About the Play:

This collection of plays by William Mastrosimone includes:
• A Stone Carver (formerly, The Understanding) (Cast: 1 woman, 2 men)
• The Woolgatherer (Cast: 1 woman, 1 man)
• Extremities (Cast: 3 women, 1 man)
• Nanawatai (Cast: 1 woman, 10 men
• Shivaree (Cast: 3 women, 2 men)
• Tamer Of Horses
• Sunshine

What people say:

"William Mastrosimone's plays are audacious. This is not all they are of course, but they challenge us, sometimes to make us recoil in shock or at least become unsettled. Who else dares to give the rapist the funny lines as Mastrosimone does in Extremities. Nor is this audacity limited to social or political issues. Who else confronts the driver-owner of a transcontinental semi with a reclusive dime store clerk, as in The Woolgatherer, or a belly dancer who has the soul of Isis with a shut-in hemophiliac as in Shivaree. In these plays Mastrosimone has found vastly dissimilar characters who are drawn to each other, and he probes until he enables us to see past our stereotypical expectations. Fresh insights enrich us and we are reminded of that endless human diversity--indeed human potential--that we so often never recognize on our own." — from the Introduction by M.E. Comtois, Founding head of the Playwriting Program at Rutgers University

"Finally, six well-chosen examples of Mastrosimone's exciting work are available in a single source. While he's no sweaty armpit realist, Mastrosimone nonetheless draws the reader (or viewer) into the maelstrom of his realistic characters' complex and sometimes shocking lives. These examples read well, and that they play well is amply documented by Mastrosimone's numerous stage successes and well-deserved film and theater awards. Because Mastrosimone doesn't pull any linguistic punches, many of the plays are best produced by university theaters catering to broad-minded audiences. However, this collection belongs in every drama collection that supports academic or community theater. Highly recommended." — Library Journal

"This is the deeply felt work the American theatre needs to survive." — Jon Jory, Producing Director, Actors Theatre of Louisville

About the Playwright:

William Mastrosimone is an American playwright and screenwriter who has worked in Hollywood feature films, network and cable television, and theatre, since 1980. He received a graduate degree in playwriting from Mason Gross School of the Arts, a part of Rutgers University. His screenwriting credits include the adaptation of his best known play Extremities and including the mini-series Into the West, which was nominated for and won a number of Emmy Awards.