Christopher Baker - Shakespeare in an Hour (Playwrights in an Hour)

Copyright 2010

In An Hour Books, LLC

Vermont, USA

Designed to provide a plat form of knowledge and understanding, this innovativeseries will connect cast, crew, audience members, and students to theplaywright on an unprecedented level. With a heightened theater IQ, a morefulfilling theater experience occurs for all involved, cultivating the success ofthe American theater.

In an Hour, In a Minute, and Theater IQ are registered trademarks of Smithand Kraus Publishers, Inc., in the US and in certain other countries. 2009 by Smith and Kraus, Inc.

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part inany form.

For permission to excerpt within a review or for any other promotional purposes,please contact Smith and Kraus, Inc., at (603) 643-6431.

Over the years I realized the more I knew about the playwright the richer my experience at the theater was. For example, once I discovered that Anton Chekhov died at the early age of forty-four, that fact added a certain layer of poignancy to any Chekhov production I witnessed. After all, playwrighting is a very personal expression and usually what you see on stage has some intimate connection with the writer.

Wouldn't it be great I thought,if you could read about the writer and the time he or she lived in, find out who were their friends and colleagues and influences in more depth than you might find in the program notes? And I didn't want dry facts, I wanted something lively and fun, something brief and tasty. So the idea of Playwrights in an Hour was born.

Marisa Smith
Publisher

Still, until the advent of Playwrights in an Hour, nobody has thoughtto condense the life, the times, and the work of major dramatists into aseries of books that can be read in sixty minutes.

Some people might call this series the product of a particularly audaciousimagination. Others might interpret it as yet another example ofconcentration loss in an age when people prefer blogs to newspapers,summaries to books, and quick dips to full immersions.

And yet, when you think about it, Playwrights In An Hour providesus with a singular service, not just to neophytes tasting theater for thefirst time but to seasoned professionals in the field. They tell us where adramatic artist came from, and how he or she got there in the first place.A brief chronology provides the highpoints of the playwrights career,scenes from the plays create an overview of the playwrights development,a selected bibliography highlights the best available commentary,and, most useful of all, an insightful introductory essay fixes the playwrightin his or her time.

The publishing house of Smith and Kraus, furthermore, has selectedthe most lasting and powerful dramatic writers in the canon forthis exercise, drawing on the entire Western tradition, from Aeschylus toAugust Wilson. And while there are those who will very likely quibbleover this inclusion or that omission, almost all of the finest dramatic writersare represented here, with more to come. So, whether you are a studentor a teacher, a director, actor, or designer, or simply a literary tourist looking for new experiences, you will find genuine value in these attractivelittle volumes. Plus the opportunity to familiarize yourselves with thebest that has been created and commented on in the field.

1564 Enter William Shakespeare on April 23 (probably), born inStratford, England.