cover
design by Steven Hoffman
cover photo by Marcello Scuderi
this collection contains:
THE CONDUCT OF LIFE
THE DANUBE
MUD
SARITA
THE CONDUCT OF LIFE:
"...She writes increasingly
from a woman's point of view. Women are doing women's things—
...getting raped (in THE CONDUCT OF LIFE).... Fornes has a near
faultless ear for the ruses of egotism and cruelty. Unlike most
contemporary dramatists, for whom psychological brutality is the
principal, inexhaustible subject, Fornes is never in complicity
with the brutality she depicts. She has an increasingly
expressive relation to dread, to grief and to passion.... Dread
is not just a subjective state, but is attached to history: the
psychology of torturers In THE CONDUCT OF LIFE....
Fornes' work has always been
intelligent, often funny, never vulgar or cynical; both delicate
and visceral. Now it is something more. The plays have always
been about wisdom: what it means to be wise. They are getting
wiser...."
From Susan Sontag's preface to
MARIA IRENE FORNES: PLAYS
originally produced at Theater for the New City, New York
3 M, 3 F
THE DANUBE:
"THE DANUBE [is] one of the
most startlingly original and devastating things I can ever
remember seeing on a stage."
Michael Feingold, The
Village Voice
originally produced at the Padua Hills Festival, Claremont CA
3 M, 1 F
MUD:
"Playwright Maria Irene
Fornes' production of her MUD—a stark drama set amid the groping
lives of the rural poor that I saw last year—spoke in the steely
voice of a writer who knew exactly what she intended with every
word, every gesture. MUD's spare, direct poetry was
crystal-clear."
Scott Rosenberg, San
Francisco Examiner
"THE DANUBE and MUD have
paved the way for a new language of dramatic realism."
Bonnie Marranca, Theaterwritings
originally produced by the Padua Hills Festival, Claremont CA
2 M, 1 F
SARITA:
"Something beautiful:
that's clear from the beginning.... Every image, every shadow, is
lyrical, evocative, and functional. This is true of the words,
the music, the characters...."
Erika Munk, The Village
Voice
"Playwright Maria Irene
Fornes...spoke in the steely voice of a writer who knew exactly
what she intended with every word, every gesture. [Her] spare
direct poetry was crystal-clear. SARITA—a musical about a young
Cuban woman in 1940s New York torn between the gentle man she
wants to love and the jerk she can't stay away from.... The play
is two acts of ten short scenes each, spanning a total of eight
years. They're brief flashes of light that show us the formative
moments of Sara Fernandez's life—that connect to form a
confining pattern that drives her toward madness and
violence...."
Scott Rosenberg, San Francisco Examiner
originally produced by INTAR, New York
4 M, 3 F
piano score available for
perusal or production
additional musical parts: bass, guitar,
percussion, & trumpet
MARIA
IRENE FORNES: PLAYS
P A J Publications,
I S B N: 933826-83-4, $11.95