ReGroup Theatre Announces Third Volume in LOST 'GROUP' THEATRE PLAYS Series

Just in time for gift giving, The ReGroup Theatre Co, Inc is pleased to announce the third volume in their Lost "Group" Theatre Plays series.

For the first time ever, Erwin Piscator's adaptation of An American Tragedy, renamed Case of Clyde Griffiths finally sees publication. Also, included are the long out-of-print Paul Green plays, The House of Connelly and Johnny Johnson. In addition to the plays, the volume contains original prefaces written by William Ivey Long and Judith Malina, as well as essays by Margaret D. Bauer, Tim Carter, Allie Mulholland, and Marsha Warren.

Currently, the book is only available through Amazon.com. It will be available through the ReGroup's website and at select booksellers beginning in 2014. The volume retails for $26.99.

The Group Theatre's first play, THE HOUSE OF CONNELLY, Paul Green's poetic tale of the dueling South, past and present, was heralded by critics and audiences alike when it debuted in 1931. Will Connelly, the wayward heir to the once famous Connelly estate falls for the tenant farmer's daughter. Does she love him or is she just after the family name? This epic tale of past versus the future and family secrets is as timely now as it was 80 years ago! Following in the steps of his Pulitzer Prize winning In Abraham's Bosom, this is another example of Green's groundbreaking writing which gave African-Americans legitimate leading roles in a Broadway show - typical of his legendary social awareness.

Johnny Johnson, Green's 2nd play for the Group, is a shockingly potent comedy that shows us the folly of blind patriotism and war. Johnny, championed as an artist who celebrates peace, gets swept into the war, and finds a way to solve it - through conversation. He is considered a traitor and a mental patient for wanting to solve the war without killing. ReGroup presented as a staged reading directed by Estelle Parsons in 2011 and the show still packs a wallop. You will laugh, you will cry; you will never forget Johnny.

The first time ever in print - Erwin Piscator's CASE OF CLYDE GRIFFITHS retells the popular true story depicted in Theodore Dreiser's best selling novel An American Tragedy (and later basis of the Elizabeth Taylor/Montgomery Clift classic film A Place in the Sun). Not only does Piscator tell the story, he focuses on the sociological ramifications of the tale. This is the closest the Group ever came to producing an abstract play. Presented a year before Thornton Wilder's Our Town, due to the tremendous similarities in storytelling, it's hard to imagine Wilder wasn't heavily influenced by Piscator's unique theatrical technique.

The previous volumes in this series contained, John Howard Lawson's Success Story and Gentlewoman, Claire and Paul Sifton's 1931-, Robert Ardrey's Thunder Rock and Casey Jones, and Nellise Child's Weep for the Virgins.

For more information, visit www.regrouptheatre.org.