THE BEST PLAYS FROM AMERICAN THEATRE FESTIVALS 2015 Collection Hits the Shelves

Theatre festivals are where we find groundbreaking work, work that often becomes part of our national theater canon. The Best Plays from American Theatre Festivals 2015, edited by John Patrick Bray, invites readers to take a front-row seat for the latest in cutting-edge work produced by our most daring and thought-provoking playwrights.

The Best Plays from American Theatre Festivals 2015, indeed, break new ground. Each premiered in either established or lesser-known festivals in 2015, including the Women's Voices Theater Festival, the New York International Fringe Festival, and the 2Cents' Acting Out Ink Fest. Series editor John Patrick Bray has selected plays that push boundaries, question notions of humanity, shock and inspire us, and offer thoughtful insights into our constantly shifting cultural landscape. The plays represented have been deemed "best of festival" by critics and/or audiences during their initial runs.

The 10 plays included in this collection are:

Helvetica by William Coleman
Now Comes the Night by E.M. Lewis
The Oregon Trail by Bekah Brunstetter
What Happened When by Daniel Talbott
Spit Like a Big Girl by Clarina Ross
girls. in big boy pants. by Kato McNickle
SCHOOLED by Lisa Lewis
St. Francis by Miranda Jonte
Hamlet-Mobile by Lauren Ludwig
(becoming) Hue Man by T. Anthony Marotta

As Bray explains in his introduction, "As I curated this special collection, the themes of telling and listening, and living and dying, presented themselves in ways that were beautiful and exciting, horrifying and comforting-and at times, in a way that asks the audience to listen carefully, even what we hear is too much to bear."

John Patrick Bray is an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at the University of Georgia. His works have been produced in venues around the country and published with a number of houses, including Next Stage Press, Indie Theatre Now, and Original Works Publishing. His play, With a Bullet (Or, Surprise Me) was featured in The Best American Short Plays, 2014-2105. Bray is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

The Best Plays from American Theatre Festivals 2015 is published via Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, an imprint of Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group.