Drama Characters: 3 male, 3 female Set Requirement: Simple Prayer for my Enemy was produced Off-Broadway as part of the 2008-2009 Season at Playwrights Horizons. In Prayer for my Enemy, two middle-class families in suburban New York State confront their private demons against the public backdrop of the American incursion into Iraq. As their paths cross in ways that are both comic and terrifying, lies and secrets are at last exposed and an honest, hard-earned redemption is achieved for both. "A newly-minted classic." -The New York Times "Craig Lucas's Prayer for My Enemy is a game of hide-and-seek, in which the command of Lucas's writing works as a kind of unspoken promise to the audience: in this series of opaque, impressionistic moments in one family's turmoil, something will be found. The apparent 'enemy' of the title is the bumbling, bombastic Austin Noone, a bipolar Vietnam vet, whose mania has held his family hostage for decades and seems finally to be in abeyance. 'I thank God every day, I hit my knees first and last thing, for this second chance,' Austin, who's in A.A. and six years sober, says. 'I didn't deserve it, but...' The rueful voice of his daughter, Marianne, chimes in. 'We did,' she says.' Prayer for My Enemy ends with an elegiac hymn to devotion, but the play dramatizes a far less comforting thought, one that Austin articulates from his coma. 'Hell is truth seen too late,' he says."-John Lahr, The New Yorker

Chay Yew has been hailed by Time magazine as "a promising new voice in American theater." In this collection of four new plays, Yew continues to explore issues of artistic expression, self-identity, and the immigrant experience. In Red, a magical, mysterious drama set during China's Cultural Revolution, a renowned actor stands his ground against a young revolutionary in a struggle that pits politics against free expression and one generation against another. Set in New York's Chinatown, Scissors is a moving portrait of a weekly haircutting ritual between an elderly Chinese manservant and his Caucasian ex-employer. A Beautiful Country chronicles the turbulent history of Asians in America through the eyes of an immigrant drag queen, Miss Visa Denied. In Wonderland, a family working toward their American dream experiences dramatic and unexpected developments that threaten to shatter their hopes. Although aesthetically and tonally different from one another, Yew's four plays evoke an epic backdrop to the dreams, loves, longings, and lives of Asians in America. "Yew ... demonstrates the ability to shock and enlighten by writing it straight. It makes for a vital evening of theatre." -- Back Stage West/Dram-Logue

Craig LucasFull Length, Comedy/DramaCharacters: 3 male, 4 femaleUnit set.A long running Off-Broadway hit by the author of Reckless and God's Heart. Before, during and after a Manhattan dinner party, the guests are revealed with touching comic irony as a cross-section of modern day humanity. The colorful cast includes a narcissistic actor, a parachute instructor, an aspiring songwriter, a secretary and a lesbian couple.The function of the piece isn't to narrate the events of this typical New York gathering, it's to angle their disparate fragments into a picture of our life today, of its disconnections and the way in which they mysteriously connect us.-Village Voice An affecting, funny account of a night in some lonely Manhattan lives.-WQXR What Blue Window suggests with the evasiveness of its party chatter and the chill of its most searing monologue is that people are unknowable and life is made up of random pieces of a puzzle that don't fit together the way we think they should.-Newsday

Am lie is an extraordinary young woman who lives quietly in the world but loudly in her mind. She covertly improvises small but surprising acts of kindness that bring joy and mayhem. But when a chance at love comes her way, Am lie realizes that to find happiness she'll have to risk everything and say what's in her heart. Be inspired by this imaginative dreamer who finds her voice, discovers the power of connection, and sees possibility around every corner.

This is the story of a young American tourist who has a chance meeting with a charming young Italian, setting off a whirlwind romance that is bitterly opposed by the young girl's mother for reasons which gradually emerge. The book includes the original lyrics to this musical which opened on Broadway in 2005.

This volume combines some of Craig Lucas' best known work, including "Reckless "("a bittersweet fable for our time"--Frank Rich, "The New York Times") and "Blue Window "(..".the clarity of a Mozart quintet. And it is faultlessly spun."--Dan Sullivan, "The Los Angeles Times") with his newest play, "Stranger." The three plays continue the author's exploration of the nature of relationships in an ever increasingly distant society.

Craig Lucas is the author of "Prelude to a Kiss," both a success on Broadway and as a motion picture, "The Dying Gaul, God's Heart, Missing Persons" and "Longtime Companion." He is currently at work on numerous projects for theatre and film.

Also available by Craig Lucas
"What I Meant Was: New Plays and Selected One Acts"
PB $17.95 1-55936-159-X - USA
"Prelude to a Kiss and Other Plays"
PB $16.95 1-55936-193-X - USA