Read Writing the Literary Solo Show: “The Belle of Amherst” and Other William Luce Plays (Past Times Solo Performance Series Book 9)

Writing the Literary Solo Show: “The Belle of Amherst” and Other William Luce Plays (Past Times Solo Performance Series Book 9)

Jordan R. Young

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Description:Emily Dickinson. Charlotte Bronte. Zelda Fitzgerald. Lillian Hellman. Isak Dinesen. Five women of letters with two things in common—the singular playwright who brought them back to life, and the theatricality that threads through each of their distinctive personalities. William Luce’s literary ladies share something else as well: “They are all vulnerable. Yes, Lillian, too. I love writing about women,” said Luce. “They appear to me to have a willingness to be vulnerable. They don’t build up external distances that men seem obliged to do, forced to do. I think they’re consequently stronger in many ways.” “The Belle of Amherst” was a warm, imaginative one-character play that introduced one of America's best-loved poets to a new audience. The show did far more, however, than revive Emily Dickinson; it enhanced two careers already in high gear and launched a third. It gave the versatile Julie Harris one of the most memorable roles of her career, served notice that comedian Charles Nelson Reilly was be taken seriously—as a director—and established William Luce as a playwright. The play itself has become a model for solo artists aspiring to create biographical dramas about authors, both famous and less well known. Critics have quarreled over whether Luce's one-character creations are really "plays” and debated his dramatic devices. Scholars have derided him for taking liberties with the facts. "Anyone's life put factually onto the stage would be stupefyingly dull,” declared Luce in defense. The key is to remain true to the spirit of the person, noted the playwright. “But there are points where I put the fact onstage, then dream with it…that’s the latitude that theatre must have. If you’re writing a documentary or biography, that’s different. You have to be scrupulous about every fact. But onstage it can become slavishly pedantic. One must serve imagination above fact when dramatizing a life for theatre,” asserted Luce.“It's as Emily Dickinson said, 'Tell all the truth, but tell it slant.' When I wrote ‘The Belle’...I found I had to make choices that might not be provable, to make the thing stageworthy. Her life was an enigma to begin with. To believe that a playwright must construct a drama on Dickinson or Hellman or anyone else out of facts only, is to begin with an erroneous premise," said Luce. Hellman was so contemporary and so widely known, however, that "such liberties, even in the theatre, were untenable." This ebook—based on the author’s extensive conversation with the playwright—is a chapter from the revised and expanded edition of ACTING SOLO: THE ART AND CRAFT OF SOLO PERFORMANCE, which will be available in Fall 2012.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Writing the Literary Solo Show: “The Belle of Amherst” and Other William Luce Plays (Past Times Solo Performance Series Book 9). To get started finding Writing the Literary Solo Show: “The Belle of Amherst” and Other William Luce Plays (Past Times Solo Performance Series Book 9), you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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ISBN: 0940410451

Description: Emily Dickinson. Charlotte Bronte. Zelda Fitzgerald. Lillian Hellman. Isak Dinesen. Five women of letters with two things in common—the singular playwright who brought them back to life, and the theatricality that threads through each of their distinctive personalities. William Luce’s literary ladies share something else as well: “They are all vulnerable. Yes, Lillian, too. I love writing about women,” said Luce. “They appear to me to have a willingness to be vulnerable. They don’t build up external distances that men seem obliged to do, forced to do. I think they’re consequently stronger in many ways.” “The Belle of Amherst” was a warm, imaginative one-character play that introduced one of America's best-loved poets to a new audience. The show did far more, however, than revive Emily Dickinson; it enhanced two careers already in high gear and launched a third. It gave the versatile Julie Harris one of the most memorable roles of her career, served notice that comedian Charles Nelson Reilly was be taken seriously—as a director—and established William Luce as a playwright. The play itself has become a model for solo artists aspiring to create biographical dramas about authors, both famous and less well known. Critics have quarreled over whether Luce's one-character creations are really "plays” and debated his dramatic devices. Scholars have derided him for taking liberties with the facts. "Anyone's life put factually onto the stage would be stupefyingly dull,” declared Luce in defense. The key is to remain true to the spirit of the person, noted the playwright. “But there are points where I put the fact onstage, then dream with it…that’s the latitude that theatre must have. If you’re writing a documentary or biography, that’s different. You have to be scrupulous about every fact. But onstage it can become slavishly pedantic. One must serve imagination above fact when dramatizing a life for theatre,” asserted Luce.“It's as Emily Dickinson said, 'Tell all the truth, but tell it slant.' When I wrote ‘The Belle’...I found I had to make choices that might not be provable, to make the thing stageworthy. Her life was an enigma to begin with. To believe that a playwright must construct a drama on Dickinson or Hellman or anyone else out of facts only, is to begin with an erroneous premise," said Luce. Hellman was so contemporary and so widely known, however, that "such liberties, even in the theatre, were untenable." This ebook—based on the author’s extensive conversation with the playwright—is a chapter from the revised and expanded edition of ACTING SOLO: THE ART AND CRAFT OF SOLO PERFORMANCE, which will be available in Fall 2012.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Writing the Literary Solo Show: “The Belle of Amherst” and Other William Luce Plays (Past Times Solo Performance Series Book 9). To get started finding Writing the Literary Solo Show: “The Belle of Amherst” and Other William Luce Plays (Past Times Solo Performance Series Book 9), you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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Writing the Literary Solo Show: “The Belle of Amherst” and Other William Luce Plays (Past Times Solo Performance Series Book 9)

Writing the Literary Solo Show: “The Belle of Amherst” and Other William Luce Plays (Past Times Solo Performance Series Book 9)

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