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Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Drama texts, plays
"Oh if we can just quiet the world for a moment. And listen within.
There's a voice guiding you. I promise it's there. And until you
can hear it, I'll be it for you." The men are all fighting, again.
An endless war. From nowhere, an unexpected leader emerges. Young,
poor and about to spark a revolution. Rebelling against the world's
expectations, questioning the gender binary, Joan finds their power
within, and their belief spreads like fire. I, Joan is a powerful
and joyous new play which tells Joan of Arc's story anew. It's
alive and queer and full of hope.
In south side Chicago, Walter Lee, a black chauffeur, dreams of a
better life, and hopes to use his father's life insurance money to
open a liquor store. His mother, who rejects the liquor business,
uses some of the money to secure a proper house for the family. Mr
Lindner, a representative of the all-white neighbourhood, tries to
buy them out. Walter sinks the rest of the money into his business
scheme, only to have it stolen by one of his partners. In despair
Walter contacts Lindner, and almost begs to buy them out, but with
the help of his wife, Walter finally finds a way to assert his
dignity. Deeply committed to the black struggle for equality and
human rights, Lorraine Hansberry's brilliant career as a writer was
cut short by her death when she was only 35. A Raisin in the Sun
was the first play written by a black woman to be produced on
Broadway and won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Hansberry
was the youngest and the first black writer to receive this award.
Contemporary Queer Plays by Russian Playwrights is the first
anthology of LGBTQ-themed plays written by Russian queer authors
and straight allies in the 21st century. The book features plays by
established and emergent playwrights of the Russian drama scene,
including Roman Kozyrchikov, Andrey Rodionov and Ekaterina
Troepolskaya, Valery Pecheykin, Natalya Milanteva, Olzhas
Zhanaydarov, Vladimir Zaytsev, and Elizaveta Letter. Writing for
children, teenagers, and adults, these authors explore gay,
lesbian, trans, and other queer lives in prose and in verse. From a
confession-style solo play to poetic satire on contemporary Russia;
from a play for children to love dramas that have been staged for
adult-only audiences in Moscow and other cities, this important
anthology features work that was written around or after 2013-the
year when the law on the prohibition of "propaganda of
non-traditional sexual relations among minors" was passed by the
Russian government. These plays are universal stories of humanity
that spread a message of tolerance, acceptance, and love and make
clear that a queer scenario does not necessarily have to end in a
tragedy just because it was imagined and set in Russia. They show
that breathing, growing old, falling in love, falling out of love,
and falling in love again can be just as challenging and rewarding
in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia as it can be in New York, Tokyo,
Johannesburg, or Buenos Aires.
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