Love this question. I'm mainly teaching playwrights, so my examples may be a bit different.
I've used both
Joe Turner's Come and Gone and
Proof together with great discussions about their polarity.
I would love to use Amadeus both as film and play to see the differences--and there are many--between the two genres. This is particularly interesting because Shaffer wrote both and they are quite different.
Two plays that deal with hidden societies would be fascinating to share with students. Both these plays deal with "hidden" communities in our society where a stranger intrudes and causes chaos.
Humans Remain by Robin Rice is described on her
website, Angel Band by Robert P. Arthur takes place among the Blue People of Kentucky. And, yes, both these communities exist. I would love to use one of these with high school or college-age students who are often themselves feeling alienated.
And I have to mention
Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage.
Thanks for the great question. I could keep listing for the rest of the morning!
------------------------------
Jean Klein
Playwriting Teacher in MFA program, Wilkes University]
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 02-01-2023 10:01
From: James Bailey
Subject: What Plays Do You Read in Class?
What plays do you read with your Theatre 1 class and why? Any titles that offer diversity?
------------------------------
James Thomas Bailey
Director of Theatre Arts
Justin-Siena HS, Napa CA
Artistic Director, CSz Los Angeles
------------------------------