{"product_id":"shorter-faster-funnier-isbn-9780307476647","title":"Shorter, Faster, Funnier","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis cornucopia of comedy showcases works by major playwrights and emerging young writers, with casts of all sizes and diverse and challenging roles for actors of every age and type. You’ll discover such colorful characters as a businessman free-falling from a plane, an embittered sword swallower, a punkish girl skateboarder, and retirees in post-apocalyptic Siberia, alongside plays that unleash the humor in high school reunions, alien invasions, office cubicle farms, and even post-Katrina New Orleans. Perfect for actors, students, theater lovers, and comedy fans, \u003ci\u003eShorter, Faster, Funnier\u003c\/i\u003e covers the spectrum of humor, from slyly witty to over-the-top outrageous.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRob Ackerman ● Billy Aronson ● John Augustine ● Pete Barry ● Dan Berkowitz ● Adam Bock ● Eric Coble ● Philip Dawkins ● Anton Dudley ● Christopher Durang ● Liz Ellison ● Halley Feiffer ● Peter Handy ● Jeffrey Hatcher ● Amy Herzog ● Mikhail  Horowitz ● David Ives ● Caleen Sinnette Jennings ● Ean Miles Kessler ● Dan Kois ● Eric Lane ● Drew Larimore ● Warren Leight ● Mark Harvey Levine ● Elizabeth Meriwether ● Michael Mitnick ● Megan Mostyn-Brown ● Mark O’Donnell ● Nicole Quinn ● Wayne Rawley ● Theresa Rebeck ● Jacqueline Reingold ● Laura Shaine ● Nina Shengold ● Jane Shepard ● Edwin Sanchez ● Samara Siskind ● Daryl Watson ● Barbara Wiechmann ● Mary Louise Wilson ● Garth Wingfield ● Gary Winter ● Elizabeth Wong ● Dana Yeaton\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eTHE ANNIVERSARY by Drew Larimore\u003cbr\u003eBAR MITZVAH BOY by Samara Siskin\u003cbr\u003eTHE BLIZZARD by David Ives\u003cbr\u003eBROTHERLY LOVE by Ean Miles Kessler\u003cbr\u003eCHRISTMAS PRESENT by Amy Herzog\u003cbr\u003eTHE CONTRACT by Theresa Rebeck\u003cbr\u003eCURTAIN RAISER by Eric Lane\u003cbr\u003eDOUBLE DATE by Nina Shengold\u003cbr\u003eERNESTO THE MAGNIFICENT by Edwin Sánchez\u003cbr\u003eFRIENDSHIP by Peter Handy\u003cbr\u003eFUNERAL PARLOR by Christopher Durang\u003cbr\u003eGABRIELLE by Liz Ellison\u003cbr\u003eGETTING HOME by Anton Dudley\u003cbr\u003eH.R. by Eric Coble\u003cbr\u003eI LOVE NEIL LABUTE by Gary Winter\u003cbr\u003eLIFE WITHOUT SUBTEXT by Michael Mitnick\u003cbr\u003eLONG DISTANCE by Jane Shepard\u003cbr\u003eMARY JUST BROKE UP WITH THIS GUY by Garth Wingfield\u003cbr\u003eMEN IN HEAT by Dana Yeaton\u003cbr\u003eMERE VESSELS by Mikhail Horowitz\u003cbr\u003eMURDERERS (“Match Wits with Minka Lupino”) by Jeffrey Hatcher\u003cbr\u003eNINE POINT EIGHT METERS PER SECOND PER SECOND by Pete Barry\u003cbr\u003eNORM-ANON by Warren Leight\u003cbr\u003eNOTHING by Philip Dawkins\u003cbr\u003ePARTICLE BOARD by Elizabeth Meriwether\u003cbr\u003ePEOPLESPEAK by John Augustine\u003cbr\u003eTHE RENTAL by Mark Harvey Levine\u003cbr\u003eREUNIONS by Billy Aronson\u003cbr\u003eRIPPER GIRL by Elizabeth Wong\u003cbr\u003eTHE RUMOR by Dan Kois\u003cbr\u003eTHE SCARY QUESTION by Wayne Rawley\u003cbr\u003eSANDCHAIR CANTATA by Nicole Quinn\u003cbr\u003eSNAP by Daryl Watson\u003cbr\u003eSOURPUSS by Dan Berkowitz\u003cbr\u003eTHANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STOPPING by Halley Feiffer\u003cbr\u003e36 RUMSON ROAD by Barbara Wiechmann\u003cbr\u003eTHREE GUYS AND A BRENDA by Adam Bock\u003cbr\u003eTIRADE by Mary Louise Wilson\u003cbr\u003eUNCOVERED by Caleen Sinnette Jennings\u003cbr\u003eA VERY VERY SHORT PLAY by Jacqueline Reingold\u003cbr\u003eTHE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE BLUETOOTH by Laura Shaine\u003cbr\u003eTHE WOODS ARE FOR SUCKERS AND CHUMPS by Megan Mostyn-Brown\u003cbr\u003eYOU HAVE ARRIVED by Rob Ackerman\u003cbr\u003eYOU KNOW WHO ELSE I HATE? By Mark O’Donnell\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eContributors\u003cbr\u003eAbout the Editors\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eIndex by Cast Size\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eEric Lane and Nina Shengold have been editing contemporary theater anthologies for more than twenty years. Eric Lane's award-winning plays have been published and performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, and China. Plays include \u003ci\u003eRide, Times of War, Heart of the City, Dancing on Checkers' Grave, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Filming O'Keeffe. Floating\u003c\/i\u003e, a PlayPenn finalist, was workshopped at Raven Theatre. Eric's short plays are published in \u003ci\u003eBest American Short Plays, Poems and Plays\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eForeign Language Press\u003c\/i\u003e (Beijing). He wrote and produced the short films \u003ci\u003eFirst Breath\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCater-Waiter\u003c\/i\u003e, which he also directed; both films screened in more than forty cities worldwide. For TV's \u003ci\u003eRyan's Hope\u003c\/i\u003e he received a Writers Guild Award. Honors include the Berrilla Kerr Playwriting Award, the La MaMa Playwright Award, and fellowships at Yaddo, VCCA, and St. James Cavalier in Malta. Eric is an honors graduate of Brown University, and artistic director of Orange Thoughts, a not-for-profit theater and film company in New York City. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNina Shengold's plays include \u003ci\u003eFinger Foods, War at Home, Homesteaders\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eRomeo\/Juliet\u003c\/i\u003e, and have been produced around the world. Her one-act \u003ci\u003eNo Shoulder\u003c\/i\u003e was filmed by director Suzi Yoonessi, with Melissa Leo and Samantha Sloyan. Nina won a Writers Guild Award for her teleplay \u003ci\u003eLabor of Love\u003c\/i\u003e, starring Marcia Gay Harden; other teleplays include \u003ci\u003eBlind Spot\u003c\/i\u003e, with Joanne Woodward and Laura Linney, and\u003ci\u003e Unwed Father\u003c\/i\u003e. Her books include the novel \u003ci\u003eClearcut\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eRiver of Words: Portraits of Hudson Valley Writers\u003c\/i\u003e (with photographer Jennifer May), and a growing posse of pseudonymous books for young readers. A graduate of Wesleyan, she is currently teaching creative writing at Manhattanville College. Nina lives in New York's Hudson Valley, where she has been books editor of \u003ci\u003eChronogram\u003c\/i\u003e magazine since 2004.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAsian chefs cite five flavor notes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and spicy—without which no meal is complete. While assembling the plays in this anthology, the editors enjoyed a dazzling range of comedic hors d'oeuvres. From laugh-out-loud funny to subtly amusing, caustic, witty, or outrageous, there are as many flavors of comedy as there are sense of humor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe read over 400 short plays and monologues to create this all-you-can-eat comic buffet. We found delectable morsels by celebrated humorists Christopher Durang (\u003ci\u003eFuneral Parlor\u003c\/i\u003e), David Ives (\u003ci\u003eThe Blizzard\u003c\/i\u003e), Warren Leight (\u003ci\u003eNorm-Anon\u003c\/i\u003e), Mark O'Donnell (\u003ci\u003eYou Know Who Else I Hate?\u003c\/i\u003e), and Theresa Rebeck (\u003ci\u003eThe Contract\u003c\/i\u003e); inspiring monologues by actor\/playwrights Halley Feiffer (\u003ci\u003eThank You So Much fo Stopping\u003c\/i\u003e), Dan Berkowitz (\u003ci\u003eSourpuss)\u003c\/i\u003e, and Tony Award winner Mary Louise Wilson (\u003ci\u003eTirade\u003c\/i\u003e); plus enough superb audition pieces, two-handers, and ensemble plays to satisfy laugh-hungry actors, readers, and audience members. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe chose monologues of all lengths, from Liz Ellison's swift \u003ci\u003eGabrielle\u003c\/i\u003e and Elizabeth Wong's spiky \u003ci\u003eRipper Girl\u003c\/i\u003e to Jeffrey Hatcher's epic \u003ci\u003eMatch Wits with Minka Lupino\u003c\/i\u003e, from his monologue trio \u003ci\u003eMurderers\u003c\/i\u003e. Pete Barry's irascible businessman extends his free fall from a plane to hilarious lengths in \u003ci\u003eNine Point Eight Meters per Second per Second\u003c\/i\u003e. Jane Shephard's \u003ci\u003eLong Distance\u003c\/i\u003e reveals a man's thorny encounter with a former classmate, while Edwin Sánchez's \u003ci\u003eErnesto the Magnificent\u003c\/i\u003e fiercely paints a performance by an embittered sword swallower.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere's also a wealth of play for two actors. Amy Herzog's \u003ci\u003eChristmas Present\u003c\/i\u003e, Mark Harvey Levine's \u003ci\u003eThe Rental\u003c\/i\u003e, and Garth Wingfield's \u003ci\u003eMary Just Broke Up with This Guy\u003c\/i\u003e put unique spins on the staple of comedy, boy meets girl. In Anton Dudley's romantic \u003ci\u003eGetting Home\u003c\/i\u003e, boy meets hunky Indian cabdriver. The couple in Eric Lane's \u003ci\u003eCurtain Raiser\u003c\/i\u003e tackles an abandoned Woolworth building; in Wayne Rawley's \u003ci\u003eThe Scary Question\u003c\/i\u003e, another couple bonds over zombies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are graceful duets for young actors, including Samara Siskind's \u003ci\u003eBar Mitzvah Boy\u003c\/i\u003e, Megan Mostyn-Brown's \u003ci\u003eThe Woods Are for Suckers and Chumps\u003c\/i\u003e, Michael Mitnick's \u003ci\u003eLife without Subtext\u003c\/i\u003e, and Ean Miles Kessler's bullet-paced \u003ci\u003eBrotherly Love\u003c\/i\u003e. Senior actors will cherish Peter Handy's bittersweet \u003ci\u003eFriendship\u003c\/i\u003e and Drew Larimore's \u003ci\u003eThe Anniversary\u003c\/i\u003e, quite possibly the first play about retirees in postapocalyptic Siberia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThree plays for two actresses—Nicole Quinn's lyrical \u003ci\u003eSandchair Cantata\u003c\/i\u003e, Laura Shaine's poignant \u003ci\u003eThe Whole Truth \u0026amp; Nothing but the Bluetooth\u003c\/i\u003e, and Barbara Wiechmann's salty duet for obsessed Realtors, \u003ci\u003e36 Rumson Road\u003c\/i\u003e—treat women's darkest anxieties with a refreshingly light touch.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the testosterone side, Dan Kois's \u003ci\u003eThe Rumor\u003c\/i\u003e outs a surprising scandal in men's sports, Gary Winter's \u003ci\u003eI Love Neil LaBute\u003c\/i\u003e deftly skewers the playwright dubbed \"America's reigning misanthrope,\" and Dana Yeaton's \u003ci\u003eMen in Heat\u003c\/i\u003e bares the mysteries of the male biological clock.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGenders bend freely in Adam Bock's \u003ci\u003eThree Guys and a Brenda\u003c\/i\u003e, in which all four title characters are played by actresses. Nina Shengold's \u003ci\u003eDouble Date\u003c\/i\u003e upends political correctness by taking \"joined at the hip\" at face value, while Jacquelyn Reingold's \u003ci\u003eA Very Very Short Play\u003c\/i\u003e sparks an airplane romance between a one-foot-tall woman and a twelve-foot-tall man, both played by actors of average height.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRob Ackerman's \u003ci\u003eYou Have Arrived \u003c\/i\u003ealso encourages \u003ci\u003every\u003c\/i\u003e non-traditional casting, as one of its actresses plays a GPS monitor. Other three-character plays include John Augustine's uproariously acerbic cell-phone-age comedy \u003ci\u003ePeopleSpeak\u003c\/i\u003e and Caleen Sinnette Jennings's \u003ci\u003eUncovered\u003c\/i\u003e, which finds gallows humor in the post-Katrina cleanup. Eric Coble's physical comedy \u003ci\u003eH.R. \u003c\/i\u003eis equally topical, observing a quartet of cubicle workers whipping themselves into a froth at the prospect of being downsized. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThree plays with larger casts go back to school for laughs. Billy Aronson's \u003ci\u003eReunions\u003c\/i\u003e offers a wonderfully demented spin on catching-up small talk among high school alumni, Philip Dawkin's whimsical \u003ci\u003eNothing\u003c\/i\u003e riffs on an alien invasion at school, and the gruff coach in Daryl Watson's hilarious \u003ci\u003eSnap\u003c\/i\u003e tries to whip his dozens insult team (including a stuttering girl with unforeseen gifts) into shape.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor divinely inspired slapstick humor, try Mikhail Horowitz's \u003ci\u003eMere Vessels\u003c\/i\u003e, a fearless inquiry into the spiritual lives of ventriloquists' dummies, or Elizabeth Meriwether's \u003ci\u003eParticle Board\u003c\/i\u003e, which gives the pompous Great Man documentary a well-deserved plank in the face.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs editors of more than a dozen play anthologies, we've been gratified to hear of many multiplay productions culled from our previous books. We urge readers of \u003ci\u003eShorter, Faster, Funnier\u003c\/i\u003e to enjoy these plays in any way you can: read them aloud with friends; mount a stage reading, full production, or evening of short plays. As always, be sure to acquire the proper rights \u003ci\u003efirst\u003c\/i\u003e—playwrights don't take kindly to finding unauthorized performances in online listings or YouTube postings. Contacts for performance rights are listed in the back of this book, along with playwrights' biographies and an index by cast size.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhatever your comic taste, you're sure to find something within these pages to make you laugh. You'll also find heartache and suspense, poetic language and raunchy jokes. Comedy is a many-flavored banquet, and we invite you to pull up a chair. Enjoy!","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302112252133,"sku":"NP9780307476647","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780307476647.jpg?v=1767736568","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/shorter-faster-funnier-isbn-9780307476647","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}