English Theater

The adventure continues! The family and of course Bruce Lee the Scar-Faced Ninja Attack Kitty from Japan (Who Smells Like Poop) get deeper into Minecraft, learning more about the game as they go. They’re finally starting to feel somewhat comfortable, but what happens when Dad fishes up an old book that tells a very strange and very scary history of the game?

You know his work—Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I. But you don't really know Oscar Hammerstein II, the man who, more than anyone else, invented the American musical. Among the most commercially successful artists of his time, he was a fighter for social justice who constantly prodded his audiences to be better than they were.

Ghost Light: An Introductory Handbook for Dramaturgy offers useful and entertaining answers to the confounding question: "What, exactly, is dramaturgy, and what does a dramaturg do?" According to Michael Mark Chemers, dramaturgs are the scientists of the theater world - their primary responsibility is to query the creative possibilities in every step of the production process, from play selection to costume design, and then research the various options and find ways to transform that knowledge into useful ideas.

Lively, sophisticated, and filled with first-person tributes and glorious images, Sondheim: His Life, His Shows, His Legacy lifts the curtain on a Broadway legend. "Aside from Sondheim's own exceptional books...this may be the best coffee-table volume devoted to his work."(Shelf Awareness)...

Europe’s attempts to appease Hitler failed, as Nazi Germany swallowed up Austria and Czechoslovakia by 1939. The straw that broke the camel's back, however, was Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1 of that year. Two days later, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany, and World War II had begun in earnest. Of course, as most people now know, the invasion of Poland was merely the preface to the Nazi blitzkrieg of most of Western Europe.The narrative is that the British stood alone in 1940 against the Nazi onslaught....

Theatre journalist Eddie Shapiro sits down for intimate, career-encompassing conversations with 19 of Broadway's most prolific and fascinating leading men. Full of detailed stories and reflections, his conversations with such luminaries as Joel Grey, Ben Vareen, Norm Lewis, Gavin Creel, Cheyenne Jackson, Jonathan Groff, and a host of others dig deep into each actor's career; together, these chapters tell the story of what it means to be a leading man on Broadway over the past 50 years.

Albert Poland, legendary Broadway and Off-Broadway producer and general manager, presents Stages: A Theater Memoir.

When Broadway Was the Runway explores the central and largely unacknowledged role of commercial Broadway theater in the birth of modern American fashion and consumer culture. Long before Hollywood's red carpet spectacles, Broadway theater introduced American women to the latest styles. At the beginning of the 20th century, theater impresarios captured the imagination of their largely female patrons by transforming the stage into a glorious site of consumer spectacle.

Xeal and friends continue their journey to the top of Eternal Dominion. However, as Xeal searches out potential leaders for his guild and bolsters its ranks, others are moving as well. Will he and his guild weather the storm, or will they lose their footing and be stopped before they can even really begin?

Songbird Gloria Houghton has always needed to be the center of attention, but the spotlight has shifted. Seeking fame and a fresh start, she finds a new stage in Branson, Missouri...only to risk being replaced by a manipulative rival. Jack-of-all-trades Nick Sherwood is just one leaf on a vast family tree that includes a restaurant chef, hotel owners, and even the headline act at a family-owned theater. He's seen how fame can blind a person with jealousy. If only he wasn't so fascinated - and irritated - by the newest addition to the staff.

Danielle Lefontaine, an orphaned actress raised to the lullaby of Broadway, searches for her long-lost brother and her place on the stage. After a successful audition lands her a part in the same city his adoptive family had moved to, Dani believes she's finally close to finding her place to belong. Meanwhile, Alex Sheridan is living his dream playing the trumpet at his family's dinner theater. He's got everything he ever wanted…except someone special to share it with.

Free-spirited Elizabeth Foster turned her back on her father's photography business — and her faith — to pursue musical theater instead. Now, with a one-show contract, Liz is a few weeks away from unemployment forcing her back home when a chance encounter in the theater lobby resurrects her childhood dream of a life behind the camera. Meanwhile, sought-after photographer Ryan Callahan has put his freelance career on hold to help his sister's family while her husband is deployed. After another heart-breaking rejection by her father, Ryan is there to pick up the pieces.

Timothy R. White begins his history of the theater industry with the dispersed pre-Broadway era, when components such as costumes, lights, and scenery were built and stored nationwide. Subsequently, the majority of backstage operations and storage were consolidated in New York City during what is now known as the golden age of musical theater. Toward the latter half of the 20th century, decentralization and deindustrialization brought the emergence of nationally distributed regional theaters and performing arts centers.

The Sit Room brings you inside the secretive Situation Room of the White House, the most important deliberative room in the world, during the early 1990s when the author was one of the policymakers who framed the Clinton Administration's policy toward the bloody Balkans War. Drawing upon newly declassified documents and his own notes, David Scheffer, who later became America's first Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, weaves the true story of how policy options were debated in the Sit Room among the highest national security officials.

Blending a behind-the-scenes history of New York City’s Public Theater with an affecting remembrance of her husband, Public Theater founder Joe Papp, Public/Private is Gail Merrifield Papp’s enthralling and heartfelt memoir of a legendary theatrical institution.

Since its founding by Joseph Papp in the 1950s, The Public Theater has been an American artistic leader defined by its breadth of programming, from Hair and A Chorus Line, to Free Shakespeare in the Park. With the recent critical and financial success of Fun Home and Hamilton, and its emphasis on new play development, The Public's contemporary history has been equally remarkable, even as world crises and social changes have tested the mettle of its foundation of accessible and "radically inclusive" theatre for all.

Few actors have had a career as dynamic as that Kathleen Turner's; success has followed her from the television screen to major blockbusters, from indie films to the theater stage. Over her 40-year career, Turner has developed an instinctual knowledge of what it takes to be a successful actor, and, in her conversations with esteemed film professor Dustin Morrow, she shares these lessons with the world.

Divorced and working as a security guard in Portland, 73-year-old Carl is attacked by an unknown creature before he is able to taser it to death. After being released from the hospital, he discovers that he is unwittingly acquiring DNA samples from other people he touches. He discovers a number of shocking facts about himself when a blue box appears in his right eye. His health is nowhere near what he assumed it would be. Can he reverse the negative aspects of his health using these blue boxes? And can he reverse his poor financial situation after his wife took half his pension?

The American theater was not ignorant of the developments brought on by World War II, and actively addressed and debated timely, controversial topics for the duration of the war, including neutrality and isolationism, racism and genocide, and heroism and battle fatigue. McLaughlin and Parry's work fills a significant gap in the history of theater and popular culture, showing that American society was more divided and less idealistic than the received histories of the WWII home front and the entertainment industry recognize.

A compelling look at violence and trauma from the psychiatrist who treated mass shooter James Holmes, perpetrator of the infamous movie theater massacre. As an expert and speaker on mass shootings and gun violence, Dr. Lynn Fenton knew it was impossible to “spot a killer.” But when she met...