About the Play:

André's Mother has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues.

Street Talk has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues.

André's Mother and Other Short Plays is a collection of ten-minute plays by Terrence McNally. Four 10-minute playlets from one of the most beloved and important American playwrights of his generation.

Hidden Agendas is a satirical look at nonprofit arts institutions that depend on the various whims of their subscribers wishes, the beneficence of the National Endowment for the Arts, charitable patrons and the passing fashions of the times. (Cast: 13 female and male)

Street Talk is a confrontational monologue pondering the imminent death of relevance in the American Theatre from the 1960s when theatre itself sought to confront, challenge and educate, to today's theatre which seems only to give a bigger bang for the buck. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)

The Wibbly, Wobbly Wiggly Dance That Cleopatterer Did is an uncomfortably perceptive take on male sexuality that follows a lonely young urbanite and his bedmate during their one-night stand. Their meeting leads to a discussion, in detail, about the pros and cons of being with a man or a woman. Only one of them has any leanings towards true intimacy. Unfortunately, he isn't the one who is being paid, and after his rented partner leaves, he is left to mull over his bitterest feelings. (Cast: 2 male)

André's Mother deals with life in the age of AIDS, and how Andre's death affected those in his life and in the gay community. At André's memorial, his lover tries one last time to get through to André's mother, an imposing figure in André's life. Not realizing her hidden emotions, he tells her everything he can before leaving her alone to deal with her own sense of grief and loneliness. It is "one of the most famous 10-minute plays" and ultimately won an Emmy in 1990 for a teleplay in the PBS "American Playhouse" series. (Cast: 2 female, 2 male)

About the Playwright:

Terrence McNally (1938-2020) was an American playwright whose career has spanned six decades. Initially active in the burgeoning Off-Broadway theatre movement in the 1960s, he is one of the few playwrights of his generation to have successfully made the transition to Broadway, and, in the process, passed from avant-garde to mainstream acclaim. In addition to four Tony Awards for his plays, he received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller grant, and was a recipient of the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Tony Awards' Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre Honor. He is considered one of America's great playwrights.