Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays showcases plays selected from the 24th annual cycle of world premieres, featuring a remarkable array of work by some of the most exciting voices in the American theatre.

The Actors Theatre of Louisville (ATL) – the Tony Award-winning state theatre of Kentucky – in 1976 produced two new works at its first Humana Festival – as it is known because of its corporate sponsorship. One was D.L. Coburn's The Gin Game, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1978 and helped launch what became the nation's most respected New American Play festival. For six weeks every spring, Louisville exerts a gravitational pull on producers and theatre lovers from around the country, who travel from far and wide for the adventure of seeing a diverse slate of fully-produced new plays. Many Humana Festival plays have gone on to garner awards and subsequent productions, making a sustained impact on the international dramatic repertoire.

This anthology makes the genius of American playwrights available to an even wider audience, allowing readers from around the world to experience the collision of perspectives, styles and stories that makes the festival such an invigorating celebration of the art form.

About the Editor:

Michael Bigelow Dixon is an American playwright, director, and retired professor of theatre. For 17 years, he supervised the reading and selection of plays for the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Amy Wegener is the literary director at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she heads the literary department and coordinates the reading and selection process for the Humana Festival.