| Act A Lady by Michael Friedman and Jordan Harrison |
 
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Comedy
Full-length, 90-100 minutes
3 females, 3 males
$100.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
When the men of a small Prohibition-era town decide to put on a play dressed in "fancy-type, women-type clothes," the whole community is affected: gender lines blur, eyebrows raise, identities explode, and life and art are forever entangled. A thoughtful and exuberant Midwestern fable about the woman in every man, the man in every woman and the power of theatre to uncover both. Accompanied by accordion.
(This play is also available in the collection Humana Festival 2006: The Complete Plays.)
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| "The [2006 Humana] Festival's most uproarious comedy, a farce of outlandish proportions, takes on and celebrates the art of theater itself...Part Waiting for Guffman and part Dangerous Liaisons, Act a Lady's dizzying gender-bending explores the theater, the fallibility of stereotypes and the joys of accordion music with a deft wisdom..." |
| --Tony Brown, Cleveland Plain Dealer |
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The Brand New Kid
adapted by Michael Friedman and Melanie Marnich
based on the children's book by Katie Couric |
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Canard, Canard, Goose?
by Steven Cosson, Michael Friedman, and The Civilians
with additional text by Anne Washburn |
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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 75-90 minutes
4 females, 3 males (7-15 actors possible: 3-8 females, 2-7 males)
$75.00 per performance; $18.95 per book
NOTE: This play is part of an anthology called The Civilians: An Anthology of Six Plays.
The Civilians leave New York City to pursue a story about a Hollywood movie and a lost flock of carelessly imprinted geese. Though they start off in search of a story about an evil corporation and the birds that were allegedly left behind, what results is a wild goose chase around Long Lake in search for answers. An eclectic show about disorientation, misplaced empathy, and coming home.
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| "Sublimely silly and shameless, this septet of downtown talent self-mockingly tackles the issue of animal neglect in film." |
| --Time Out New York |
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Play with music
Full-length, 115-125 minutes
5 females, 1 male
$8.99 per book
NOTE: This play can also be found in an anthology called Humana Festival 2010: The Complete Plays.
Other prices can be calculated by clicking "More Info"
How far can you go with ambition, gumption, a good heart -- and no talent? The Cherry Sisters' dreams of Vaudeville took them from their Iowa barn to Broadway, where their inept acrobatics and tone-deaf caterwauling continually sold out, bringing them fame -- and a barrage of rotten cabbages. Based on a true story and with music by Michael Friedman, Dan O'Brien's thought-provoking comedy takes a look at the insatiable urge to perform, and the audience's inability to look away.
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| "It's Gypsy by way of Waiting for Guffman, a frothy mix of gallows humor and naivete set to composer Michael Friedman's jaunty vaudeville tunes." |
| --Erin Keane, Humana Courier-Journal |
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$18.95 per book
NOTE: This book contains 6 plays. To perform any of the plays, each must be licensed separately.
Collected for the first time in one volume are six inventive theater pieces created by Obie Award-winning theater company The Civilians. Based on the creative investigation of actual experience, and often intertwined with experimental cabaret, their pieces are boldly theatrical and always unique -- from a story about a Hollywood movie and a lost flock of geese (Canard, Canard, Goose?); to a tale about things lost and found, charting a musical landscape of loss (Gone Missing); to a dark ride through the landscape of American public culture, asking a thorny question: how do we know what we know when everyone in power seems to be lying? ((I Am) Nobody's Lunch).
To purchase this book of 6 plays, click "Order this play" above. To perform an individual play, click on its title below:
Canard, Canard, Goose? by The Civilians
Gone Missing by The Civilians
(I Am) Nobody's Lunch by The Civilians
The Ladies by Anne Washburn
Paris Commune by Steven Cosson and Michael Friedman
Shadow of Himself by Neal Bell
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| "The Civilians [is] one of the city's smartest and most original troupes." |
| --Time Out New York |
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$19.95 per book
NOTE: This book contains 11 plays. To perform any of the plays, each must be licensed separately.
Humana Festival 2008: The Complete Plays brings together all eleven scripts from the 2008 Humana Festival of New American Plays, the 32nd annual cycle of world premiere productions staged at Actors Theatre of Louisville. The seven full-length plays and four ten-minute plays represent an exceptional array of work by some of the most exciting new voices in American theater -- from a scathing comedy about a blind date gone awry (Becky Shaw); to a documentary drama about the evangelical phenomenon in Colorado Springs (This Beautiful City); to a suburban street being undermined by zombies from a video game (Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom). Humana Festival 2008: The Complete Plays features a diverse selection of theatrical works that challenge and captivate audiences through movement, song, and bold explorations of what it means to be human.
To purchase this book of 11 plays, click "Order this play" above. To perform an individual play, click on its title below:
All Hail Hurricane Gordo by Carly Mensch
Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo
Dead Right by Elaine Jarvik
Game On by Zakiyyah Alexander, Rolin Jones, Jon Spurney, Alice Tuan, Daryl Watson, Marisa Wegrzyn, and Ken Weitzman
Great Falls by Lee Blessing
In Paris You Will Find Many Baguettes but Only One True Love by Michael Lew
Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley
One Short Sleepe by Naomi Wallace
the break/s by Marc Bamuthi Joseph
This Beautiful City by Steven Cosson, Michael Friedman, and Jim Lewis
Tongue, Tied by M. Thomas Cooper
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| "Humana is the most invigorating theatre weekend of the year." |
| --Denver Post |
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$19.95 per book
NOTE: This book contains 11 plays. To perform any of the plays, each must be licensed separately.
Humana Festival 2010: The Complete Plays brings together all eleven scripts from the 2010 Humana Festival of New American Plays, the 34th annual cycle of world premiere productions staged at Actors Theatre of Louisville. This unique compilation features an exceptional array of work by some of the most exciting new voices in the American theatre, from the dreams of an inept Vaudeville sister act (The Cherry Sisters Revisited), to an immigration drama about a New Mexico border community (Ground), to a playwright trapped inside his own play (An Examination of the Whole Playwright/Actor Relationship Presented As Some Kind of Cop Show Parody). This unique compilation is a must-have for any theater aficionado's bookshelf.
To purchase this book of 11 plays, click "Order this play" above. To perform an individual play, click on its title below:
The Cherry Sisters Revisited by Michael Friedman and Dan O'Brien
An Examination of the Whole Playwright/Actor Relationship Presented As Some Kind of Cop Show Parody by Greg Kotis
Fissures (lost and found) by Steve Epp, Cory Hinkle, Dominic Orlando, Dominique Serrand, Deborah Stein, and Victoria Stewart
Ground by Lisa Dillman
Heist! by Deborah Stein
Let Bygones Be by Gamal Abdel Chasten
Lobster Boy by Dan Dietz
The Method Gun by Kirk Lynn
Phoenix by Scott Organ
Post Wave Spectacular by Diana Grisanti
Sirens by Deborah Zoe Laufer
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| "The Humana Festival of New American Plays, now in its 34th year, has been called the crossroads of American theater... But whatever you call it, Humana is a great annual bazaar, camp meeting, reunion and, just as it says, theatrical festival -- because it's also a lot of fun." |
| --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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(I Am) Nobody's Lunch
(a cabaret about how we know what we know when nobody knows if everyone else is lying and when someone or something wants to have you for lunch)
by Steven Cosson, Michael Friedman, and The Civilians |
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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 75-90 minutes
3 females, 5 males (5-15 actors possible: 2-7 females, 3-8 males)
$75.00 per performance; $18.95 per book
NOTE: This play is part of an anthology called The Civilians: An Anthology of Six Plays.
Delving into the politics of information, The Civilians -- in its singular signature style -- conducted extensive interviews with subjects ranging from a policymaker at Homeland Security on the verge of a nervous breakdown to a plucky extraterrestrial (channeled by an equally funny human); from every Jessica Lynch in the phone book (who was willing to talk) to soldiers guarding the New York subway with unloaded weapons. Turning these interviews into a mercurial cabaret-play, a versatile cast inhabits an eccentric cast of characters, all taken from real life.
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| "A funny, searching, at times plaintive look at the dangerous blurring of fact and myth in American culture." |
| --Charles Isherwood, The New York Times |
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Satirical musical comedy
Full-length, 80-95 minutes
8 females, 8 males (10-30 actors possible: 5-15 females, 5-15 males)
$75.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
The Astounding Krispinsky! The All-American Feminem! The Amazing Screaming Vegan, the Formerly Amazing Bob, and Mr. McBuffer the Renegade Puppet! With American culture and politics growing increasingly surreal, Actors Theatre of Louisville commissioned seven marquee playwrights to create a variety-show satire in the grand old vaudeville tradition -- from ventriloquists to contortionists to Lady Liberty on a trapeze. With songs!
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| "A smart, funny show that channels the neurotic anxiety of a culture crumbling onto its own ideals and converts it into humor and laughs... Uncle Sam's liberates itself from political mockery to true satirical commentary. Vaudevillian in nature, the show goes beyond random acts of entertainment and develops a cohesive idea and psychological picture of our time." |
| --Frank Kuzler, NYTheatre |
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