Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays

Rating:
Summary: A superb anthology of a fascinating genre
Review: "Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays," edited by Eric Lane and Nina Shengold, is an excellent collection of theater pieces. The editors celebrate the 10-minute play as a unique and powerful sub-genre of drama; in their introduction, they note that the 10-minute play made its "official debut" as a genre at the Actors Theatre of Louisville's 1977 Humana Festival of New American Plays.

This anthology contains 32 plays by a diverse group of authors. Included are some of the most important names in the American theater: Tony Kushner, Christopher Durang, David Mamet, August Wilson, etc. There are also many names that are new to me. The plays cover many different themes: love and heartbreak (both of the gay and straight varieties), violence, crime, sports, phone sex, death, racial politics, etc. There are many different tones and stylistic approaches: tragic, whimsical, surreal, raunchy, etc. The plays include one-character monologues, 2-character pieces, and multi-character pieces.

There are many highlights to this excellent collection. My favorite pieces included the following: David Ives' "The Philadelphia," a witty Twilight Zone-ish comedy; Mary Miller's charming "Ferris Wheel"; Jose Rivera's "Gas," which takes place on the U.S. homefront during the Persian Gulf War; Frederick Stroppel's "Judgment Call," an ironic look into the world of baseball umpires; and Diana Son's "R.A.W. ('Cause I'm a Woman)," a sort of Asian counterpart to Ntozake Shange's "For colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf." These are just a few of the many fine pieces in this collection.

I highly recommend "Take Ten" to those with an interest in playwriting, in multicultural studies, or in provocative and experimental literature in general.

Rating:
Summary: I loved it
Review: I absolutely LOVED this delightful collection of plays. I think they would be funny to watch, and wonderful to act out. It was quite a collection, varying from plain silly to deep and touching. It would also be very good for student productions, as a night of ten minute theater. All in all, it is a hilarious, deeply entertaining read, recommended for anyone with interest in the theater.

Rating:
Summary: a good source
Review: I am part of a group who puts on shows every four months. This book has been a constant source of succesful shows.There is a good selection of plays - all of which offer good roles for the actors as well as good entertainment for the audience. I've also used it with University level drama students, assigning them to adapt the plays to their own particular environment and found great success. The plays are good.

Rating:
Summary: Don't have it? GET IT!
Review: If only there could be more than 5 stars

This book has a collection of bittersweet, comical, upsetting, emotionally draining and brilliant pieces. The scenes range from bizzare and just, well, weird- Philladelphia is amazing- to being funny and sweet. It's a book that's suitable for a really wide audience- both students, teachers, and drama enthusiasts will get a LOT from this book. My drama class based an improvisation on one of the pieces- Ferris Wheel- which ended up winning an award. I would recommend this book to anyone who would take it seriously- it's fantastic

Rating:
Summary: Great for Students and Teachers
Review: This collection is a great resource for students who need to direct or just want to do a different 10-minute play. This is really one of the better collections out there. It is also a very diverse collection providing plays and scenes that work well in most situations. Nina Shengold's collections are always high quality and this one does not disappoint. If you are a student or faculty member add this book to your collection, you will be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: For Actors and Competitors
Review: This is by far the best scene book I own. All the pieces are unusual and interesting, powerful and captivating. Popular playwrights such as David Ives and Christopher Durang are included and many of the scenes are appropraite for various age groups. My speech team recently won with two of the pieces, Anything for You and The Man Who Couldn't Dance. Both excellent pieces. My only complaint was that the scenes are often longer than 10 minutes, despite the title of the book.