New Plays from A. C. T. 's Young Conservatory, Vol. 5

Announcing the fifth volume in the acclaimed series of new plays for young actors from the internationally renowned Young Conservatory at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater. The long-awaited next volume offers an amazing seven plays, including two that were specifically written for middle-school aged actors by A.C.T. Artistic Director and playwright, Carey Perloff and Melanie Case, resident playwright and director in the Young Conservatory. The playwrights in this volume are stellar, including Constance Congdon, Jim Leonard (author of the award-winning The Diviners), Jim Grimsley, Brad Slaight (author of the most popular Class Action), and British playwright, Sharman MacDonald. These plays offer a diversity of themes and styles from a story set on the Earth's Moon to the trenches of Petersburg, Virginia, during the American Civil War.

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up

San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater's (A.C.T.) New Plays Program has produced many fine plays by both world-renowned playwrights and those not so well-known, and this volume proves the program's continued success. The eight plays have diverse settings and themes, which range from Constance Congdon's Moontel Six , about the consequences of cloning set on a futuristic moon, to Sharman Macdonald's Broken Hallelujah , a one-act play about young Civil War soldiers. While the quality of the writing does vary somewhat, Slaight has assembled a collection of plays worthy of production in both schools and theaters.-Betty S. Evans, Missouri State University, Springfield

CRAIG SLAIGHT is an Associate Artist and the Director of the Young Conservatory at American Conservatory Theater. During his time at A.C.T. Craig has taught in all of the Conservatory programs, served as a resident director on the Geary Theater main stage and is a member of the artistic team of the company. Slaight began the Young Conservatory's New Plays Program in 1989 with the mission to develop plays by outstanding professional playwrights that view the world through the eyes of the young. With A.C.T.'s Jack Sharrar, Slaight has published ten acting and play anthologies for young actors (Smith and Kraus Publishers). Slaight is a consultant to the Educational Theater Association, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, The Actor's Workshop of Toronto, the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, the Royal National Theatre of London, Theatre Royal Bath, Ten Chimneys Foundation. He is a frequent guest artist throughout the country. In August of l994, Slaight received the President's Award from The Educational Theater Association for Outstanding Contributions to Youth Theater. In January of 1998, he was chosen to receive the first annual A.C.T. Artistic Director's Award.