THE STORY: The time is Independence Day, 1944, the place the parlor of the Talley homestead in Lebanon, Missouri. As World War II rages across the seas, the Talleys are beset with crises of a different sort. Slipping into senility, the elder Mr. Ta
The time is Independence Day, 1944, the place the parlor of the Talley homestead in Lebanon, Missouri. As World War II rages across the seas, the Talleys are beset with crises of a different sort. Slipping into senility, the elder Mr. Talley still has flashes of explosive lucidity, when he schemes to dispose of the local bank among heirs of his own choice, and berates his charming but spineless son, Eldon, for considering the sale of the family garment business to an eastern conglomerate. Also involved in the bickering are Eldon's long-suffering wife, Netta; their son, Buddy, who is home on leave from the Army; his vapid wife, Olive; and Eldon's sister, Charlotte, a defiantly free spirit who is suffering the fatal effects of radium poisoning. And, commenting on the action, unseen by the others, is the "ghost" of the second son, Timmy, already a casualty of the Pacific war, although the family has not yet learned of his death. In the end the petty antagonisms, scandals and selfishness which infuse the play are their own reward, and we are aware that a dynasty built by hard work and clear if conniving vision is about to be dismantled by lesser men who have inherited the property, but not the character, of their predecessors.
Talley's Folly" shows one evening in the courtship of two unlikely lovers, Sally Talley and Matt Friedman. Sally is from a conservative, small-town, wealthy family of bigoted Protestants, and Matt is a Jewish accountant twelve years older than Sally
THE STORY: The place is the front hall of a very chic Manhattan apartment, where the hostess, Winnie, is giving a party for one of her pet charities-in this case, Liars Anonymous. A late arrival, who is intercepted by the worldly wise maid, Martha, is one Danna-who claims to be both on the wagon and a very dear friend of Winnie. She is also, as it develops, rather close to Winnie's husband, Lon, as well (they claim to have shared a wild night of passion involving the bizarre use of vegetables). But if Lon is a philanderer, Winnie, according to Danna, is worse; and then there is Joe, a handsome rogue who informs the others that he is an incredibly rich physicist, has climbed Mount Everest solo, has a titled wife, and who sweeps Danna off her feet. As the conversation grows more dazzling (and the lies more extravagant) only Martha, the maid, remains unfazed by the whole mad scene-after all, she has seen it all many times before, and who cares what these crazy people do or say anyway?
THE STORY: The scene is the trailer where Ruby, a woman of indeterminate age and compliant disposition, lives amid an overgrown garden of thymus vulgaris, an herb which smells suspiciously like menthol chest rub. She is joined unexpectedly by her daughter, Evelyn, a warmhearted hooker who announces that she is the intended of Solly, the Grapefruit King, although right now she is not so sure that she wants to go through with it or, for that matter, that Solly does either. But the lure of all that money, and Solly's promise to give Ruby a home as well, do tug at her. The arrival of a well-built young motorcycle cop (who reminds Ruby of several former loves) decides the matter, however, as he has been sent by Solly to round up mother and daughter and whisk them off to a life of luxury. And why not? There are, as Evelyn says, the users and the used-and every once in a while the used deserve a break too.
The idea for this book began over four decades ago when Edward Teller began teaching physics appreciation courses at the University of Chicago. Then, as now, Dr. Teller believes that illiteracy in science is an increasingly great danger to American society, not only for our chil dren but also for our growing adult population. On one hand, the future of every individual on this globe is closely related to science and its applications. Fear of the results of science, which has become prevalent in much of the Western World, leads to mistaken decisions in important political affairs. But this book speaks of no fears and of no decisions-only of the facts that can prevent one of them and indirectly guide the others. From the perspective of this book, a second point is even more vii viii PREFACE significant. The first quarter of this century has seen the most won derful and philosophically most important transformation in our thinking. The intellectual and aesthetic values of the points of view of Einstein and Bohr cannot be overestimated. Nor should they be hidden at the bottom of tons of mathematical rubble. Our young people must be exposed to science both because it is useful and because it is fun. Both of these qualities should be taken at a truly high value.
THE STORY: The scene is the ornate, deserted Victorian boathouse on the Talley place in Lebanon, Missouri; the time 1944. Matt Friedman, an accountant from St. Louis, has arrived to plead his love to Sally Talley, the susceptible, but uncertain dau
THE STORY: Deals with the encounter between a cynical, sophisticated New York antiques dealer and the taciturn young man, her nephew and house guest, who has come to the city to study theology. As reticent and unemotional as his aunt is loquacious and brittle, the young man contends that he has undergone a mystical experience-a revelation which is as unsettling to his aunt as it is fulfilling to him. As though intimidated by his inscrutable reserve, she grows increasingly voluble, revealing in her wise-cracking chatter the defense which she has constructed to keep the world at bay-and to mask the innate sensitivity and idealism which persist despite the loneliness and futility of her existence.
THE STORIES: WANDERING. First presented at the Mark Taper Forum, in Los Angeles, as part of an omnibus program entitled The Scene , and then Off-Broadway as part of Collision Course , a similar program. This brilliantly inventive short
THE STORY: Liz Barnard is an anthropologist studying West Coast gangs for behavior similar to African tribes. Her son, Don, is a homosexual Episcopal minister whose parishioners are poor and many sick with AIDS. Liz's daughter, Barbara, is a gifted
THE STORY: Two young suburban couples, friends of long standing, are suddenly aware of strains and pressures that have inexorably come into their lives. Adultery is one of these--a fact for one of the wives, an imminent possibility for one of the husbands--
THE STORY: When murder roars through a small Missouri town, Ruth Hoch begins her own quest to find truth and honesty amid small town jealousies, religion, greed and lies. This tornado of a play propels you through its events like a page-turning mys
THE STORIES: The monologue DAYS AHEAD portrays the fraught psyche of a fastidious little man as he confronts the memory of an early love which he perceives as a dusty, crumbling wall through which he must dig. (1 man.) THE MADNESS OF LADY BRIGHT tr
THE STORY: The setting is a large tent, where two flower show exhibitors have sought refuge from a sudden rainfall. She (Ms. Joslyn) is visibly annoyed at the curt treatment that the judges have given her Little Soldier and makes no bones about it. He (Mr. Wasserman) is equally dismayed by the fate of his Little Tanya, but is too soft-spoken and retiring to vent his anger. They both agree that if the judges are getting soaked it serves them right, but Mr. Wasserman's attempts at friendly conversation are confounded by Ms. Joslyn's close-mouthed surliness. But gradually it develops that (a) they happen to admire each other's creations (unlike the judges) and (b) they are near neighbors-all of which leads in time to the realization that if it proved possible to combine the color of his Little Tanya with the texture of her Little Soldier a new strain of flower would result which even the most obtuse of judges would be dazzled by. Quivering with anticipation they prepare to leave, as the sun comes out, and the prospect of future glory sends them resolutely back to their test beds and potting sheds.
A group of friends who came of age in the sixties have a reunion in an old Missouri farmhouse, where their reminiscences reveal shattered hopes, buried resentments, lost dreams, and the unhealed trauma of the Vietnam War
THE STORIES: LUDLOW FAIR. In words of the Village Voice, this ...is a bedtime story about two girl roommates. Rachel is glamorous, fast-living, sometimes lost in her own self-dramatizations; Agnes is plain, matter-of-fact, her shyness masked by a kooky per
THE STORY: At seventeen, Alan visits the California home of his father and his father's former mistress turned wife. His father's life now centers around his two young sons, a tiresome job at an aircraft plant, and two teenage girls who are boarded
THE STORY: The time is Independence Day, 1944, the place the parlor of the Talley homestead in Lebanon, Missouri. As World War II rages across the seas, the Talleys are beset with crises of a different sort. Slipping into senility, the elder Mr. Ta
THE STORY: Schuyler Browne and his friends, Josh, Ann and Mary, gather for the spring at Schuyler's family's Hampton home. Schuyler, a trust-fund kid from wealthy lineage, doesn't yet know what to do with his life. Josh, very into computers, is on
THE STORY: Geri, a seventeen-year-old, Vietnamese-American, has taken time out from a rigorous touring schedule as a piano prodigy to stay on her Aunt Geneva's Redwood plantation in Northern California. She's been coming here for years, but recentl
WINNER OF THE SALTIRE SOCIETY HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR Next morning at about 6 o'clock my mother wakened us to say there had been a shipwreck and bodies were being washed ashore. My father had gone with others to look for survivors ... I don't think any survivors came in at Port Ellen but bodies did. The loss of two British ships crammed with American soldiers bound for the trenches of the First World War brought the devastation of war directly to the shores of the Scottish island of Islay. The sinking of the troopship Tuscania by a German U-Boat on 5 February 1918 was the first major loss of US troops in in the war. Eight months after the people of Islay had buried more than 200 Tuscania dead, the armed merchant cruiser Otranto collided with another troopship during a terrible storm. Despite a valiant rescue attempt by HMS Mounsay, the Otranto drifted towards Islay, hit a reef, throwing 600 men into the water. Just 19 survived; the rest were drowned or crushed by the wreckage. Based on the harrowing personal recollection of survivors and rescuers, newspaper reports and original research, Les Wilson tells the story of these terrible events, painting a vivid picture which also pays tribute to the astonishing bravery of the islanders, who risked their lives pulling men from the sea, caring for survivors and burying the dead.
THE STORIES: THE MOONSHOT TAPE. Having come home to visit her mother, who has been placed in a nursing home, Diane, now a well-known writer, is being interviewed for the local newspaper. Only she speaks. Her remarks are in answer to such questions
THE STORY: The scene is the lobby of a rundown hotel so seedy that it has lost the e from its marquee. As the action unfolds, the residents, ranging from young to old, from the defiant to the resigned, meet and talk and interact with each other during t
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.