Bloomsbury Publishing, under the imprint of Methuen Drama, has announced publication of a unique play anthology featuring five gripping docudramas originally commissioned by L.A. Theatre Works. Each of the five plays in the book, titled "The L.A. Theatre Works Audio Docudrama Series: Pivotal Moments in American History," explores a critical moment in 20th century U.S history that addresses fundamental moral, ethical and legal issues in a democratic state.
With ensemble casts and innovative staging potential, these plays are perfect for theater companies, schools and educational groups looking to stage familiar historical stories in new and original ways. Each play is accompanied by extensive dramaturgical notes that help contextualize and analyze both the events themselves and the dramatic form in which they are presented. Based on primary sources and historical research, each of these docudramas provides a vivid context and imaginative entry point for the reader. The scripts included are The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial by Peter Goodchild, drawn from actual transcripts of the infamous 1925 trial of John Thomas Scopes, a young science teacher and part-time football coach who challenged the State of Tennessee's teaching of evolution in the classroom; The Real Dr. Strangelove by Peter Goodchild, the harrowing story of the U.S. government's attempt to neutralize "father of the atom bomb" J. Robert Oppenheimer who has turned pacifist, and Oppenheimer's rival, Edward Teller - "the real Dr. Strangelove" - who emerges as the prosecution's star witness; RFK: The Journey to Justice by Murray Horwitz and Jonathan Estrin, about Robert Kennedy's transformation into a champion of the Civil Rights movement; The Chicago Conspiracy Trial by Peter Goodchild, about the protests and riots during the trial of the Chicago Seven and the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago; and Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons (winner of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Best Live Entertainment Award, 1992), an inside look at The Washington Post's decision to publish a study labeled "top secret" that documented the history of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. The subsequent trial pitted the public's right to know against the government's need for secrecy, and the epic legal battle went to the nation's highest court - arguably one of the most important Supreme Court cases.Videos