The Drama Book Shop Unveils Summer Reading Events In July And August

The Drama Book Shop Event Series will feature a diverse range of guests from the stages of Broadway to the intimate settings of Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, and beyond. These engaging discussions are recorded live before our enthusiastic audience at the Drama Book Shop and later featured as episodes of The Drama Book Show!, our official podcast. The Drama Book Shop is located at 266 West 39th Street, New York City. All events are free with the purchase of the guest's book.

The summer line-up includes:

Tuesday, July 9 · 7:30 - 8:30pm EDT

The Drama Book Shop presents, in association with Jay Michaels Global Communications, "From the Back of the House: Memoir of a Broadway Theatre Manager" with Dan Landon and Priscilla Lopez - A talkback, signing, and live podcast recording.

Dan Landon was a Broadway theater manager for nearly 40 years, working on more than 9000 performances of 50 shows. He has written his memoir, From the Back of the House, of which he says, "This is my love letter to Broadway and all the stars and luminaries my job allowed me to meet and know. In these pages you'll meet them, too, as they wait in the wings, glow in the spotlight, and take their bows." Spanning from 1978-2018, the book shares backstage and onstage stories of Landon's encounters with Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Fosse, Ian McKellan, Bernadette Peters, Robert De Niro, August Wilson, Alec Baldwin, Kathleen Turner, Jessica Lange, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Madeline Kahn, Paul McCartney, Stephen Sondheim, Tom Stoppard, David Mamet, Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, Hillary Clinton, Al Pacino, Richard Dreyfuss, Patti LuPone, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel Craig, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Denzel Washington, revealing a vivid portrait of a unique era in Broadway history as experienced by an insider.

Thursday, July 11 · 7:30 - 8:30pm EDT

The Drama Book Shop presents, in association with Jay Michaels Global Communications, Endlings, a conversation with Celine Song - A talkback, signing, and live podcast recording.

On the Korean island of Man-Jae, three elderly haenyeos-sea women-spend their dying days diving into the ocean to harvest seafood. They have no heirs to their millennia-old way of life. Across the globe on the island of Manhattan, a Korean-Canadian playwright, twice an immigrant, spends her days wrestling with the expectation that she write "authentic" stories about her identity. But what, exactly, is her identity? And how can she write about it without selling her own skin?

Tuesday, July 16 · 7:30 - 8:30pm EDT

The Drama Book Shop presents, in association with Jay Michaels Global Communications, "Acting Professionally: The Essential Guide for the Actor." with James Calleri - A talkback, signing and live podcast recording.

Filled with essential advice and highlighting pitfalls to avoid, Acting Professionally gives a clear understanding of how acting careers are built and sustained. Now in its 9th edition, this book has become the leading book in the field since the first edition published in 1972. Critically, this new edition reflects the vital changes in the industry as a result of the Black Lives Matter, Time's Up and MeToo movements, and the Covid-19 pandemic. This new edition acknowledges and seeks to address the challenges of the industry often faced by actors when it comes to race, ethnicity, gender, diversity, and sexuality. It includes an extensive new section on the industry to reflect the 21st century, including signposting new resources and insights for the young actor, and considers the shifting landscape and opportunities offered by TV streaming, films, voiceover, internet, audiobooks, and podcasts. This 9th edition speaks to the changed landscape of unions, representation, self-tape auditioning and other best and up to date practices in the industry, ensuring that it's a book that's useful, relevant and accessible to every actor starting out today.

Tuesday, July 23 · 7:30 - 8:30pm EDT

The Drama Book Shop presents, in association with Jay Michaels Global Communications, "You Can Make This Sh*t Up!: stories, plays and other lies" with Gwyn McAllister - A talkback, signing, and live podcast recording.

Ever wondered what In Cold Blood would be like if it was written by David Sedaris? OK, Gwyn McAllister is neither the new Capote nor Sedaris - far from it - and she's not the "master/mistress" of any genre except (maybe) her own twisted brand of dark humor.

The short stories and plays in "You Can Make This Sh*t Up" examine, variously, murder, matrimony and a bunch of other very bad choices. (spoiler: there's a lot of murder, mostly murder as a matter of fact)

McAllister's fiction poses questions such as "Whodunnit?", "Why would anyone do that in the first place?", "What exactly was done?" and "Why didn';t I think of doing that before someone beat me to it?"

Also - "Is there such a thing as sociopathy by proxy?", "What gift does one bring to a combination surprise birthday party/intervention?" And, "In a new relationship is a murder rap always a red flag?" You'll either love "You Can Make This Shit Up" or want your money back - and an apology from the author (disclaimer - no money back)

Tuesday, July 30 · 7:30 - 8:30pm EDT

Matthew Greene is a playwright, lyricist, screenwriter, and novelist whose works have been seen on both coasts and a few places in between. His play Thousand Pines had its world premier at Westport Country Playhouse (directed by Austin Pendleton), and the autobiographical Good Standing played at Theater Row as part of the United Solo Theatre Festival. Other plays include Gregorian (Working Artists Theatre Project), Adam and Steve and the Empty Sea (Plan B Theatre, New York International Fringe Festival), #Mormoninchief (New York International Fringe Festival), Job Well Done (national finalist, American College Theatre Festival), and Bread of Affliction (Society for the Study of Jewish American and Holocaust Literature). His work has been developed at Westport Country Playhouse, the Jerome Robbins Foundation Project Springboard, LiveRead, Apples and Oranges Arts, and the Working Artists Theatre Project. In 2020, he received the Stiles + Drew Prize for a new musical in progress and is currently under commission from Westport Country Playhouse for his play Beloved Son, directed by Chay Yew. His first novel - There's No Murder Like Show Murder - is due out this year from Crooked Lane Books. He is a proud member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop and has taught theatre to people of all ages in and out of New York City.

Tuesday, August 13 · 7:30 - 8:30pm EDT

The Drama Book Shop presents, in association with Jay Michaels Global Communications, "On Bette Midler, An Opinionated Guide" - A talkback, signing, and live podcast recording.

Bette Midler today is a beloved legacy star, best known for her comic witch in Disney's Hocus Pocus (1993) and its 2022 sequel. She has also gained prominence for sentimental, anthemic ballads like "Wind Beneath My Wings," her initiation of green space projects in New York City, and tussling with Donald Trump on Twitter. Her profile is that of an articulate, civic-minded matriarch enjoying thoroughly mainstream stardom. But more than fifty years earlier she emerged from the steam of the subterranean Continental Baths as the Divine Miss M, the bawdy, campy, fearless alter ego she created in front of an audience of towel-clad gay men who came to the baths seeking not just sex, but a sense of community and safety from an often-harrowing outside world.

The Divine Miss M coalesced gay, Jewish, feminist, and show business sensibilities into an outrageously funny and emotionally compelling persona that travelled with surprising ease from the cultural margins to the entertainment mainstream. Her embrace by mom-and-pop audiences, rock fans and critics, and the guardians of middle-of-the-road show business demonstrates just how deeply the tastes and sensibilities of her original audience have been absorbed into popular culture. On Bette Midler: An Opinionated Guide traces the early development of Midler's performing ethos from New York's downtown experimental theater scene and examines her impact across media, with chapters on the soaring highs (and occasional cringe-worthy lows) of her stage work, movies, recordings, and television appearances, and considers her influence as an environmental activist and social media presence.

Monday, August 26 · 7:30 - 8:30pm EDT

The Drama Book Shop presents, in association with Jay Michaels Global Communications, "The Queens' English" a conversation with Chloe O. Davis . - A talkback, signing, and live podcast recording.

This young readers adaptation of The Queens' English is a nonfiction illustrated reference guide to the LGBTQIA+ community's contributions to the English language.

This playful, richly illustrated visual dictionary is the perfect book for anyone who has ever wondered about the origin of phrases like "boi," "drag," or "demisexual," the history of the word "queer," and the wonderfully diverse, wide-ranging histories that have contributed to LGBTQIA+ culture and vocabulary.

Drawing from traditions as divergent as the ancient poet Sappho to the underground ball scene of the 1980s, from the Stonewall Riots to RuPaul's Drag Race, this glossary is a colorful compendium-and a celebration of every king, queen, butch, femme, trans, folx, and enby who has shaped the history, identity, and limitless imagination of queerness.