About the Play:

"Edward Allan Baker is the real thing, a hard hitting East Coast playwright, with a firm command of the issues of the day." — John Patrick Shanley, Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright

This collection of three one-act plays by Edward Allan Baker were all first produced with great success by Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) during the Marathon of One-Act Plays. North of Providence: A Sister determined to revive her do-nothing brother to feel on the last day of their father's life. Dolores: A woman escapes her dangerously abusive husband and seeks help from a sister who doesn't want to get involved. Lady of Fadima: Woman who works at a Hospital is sexually harassed by her Supervisor, gets no help from co-worker.

North of Providence set in working-class Providence, Rhode Island (where his plays take place, for the most part) is a painful domestic crisis between brother and sister. On the last day of their father's life, Carol must convince her despondent, drunk of a brother to come to the hospital and say goodbye. Through tears, violence and confrontations the secret that has been eating away at Bobbie, leaving him in ruin for years, comes out. It's a play about the buried past and how it can keep on burning us for years, but also holds the possibility of redemption....forgiveness. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops. (Premiered in 1985; Cast: 1 female, 1 male)

What people say:

"In North of Providence, Edward Allan Baker takes a painful domestic crisis and transforms it into a one-act play of emotional depth and conviction. There are enough conflicts for a novel or mini-series – distilled to an essential moment…an exemplar of the one-act art." — New York Times

Dolores takes place in real time on a Sunday afternoon. Dolores, an abused wife, has sought shelter with her sister Sandra. Sandra has little sympathy because, as it emerges, Dolores has been married several times, always to abusive men. Our sympathies are immediately divided between the two women, and we wait to see who is in the right. A portrait of sisters caught in repeating patterns of domestic abuse, it addresses the difficulties women can experience when speaking out and the barriers they face in accessing support. Although the play is set in working-class Providence, Rhode Island on paper, the theme has strong resonance nationally and locally. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops. (Premiered in 1986; Cast: 2 female)

What people say:

"[Dolores]...is constructed so adroitly and the work is so telling that the spectator gets the sensation of being in the room...." — Backstage

"Dolores is the honest conversation around domestic violence that we need onstage." — The Huffington Post

In The Lady of Fadima, because her husband is unable to work a young mother is forced to work as a cleaning woman in a hospital where her innocence is preyed upon by a threatening and malicious boss. (Premiered in 1987; Cast: 2 female, 1 male)

What people say:

"The Lady of Fadima by Edward Allan Baker, a harrowing account of the perpetuation of abusiveness." — New York Times

About the Playwright:

Edward Allan Baker (1950-2021) was a frequently produced New York City Playwright with over 30 plays to his credit, most notable One Acts (produced all over the US, Canada, and Europe). He also wrote for HBO and Showtime, and was awarded The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Award for Theatrical Excellence by The Ensemble Studio Theatre. He taught playwriting at Sarah Lawrence College for twelve years before joining the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University faculty in 2006, where he created and led the hugely successful Playwriting Program.