About the Play:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

The Art of Self-Defense is a one-act comedy by Trish Johnson. A funny, wise, and ultimately powerful depiction of five modern women who casually meet in an unexpected place – a Tai Chi class. The Art of Self-Defense focuses on the way they become friends, their different struggles, and in the end, the paths they chose to take.

The Art of Self-Defense is a tale of female friendship that unfolds in a series of scenes in and around a health club. Five women, from a variety of widely differing backgrounds, meet in a T'ai Chi class. The male instructor is unseen, a voice from the wings. He introduces them to T'ai Chi, which is a mixture of meditation and self-defense. Over a period of time the women, among them a young mother, a personnel director and a corporate lawyer, discover the strength that friendship among women can provide. But even this knowledge can prevent one of them, a meek but modestly ambitious office worker who is encouraged and supported by her fellows, from a failure of courage at the crucial moment. The Art of Self-Defense ends dramatically, with a recognition that each woman is responsible for the quality of her own life.

The Art of Self-Defense was first presented in 1982 at the famed Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of the '82 Shorts Festival and then in 1985 at Manhattan Punch Line's festival of one-act comedies. Since then the play has been successfully performed in high school and college theatre productions as a showcase of student talent.

Cast: 5 female

What people say:

"A gentle, insightful comedy, the play is an extended metaphor about five women in a T'ai Chi self-defense class. It works marvelously. She accomplishes in 30 minutes what some playwrights can't seem to do in two hours." — Louisville Courier-Journal

About the Playwright:

Trish Johnson is an American playwright and film writer residing in Los Angeles.