Theatre of Naomi Wallace

Naomi Wallace, an American playwright based in Britain, is one of the more original and provocative voices in contemporary theatre. Her poetic, erotically-charged, and politically engaged plays have been seen in London's West End, off-Broadway, at the Comédie-Française, in regional and provincial theaters, and on college campuses around the world. Known for their intimate, sensual encounters examining the relationship between identity and power, Wallace's works have attracted a wide range of theatre practitioners, including such important directors as Dominic Dromgoole, Ron Daniels, Jo Bonney, and Kwame Kwei-Armah. Drawing on scholars, activists, historians, and theatre artists in the United States, Canada, Britain, and the Middle East, this anthology of essays presents a comprehensive overview of Wallace's body of work that will be of use to theatre practitioners, students, scholars, and educators alike.

"A crucial and long overdue study of one of the fiercest, most poetic and sensual voices that the American theatre has ever produced. A book that celebrates Wallace's grace, intellectual wit, and probing intelligence." - Lyn Gardner, The Guardian ". . . This volume analyzes and celebrates the playwright's many achievements . . . Throughout the book, Wallace is compared to Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks, Caryl Churchill, Samuel Beckett, Jane Austen, W.B. Yeats, Walt Whitman, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bruce Springsteen. This list is a testament to the playwright as well as to those who generated it - the astute, diverse, impassioned writers who recognize and relish the prismatic spectrum that is Naomi Wallace . . . Wallace's own bibliographies . . . send their readers on historical and philosophical journeys. The editors and contributors of The Theatre of Naomi Wallace have extended such journeys into a collective pilgrimage, paying homage to an extraordinary playwright with an extraordinary book." - Modern Drama

Shannon Baley, St. Edward's University, USABuell Wisner, Georgia Perimeter College, USAVivian Gornick, critic, essayist, and memoiristWalter Bilderback, Wilma Theater, USALindsay B. Cummings, University of Connecticut, USA Josephine Machon, Middlesex University, USA Beth Cleary, director, playwright, and scholarArt Borreca, University of Iowa, USANeil Chudgar, Macalester College, USAPeter Rachleff, Macalester College, USAAdam John Waterman, American University of Beirut, LebanonDominic Dromgoole, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, UKRon Daniels, directorRiccardo Hernandez, scenic designerJessica Dromgoole, producer and directorDavid Gothard, directorIsmail Khalidi, poet, actor, and playwrightDominique Hollier, actor, translator, and dramaturgRaz Shaw, director Erin B. Mee, scholar, activist, and directorJo Bonney, directorAbdelfattah Abusrour, writer, actor, and painterRobin D. G. Kelley, University of California, Los Angeles, USA