William W. Demastes's Books

Staging Consciousness

Theater and the Materialization of Mind

By: William W. Demastes

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Staging Consciousness

Theater and the Materialization of Mind

By: William W. Demastes

How theater has challenged the mind/body dualism that underpins much of Western thought

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Page Count

214

Publisher

University of Michigan Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0472112023

ISBN 13

9780472112029

British Playwrights, 1956-1995

A Research and Production Sourcebook

By: William W. Demastes

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British Playwrights, 1956-1995

A Research and Production Sourcebook

By: William W. Demastes

The year 1956 marked a point when British drama and theater fell into the hands of a group of young playwrights who revolutionized the stage. During that time, playwrights such as Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter made the British theater as rich, varied, and vital as any national theater in history. This reference chronicles the history of British theater from 1956 to 1995 by providing detailed information about the playwrights of that period. Included are entries for some three dozen British playwrights active between 1956 and 1995. Entries are arranged alphabetically to facilitate use. Each entry supplies biographical information, the production history for particular plays, a survey of the playwright's critical reception, an assessment of the dramatist's work, and primary and secondary bibliographies. A selected, general bibliography at the end of the volume directs the reader to important sources of additional information about this period in theater history.

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Page Count

515

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1567507433

ISBN 13

9781567507430

British Playwrights, 1880-1956

A Research and Production Sourcebook

By: William W. Demastes,Katherine Kelly

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British Playwrights, 1880-1956

A Research and Production Sourcebook

By: William W. Demastes,Katherine Kelly

From 1880 to 1956, when John Osborne transformed the British theater world with Look Back in Anger, British playwrights made numerous lasting contributions and provided a foundation for the innovations of dramatists during the latter half of the 20th century. This reference profiles the life and work of some 40 British playwrights active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of whom are also known for their work as novelists and poets. Included are figures such as W. H. Auden, Max Beerbohm, Noel Coward, T. S. Eliot, John Galsworthy, Graham Greene, D. H. Lawrence, W. Somerset Maugham, George Bernard Shaw, and Oscar Wilde. Each entry provides a biographical overview; a list of major plays and summaries of their critical reception; a list of minor plays, adaptations, and productions; an assessment of the playwright's career; and archival and bibliographical information. Included in this reference book are alphabetically arranged entries for some 40 British playwrights active from 1880 through 1956. Entries are written by expert contributors, with each entry providing a biographical overview; a list of major plays, premieres, and significant revivals, along with a summary of the critical reception of these works; a listing of additional plays, adaptations, and productions; an assessment of the playwright's career and contributions, with reference to published evaluations in magazines, journals, dissertations, and books; a listing of locations housing unpublished archival material, if available; a selected bibliography of the dramatist's published plays and of essays and articles by the playwright on aspects of the theater; a selected bibliography of secondary sources; and, when available, a listing of previously published bibliographies on the playwright.

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Page Count

470

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0313032653

ISBN 13

9780313032653

Theatre of Chaos

Beyond Absurdism, Into Orderly Disorder

By: William W. Demastes

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Theatre of Chaos

Beyond Absurdism, Into Orderly Disorder

By: William W. Demastes

A study of contemporary theatre from the perspective of chaos theatre and quantum mechanics.

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Page Count

216

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521619866

ISBN 13

9780521619868

Understanding John Guare

By: William Demastes

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Understanding John Guare

By: William Demastes

A comprehensive study of an award-winning playwright known for unconventional blending of genres John Guare, one of the most innovative and influential contemporary American playwrights of the last sixty years, is best known for such works as House of Blue Leaves, winner of an Obie Award, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play, and four Tony Awards, and Six Degrees of Separation, recipient of the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play and the Olivier Best Play Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. In Understanding John Guare, William W. Demastes provides a concise biography and analyzes the playwright's career from his earliest works produced off-off Broadway in the 1960s to his most recent Broadway play, A Free Man of Color, a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Often compared to his contemporaries Sam Shepard and David Mamet, who have distinctive voices tied to their mastery of realistic, idiomatic American English, Guare has a style that is perhaps more varied, Demastes speculates, the result of his formal training in theater. After earning a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University, Guare earned an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama. He then polished his theater craft in New York City during the exciting and turbulent 1960s, breaking from realist conventions and creating an unlikely blend of comedy, burlesque, stand-up comedy, and absurdly incongruous plotlines. The result has been a theater of surprise that is rich in stage action and experimentally invigorating. Demastes examines Guare's tools and techniques such as mixing serious with comic, creating characters who break into song and dance, inserting stand-up comedy routines, and drawing from the most absurd incongruities of everyday life. In doing so, Guare has created plays about the best and worst of humanity, about lost souls, and about delusional ideals.

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Page Count

149

Publisher

Univ of South Carolina Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1611177391

ISBN 13

9781611177398

The Cambridge Introduction to Tom Stoppard

By: William Demastes

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The Cambridge Introduction to Tom Stoppard

By: William Demastes

Tom Stoppard is widely considered to be one of the most important dramatists of contemporary theatre. In this Introduction, William Demastes provides an accessible overview of Stoppard's life and work, exploring all the complexity and variety that makes his drama so unique. Illustrated with images from a diverse range of Stoppard productions, the book provides clear evaluations of his major works, including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Travesties, Arcadia and The Coast of Utopia, to provide the most up-to-date assessment available. Detailed chapters situate each play in the context of its sources, which include Shakespeare and contemporary existential thought, espionage, quantum physics, chaos theory, romanticism, landscape design, nineteenth-century European intellectual thought and European totalitarianism. The book also includes a section on Stoppard's Academy Award-winning film Shakespeare in Love.

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Page Count

179

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1139851713

ISBN 13

9781139851718

Best Monologues from The Best American Short Plays

By: William W. Demastes

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Best Monologues from The Best American Short Plays

By: William W. Demastes

This second volume of the best monologues from the Best American Short Plays series features a diverse selection drawn from the outstanding works from many of today's best American playwrights. In these monologues, the playwrights capture much of the flavors, feelings, and thoughts of American culture over the past several decades. The result is a collection of taught, engaging monologues offering fascinating perspectives. They are written with an eye toward the stage that makes them excellent source material for actors young and old alike. And they offer a freshness and directness that make them excellent companions for readers attracted to good, often quirky, and always engaging contemporary literature.

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Page Count

202

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

1495009564

ISBN 13

9781495009563

Staging Consciousness

Theater and the Materialization of Mind

By: William W. Demastes

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Staging Consciousness

Theater and the Materialization of Mind

By: William W. Demastes

How theater has challenged the mind/body dualism that underpins much of Western thought

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Page Count

214

Publisher

University of Michigan Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0472112023

ISBN 13

9780472112029

The Cambridge Introduction to Tom Stoppard

By: William Demastes

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The Cambridge Introduction to Tom Stoppard

By: William Demastes

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Page Count

179

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1139851713

ISBN 13

9781139851718

British Playwrights, 1956-1995

A Research and Production Sourcebook

By: William W. Demastes

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British Playwrights, 1956-1995

A Research and Production Sourcebook

By: William W. Demastes

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Page Count

515

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1567507433

ISBN 13

9781567507430

Understanding John Guare

By: William Demastes

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Understanding John Guare

By: William Demastes

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Page Count

149

Publisher

Univ of South Carolina Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1611177391

ISBN 13

9781611177398

Book's by William W. Demastes

Staging Consciousness

Staging Consciousness

British Playwrights, 1956-1995

British Playwrights, 1956-1995

British Playwrights, 1880-1956

British Playwrights, 1880-1956

Theatre of Chaos

Theatre of Chaos

Understanding John Guare

Understanding John Guare

The Cambridge Introduction to Tom Stoppard

The Cambridge Introduction to Tom Stoppard

Best Monologues from The Best American Short Plays

Best Monologues from The Best American Short Plays

Staging Consciousness

Staging Consciousness

The Cambridge Introduction to Tom Stoppard

The Cambridge Introduction to Tom Stoppard

British Playwrights, 1956-1995

British Playwrights, 1956-1995

Understanding John Guare

Understanding John Guare

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