TCG Books Releases THE OBERON ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN PLAYS, VOL. 1

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has announced the U.S. release of The Oberon Anthology of Contemporary American Plays: Volume One, edited by Mark Subias, published by Oberon Books (London). This new volume brings together plays from four of the best young artists on the contemporary American playwriting scene. Volume One is introduced by André Bishop, Artistic Director of the Lincoln Center Theater, and each play is introduced by well-known and critically acclaimed writers.

“The four plays in this volume [are] fresh, original and distinctive," André Bishop writes in his Introduction. "Each is verbally deft, and delights in language and its power to entertain, disturb and just plain dazzle… The United States is in a golden age of American playwriting – whether we acknowledge it or not – and the four talented writers in this volume strongly attest to that."

Kin by Bathsheba Doran, with an introduction by Christopher Durang: “Funny and audacious, haunting, and exquisitely wrought” (New York Times), Kin sheds a sharp light on the changing face of kinship in the expansive landscape of the modern world.

Middletown by Will Eno, with an introduction by Gordon Lish: With a nod to many critics to Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, Middletown “Glimmers from start to finish with tart, funny, gorgeous little comments on big things” (New York Times), as it quietly explores daily life in small town America.

Completeness by Itamar Moses, with an introduction by Doug Wright: A 21st-century romantic comedy about the timeless confusions of love, Completeness is “a funny, ridiculously smart new play…that so perfectly capture[s] love – hot-blooded, fearless, fickle – at this stage in life” (Bloomberg News).

God’s Ear by Jenny Schwartz, with an introduction by Edward Albee: “This ode to love, loss and the routines of life has the economy and dry wit of a Sondheim love song… In [her] very modern way, [Schwartz is] making a rather old-fashioned case for the power of the written word” (New York Times).

For more than 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the U.S. Center of the InterNational Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is North America’s largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 11 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. For more information, visit www.tcg.org.

The Oberon Anthology of Contemporary American Plays: Volume One
Edited by Mark Subias
Published by Oberon Books
Distributed by TCG Books
Paperback 348 pages
$26.95 978-1-84943-153-8
September 2012

TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution. Orders: 800-283-3572. SAN number: 63170X. Individuals may call 212-609-5900 or visit our online bookstore at www.tcg.org. For postage and handling, add $6.50 for the first book and $1.00 for each additional copy.