Theater Classics

This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller’s masterpiece with a new introduction; critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos; and much more. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The...

As a New England mother struggles to support her family in the wake of her husband's service in the Civil War, her four daughters struggle, too - caught between childhood dreams and the realities of burgeoning adulthood. For Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, raised in integrity and virtue, negotiating the right path in life means making choices that will either narrow or expand their destinies.

This program is read by the authors (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker), Laura Orrico and Joe Praino, with special appearances by an all-star cast of comedy giants, including the film's stars, Julie Hagerty and Robert Hays, as well as Beau Bridges, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, Peter...

Includes an introduction written and read by Jesmyn Ward, a foreword written and read by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan, and an afterword written and read by Professor James L. W. West III The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family...

In the Gothic towers of the cathedral of Notre-Dame - which has been subjected to decades of degradation and neglect - lives its bell ringer, Quasimodo. Persecuted as wicked and pilloried for his broken appearance, he’s shown kindness only by the alluring Esmeralda, an outsider herself, who fills Quasimodo’s heart with a hope and devotion beyond reason. When she falls victim to the lies of the vengeful and lustful Archdeacon Claude Frollo, only Quasimodo can save her from the gallows. In sanctuary, looming high above Paris, their fates entwine.

At Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau reflected on simpler living in the natural world. By removing himself from the distractions of materialism, Thoreau hoped to not only improve his spiritual life but also gain a better understanding of society through solitary introspection. In Walden, Thoreau condenses his two-year, two-month, two-day stay into a single year, using the four seasons to symbolize human development - a cycle of life shared by both nature and man. A celebration of personal renewal through self-reliance, independence, and simplicity....

In the1930s and '40s, Black Mask was the single most important magazine for the modern mystery field. Here writers such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Earl Stanley Gardner reshaped the established view of mystery fiction, creating the "hard-boiled" private eye. Now this series resurrects from those pages the toughest of tough detectives in sonic dramatizations from the award-winning Hollywood Theater of the Ear.

Living in a squalid room in St. Petersburg, the indigent but proud Rodion Raskolnikov believes he is above society. Obsessed with the idea of breaking the law, Raskolnikov resolves to kill an old pawnbroker for her cash. Although the murder and robbery are bungled, Raskolnikov manages to escape without being seen. And with nothing to prove his guilt and a mendacious confessor in police custody, Raskolnikov seems to have committed the perfect crime. But in Dostoyevsky’s world of moral transgressions, with its reason and its consequences, Raskolnikov’s plan has a devastating hitch.

When mariner Robinson Crusoe sails from London to the African coast to Brazil, his unpredictable voyage takes a catastrophic course. The lone survivor of a shipwreck, he washes ashore on an Atlantic island. Resourceful and determined to contend with providence and nature, he finds his sovereignty empowering. Through the years he builds a civilization as a solitary man. Then he discovers a stranger’s footprint in the sand.

In the treasured follow-up to Little Women, Jo March returns as a mother of two sons and schoolmaster to twelve orphans. Now Jo Bhaer, literature’s beloved heroine has transformed Plumfield, the decorous New England estate of the March sisters’ youth, into a progressive school. During the coming year, newcomer Nat Blake joins the other restless, rascally seedlings as they grow under the tutelage of an equally spirited woman who extols the virtues of self-expression.

Almustafa has been exiled in the island city of Orphalese for twelve years when he sees his ship coming with the mist. Before he sets sail, the beloved prophet is asked by his followers to impart his truth. In these twenty-eight poetic essays, he offers profound inspiration on such matters of love and friendship, freedom and self-knowledge, joy and sorrow, pleasure, prayer, and death. In doing so, Almustafa offers a universal serenity. A Lebanese émigré to the United States, Gibran wrote The Prophet to transcend the barriers between East and West.

Filled with the power of love and the beauty of nature, Heidi is a lyrical tale about a little girl sent to live in the mountains of the Swiss Alps with her grandfather. A grumpy recluse, her grandfather has isolated himself from his fellow townspeople and his church. In very little time, Heidi warms his heart; and she quickly charms the whole town and makes new friends, including young Peter, the goatherd. But when Heidi is sent away again to care for a young girl her own age, she must grow wise beyond her years.

Declaring the church corrupt and urging rationality over revelation, Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason directly opposed the existing political and religious order of his time. Initially printed in pamphlet form, his work audaciously employed “vulgar” everyday language, as Paine sought to bring his message, and the appeal of deism, to the masses.

Generationen von Schauspielern haben Lessings Stück interpretiert, und zu Recht gilt "Nathan der Weise" als eine der Paraderollen auf deutschen Bühnen. Mitschnitt aus dem Deutschen Theater in Berlin.

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.

In the 25th century mankind fought against the hated telepathic slan race in the fierce slan-wars. The result was the extermination of almost all slans, and the establishment of a world-wide police state.

Artist Dick Heldar returns to 1890's England from the war in the Sudan after sustaining eye injuries and turns to painting for a living. While his realistic paintings of scenes from the war in Sudan slowly achieve a certain popularity, he ekes a living painting romanticized portraits. Eventually, the old war injury to his eyes starts getting worse and Heldar realizes he is going blind. Before he completely loses his sight, Dick resolves to paint his masterpiece, Melancholia, using a prostitute named Bessie as a model.

Die göttliche Komödie - eines der faszinierendsten Werke der europäischen Literatur überhaupt. Die Harmonie des Aufbaus von der Höllenfahrt bis ins Paradies, die dramatische Vielfalt der evozierten Schicksale, die Kraft des dichterischen Ausdrucks und Gefühls, Adel und Tiefe der Gedanken machen es zu einem zeitlosen Beispiel abendländischer Dichtkunst.

Actor and comedian Kevin O'Brien performs Mark Twain's classic—and delivers four lectures analyzing the brilliance of this great American novel.

Texte von Goethe, Lessing, Shakespeare, Hofmannsthal, Diderot, Brecht, Dürrenmatt und Schiller, gelesen von Paul Hoffmann (1997)...