How To Produce Amateur Plays Part 10

[Ill.u.s.tration: TWO VIEWS OF THE STAGE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA.

(Courtesy of Frederick H. Koch).]

CHAPTER X

SELECTIVE LISTS OF AMATEUR PLAYS

The following lists, which do not pretend to completeness, will at least be found helpful in a.s.sisting amateur organizations to choose "worth-while" plays. The general headings "Cla.s.sic", etc, are clear, but the following explanations must be made regarding the other markings:

An asterisk (*) indicates that the play is in one act. Those not so marked are in more than one act, and are in most cases "full length."

The letter "S" denotes serious or tragic plays, intended in nearly every case for advanced amateurs.

The letter "R" denotes plays of a romantic and poetic nature.

The letter "C" denotes comedies, farces, and plays in lighter vein.

The letter "F" in parenthesis after the t.i.tle indicates that a fee is charged for production by amateurs. The publisher or agent (see footnotes), must be consulted for particulars.

The letter "D" denotes modern dialect plays, like those of Lady Gregory.

Most of these plays are included under the general heading of "Cla.s.sic"

because the costumes and setting, though they may be modern, are not the familiar modern costumes and settings.

All plays not included in the first division "_Cla.s.sics, including modern costume and historical plays_" are to be found in the second division: "_Modern plays._"

It is nearly always unwise for an amateur organization to take a play on faith; it is therefore advisable for it to collect a library of amateur plays, from which successive generations of members can at least form some judgment of the field from which they are to select their plays.

This list makes no pretence to completeness. It has been the writer's purpose merely to mention a number of cla.s.sic and standard plays which amateurs can produce without too great difficulty.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SCENES FROM EURIPIDES' "ELECTRA". PRODUCED AT ILLINOIS STATE COLLEGE.

(Courtesy of Rollin H. Tanner).]

CLa.s.sICS, INCLUDING MODERN COSTUME AND HISTORICAL PLAYS

Greek

RS Euripides, _Alcestis_ (Samuel French; Walter H. Baker)

RS Sophocles, _Antigone_ (Samuel French; E. P. Dutton, in Everyman's Library)

RC Aristophanes, _The Clouds_ (Macmillan; "The Drama", Victorian edition)

C _Lysistrata_ (Samuel French. Another version, by Laurence Housman, published by The Woman's Press, London)

Latin

C Plautus, _The Twins_ (Samuel French)

C Terence, _Phormio_ (Samuel French)

Spanish

RC Lope de Vega, _The Dog in the Manger_ ("The Drama", Victorian edition)

RC Calderon, _Keep Your Own Secret_ (Macmillan)

RC Benavente, _The Bonds of Interest_ (in "The Drama", No. 20)

Italian

RC Goldoni, _The Fan_ (Yale Dramatic a.s.sociation)

RC _The Beneficent Bear_ (Samuel French)

RC _A Curious Mishap_ (McClurg)

RCD _The Squabbles of Chioggia_ ("The Drama", August, 1914)

R* Giacosa, _The Wager_ (Samuel French)

French

C Brueys (adaptor of 15th century anonymous), _Master Patelin, Solicitor_ (Samuel French)

C Moliere, _The Merchant Gentleman [Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme]_ (Samuel French; Little, Brown; Bohn Library, etc.)

C* _The Affected Young Ladies [Les Precieuses ridicules]_

C _The Sicilian_

C* _Doctor Love [L'Amour Medecin]_

C* _The Doctor in Spite of Himself [Le Medecin malgre lui]_

C _The Imaginary Invalid [Le Malade imaginaire]_ (Samuel French; Little, Brown; Bohn Library; Putnam, etc., publish the above five t.i.tles)