English Theater

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.

Prize-winning and bestselling historian Jean Edward Smith tells the “rousing” (Jay Winik, author of 1944) story of the liberation of Paris during World War II—a triumph achieved only through the remarkable efforts of Americans, French, and Germans, racing to save the city from destruction...

In the National Book Award–winning Goblin Secrets, a boy joins a theatrical troupe of goblins to find his missing brother. In the town of Zombay, there is a witch named Graba who has clockwork chicken legs and moves her house around—much like the fairy tale figure of Baba Yaga. Graba takes...

The Big Secret Book is an invaluable guide on the subject of creativity, no matter the preferred artistic discipline. Written by Denise Clarke, director of One Yellow Rabbit Summer Lab Intensive, the book outlines methods and methodologies of the Lab that have inspired writers, dancers, musicians, as well as performance theatre artists.

George Webber, a first-time author, writes a book that makes frequent references to his home town of Libya Hill. The book is a success, except in Libya Hill, where the residents believe that it paints an extremely distorted portrait of their town. They send Webber menacing letters, including death threats.

Jack Jensen is a middle-aged nobody who lives a lackluster life in an even more uninteresting town. Having sampled every job the small town of Merrill, Wisconsin has to offer, he has excelled at nothing but growing his beer gut and his luxurious curly, chestnut brown hair. His life is one of unrealized potential and lack of direction. Things change one morning when his brother, an Army Major, lands his helicopter in the parking lot of Jack’s less-than-profitable gaming store.

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.

Carey Perloff, Artistic Director of San Francisco's legendary American Conservatory Theater, pens a lively and revealing memoir of her 20-plus years at the helm and delivers a provocative and impassioned manifesto for the role of live theater in today's technology-infused world. Perloff's personal and professional journey - her life as a woman in a male-dominated profession, as a wife and mother, a playwright, director, producer, arts advocate, and citizen in a city erupting with enormous change.

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.

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.

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...

Having picked up a trio of young ladies who are in need of an escort back home, Xeal sets off to return them to their tribes in the beast-man lands. If Xeal can manage to strike a few deals with the various tribes along the way, all the better.

Uncertain Allies looks at the United States military's experience in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater during World War II through the eyes of Joseph Stilwell, the commanding general of American forces in those three countries. Historian Eric Setzekorn focuses on two themes: uncertain allies and ambiguous missions.