Drama for Reading and Performance: Anthology

This anthology contains 19 short contemporary plays that are best suited for junior high/middle school students. They represent a wide range of well-known writers, including Horton Foote, Moliere, David Mamet, Christopher Durang, Stephen King, Woody Allen, August Wilson, Neil Simon, Rod Serling, and Shirley Jackson. In the introduction to each play specific theatre concepts are selected for discussion. At the end of each play are comprehension questions, author background notes, and creative exercises that involve expression through acting, design, or other production elements. The plays represent a wide range of theatrical styles. A few of the titles are "Haiku", "Sorry, Wrong Number" (Stephen King version), The Actor's Nightmare", "The Lottery", "Phaeton and the Sun Chariot", and "My Children, My Africa." Some of the theatrical and language arts concepts covered are fable, characterization, biographical fiction, flashback, suspense, dialogue, theme, magical realism, allusion, symbolism, plot, motivation, protagonist/antagonist, foreshadowing, and satire.