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2m, 1f (w/doubling) or 10m, 2f (w/o doubling) Based on a story by
Booth Tarkington. A journalist new to a Midwestern state capitol
circa 1900 notices there is something funny going on at the
charming house next door. Turns out gubernatorial candidate David
Beasley lives there with his young ward, an orphan who has a
menagerie of imaginary friends. Beasley's nemesis Simeon Peck plans
to ruin Beasley's chances at the statehouse, but everyone learns
something at Beasley's Christmas Party -- including the pretty Miss
Applethwaite, who Mr. Beasley spurned years before. Conceived for
three actors to play multiple roles (but playable in many
configurations), this 75-minute holiday play is a heartwarming
fable of imagination and celebration. "There's a goodhearted
intelligence to these characters]...with utter devotion to
craftsmanship, they're distracting us from the play's age until we,
without realizing, have been enchanted by it...Impressive as any
number of rabbit-filled top hats...Enchanting." - Variety "In the
holiday chests of many households, nestled in jumbles of ornaments
and lights, there is one special heirloom, to be given pride of
place on the Christmas tree: an old painted angel, perhaps, with
history in its chipped wooden wings, or a faded star that outshines
any flashy electric bulb. Beasley's Christmas Party is a bit like
such small treasures." - Time Out New York
Winner of the 1919 Pulitzer Prize, Booth Tarkington's The
Magnificent Ambersons is a grand historical drama and social
history of the United States that follows the story of the Amberson
family's financial decline at the start of the Industrial Age. Once
upon a time in a small-but upscale-Indianapolis town, an American
family built a dynasty. For generations, the Ambersons stood
unchallenged as the most prominent and powerful family in the
region until the turn of the century and the coming of the
industrialists. The Ambersons, now centered on the patriarch's
grandson, George, enter a previously unheard of time in which their
family name holds little value. Unable or perhaps unwilling to
change, George experiences first hand why doing things is better
than simply being things. Professionally typeset with a beautifully
designed cover, this edition of The Magnificent Ambersons is a
classic of American literature, reimagined for modern readers.
It was long ago in the days when men sighed when they fell in love;
when people danced by candle and lamp, and did dance, too, instead
of solemnly gliding about; in that mellow time so long ago, when
the young were romantic and summer was roses and wine, old Carewe
brought his lovely daughter home from the convent to wreck the
hearts of the youth of Rouen. That was not a far journey; only an
afternoon's drive through the woods and by the river, in an April,
long ago; Miss Betty's harp carefully strapped behind the great
lumbering carriage, her guitar on the front seat, half-buried under
a mound of bouquets and oddly shaped little bundles, farewell gifts
of her comrades and the good Sisters. In her left hand she clutched
a small lace handkerchief, with which she now and then touched her
eyes, brimmed with the parting from Sister Cecilia, Sister Mary
Bazilede, the old stone steps and all the girls: but for every time
that she lifted the dainty kerchief to brush away the edge of a
tear, she took a deep breath of the Western woodland air and smiled
at least twice;
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