About the Book:

Humana Festival 1995: The Complete Plays showcases plays selected from the 19th 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 – the Tony Award-winning state theatre of Kentucky – in 1976 successfully created what became the nation's most respected new-play festival, the Humana Festival of New American Plays. 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.

This book includes the award-winning Beast on the Moon by Richard Kalinoski (the Acting Edition is currently out of print), which is an intimate drama about an Armenian immigrant couple in Milwaukee whose marriage is haunted by the 1915 genocide. The play has been translated into 12 languages, produced in 17 countries around the world, and showered with awards.

• Tough Choices for the New Century by Jane Anderson. A tongue-in-cheek seminar in which a lecturer offers preparedness advice for responsible living in times of disaster. Meanwhile his wife/assistant slowly and hilariously disintegrates in fear. A second lecturer, the charismatic Arden Shingles, deftly makes her argument for why everyone in the audience should be packing a gun. (Cast: 2 female, 1 male)
• Your Obituary Is a Dance by Bernard Cummings. A young man dying of AIDS returns to his Texas hometown and is reunited with a childhood friend. (Cast:1 female, 1 male)
• Head On by Elizabeth Dewberry. Only minutes before an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's TV talk show, a therapist specializing in multi-orgasmic sex must find a common ground with a woman who's witnessed a head-on collision. In this age of sensational media disclosures, it's surprising to watch what can happen off-camera when real intimacy is given a chance. Two people find unexpected intimacy moments before each is to appear as a guest on Oprah Winfrey's TV talk show. (Cast:2 female)
• Below the Belt by Richard Dresser. A comedy set in a remote industrial outpost where three workers for an impersonal corporation face loneliness, boredom and the vengeance of Mother Nature. (Cast: 3 men)
• Beast on the Moon by Richard Kalinoski. Set in 1920's Milwaukee, the story centers on the struggles of a young Armenian immigrant refugee and his mail-order bride, the only survivors of the Turkish genocide. Contrary to his expectations, she is unable to conceive a child. When she brings home a 12-year-old orphaned boy, the question arises: can these three damaged souls manage to function as a family? (Cast: 1 female, 2 male, 1 boy)
• July 7, 1994 by Donald Margulies. A day in the life of a young physician treating troubled patients in an inner-city health clinic. The one-act addresses the moral anxieties of a female physician working hard amid divisions posed by class, race, and a broken health care system. (Cast: 4 female, 2 men)
• Middle-Aged White Guys by Jane Martin. A full-length comic portrait of three brothers that asks what it means to be a member of the "white guy club." (Cast: 3 female, 4 male)
• Trudy Blue by Marsha Norman. A full-length dramatic comedy about successful writer who embarks on a spiritual journey with "Trudy Blue", the main character in her new novel, as companion and alter ego. (Cast: 5 female, 2 male)
• Cloud Tectonics by Jose Rivera. A full-length drama that follows the story of a pregnant hitchhiker in search of the father of her child and a lonely man who picks her up during a record-breaking Los Angeles deluge and welcomes her into his home. (Cast: 1 female, 2 male)
• Between the Lines by Regina Taylor. A poetic look at a woman whose struggle to bring passion and intimacy into her life is sparked by a globe-trotting former college roommate.
• Helen At Risk by Dana Yeaton. Conducting a workshop in creative mask-making at a prison, Helen winsomely shares her artistic skills along with her ideals. When a wise-guy inmate starts acting up, however, self-expression takes a nasty turn. (Cast: 1 female, 2 male)

What people say:

"This year the playwrights' vision is a searing indictment of modern life, thankfully leavened by strong (and welcome) doses of hope and humor." — The Denver Post

"The work in Louisville ... was the most topical, the most ambitious, and of the highest quality...." — London Financial Times

"On the verge of the festival's 20th anniversary, Actors Theatre has cemented its place among America's most influential theatres and reaffirmed the festival's preeminent role as a fount of new plays." — The Columbus Dispatch,

"Consistent quality and inspired writing were hallmarks of the 1995 festival, which easily ranks as one of the finest in recent years." — Lexington Herald-Leader

About the Editor:

Marisa Smith has worked in the theatre as an actress, producer, playwright, and theater book publisher. She is s a graduate of Wesleyan University.