"Edgy" Plays
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Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Play Suggestions
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Printed Date: 11/21/24 at 11:05pm
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Topic: "Edgy" Plays
Posted By: MoonlightFlame
Subject: "Edgy" Plays
Date Posted: 9/30/05 at 11:17am
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I am looking for plays that are kinda "edgy" .... Something like Christopher Durang's Laughing Wild or Beyond Therapy. Any suggestions?
Smit |
Replies:
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 9/30/05 at 12:14pm
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Any of Havey Fierstein's plays - especially the Safe Sex trilogy
Terrence McNally's "Lisbon Traviata" or "Love!Valour!Compassion!" Any of the Charles Bush plays (we loved doing "Psycho Beach Party") Any of Charles Ludlam's plays (especially "Mystery of Irma Vep" or "The Artificial Jungle") ...there's a billion of 'em LOL |
Posted By: countbio
Date Posted: 9/30/05 at 2:40pm
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Some "edgy" (postmodern) authors to consider (in addition to those already mentioned) Dario Fo (Pulitzer winner) and Franca Rame (Italian husband/wife team) Samuel Beckett Caryl Churchill Susan Lori Parks Edward Albee Maria Irene Fornes Allthese folks are a good read, so enjoy! Good Luck, Countbio |
Posted By: Shatcher
Date Posted: 9/30/05 at 4:01pm
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more authors to look at: David Mamet--my fave Glengary Glenross John Guare--House of Blue Leaves Sam Sheapard-- John Patrick Shanley--Danny and The Deep Blue Sea |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 9/30/05 at 4:21pm
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wow
reading these posts with lists of these astounding playwrites takes me back to college - when the play really was the thing! :-) |
Posted By: Shatcher
Date Posted: 9/30/05 at 4:25pm
| Ahh I miss the college theatre when we could do edgy plays and not have to worry about making money!!!! If only we could all just do the plays we love rather than plays that are a sure bet. those were the days... |
Posted By: P&M Sales
Date Posted: 10/01/05 at 5:51am
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Hi Moonlight, We have a full length play in our catalogue which might fit your needs ... 'The Audition' (2f) Lauren is like most wannabe actresses - she wants to be famous, and to be famous you have to suffer the audition process. So when she attends an audition for a 'must-have', career-building part, little does she know that the Director, Stella, has very strong views about how an audition should be conducted; about how the person auditioning should be tested and what should and should not be said. Stella is about to push Lauren to her mental, physical, emotional and ethical limits. Close to her breaking point, Lauren is subjected to alcohol, drugs and mind games as part of the audition process, all so that Stella can find out the answer to one question. How far will an actress go to get the part? This powerful new drama is hard-hitting and spiky, both suggestive and revealing; an insight into the mindsets of the examiner and the examined. More details are on our website http://www.playsandmusicals.co.uk - www.playsandmusicals.co.uk where you can download a preview script and also buy scripts safely online. It has not been performed in the USA, so you could be staging a premiere!best regards David Sales Team |
Posted By: pauliebonn
Date Posted: 10/05/05 at 12:58am
| I don't know if it is edgy enough, but you could always try One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. That is one of my favorite plays. |
Posted By: dougb
Date Posted: 10/05/05 at 11:46am
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You might think of an evening of one act plays. Here are three I
have seen or looked at: On Tidy Endings from Harvey Firestein's
Safe Sex Trilogy, The Tiger by Murray Schisgal and Final Placement by
Ara Watson. You might also look at Three Viewings for something offbeat but maybe not too edgy. It came in second in the AACT competition two years ago. We did it here and it was so popular we had to do it again for everyone who missed it the first time. |
Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 10/05/05 at 5:36pm
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I've always liked "Veronica's Room" by Ira Levin (who
also wrote the often-produced "Deathtrap.") Not only is its subject matter edgy, but the whole thing is really creepy. ------------- "None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone |
Posted By: emro
Date Posted: 10/05/05 at 8:52pm
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I second Mamet-- Orleanna is my favorite. Very affecting/infuriating. Somone also suggested Caryl Churchill. My favorite is Top Girls-- Her
overlapping dialogue is so interesting and wonderful. I was in a
production and it was great fun. Also, if I may sugggest a
read (it isn't available for productions yet), The Pillowman
by Martin McDonagh is stupendously "edgy". Nominated for beaucoup
awards for good reason. If it doesn't leave you with chills, you
should check your pulse beacuse you're probably dead.
------------- Cucumber sandwiches? Watercress sandwiches? The whole scene would stand or fall on his ultimate decision. -- Instant Lives & More: Oscar Wilde |
Posted By: lsiabates
Date Posted: 10/13/05 at 2:15pm
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The theater company I work with has a charter with the intention of being an innovative theater group. Some if not all of the work we do is edgy. We don't produce musicals so this list are all plays.
------------- Lynne |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 10/13/05 at 4:00pm
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What depressing?
Being old enough to remember when some of those plays WERE edgy! 
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Posted By: Meggie
Date Posted: 10/13/05 at 10:25pm
| Our theater group did "Veronica's Room" last season and it did not go over well at all with our audiences. But, it was not directed very well, and the staging was poorly handled, so that was part of it. But mostly it's just an ok play. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 10/14/05 at 2:33pm
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Try Stop Kiss by Diana Son. Also, how about Closer? I know they made it into a movie recently, so maybe in a couple of years. The Balcony by Jean Genet. Queen Christina by Pam Gems.
------------- |
Posted By: closetdiva
Date Posted: 10/18/05 at 2:23pm
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Would you like a really "edgy" piece? Try Wit by Margaret Edson. Our production just wrapped on Sunday. The lead is a "tour de force" (to quote our director) for any actress. It deals with a tough English professor in her last months of battling ovarian cancer, and how during the course of her treatments and hospitalization she comes in touch with her own humanity. We had some success in terms of pulling people in - the main thing would be to get the publicity out as soon as you can. (And it's unfortunate that we only ran for 2 weekends, with the review being printed after the first weekend was over). If done well, again, as our director said, it is an ensemble piece that tells the lead's story, rather than being a play about her. Best of luck! ------------- Duct tape can fix anything - except a dropped line! ;-) |
Posted By: dougb
Date Posted: 10/19/05 at 11:21am
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Look at The Vagina Monologues. We did it a year ago and averaged
100 people a night in a 60 seat theater. We turned so many people
away we added another performance and restaged it two months
later. The newspaper editor told me it was the first time "that
word" had ever been in the newspaper. |
Posted By: acmeactor
Date Posted: 10/19/05 at 12:41pm
| Where was your production of Wit? In Massachusetts? I just saw one in Arlington. |
Posted By: teridtiger
Date Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:57am
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For edgy and modern, try these Rebecca Gilman's plays: "Spinning into Butter", "Blue Surge", "Boy Gets Girl", and "Glory of Living". If you like "Closer", read "The Shape of Things" by Neil LaBute (twisted). He also wrote "bash" (awesome!), and "The Distance from Here" (disturbing). For something completely outrageous look at Tracy Letts' "Killer Joe". |
Posted By: jtonner
Date Posted: 10/26/05 at 5:49pm
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Look at The Woolgatherer by William Mastrosimone. Excellent two person show ... and very edgy. John ------------- John |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 10/26/05 at 9:55pm
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oooh! "The Woolgatherer!" What a WONDERFUL play.
I love this subject thread - all of these plays that I love but had forgotten all about! |
Posted By: haredirector
Date Posted: 10/31/05 at 1:00am
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I recently directed Dario Fo's "Abducting Diana". It went well and was a lot of fun to do. I'd recommend it, along with Fo's "Accidental Death of an Anarchist". I'd also recommend Paula Vogel's "How I Learned to Drive" and anything by Steven Dietz. ------------- "Power cannot put up with laughter from those without power." -- Dario Fo |
Posted By: Colin
Date Posted: 10/31/05 at 1:28pm
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I would strongly suggest any of Joe Orton's plays, but most particularly
"What the Butler Saw" and "Loot" are fantastic as well as edgy. They are hilarious and irreverant and guaranteed to provoke someone in your audience. Also, both shows have roles for actors of all ages. Colin ------------- Colin Douglas |
Posted By: bernster74
Date Posted: 11/08/05 at 1:44pm
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No one has yet mentioned Three Viewings - this is a wonderful script that has a dramatic edge to it, but also very funny. A real crowd pleaser. Also, I would recommend looking at Line. This is very weird, very edgy, and your audiences will leave saying, "What the hell was that?" Down the Road by Lee Blessing is edgy - about a serial killer and a couple who is writing a book about him. And I would second votes for Stop Kiss. |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 11/08/05 at 6:04pm
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Lee BLessing - I remember a play I saw YEARS ago by him at CIrcle
Rep in NYC It was the first ever play (and last for that matter, I think) that was pro-homosexual rape. Very very strange play. |
Posted By: puck
Date Posted: 4/17/06 at 6:44pm
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There's a version of Electra that was written in the 40's, some french fellow. I know I sound like a fool or something, but it's edgey, but in that subtle sort of way, I mean, you know, incest is pretty edgy. There's also The Laramie Project, and while Moises Kauffman's work is usually just him masturbating on stage... it's an amazing, amazing, amazing piece of approachable theatre. Wit is edgey, having done it myself, I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to design that play again, with probably one of the strongest scripts I've come across in a long time. |
Posted By: red diva
Date Posted: 5/15/06 at 7:53pm
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At our theatre, I'm known as the queen (no, I'm a female) of edgy shows, and have directed my fair share including (all of which I love): Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar and Grill Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean My all-time favorite musical: Assassins (sorry, Marty) Agnes of God Cuckoo's Nest That Championship Season (directing that next season) And those I still want to do: 'Night, Mother Death and the Maiden Someone to Watch Over Me All are great shows, very challenging for the actors and director, and really help to stretch participants and audiences alike. ------------- "I've worked long and hard to earn the right to be called Diva!" |
Posted By: John Luzaich
Date Posted: 3/07/08 at 12:24pm
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I think many great "edgy" plays started, or ran only, Off-Broadway. Slab Boys (with Kevin Bacon/Sean Penn), American Buffalo (with Al Pacino), Sam Shepard's True West, Extremities (with Karen Allen). ------------- John cfct@cfu.net http://www.osterregent.org http://www.facebook.com/osterregent |
Posted By: John Luzaich
Date Posted: 3/07/08 at 12:45pm
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Oh, another play I forgot about, talk about edgy! A friend of mine, Larry Gold, from NYU (now lives in L.A.) wrote a play about racism called The Sons of Lincoln. I saw it in a small theatre in L.A. with Bill Fagerbakke (Dauber on "Coach"), Chad Allen ("Dr. Quinn - Medicine Woman"), Jonathon Avildsen (his dad directed "Rocky"), Glynn Turman (A Raisin in the Sun - Broadway). The show was directed by Valerie Landsburg (TV show "Fame").
Fagerbakke played a guy that was racist and got guys to follow him and become a group and by the end of the play the energy of the group takes over and they become bigger/meaner and take on a life of their own. It becomes more of a problem than Fagerbakke would realize.
I don't know how it would play in a smaller market area. It was a great play to see on stage somewhere else, but I know we won't be producing it. ------------- John cfct@cfu.net http://www.osterregent.org http://www.facebook.com/osterregent |