Compact Bedford Introduction to Drama

The Compact Bedford Introduction to Drama presents a well-balanced selection of plays, commentaries, and casebooks in a concise, affordable format. Its 29 chronologically arranged plays represent every major period from classic times to the present. With in-depth treatment of William Shakespeare, a strong representation of plays by women and American multicultural plays, and an exciting contemporary section loaded with prize winners, The Compact Bedford Introduction to Drama has the plays you want to teach and features designed to help students think critically about all aspects of a play as a work of literature and as a performance.

Giving students a rich understanding of the plays and the contexts from which they emerge, the anthology offers 33 commentaries, two casebooks, the most extensive collection of theater photographs available in a text of this kind, coverage of writing about drama, and a robust companion web site with help for students and instructors.

LEE A. JACOBUS is professor emeritus of English at the University of Connecticut and the author/editor of popular English textbooks, among them A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers, Sixth Edition (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002); The Longman Anthology of American Drama; and Literature: An Introduction to Critical Reading. Professor Jacobus has written scholarly books on Paradise Lost, on the works of John Cleveland, and on the works of Shakespeare, including Shakespeare and the Dialectic of Certainty. He is also a playwright; two of his plays -- Fair Warning and Long Division -- were produced in New York by the American Theater of Actors; Dance Therapy , three one-act plays, was produced in New York at Where Eagles Dare Theatre. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Volcanic Jesus, his book of short stories, is set in Hawaii.