Under Thirty: Plays for a New Generation

For the vast generation of actors in their teens and twenties, as well as for teachers, directors, and producers, Under Thirty is an unparalleled source of diverse and challenging roles, created by some of today’s finest writers. The twenty plays presented here in full or in part include insightful looks at the pressure-cooker caste system of American high schools as well as heartbreaking, edgy portrayals of twentysomethings adrift in the city. There are snappy romantic duets, large-cast ensembles, and everything in between, populated by richly dimensional, mold-breaking characters: misfit cheerleaders, nurturing drifters, rich petty thieves—even a rogue SAT tutor. The contributing playwrights span the range of contemporary talent, including award-winning dramatists such as Sam Shepard, Donald Margulies, Warren Leight, and Kenneth Lonergan, hilarious humorists such as David Ives and Douglas Carter Beane, and an impressive array of cutting-edge newer voices.

Library Journal

Playwright-editors Lane and Shengold have assembled five full-length plays, 11 shorter plays, and excerpts from four plays, all written for actors under 30 (many of the playwrights are under 30 as well). There is a good mix of male and female roles, with most of the pieces featuring two to four actors. College and adventurous high school drama departments are urged to take a serious look at Annie Weisman's "Be Aggressive" and Kenneth Lonergan's "This Is Our Youth"; Longerman's piece may cut a little too deeply into the high school experience, but that would only add to the fun of performing it. Nicole Quinn and Shengold provide an intriguing, youth-oriented look at the events of 9/11 in "War at Home," a short play that deserves some legs. Jessica Goldberg's "Refuge," Jenny Lyn Bader's "None of the Above," and Carolyn Gage's "Harriet Tubman Visits a Therapist" are all standouts. Disaffection and alienation are present throughout, but so is a sense of humor. Academic and public libraries will see a lot of circulation of this book, not the first or last of its kind but fresh and gripping nonetheless. Larry Schwartz, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Moorhead Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Nina Shengold is an award-winning playwright and artistic director of the theatre company Actors & Writers.

Eric Lane is an award-winning playwright, filmmaker and book editor. Plays include: Times of War, Cater-Waiter and Dancing on Checkers’ Grave, which starred Jennifer Aniston. His new play Heart of the City has been optioned for off-Broadway. Eric has written and produced two short films: First Breath and Cater-Waiter, which he also directed. Honors include a Writer’s Guild Award, La MaMa Playwright Award, Berrilla Kerr Award and two-time O’Neill Center finalist. He has won fellowships at Yaddo and St. James Cavalier in Malta. With Nina Shengold, he has edited ten contemporary play anthologies for Penguin and Vintage Books, earning them a Lambda Literary Award nomination. Eric is Artistic Director of Orange Thoughts Productions, a not-for-profit theater & film company in New York City.