom. Segismund is convinced by Clotaldo that the entire day's happenings are but a dream. Later in the day he is rescued by revolting Polish troops directed to his prison by Rosaura, he treats the vanquished King with great nobility and returns to him his forfeit crown. He then claims Estrella for himself.

Caligula (1945)

Camus The play shows Caligula, Roman Emperor, torn by the death of Drusilla, his sister and lover. In Camus' version of events, Caligula eventually deliberately manipulates his own assassination. Caligula, a relatively kind prince so far, realizes on the death of Drusilla, his sister and his mistress, that "men die and they are not happy." Therefore, obsessed by the quest for the Absolute and poisoned by contempt and horror, he tries to exercise, through murder and systematic perversion of all values, a freedom which he discovers in the end is no good. He rejects friendship and love, simple human solidarity, good and evil. One cannot destroy without destroying oneself. This is why Caligula depopulates the world around him and, true to his logic, makes arrangements to arm those who will eventually kill him.

The Cherry Orchard (1903)

Chekov - drama Madame Ranevskaya, who has spent five years in Paris to escape grief over her young son's death, returns to her home in Russia ridden with debt. She is obliged to decide how to dispose of her family's estate, with its beautiful and famous cherry orchard. The coarse but wealthy merchant Ermolai Lopakhin suggests that Mme Ranevskaya develop the land on which the orchard sits. Eventually Lopakhin purchases the estate and proceeds with his plans for a housing development. As the unhappy Ranevskayas leave the estate, the sound of saws can be heard in the orchard.

The Three Sisters (1900)

Chekov - drama The Prozorov sisters (Olga, Masha, and Irina) yearn for the excitement of Moscow; their dreary provincial life is enlivened only by the arrival of the Imperial Army. The sisters' dreams of a new life are crushed when their brother marries a woman they consider ill-bred and mortgages the house.

The Seagull (1896)

Chekov - drama The main characters, all artists, are guests at a country estate. They are Mme Arkadina, a middle-aged actress; her lover, Trigorin, a successful writer; her son Konstantin, a writer; and Nina, a young aspiring actress whom Konstantin loves. Mme Arkadina, jealous of Nina's youth and promising career, acts cruelly and hatefully toward Konstantin, belittling his new play and withholding the approval he desperately seeks from her. Nina, impressed by Trigorin's fame, ignores Konstantin, who kills a seagull and shows it to her, perhaps symbolically referring to his broken dreams. All four go their separate ways, but two years later they are reunited at the same estate. When Nina again rejects Konstantin, he destroys his writings and shoots himself while his mother, unaware, plays cards in another room.

Uncle Vanya (1899)

Chekov - drama This play is a study of aimlessness and hopelessness. Ivan Voynitsky, called Uncle Vanya, is bitterly disappointed when he realizes that he has sacrificed and wasted his life managing the country estate and business affairs of his former brother-in-law, Serebryakov, who, Vanya discovers, will never be anything more than a pedantic second-rate academic. Sonya, Serebryakov's daughter and Vanya's assistant, suffers from the awareness of her own lack of beauty and from her unrequited feelings for Dr. Astrov. Vanya attempts to shoot Serebryakov but misses and sinks into a chair. Vanya makes plans to commit suicide. Sonya and Astrov convince him otherwise. Serebryakov and Vanya make peace in the end.

The Way of the World (1700)

Congreve The play is centred on the two lovers Mirabell and Millamant. In order for them to marry and receive Millamant's full dowry, Mirabell must receive the blessing of Millamant's aunt, Lady Wishfort. Unfortunately, she is a very bitter lady who despises Mirabell and wants her own nephew, Sir Wilfull, to wed Millamant. Another character, Fainall, is having a secret affair with Mrs. Marwood, a friend of Mrs. Fainall's, who in turn once had an affair with Mirabell.In the mean time, Mirabell's servant is married to Foible, Lady Wishfort's servant. Waitwell pretends to be Sir Rowland and, on Mirabell's command, tries to trick Lady Wishfort into a false engagement.

The Cid (1637)

Corneille After serving King Fernand of Castile, the soldier Diegue is given the position of tutor to the Young Prince, in his old age. Jealous of this position, Gomez refuses to sanction the marriage of Diègue's son, Roderick, to his daughter, Chimène, but offered deadly insult to Diègue by a blow to the face. In Diegue's infirmed state, Roderick chooses to fight in a duel and is victorious against Gomez. Knowing he now cannot win Chimene, he asks her to kill him, but she cannot because she loves him. Though heading a surprise attack against the Moors, Roderick was arrested but later acquitted. The two Sultans named him Cid and the King ended up forgiving him. The King gave permission for Chimene's other suitor, Sancho , to duel against Roderick to avenge her father and have her hand. Roderick basically told her he would not fight and she begged him to save her from a hateful marriage. When the duel was over, Sancho said that Roderick could not kill someone who was loved by Chimene.

Hayfever (1925)

Coward Best described as a cross between high farce and a comedy of manners, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish behaviour when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend. The self-centred behaviour of the hosts finally drives their guests to flee while the Blisses are so engaged in a family row that they do not notice their guests' furtive departure.

Blythe Spirit (1941)

Coward - farce The play concerns the socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to gather material for his next book. The scheme backfires when he is haunted by the ghost of his annoying and temperamental first wife, Elvira, after the séance. Elvira makes continual attempts to disrupt Charles's marriage to his second wife, Ruth, who cannot see or hear the ghost.

All for Love (1677)

Dryden Dryden's play is a version of the story of Mark Antony and his love for Cleopatra. It begins with an attempt to break up Antony and Cleopatra by bringing his virtuous wife Octavia to confront him. She manages to win him back for awhile, but his jealousy of Cleopatra and his friend Dolabella convince him that he cannot live without her. Octavius Caesar, his wife's brother, marches on Alexandria. Antony is falsely told that Cleopatra is dead and he kills himself. When she learns of his death, she gets the deadly asp to bite her.

Camille (The Lady of the Camillias) (1852)

Dumas - novel adapted for stage The theme is a love story between Marguerite Gautier, a "demi-mondaine" ( a woman "kept" by various lovers, frequently more than one at a time) suffering from tuberculosis, and a young provincial bourgeois, Armand Duval. The narration of the love story is told by Duval himself to the (unnamed) narrator of the book. She is named as the Lady of the Camellias because she wears a white camellia when she is available to her lover(s) and a red one when her delicate condition precludes making love. Armand becomes Marguerite's lover and she turns from her ways. Armand's father is mortified at the scandal and convinces Marguerite to leave Armand, who believes, up until Marguerite's death, that she has left him for another man. Marguerite is abandoned by everyone in death and regrets what might have been.

Murder in the Cathedral (1935)

Eliot - poetic drama in two parts it is a modern miracle play on the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. The play's most striking feature is the use of a chorus in the Classical Greek manner. The poor women of Canterbury who make up the chorus nervously await Thomas's return from his seven-year exile, fretting over his volatile relationship with King Henry II. Thomas arrives and must resist four temptations: worldly pleasures, lasting power as chancellor, recognition as a leader of the barons against the king, and eternal glory as a martyr. After Thomas delivers his Christmas morning sermon, four knights in the service of the king accost him and order him to leave the kingdom. When he refuses, they return to slay him in the cathedral.

The Cocktail Party (1950)

Eliot - verse drama in three acts it is a morality play presented as a comedy of manners. The marital problems of Edward and Lavinia Chamberlayne are of special interest to an unidentified guest at their dismal cocktail party. The guest is later identified as Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly, a prescient psychiatrist who helps heal the Chamberlaynes' marriage. He also counsels Celia Coplestone, Edward's mistress and the main moral figure of the piece, to work out her salvation.

The Trojan Women (415 BC)

Euripides The opening follows the fates of the women of Troy after their city has been sacked, their husbands killed, and as their remaining families are about to be taken away as slaves. What follows shows how much the Trojan women have suffered as their grief is compounded when the Greeks dole out additional deaths and divide their shares of women. Athena and Poseidon discuss ways to punish the Greek armies because they condoned that Ajax the Lesser rape Cassandra, the eldest daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, after dragging her from a statue of Athena. Cassandra, being able to see the future, is mortified knowing she will be given to Agamemnon and then killed by Clytemnestra. The widowed princess Andromache is to be the concubine of Achilles' son Neoptolemus, and her baby son, Astyanax, has been condemned to die. Helen, though not one of the Trojan women, is supposed to suffer greatly as well: Menelaus arrives to take her back to Greece with him where a death sentence awaits her. Helen begs and tries to seduce her husband into sparing her life. Menelaus remains resolved to kill her, but the audience watching the play knows that he will let her live and take her back. Throughout the play, many of the Trojan women lament the loss of the land that reared them.

The Bacchae (408 BC)

Euripides Dionysus's revenge on the people of Thebes. The people of Thebes refused to acknowledge Dionysus for the god he is and he drives the women of the town mad driving them into the forest to perform ritual dances and acts associated with the cult of Dionysus. King Pentheus abhors the women's behavior and demands them to end the revelry. Dionysus convinces Pantheus to dress up like a woman so he can spy on the rites. His mother, Agave mistakes him to be a lion and, with the help of other women, tears him with her hands. Her wits return to her and she realizes she has killed her son.

Electra (417 BC)

Euripides Electra, the daughter of Clytemnestra and the late Agamemnon is married off to a peasant of Mycenae. She is grateful as he treats her with much respect, yet is resentful that her mother has cast her out of her house and made her change such social status. Her brother, Orestes, was given to the care of King Phocis, and became friends with the king's son, Pylades. Orestes and Pylades visit Electra. They plot to murder Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. They succeed by thrusting a sword into her throat and are left with much guilt.

Medea (431 BC)

Euripides Jason leaves his wife, Medea, to marry Glauce, daughter of Creon, in hopes that he might become King. The nurse, overhearing Medea's grief, fears what she might do to herself or her children. Jason banishes Medea from the city, but compromises by giving her one more day to stay. It's then that Medea plots revenge to kill Creon, Glance, and Jason. King of Athens, Ageus, vows to give her immunity in Athens after she is banished. Jason tries to convince Medea that this new marriage is for the best interest. Medea pretends to not be mad anymore and sends at wedding gift to Glance, a poisoned dress. She does die and Creon commits suicide as a result. Medea then reluctantly kills her own children, causing Jason to suffer and mourn after she is gone.

The Beaux Stratagem (1707)

Farquhar It attests to Farquhar's stature as a man that he composed this warm-hearted and vibrant play while he was dying. The play is set in a provincial town and its plot is slight: Aimwell and Archer, two impecunious London gentlemen, arrive in Lichfield looking for an heiress to marry. Aimwell, posing as his elder brother, falls in love with his 'prey' Dorinda and confesses his imposture to her; his 'man-servant' Archer arouses the wistful interest of the unhappily married Mrs Sullen. The introduction discusses the play for its theatrical merits and argues that it dramatises the ills of marriage in early modern England, shown by Farquhar to be more injurious to the wife than to the husband, and calls for a reform of the divorce laws.

Tis a Pity She's a ***** (1629)

Ford Giovanni, recently returned from university study in Bologna, has developed an incestuous passion for his sister Annabella and the play opens with his discussing this ethical problem with Friar Bonaventura. Annabella, meanwhile, is approached by a number of suitors and isn't interested in any of them. Giovanni confesses to her his love and she reciprocates. They consummate the relationship. Soranzo, Annabella's past suitor, has a lover , Hippolita, who is angry with him for encouraging her to allow her husband to be killed then leaves her. She and his servant, Vasques, plot to kill him and then marry. Grimaldi, another of Annabella's suitors, is convinced (by Richardetto) to also take revenge on Soranzo to win Annabella. His mistakingly stabs Bergetto (another previous suitor to Annabella) leaving Philotis (wife), Poggio, and Donado distraught. Annabella knows she must marry and chooses Soranzo. She finds out she is pregnant. Friar Bonaventura encourages her to marry before the pregnancy is obvious. Grimaldi has been hiding at the Cardinal's house. Donado comes looking for him and told to wait for God to bring justice. At the Annabella/ Sorenzo wedding, Hippolita is poisoned by Vasques who "was always loyal to his master". Sorenzo finds out Annabella is pregnant and seeks revenge on her and her lover. Vasques removes Putana's eyes as punishment for encouraging the Annabella/Giovanni relationship. Annabella warns her brother in a letter written in her blood. Giovanni visits Annabella and stabs her, then kills Soranzo at a party. Following the massacre, the cardinal orders Putana to be burnt at the stake, Vasques to be banished, and the church to seize all the wealth and property belonging to the dead. Richardetto finally reveals his true identity and the play ends with the cardinal saying of Annabella "who could not say, 'Tis pity she's a *****?"

The Beggars Opera (1728)

Gay Satirical ballad opera. Peachum is a thief catcher. His Daughter, Polly, has secretly married MacHeath, a highwayman, who is Peachum's principal client. Peachum angrily finds out and intends to kill MacHeath for money. Polly hides him. MacHeath goes to a tavern and two pick pocketer women turn him in to Peachum. MacHeath is taken to prison, where the guard's (Lockit) daughter, Lucy, scolds him for promising to marry him and leaving. Polly arrives and claims him for her husband. MacHeath says she's crazy and Lucy helps MacHeath escape. Lucy's father learns of Macheath's promise to marry her and worries that if Macheath is recaptured and hanged, his fortune might be subject to Peachum's claims. Lockit and Peachum split the forturne. Polly visits Lucy to try to reach an agreement, but Lucy tries to poison her. Polly avoids it. They plead with their fathers for Macheath's life. However, Macheath now finds that four more pregnant women each claim him as their husband. He declares that he is ready to be hanged. The narrator (the Beggar), notes that although in a properly moral ending Macheath and the other villains would be hanged, the audience demands a happy ending, and so Macheath is reprieved, and all are invited to a dance of celebration, to celebrate his wedding to Polly.

The Madwoman of Chaillot (1945)

Giraudoux - poetic satire The play is set in the Cafe de l'Alma in the Chaillot district of Paris. A group of corrupt corporate executives are meeting. They include the Prospector, the President, and the Baron, and they are planning to dig up Paris to get at the oil which they believe lies beneath its streets. Countess Aurelia, a madwoman, believes Paris will come to ruin if these men succeed. Aurelia resolves to fight back and rescue humanity from the scheming and corrupt developers. She enlists the help of her fellow outcasts: the Street Singer, The Ragpicker, The Sewer Man, The Flower Girl, The Sergeant, and various other oddballs and dreamers. In a tea party every bit as mad as a scene from Alice in Wonderland, they put the "wreckers of the worlds joy" on trial and in the end condemn them to banishment—or perhaps, death. One by one the greedy businessmen are lured by the smell of oil to a bottomless pit from which they will (presumably) never return. Peace, love, and joy return to the world.

Faustus, Part I (1808)

Goethe - hybrid between a play and an extended poem. In his pursuit of happiness, Faust reluctantly makes a deal with Mephistopheles. Different in Marlowe version - Faust is not the one who suggests the wager. He is encouraged to have a lustful relationship with Gretchen. Gretchen and her family are destroyed by Mephistopheles' deceptions and Faust's desires. Part one of the story ends in tragedy for Faust, as Gretchen is saved but Faust is left to grieve in shame.

The Inspector General (1842) (The Government Inspector)

Gogol - farcical drama Aleksandr Pushkin provided Gogol with the theme of the drama, in which a well-dressed windbag named Ivan Khlestakov, who has been mistaken for the dreaded government inspector, is bribed and fêted by village officials in the hope of turning his attention away from their maladministration. As they celebrate their apparent success following Khlestakov's departure, however, the arrival of the real inspector is announced—to their consternation.

She Stoops to Conquer (1773)

Goldsmith - comedy Mr. Hardcastle arranges for his daughter to marry the rich Londoner, Charles Marlow. Marlow is nervous around upper-class women, yet the complete opposite around working-class women. So, Kate must be more "common" in order for Marlow to woo her. George Hastings, Marlow's friend, and Marlow, get lost on the way to Hardcastle manor and end up at an alehouse. Kate's 1/2 brother, Tony, comes across the strangers and plays a joke on them telling them they are long off and will need to stay at an inn. He sends them to the Hardcastle's. They welcome the gentlemen, but the men behave rediculously. Kate learns of her brother's trick and decides to masquerade to get to know him. Marlow falls in love with her and plans to elope with her but, because she appears of a lower class, acts in a somewhat bawdy . But all is resolved in the end and the two are married.

The Little Foxes

Hellman - drama in 3 acts The play is set in the South at the turn of the 20th century and concerns the manipulative Regina Giddens and her two brothers, Ben and Oscar Hubbard, who want to borrow money from Regina's rich, terminally ill husband, Horace, so that they can open the first cotton mill in town. When Horace discovers that they have arranged the theft of $80,000 in bonds, instead of prosecuting his brothers-in-law, he informs Regina that he will draw up a new will leaving her only $80,000. The threatened disinheritance causes Regina to reveal all the loathing and disgust she feels for Horace. When he suffers an attack, Regina withholds his medication and cold-bloodedly watches him die.

The Children's Hour

Hellmann - drama in three acts The story concerns an attempt by Mary Tilford, a student at a New England boarding school, to explain to her rich, indulgent grandmother why she has run away from school. Angry over her mild altercation with Karen Wright and Martha Dobie, the women who own and run the school, Mary says that she knows the women to be lesbians, and she successfully blackmails another student into corroborating her accusation. Dr. Joe Cardin, Karen's fiancé, exposes Mary as a liar, but the school is forced to close. After Karen and Martha lose a libel suit, Karen realizes that Cardin's trust in her is altered and ends their relationship. Martha confesses her self-doubt to Karen and commits suicide.

An Enemy of the People (1882)

Ibsen Doctor Thomas Stockmann, a medical officer charged with inspecting the public baths on which the prosperity of his native town depends. He finds the water to be contaminated. When he refuses to be silenced, he is declared an enemy of the people. Stockmann served as a spokesman for Ibsen, who felt that his plays gave a true, if not always palatable, picture of life and that truth was more important than critical approbation.

A Doll's House (1879)

Ibsen The play centres on an ordinary family—Torvald Helmer, a bank lawyer, his wife Nora, and their three little children. Torvald supposes himself the ethical member of the family, while his wife assumes the role of the pretty and irresponsible little woman in order to flatter him. Into this arrangement intrude several hard-minded outsiders, one, Krogstad, threatens to expose a fraud that Nora had once committed without her husband's knowledge in order to obtain a loan needed to save his life. When Nora's act is revealed, Torvald reacts with outrage and repudiates her out of concern for his own social reputation. Utterly disillusioned about her husband, whom she now sees as a hollow fraud, Nora declares her independence of him and their children and leaves them, slamming the door of the house behind her."A Doll House" (the later American play name) rightly symbolizes Nora's feelings of being treated like a doll by Torvald.

Hedda Gabler (1890)

Ibsen - drama Hedda Gabler is a selfish, cynical woman bored by her marriage to the scholar Jørgen Tesman. Her father's pair of pistols provide intermittent diversion, as do the attentions of the ne'er-do-well Judge Brack. When Thea Elvestad, a longtime acquaintance of Hedda's, reveals that she has left her husband for the writer Ejlert Løvborg, who once pursued Hedda, the latter becomes vengeful. Learning that Ejlert has forsworn liquor, Hedda first steers him to a rowdy gathering at Brack's and subsequently burns the reputedly brilliant manuscript that he loses there while drunk. Witnessing his desperation, she sends him one of the pistols and he shoots himself. Brack deduces Hedda's complicity and demands that she become his mistress in exchange for his silence about the matter. Instead, she ends her ennui with the remaining pistol. The work is remarkable for its nonjudgmental depiction of an immoral, destructive character, one of the most vividly realized women in dramatic literature.

The Alchemist (1610)

Jonson - comedy Because of a plague outbreak in London, Lovewit flees his home and leaves Jeremy in charge. Jeremy uses the home for fraudulent acts. He transforms himself into "Captain Face," and enlists the aid of Subtle, a fellow conman, and Doll Common, a prostitute. Subtle and Face will work together to use their alchemy skills in claiming to "help" people: 1. Dapper, with his gambling ambitions 2. Drugger -to have a successful tobacco business 3. Sir Epicure Mammon - to claim the philosopher's stone for wealth. Surly, who accompanies Mammon, is promised the stone which will turn all base metals into gold. They are all made empty promises to success. Meanwhile, a rich widow has come to town and captivated Subtle and Face. They quarrel over who is to have her. Much drama ensues with Mammon becoming enthralled with Doll and Surly returning disguised as a Spaniard. Lovewit returns and Face becomes Jeremy again and denies all accusations made by the neighbors. Face is soon revealed and the play ends with Lovewit married to the rich widow and Face asking forgiveness from the audience.

Volpone (sly fox) (1606)

Jonson - comedy Volpone is a Venetian gentleman who pretends to be on his deathbed, after a long illness, in order to dupe Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino, three men who aspire to inherit his fortune. They each come to his house attempting to have their name signed to Volpone's will. Mosca, Volpone's servant, feeds each man convincing lies throughout the whole play to further Volpone's schemes. Volpone requires of Corvino his wife, Celia, in order to become heir to his will by stating he requires sexual congress with a young woman in order to revive and rise from his deathbed. Corbaccio is willing to disown his son, Bonario. He finds out and ends up rescuing Celia from being raped by Volpone. When taken to court, the truth is hidden by Voltore and Mosca's falsified evidence . Volpone insists on disguising himself, and having it announced that he has died and willed his wealth to Mosca, which enrages the would-be heirs. and everyone returns to court to dispute the will of Volpone, who becomes entangled in the circumstances of the plots that he and Mosca devised. Despite Volpone's pleas, Mosca refuses to relinquish his new role as a rich man; Volpone reveals himself, and his deceits, in order to topple the rich Mosca; in the event, Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino finally are punished.

Born Yesterday (1946)

Kanin Billie Dawn is the dumb mistress of low-class tycoon Harry Brock (played by Broderick Crawford), who comes to Washington to lobby congressmen. He enlists the aid of newspaperman Paul Verrall (William Holden) in polishing the manners and common sense of former showgirl Billie. As she improves her education, she realizes how she has been used by the corrupt Brock, and she begins to exact revenge in amusing ways. Ultimately, her best revenge is falling in love with Verrall.

You Can't Take it with You (1936)

Kaufman & Hart - comedic play in three acts The Vanderhof/Sycamore/Carmichael clan is very eccentric. Grandpa Vanderhof never pays his taxes. His daughter, Penny, a melodrama playwright, is married to Paul Sycamore, a fireworks maker. Their children are Essie (married to Ed Carmichael) and Alice, the only "normal" one. Alice, who is ashamed of her family's weirdness, obtains a boyfriend, Tony. Grandpa evades a tax investigator. Tony wants to marry Alice but she is reluctant saying that her family is too odd to get along with any other. He finally wins her over. Act II is about a dinner party. The whole clan shows their crazy quirks - snake feeding, dart practice, drunkenness, crazy dance lessons - when Tony's parents, the Kirby's, arrive and see the spectacle. They return the next day for a REAL dinner and there are many awkward moments. Alice is extremely embarrassed in front of Tony. The feds show up claiming Ed had threatening flyers on Essie's candy boxes saying he was going to blow up the white house. They find drinking and explosives in the basement (from fireworks). They arrest Mr. DePinna, Paul's assistant. At that moment, Mr. De Pinna's lit pipe causes the fireworks to go off and the house is in an uproar. The whole family gets arrested and Alice leaves and is mad at her family for messing up her relationship with Tony. The families fight. Grandpa accuses Mr. Kirby of wasting his life by doing things he does not want to do. Kirby becomes changed. The play ends with a prayer at dinner between the two families.

The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939)

Kaufman & Hart - comedy in three acts The famously outlandish New York City radio wit Sheridan Whiteside ('Sherry' to his friends) is invited to dine at the house of the well-to-do factory owner Ernest W. Stanley and his family. But before Whiteside can enter the house, he slips on a patch of ice outside the Stanley's front door and injures his hip. The Stanley family takes care of him in Stanley's home for a month. Sherry is ridiculously high maintenance and rude to the hosts, yet befriends Stanley's children, Richard and June. He tries to come in between Bert (newspaper man/playwright) and Maggie, his secretary by bringing over an actress to read Bert's play and break them up. Dr. Bradley (caregiver of Sherry) tells him he is well enough to go home, but Sherry buys him off. He then encourages June to marry someone of her father's disapproval and for Richard to leave and pursue his dream. After breaking Bert and Maggie up, Sherry feels guilty and tries to get Lorraine out of Mesalia. Stanley orders Sherry's eviction from his house. Sherry sees a photo of Harriet Stanley (Stanley's sister) when she was younger, and recognizes her as a famous murderer. He uses the photo to try and blackmail him. Sherry tells Maggie she is free to marry Bert. Unfortunately, as he is leaving the house, he slips on another patch of ice, injuring himself again. He is carried back inside the house screaming as the curtain falls.

Arsenic and Old Lace (1941)

Kesserling - farcical black comedy Plot revolves around the Brewster family, descended from the "Mayflower," but now composed of insane homicidal maniacs. The hero, Mortimer Brewster, is a drama critic who must deal with his crazy, homicidal family and local police in Brooklyn, NY, as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves. His family includes two spinster aunts who have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide; a brother who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt and digs locks for the Panama Canal in the cellar of the Brewster home (which then serve as graves for the aunts' victims; he thinks that they died of Yellow Fever); and a murderous brother who has received plastic surgery performed by an alcoholic accomplice, Dr. Einstein (a character based on real-life gangland surgeon Joseph Moran) to conceal his identity, and now looks like horror-film actor Boris Karloff (a self-referential joke, as the part was originally played on Broadway by Karloff).

The Spanish Tragedy (1586)

Kyd ANDREA, a Spanish courtier, and lover of Bel-Imperia, daughter of the Duke of Casitile, has been killed in battle by Balthazar, Prince of Portugal. Pluto permits Andrea, now a ghost, accompanied by the spirit of Revenge, to return to earth to see vengeance wrecked on his slayer. The Duke gives his daughter to Balthazar in marriage believing it will unite Spain and Portugal. Bel-Imperia is in love with Horatio, Andrea's friend. Her brother, Lorenzo, has Horatio killed. Hieronimo, Horatio's father and marshall of Spain, now seeks revenge for his son's death and starts to suspect Lorenzo's involvement. Lorenzo has all witnesses killed. Hieronimo and Bel-Imperia plot a revenge. Hieronimo arranges that a play of which he is the author shall be acted for the entertainment of the royal guests with Lorenzo, Balthazar, Bel-Imperia and himself as actors. During the course of the performance Hieronimo fatally stabs Lorenzo and Bel-Imperia kills Balthazar and herself. Andrea is then avenged.

The Mandrake (1520)

Machiavelli - comedy The Mandrake takes place over a 24-hour period. The protagonist, Callimaco, desires to sleep with Lucrezia, the young and beautiful wife of an elderly fool, Nicia. Nicia above all else desires a son and heir, but still has none. Callimaco, conspiring with a rascally marriage broker and a priest, masquerades as a doctor. He convinces Nicia to drug Lucrezia with mandrake, claiming it will increase her fertility. He adds, however, the dire warning that the mandrake will undoubtedly kill the first man to have intercourse with her. Callimaco helpfully suggests to Nicia that an unwitting fool be found for this purpose. A reluctant Lucrezia is eventually convinced by her mother and the priest to comply with her husband's wishes. She allows a disguised Callimaco into her bed and, believing that the events which caused her to break her marriage vows were due to divine providence, thereafter accepts him as her lover on a more permanent basis.

Dr. Faustus (1588)

Marlowe Using Mephistophilis as a messenger, Faustus strikes a deal with Lucifer: he is to be allotted twenty-four years of life on Earth, during which time he will have Mephistophilis as his personal servant. At the end he will give his soul over to Lucifer as payment and spend the rest of time as one damned to Hell. This deal is to be sealed in Faustus's own blood by cutting his arm. Two angels, one good and one bad, appear to Faustus: the good angel urges him to repent and revoke his oath to Lucifer. This is the largest fault of Faustus throughout the play: he is blind to his own salvation. Though he is told initially by Mephistophilis to "leave these frivolous demands", Faustus remains set on his soul's damnation.From this point until the end of the play, Faustus does nothing worthwhile, having begun his pact with the attitude that he would be able to do anything. Instead, he merely uses his temporary powers for practical jokes. But later, He gives a speech about how he is damned and eventually seems to repent for his deeds. Mephistophilis comes to collect his soul, and we are told that he exits back to hell with him. At the end of the play, devils carry Faustus off the stage.

A Member of the Wedding (1946)

McCullers It depicts the inner life of a lonely person, in this case 12-year-old Frankie Addams, a Georgia tomboy who imagines that she will be taken by the bride and groom (her brother) on their honeymoon. Frankie finds refuge in the company of two equally isolated characters, her ailing six-year-old cousin, John Henry, and her father's black housekeeper, Berenice, who serves as both mother figure and oracle. Much of the novel consists of a series of kitchen-table conversations among these three. The threesome is broken by the cousin's death and Berenice's own wedding.

Tartuffe (1669)

Moliere Orgon and his mother have fallen under the influence of Tartuffe, a pious fraud. Tartuffe pretends to be pious and to speak with divine authority, and Orgon and his mother no longer take any action without first consulting him. The rest of the family can't stand him and now he has been pledged to marry Orgon's daughter, Mariane, who is in love with Valere. The family traps Tartuffe into confessing his love for Elmire, Orgon's wife, in hopes he will be thrown out. Damis, Orgon's son, catches Tartuffe and accuses him. Tartuffe wittingly makes Orgon believe Damis is lying. Oregon then banishes Damis. As a gift to Tartuffe and further punishment to Damis and the rest of his family, Orgon signs over all his worldly possessions to Tartuffe. Elmire asks Orgon to hide under the table during a meeting between her and Tartuffe. Orgon discovers Tartuffe's advances toward his wife and orders him out. Tartuffe blackmails Orgon by previously taking a box of incriminating letters toward Orgon, now telling him he must go and by order of the court, the house will now belong to him. In an attempt to arrest Orgon, Tartuffe is arrested instead, based on a long criminal history. The drama ends well, and Orgon announces the upcoming wedding of Valère and Mariane.

The Imaginary Invalid (1673)

Moliere 3 act comedy ballet with dance sequences and musical interludes Argan is a rich man with severe hypochondria. He decides to marry his eldest daughter, Angelique, to a young doctor from a family of doctors in order to have them always around to tend on him for free. She, however, is in love with another young man named Cleante. When Angelique refuses, Argan gives her four days to agree or become a nun. Hilarity ensues as Cleante, Toinette the maid and Argan's brother, Beralde, all try to change his mind. Eventually he is convinced when, while pretending to be dead, he discovers that his new wife is only in it for the money, but his daughter truly loves him. He consents to her marriage with Cleante. Beralde convinces Argan to become a doctor and treat himself.

The Miser (1668)

Moliere Harpagon (name meaning a hook or grappling iron) is a tight, money saving widower with 2 children, Cleante and Elise. Though 70 yrs. old, he wants to marry Mariane, who is already in love with Cleante. Elise loves Valère, but her father hopes to marry her to a wealthy man of his choosing, Seigneur Anselme. Valere is employed by Harpoon to be close to Elise. The complications are only resolved at the end by the rather conventional discovery that some of the principal characters are long lost relatives.

The Misanthrope (The Cantankerous Lover) (1663)

Moliere - Comedy Much to the horror of his friends and companions, Alceste rejects la politesse, the social conventions of the seventeenth-century French salon. His refusal to "make nice" makes him tremendously unpopular and he laments his isolation in a world he sees as superficial. Yet, he falls in love with Celimene, whose wit and frivolity epitomize the courtly manners that Alceste despises. Though he constantly reprimands her, Célimène refuses to change, charging Alceste with being unfit for society. Despite his sour reputation as "the misanthrope", he still loves her. When Alceste insults a sonnet written by the powerful noble, Oronte, he is called to stand trial. Refusing to dole out false compliments, he is charged and humiliated, and resolves on self-imposed exile. Celimene has been writing other suitors. Alceste gives her an ultimatum - leave him or marry him and spend life in exile. She refuses and Alceste remains in exile.

The School for Wives (L'école des femmes) (1663)

Moliere - comedy Arnolphe, the main protagonist, is a man of 42 years who has groomed the young Agnès since the age of 4. Living in a nunnery until age 17, he then moves her to live in a separate abode (under the name Monsieur de la Souche) in severe protection that she will avoid the fate of being unfaithful to him. Horace enters and he and Agnes fall in love. He doesn't realize Arnolphe is the same person as Monsieur de la Souche. Horace confides to Arnolphe, and Arnolphe disapproves (secretly). Through a misunderstanding, Agnes believes Arnolphe has given consent to marry Horace. Arnolphe forbids Agnes from seeing Horace. Horace, in his distress, comes to Arnolphe, asking for his help in rescuing Agnès from "Monsieur de la Souche". The final act introduces a powerful irony as Oronte and Enrique, Adolphe's friends, arrive on the scene and announce that Horace is to marry Enrique's daughter. The daughter turns out to be Agnès, rendering all of Arnolphe's scheming useless.

The Doctor in Spite of Himself (1666)

Moliere - comedy Martine has endured corporal chastisement by her husband, Sganarelle, who is a woodcutter, spending all his money on food and drink. In revenge, she tells the public he is a doctor, whom they must beat into admitting his identity. Sganarelle spends his first session with Geronte's mute daughter, who is mute, frantically trying to pass as a real doctor, mainly out of fear of being beaten again. When he sees how much Geronte is willing to pay him, however, he decides to give up woodcutting and remain a "doctor" for the rest of his life. Eventually Sganarelle discovers that his patient is in fact only pretending to be ill, because she is betrothed to a rich man whom she does not love. Sganarelle is discovered and is almost executed. Farce ensues, and The play ends with a classical moment of deus ex machina; with Lucinde's love, Geronte's wishes, and Sganarelle's fate being neatly and happily resolved.

Mourning Becomes Electra (1931)

O'Neill trilogy of plays by Eugene O'Neill, produced and published in 1931. The trilogy, consisting of Homecoming (four acts), The Hunted (five acts), and The Haunted (four acts), was modeled on the Oresteia trilogy of Aeschylus and represents O'Neill's most complete use of Greek forms, themes, and characters. O'Neill set his trilogy in the New England of the American Civil War period.

Desire Under the Elms (1924)

O'Neill The last of O'Neill's naturalistic plays and the first in which he re-created the starkness of Greek tragedy. In this play Ephraim Cabot abandons his farm and his three sons, who hate him. The youngest son, Eben, buys out his brothers, who head off to California. Shortly after this, Ephraim returns with Abbie, his young new wife. Abbie becomes pregnant by Eben; she lets Ephraim believe that the child is his, thinking the child will secure her hold on the farm, but she later kills the infant when she sees it as an obstacle between her and Eben. Enraged, Eben turns Abbie over to the sheriff, but not before he realizes his love for her and confesses his complicity. One of O'Neill's most-admired works, This play invokes the playwright's own family conflicts and Freudian treatment of sexual themes. Although the play is now considered a classic of 20th-century American drama, it scandalized some early audiences with its treatment of infanticide, alcoholism, vengeance, and incest; the first Los Angeles cast was arrested for performing an obscene work.

The Hairy Ape (1922)

O'Neill - Expressionism drama in eight scenes Yank Smith, a brutish stoker on a transatlantic liner, bullies and despises everyone around him, considering himself superior. He is devastated when a millionaire's daughter is repulsed by his simian ways, and he vows to get even with her. Ashore in New York, Yank schemes to destroy the factory owned by the woman's father, but his plans fail. Yank wanders into a zoo. There, feeling alienated from humanity, he releases an ape (for whom he feels some kinship), and the ape kills him by crushing him in his embrace. The Play represents the social concern for the oppressed industrial working class. Yank has also been interpreted as representative of the human condition, alienated from nature by his isolated consciousness, unable to find belonging in any social group or environment.

The Emperor Jones (1921)

O'Neill - drama in eight scenes - Expressionist writing Based loosely on an event in Haitian history, the play shows the decline of a former Pullman porter, Brutus Jones, who has escaped from prison to an unnamed Caribbean island. With help from Cockney adventurer Henry Smithers, Jones persuades the superstitious natives that he is a magician, and they crown him emperor. He abuses and exploits his subjects and boasts of his power, insisting that only a silver bullet can kill him. Advised that an uprising is in the offing, Jones flees into the jungle. There he is forced to confront his internal demons; scenes show his private past, as images of his victims assail him. More scenes depict bizarre racial memories, including the sale at a slave auction and the earlier capture in the Congo of his ancestors. Terrified, Jones fires all his ammunition at his ghostly tormentors. In the final scene, the rebels find Jones and shoot him. Smithers, however, suggests that Jones's own fears had already killed him. Originally called The Silver Bullet, the play is highly effective as pure theater through its use of such elements as pulsing drums, gunshots, and the dramatic jungle setting, which represents the unconscious mind. Dialogue does little to advance the action.

Long Days Journey into Night (1941)

O'Neill - drama in four acts O'Neill's autobiographical play is a shattering depiction of a day in the dreary life of a couple and their two sons. James Tyrone, a semiretired actor, is vain, self-obsessed, and miserly; his wife, Mary, feels worthless and retreats into a morphine-induced haze. Jamie, their older son, is a bitter alcoholic. James refuses to acknowledge the illness, Tuberculosis, of his consumptive younger son, Edmund. As Mary sinks into hallucination and madness, she begins to have bitter memories about how much she loved her life before she met her husband. They try to remember happier days. The play ends with Mary holding her wedding gown, she kneels and prays, with her husband and sons silently watching her.

The Iceman Cometh (1946)

O'Neill - tragedy in 4 acts The drama exposes the human need for illusion and hope as antidotes to the natural condition of despair. O'Neill mined the tragedies of his own life for this depiction of a ragged collection of alcoholics in a run-down New York City tavern-hotel run by Harry Hope. The saloon regulars numb themselves with whiskey and make grandiose plans, but they do nothing. They await the arrival of big-spending Theodore Hickman ("Hickey"), who, contrary to expectations, announces that he has quit drinking and put his pipe dreams aside and that he intends to help them do the same. He forces his cronies to pursue their much-discussed plans, hoping that real failure will make them face reality. Hickey finally confesses that he killed his long-suffering wife just hours before he arrived at Harry's, and he turns himself in to the police. The others slip back into an alcoholic haze, clinging to their dreams once more.

Ah! Wilderness (1933)

O'Neill -comedy in four acts A Prodigal story, the play presents a sentimental tale of youthful indiscretion in a turn-of-the-century New England town. Richard, adolescent son of the local newspaper publisher, Nat Miller, exhibits the wayward tendencies of his maternal uncle, Sid Davis. Forbidden to court his neighbour Muriel by the girl's father, Richard goes on a bender and falls under the influence of Belle, whom he tries to impress but whose worldly ways frighten him. It is the dissolute Sid who handles the situation upon the prodigal's drunken return, and, with the aid of warmhearted Nat and the forgiving Muriel, everything is put to right. The role of Nat Miller was played by George M. Cohan on Broadway and by Will Rogers in the first traveling production.

Waiting for Lefty (1935)

Odets one-act play by Clifford Odets, published and produced in 1935. One of the first examples of proletarian drama, the play takes place during the Depression, in a meeting hall of the taxi drivers' union. The union members are waiting for their representative, Lefty, to arrive so that they can vote on a strike. In a series of six vignettes, various drivers make a plea to strike, relating the stories of their lives as justification for their decision. Odets placed actors representing members of the union in the audience to increase audience involvement in the play.

Golden Boy (1937)

Odets - drama in three acts. It traces the downfall of Joe Bonaparte, a gifted young musician who becomes corrupted by money and brutality when he chooses to become a prizefighter rather than a classical violinist.

Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921)

Pirandello Introducing Pirandello's device of the "theatre within the theatre," the play explores various levels of illusion and reality. It had a great impact on later playwrights, particularly such practitioners of the Theatre of the Absurd. A Stock Company, rehearsing a play, is interrupted with 6 Characters who enter in search of an author. The manager allows them to act out their story on stage, taking notes. The characters act out a very disturbing story involving a mother who is sent away with her 3 illegitimate children. One kills the other as the legitimate son watches. The manager is excited about the dramatic climax of the play until he finds out that the story is real.

The Twin Menaechmi (The Two Brothers) (195 BC)

Plautus Twin brothers are separated from each other at a young age. One, Menaechmus, was lost in a crowd and later adopted by a family, then marrying a rich wife. The other, Sosicles, was renamed Menaechmus after his parents mourned his brother's death. He goes in search of his twin with his servant, Messenio, and they both end up in the same town. The 1st Menaechmus is fighting with his wife and, to spite her, steals a rich mantle of hers to give to Erotium, the Courtesan, who is to prepare a feast for him. Erotium sees Sosicles thinking he is Menaechmus and invites him to the feast and gives HIM the mantle and a gold bracelet. Menaechmus tries to recover the mantle since his wife finds out a pitches a huge fit. Later, his wife sees Sosicles with her mantle (thinking he is Menaechmus). He denies all knowledge since he is not Menaechmus and she has him thrown in custody for going mad. The brothers are brought face to face and The comedy closes with plans for an auction of all the property of Menaechmus of Epidamnus, including his wife, that he may return with his brother to Syracuse.

The Time of Your Life (1939)

Saroyan The play is set in Nick's Pacific Street Saloon, Restaurant and Entertainment Palace, a run down dive bar in San Francisco. Much of the action of the play centers around Joe, a young loafer with money who encourages each of the bar's patrons in their eccentricities. Joe helps out a would-be dancer, Harry, and sets up his flunky, Tom, with a prostitute, Kitty Duval. The bar is frequented by a number of colorful characters, including a frenetic young man in love, an old man who looks like Kit Carson, and an affluent society couple.

Hamlet (1603)

Shakespeare - tragedy Hamlet is mourning his father, who has been killed, and lamenting the behaviour of his mother, Gertrude, who married his uncle Claudius within a month of his father's death. The ghost of his father appears to Hamlet, informs him that he was poisoned by Claudius, and commands Hamlet to avenge his death. Hamlet adopts a guise of melancholic and mad behaviour as a way of deceiving Claudius and others at court. Claudius attempts to ascertain the cause of Hamlet's odd behaviour by hiring Hamlet's onetime friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on him. He knows and acts mad in front of them also. To the pompous old courtier Polonius, it appears that Hamlet is lovesick over Polonius's daughter Ophelia. Despite Ophelia's loyalty to him, Hamlet thinks that she, like everyone else, is turning against him. She does, in fact, end up lying to him. Hamlet decides to test the King by putting on a play staging it as his father was poisoned. When the play is presented as planned, the performance clearly unnerves Claudius. Hamlet confronts his mother in her chambers with her culpable loyalty to Claudius. When he hears a man's voice behind the curtains, Hamlet stabs the person he understandably assumes to be Claudius. The victim, however, is Polonius. He sends Hamlet to England escorted by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with secret orders that Hamlet be executed by the king of England. Hamlet hears that Ophelia is dead of a suspected suicide (though more probably as a consequence of her having gone mad over her father's sudden death) and that her brother Laertes seeks to avenge Polonius's murder. At a duel arranged by Claudius, the King poisons the wine goblet and Laertes poisons the sword used. Gertrude ends up drinking the wine and dying. Laertes dies by his own sword after poisoning Hamlet. Before Hamlet dies, he stabs the King.

Misalliance (1909)

Shaw - Hypatia, the daughter of newly wealthy John Tarleton (from the underwear business), is engaged to Bentley Summerhays, an intellectually bright but physically and emotionally underdeveloped aristocrat. Hypatia is restless with her engagement. She is fed up with the rich lifestyle. She has also received a proposal from Lord Summerhays, Bentley's father, but doesn't want to "take care of the elderly or become a widow". She longs for some adventure to drop out of the sky, and it does ... an aircraft crashes through the roof of the conservatory. The aircraft holds Joey Percival, the pilot who intrigues Hypatia, and Lina Szczepanowska, is a female dare-devil who intrigues the guests. Gunner, an unhappy cashier, arrives and attempts to kill Tarleton for a relationship he had with Gunner's mother. There are 8 marriage proposals in one afternoon. Any one of these combinations of marriage is thought to be misalliance. One of the prospective husbands says "If marriages were made by putting all the men's names into one sack and the women's names into another, and having them taken out by a blind-folded child like lottery numbers, there would be just as high a percentage of happy marriages as we have now."

St. Joan (1923)

Shaw - chronicle play in six scenes It was inspired by the canonization of Joan of Arc in 1920, nearly five centuries after her death in 1431. Shaw attributes Joan's visions to her intuition and understanding of her historical mission. The action of the play follows historical events. Shaw's Joan leads France to victory over the English by dint of her innate intelligence and leadership and not through supernatural guidance. As in the historical record, she is captured and sold to the English, who convict her of heresy and burn her at the stake. Joan is the personification of the tragic heroine; her martyrdom embodies the paradox that humans fear—and often kill—their saints and heroes. The play's epilogue concerns the overturning of the church's verdict of heresy in 1456 and her canonization.

Pygmalion (1912)

Shaw - comedy about love and the English class system. Henry Higgins, a phonetician, accepts a bet that simply by changing the speech of a Cockney flower seller he will be able, in six months, to pass her off as a duchess. Eliza undergoes grueling training. When she successfully "passes" in high society—having in the process become a lovely young woman of sensitivity and taste—Higgins dismisses her abruptly as a successfully completed experiment. Eliza, who now belongs neither to the upper class, whose mannerisms and speech she has learned, nor to the lower class, from which she came, rejects his dehumanizing attitude. In this play, Higgins is married and does not have a romantic relationship with Eliza.

Arms and the Man (1894)

Shaw - romantic comedy The play is set in the Petkoff household in Bulgaria and satirizes romantic ideas concerning war and heroism. A battle-weary officer, a Swiss mercenary fighting for the Serbian army, takes refuge in Raina Petkoff's bedchamber, where she agrees to hide him from the authorities. In response to his matter-of-fact account of the war, in which he debunks her fiancé Sergius' heroism, Raina at first ridicules the intruder's cowardliness but ultimately appreciates his honesty. Some time later, after the war is over, the officer, Captain Bluntschli, returns. By the end of the play, Sergius has promised himself to the maidservant Louka, whose fiancé, the manservant Nicola, willingly forgoes his claim to her, and Raina has become engaged to Bluntschli, who has just inherited a number of Swiss hotels. The play's title was taken from the first line of Virgil's epic poem the Aeneid: I sing of arms and the man who first from the shores of Troy came destined an exile to Italy and the Lavinian beaches,...

Major Barbara (1905)

Shaw - social satire Barbara Undershaft, a major in the Salvation Army, is estranged from her wealthy father, Andrew Undershaft, a munitions manufacturer. Although the Salvation Army condemns war, it gladly accepts a donation of £5,000 from her warmonger father, and she resigns in protest. The Army offers the poor only salvation, while Undershaft takes steps toward eradicating poverty. Barbara later comes to accept her father's views on capitalism and to believe that the greatest evil is the degradation caused by grinding poverty.

The School for Scandal (1777)

Sheridan - comedy of manners Charles Surface is an extravagant but good-hearted young man. His brother Joseph, supposedly more respectable and worthy, is shown to be a conniving schemer who courts Lady Teazle, the young wife of a wealthy old nobleman. Sir Oliver Surface, their uncle, disguises himself to discover which of his nephews shall be his heir. Joseph is exposed as a hypocrite, and Charles triumphs, winning both fortune and true love.

The Rivals (1775)

Sheridan- A comedy of manners Lydia Languish, is determined to marry for love and into poverty. Realizing this, the aristocratic Captain Jack Absolute woos her while claiming to be Ensign Beverley. But her aunt, Mrs. Malaprop, will not permit her to wed a mere ensign, and Lydia will lose half her fortune if she marries without her aunt's permission. Among the play's many plot complications is the appearance of Sir Anthony (Jack's father). In the end, Lydia abandons her sentimental notions and agrees to marry Jack.

Antigone (442 BC)

Sophocles 2 brothers fight for the throne of Thebes. They both die in the battle for power. Creon, the new ruler, takes one brother's side. Eteocles will be honored. Polyneices will have his memory shamed. His body will lie unburied on the battlefield. His two sisters, Antigone and Ismene, want to bury Polyneices but are afraid of their Uncle Creon. Creon has threatened death to those who disobey. All Antigone has to do is sprinkle him with dirt to release his soul into the underworld. When Creon finds out he is furious. Antigone is caught. Creon calls for Ismene, who tries to confess falsely. Antigone speaks out in Ismene's favor and is placed in a cave to die slowly. Tiresias, a blind prophet warns that Polyneices must be buried and Antigone freed. He warns that the city hates Creon for his crimes. Creon's son disowns him. Creon realizes he is wrong but it's too late. Antigone and Creon's son kill themselves. His wife also kills herself and pronounces a curse on Creon. Creon is remorseful.

Oedipus at Colonus (406 BC)

Sophocles Oedipus is exiled to Thebes. He and Antigone search for a place to rest. The King, Theseus, helps them in a foreign land. Creon demands Oedipus to return to Thebes. Oedipus refuses, so Creon forces Antigone to leave. It's up to Oedipus and Theseus to stop Creon. Polyneices and Etocles, Oedipus's sons, argue and wish to take over Thebes. Oedipus dies at the end

Oedipus Rex (426 BC)

Sophocles Oedipus sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to seek the Oracle regarding the plague. The Oracle says it's because of the murder of King Darius. King Oedipus sends for this murderer to be found. After seeking the blind prophet, Tiresias, Oedipus is told that HE is the murderer. Tiresias leaves, muttering darkly that when the murderer is discovered he shall be a native citizen of Thebes; brother and father to his own children; and son and husband to his own mother. Jocasta, his wife, tells him not to listen to the prophet. She explains that Darius was prophesied to be killed by his own son, instead, he was killed by bandits. Oedipus becomes worried and calls for a witness to the attack, a shepherd. A messenger tells Oedipus that his father, Polybus , is dead. Tiresias tells him that Polybus wasn't his father, but his adopted Father. In the end, Oedipus realizes the prophesy is true and that he is, in fact, the murderer and husband of his mother. He gouges out his eyes and begs to be exiled, begging Creon to take care of Antigone and Ismene, his daughters.

Gammer Gurton's Needle (1552-1563)

Stevenson Second earliest extant English comedy - The plot centers on the loss of a needle belonging to Gammer Gurton. It is eventually found when her servant, Hodge, is slapped on the buttocks by the trickster figure Diccon and discovers it in the seat of his breeches.

Miss Julie (1888)

Strindberg - full-length drama in one act Julie, an aristocratic young woman, has a brief affair with Jean, her father's valet. After the sexual thrill has dissipated, they realize that they have little or nothing in common. Heredity, combined with social and psychological factors, has determined their futures. Strindberg portrays Julie as an aristocrat whose era has passed and Jean as an opportunistic social climber to whom the future beckons.

Playboy of the Western World (1907)

Synge -Irish Comedy Synge's work is a comic inversion of the ancient tragedy of Oedipus. The play follows the mercurial rise and fall of the character Christy Mahon, whose self-reported murder of his father earns him much admiration until his father shows up alive and in pursuit of his cowardly son.

The Brothers (Adelphi) (160 BC)

Terence - comedy The farmer, Demea, has two sons. One of them Aeschinus, he gives to his bachelor brother, Micio. The other son, Ctesipho, he keeps on the farm and brings up very strictly into a young manhood that is supposed to be a model of right living. Though kindhearted, Aeschinus, is brought up undisciplined and behaves wildly. He ends up marrying an Athenian girl whom he previously betrayed, yet does not tell his uncle Micio. Ctesipho, tired of his strict upbringing, falls in love with a Music Girl but cannot tell his father. Aeschinus helps his brother by taking the blame and even taking the girl from her master so her brother can be with her. The Athenian girl's mother, thinking Aeschinus betrayed her daughter, reports him to Demea. Demea sends his servant to investigate the situation and then reprimand Micio for the way he has brought up Aeschinus. The Music girl and Ctesipho are not discovered. Demea, convinced that honey catches more flies than molasses, becomes as agreeable as his brother, Micio. Both boys are permitted to marry

A Month in the Country (1850)

Turgenev - comedy The play concerns complications that ensue when Natalya, a married woman, and Vera, her young ward, both fall in love with Belyayev, the naive young tutor of Natalya's son. The work, which is considered Turgenev's dramatic masterpiece, presaged the psychological realism of Anton Chekhov's plays.

Ralph Roister Doister (1550-1553)

Udall This play is generally regarded as the first comedy to be written in the English language. The play is written in five acts. The plot of the play centres on a rich widow, Christian Custance, who is betrothed to Gawyn Goodluck, a merchant. Ralph Roister Doister is encouraged throughout by a con-man trickster figure (Matthew Merrygreeke) to woo Christian Custance, but his pompous attempts do not succeed. Ralph then tries with his friends and servants (and Merrygreek's behest) to break in and take Christian Custance by force, but they are defeated by her maids and run away. The merchant Gawyn arrives shortly after and the play concludes happily with reconciliation, a prayer and a song.

The Duchess of Malfi (1612)

Webster The play is set in the court of Malfi (Amalfi), Italy 1504 to 1510. The recently widowed Duchess falls in love with Antonio, but her brothers, not wishing her to share their inheritance and desperate to evade a degrading association with their social inferiors, forbid her from remarrying. She marries Antonio in secret and bears him three children before they are found out. Ferdinand, her brother, threatens and disowns her. In an attempt to escape, she and Antonio concoct a story that he has swindled her out of her fortune and has to flee into exile. She takes Bosola into her confidence, not knowing that he is Ferdinand's spy, and arranges that he will deliver her jewellery to Antonio at his hiding-place in Ancona. The Cardinal finds out and orders Bosola to banish the lovers. Antonio escapes, but the Duchess, her maid and her child are killed. Bosola has a change of heart and now wants revenge for the death of the Duchess of Malfi. Bosola will stab the Cardinal during his prayer time. Bosola and Ferdinand fight and stab one another. Antonio's eldest son takes his place as the heir to the Malfi fortune.

The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

Wilde -A satire of Victorian social hypocrisy Jack Worthing is a fashionable young man who lives in the country with his ward, Cecily Cardew. He has invented a rakish brother named Ernest whose supposed exploits give Jack an excuse to travel to London periodically to rescue him. Jack is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, the cousin of his friend Algernon Moncrieff. Gwendolen, who thinks Jack's name is Ernest, returns his love, but her mother, Lady Bracknell, objects to their marriage because Jack is an orphan who was found in a handbag at Victoria Station. Jack discovers that Algernon has been impersonating Ernest in order to woo Cecily, who has always been in love with the imaginary rogue Ernest. Ultimately it is revealed that Jack is really Lady Bracknell's nephew, that his real name is Ernest, and that Algernon is actually his brother. The play ends with both couples happily united.

A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1954)

Williams The play exposes the emotional lies governing relationships in the family of a wealthy Southern planter of humble origins. The patriarch, Big Daddy, is about to celebrate his 65th birthday. His two married sons, Gooper (Brother Man) and Brick, have returned for the occasion, the former with his pregnant wife and five children, the latter with his wife Margaret (Maggie). Big Daddy has cancer but the family has hidden it from him and Big Mama. Maggie is unhappy in her marriage with Brick. Brick drinks (because of the death of his football friend Skipper) and is ignorant of Gooper's attempts to obtain the family fortune. When the family sits down to reconcile issues, it comes out that Brick's friend, Skipper, supposedly confessed feelings for Brick before he died. Brick had rejected him. Brick also tells Big Daddy and Mama the truth about his cancer. Brick declares he will die peacefully. To gain part of the inheritance, Maggie lies and says she is pregnant. She tells Brick, in the end, she wants "to make the lie true".

A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)

Williams After the loss of her family home, Belle Reve, to creditors, Blanche DuBois travels from the small town of Laurel, Mississippi to the New Orleans French Quarter to live with her younger, married sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Blanche criticizes Stella and Stanley during her stay. Stanley does not like her. Stanley questions Blanche's marriage with her late husband. Worried he has been cheated out of inheritance, he asks for documentation. When provided, he discovers letters that Blanche declares are love letters from her husband. He then tells Blanche Stella is pregnant. Blanche becomes interested in Mitch, a very polite Poker buddy of Stanley's. Stanley becomes drunk and hits Stella. She and Blanche hide then come out. Stella is carried to bed. Blanche tells Stella she shouldn't stay with Stanley. Stanley dislikes Blanche. Blanche confides in Mitch that her former husband committed suicide because he was gay. Mitch feels sorry for her and they become certain they will marry. Stella becomes angry when Stanley repeats gossip to her and Mitch that he has gathered on Blanche, telling her that Blanche was fired from her teaching job for having sex with a student and that she lived at a hotel known for prostitutes. Stella goes into labor. Mitch confronts Blanche. She eventually admits it's all true. He is disgraced and comes at her as if to rape her. She yells "fire" and leaves. When alone, Stanley rapes Blanche resulting in her psychotic crisis. The play ends with Blanche going to a mental hospital and Mitch and Stella in tears.

The Glass Menagerie (1945)

Williams -one-act drama Amanda Wingfield lives in a St. Louis tenement, clinging to the myth of her early years as a Southern belle, repeating romantic stories of those years to her two children. Her daughter, Laura, who wears a leg brace, is painfully shy and often seeks solace in her collection of small glass animals. Amanda's son, Tom, through whose memory the action is seen, is desperate to escape his stifling home life and his warehouse job. Amanda encourages him to bring "gentleman callers" home to his sister. When Tom brings Jim O'Connor for dinner, Amanda believes that her prayers have been answered. Laura blossoms during Jim's visit, flattered by his attention. After kissing her, however, Jim confesses that he is engaged to be married. Laura retreats to her shell, and Amanda blames Tom, who leaves home for good after a final fight with his mother.

The Country Wife (1672)

Wycherley - Restoration Comedy A great and funny comedy of the Restoration, The Play tells the story of Horner, a notorious and lascivious man-about-town and his ingenious scheme for the rampant and mass seduction of the women of London society. By spreading the false rumor of his own impotence, he gains the sympathy of the husbands of the town and, more importantly, free access to their wives. Meanwhile the newly-married Pinchwife desperately attempts to keep his naïve country bride from the clutches of predatory London bachelors. When she and Horner meet, events spiral out of his control.