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100 (monologues) collects all of Eric Bogosian's monologues, performed as part of his acclaimed Off-Broadway solo shows that premiered between 1980 and 2000. For these shows, Bogosian was awarded three Obie Awards and a Drama Desk Award -- earning him living-icon status in the downtown theatre scene. The book's release coincides with the launch of www.100monologues.com, a website that features videos of all of the book's monologues, each performed by a different renowned actor.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Letts launched his playwriting career with Killer Joe, a shocking and unforgettable debut. Originally staged in 1993 at Next Theatre in Evanston, Illinois, Killer Joe quickly became a must-see and ran for eight months before later runs in Edinburgh, New York and London, including four months on the West End. It has been performed in fifteen countries in twelve languages, and is now slated for Broadway in 2015. Letts also adapted the play into a 2011 motion picture, directed by William Friedkin and starring Matthew McConaughey. Renowned playwright Richard Nelson teams up with Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the foremost contemporary translators of classic Russian literature, to collaborate on a revelatory new series of translations. The series launches with the publication of The Inspector, Nikolai Gogol's pitch-perfect satire of social corruption. Called "the greatest play written in Russian" by Vladimir Nabokov, this is an essential edition of Gogol's biting masterpiece includes extensive notes and an introduction by Pevear. 
Peter Gnit, a funny enough but so-so specimen of humanity, makes a lifetime of bad decisions on the search for his True Self. This is a rollicking yet cautionary tale about (among other things) how the opposite of love is laziness. Gnit is a faithful, unfaithful and willfully American misreading of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt (a nineteenth-century Norwegian play), written by Will Eno, who has never been to Norway.
Wallace Shawn, a writer known for his own bleakly hilarious and provocative plays, takes on Henrik Ibsen's Master Builder Solness in this new translation and adaptation. Shawn's version of the play, A Master Builder, was used by legendary director André Gregory during 10 years of work on a theatrical production which, instead of being produced as a play, was made into a film by Jonathan Demme -- a film that is an utterly contemporary vision of Ibsen's classic play. This volume includes an afterword by Shawn.
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After 18 years at the helm of New Dramatists, the noted writer and theatre leader heads west.
It's been a big year for Todd London. In October, TCG published
An Ideal Theater: Founding Visions for a New American Art. London spent nearly a decade assembling and editing this unprecedented collection of fifty essays, manifestos, letters and speeches from the founders and visionaries behind the American theatre movement. The result, a 600 page documentary history, is an exhilarating look backward, as well as toward the future. The book can be purchased here.
 In April, London announced that he was leaving New Dramatists, the nation's oldest center for the support and development of playwrights, where he has served as Artistic Director since 1996. He was named the new Executive Director of the University of Washington's School of Drama. London, who will also serve as a professor, will oversee the School of Drama's undergraduate, MFA and PhD programs, training and productions.  In June, London was honored with a Miss Lilly Award, given annually to a male theatre professional in recognition of his advocacy on behalf of women theatre artists. The Lilly Awards, founded in 2010 and named for playwright Lillian Hellman, celebrate the work of women in American theatre.
Also in June, London led the closing plenary of TCG's National Conference in San Diego. The interactive session featured dynamic readings of the writing of our resident theatre movement's founders, taken from the pages of An Ideal Theater, and it included an invitation for attendees to speak the name of tomorrow's theatre visionaries. The entire plenary can be watched here. After a year of great accomplishment and transition, London heads from New York to Seattle to begin his new position. Here's hoping that he'll keep leading our field-wide conversation from his new corner of the country.
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A Master Builder
The artistic triumvirate of Jonathan Demme, André Gregory, and Wallace Shawn update Henrik Ibsen's The Master Builder, a modern classic about a successful, egomaniacal architect who has spent a lifetime bullying his wife, employees and mistresses -- who nonetheless wants to make peace with himself as his life approaches its final act.
Wallace Shawn gives a tour-de-force performance as the cruel, yet guilt-ridden architect, working from his own translation of the Norwegian text. Jonathan Demme's direction is based on the near-legendary production created for the stage by André Gregory, over a period of more than 10 years. Lisa Joyce plays a sensual, mysterious young visitor who turns the household upside down, much to the consternation of Julie Hagerty, perfectly cast as Shawn's neurasthenic, long-suffering wife. Scandinavian angst -- reinterpreted by New York's finest.
For more information:
To order a copy of A Master Builder:
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Each month, a TCG staff member selects a TCG Books title that holds a special meaning--whether it's a show the staffer performed in, a dog-eared acting resource, a writer that continually inspires or simply a favorite play--and we offer a special 50% discount off that title for the month.
For July, Zach Chotzen-Freund, publications associate, has selected The Great God Pan, by Amy Herzog, and here's why.
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TCG Bestsellers
June 2014
by Tracy Letts
2. Doubt
by John Patrick Shanley
3. Killer Joe
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TCG Titles Currently in Production in
July & August
Into the Woods
by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim,
Follies
by James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim,
Into the Woods
by Quiara Alegría Hudes,
by Tony Kushner,
by Will Eno,
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Eric Bogosian's 100 Monologues site adds new videos
Jeremy Sisto, Jennifer Tilly and others join previously released monologues performed by Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Shannon, Jessica Hecht and more.
Killer Joe goes Hollywood
Check out the trailer for the 2011 film of Killer Joe, then dig into this interview with director William Friedkin, in which he compares Tracy Letts to Harold Pinter.
The rise of Pevear and Volokhonsky
A 2005 New Yorker article explains how this formidable husband-wife team, who are now translating the Russian dramatic canon with playwright Richard Nelson, became their generation's most acclaimed English translators of Russian literature.
Will Eno talks Gnit
"My hope is that people will find it to be the funniest, saddest, most meaningful thing they've ever experienced in their entire lives... That's what I hope will happen when I go to see a play." - Will Eno
A Master Builder hits the big screen
See the official trailer for the film of Wallace Shawn's A Master Builder, now in theatres, and listen to Shawn, André Gregory and Jonathan Demme discuss their collaboration on NPR's Leonard Lopate Show.
Todd London Talks An Ideal Theater
Todd London and others explore the founding of some of New York's great theatres in this recorded event at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center.
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