Ocean State Libraries

This exciting first play by the author of August: Osage County, premiered at Chicago's Steppenwolf before going on to acclaimed productions in London and New York. Hired by the dissolute Smith family to murder the matriarch for insurance money, Killer Joe takes the daughter to bed as a retainer against his final payoff, which sets in motion a bloody aftermath as the "hit man" meets his match.-- Publisher's note.

A powerful, yet funny confrontation between two brothers set in the contemporary West.

"Caryl Churchhill plays with the idea of her parallel between colonial and sexual oppression. Act I takes place in Victorian Africa, whilst Act II is set in modern London. Much interplay is made of gender and colour: for example, Clive, the white settler, has a black servant, Joshua, who is played by a white because he wants to be what the whites want him to be"--Back cover.

"From Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson comes a one-man show that chronicles his life as a Black artist in the Hill District in Pittsburgh. From stories about his first jobs to his first loves and his experiences with racism, Wilson recounts his life from his roots to the completion of The American Century Cycle. How I Learned What I Learned gives an inside look into one of the most celebrated playwriting voices of the twentieth century."--...

Recording session by black blues great Ma Rainey for white-owned studio, setting for exploration of racial relations and conflicts.

Hitler's rise to power is burlesqued through the description of a gangster syndicate which terrorizes Chicago and its suburbs.

Lend Me A Tenor is set in September 1934. Saunders, the general manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, is primed to welcome world famous, Tito Morelli, Il Stupendo, the greatest tenor of his generation, to appear for one night only as Otello. The star arrives late and, through a hilarious series of mishaps, is given a double dose of tranquilizers and passes out. His pulse is so low that Saunders and his assistant Max believe he's dead. In a...

"Personifies the questions and answers that 'Sugar' was publishing online from 2010-2012. When the struggling writer was asked to take over the unpaid, anonymous position of advice columnist, Strayed used empathy and her personal experiences to help those seeking guidance for obstacles both large and small."--Page [4] of cover.

On the outskirts of Mormon Country, Idaho, a six hundred pound recluse hides away in his apartment eating himself to death. Desperate to reconnect with his long-estranged daughter, he reaches out to her, only to find a viciously sharp-tongued and wildly unhappy teen. Big-hearted and fiercely funny, The Whale tells the story of a man's last chance at redemption, and of finding beauty in the most unexpected places.

"Two generations of sisters navigate class, race, love and family on "Mud Row," an area in the East End of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Elsie hopes to move up in the world by marrying into "the talented tenth," while her sister Frances joins the fight for Civil Rights. Decades later, estranged sisters Regine and Toshi are forced to reckon with their shared heritage and each other, when Regine inherits granny Elsie's house"--Back cover