Desire
By: six one-act plays by Elizabeth Egloff, Marcus Gardley, Rebecca Gilman, David Grimm, John Guare, and Beth Henley ; based on short stories by Tennessee Williams
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service
Published: 2017
Place of publication: New York]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 97
ISBN-13: 9780822236733
Subjects: Adaptations
Description: ATTACK OF THE GIANT TENT WORMS. Billy and Clara are nearing the end of their summer vacation on Cape Cod, as their cottage is being devoured by billions of tent-worms. Worse, Billy has just gotten word from his oncologist that there are no more treatment options for his brain cancer. A darkly humorous exploration of which is more terrifying: bugs or death? (1 man, 1 woman.) DESIRE QUENCHED BY TOUCH. In 1950s New Orleans, a black masseur must account for the disappearance of his favorite white customer. People don't just vanish inside massage parlors... (3 men.) THE FIELD OF BLUE CHILDREN. Everything in Layley's life is going according to plan. She belongs to the best sorority at her university and has a devoted boyfriend who could easily become a devoted husband. But Layley suspects that there is more to life than stifling conformity. So she signs up for a poetry class in the hopes of expressing herself. There she meets Dylan, a sensitive poet with whom she enjoys a night of passion that opens up a truly revolutionary prospect: living a life of her own. (3 men, 4 women.) ORIFLAMME. Oriflamme (noun): A red or scarlet banner; a knight's standard; a rallying principle. Sickly Anna Kimball, on her final day, reaches out for, and becomes, all of these. (1 man, 1 woman.) YOU LIED TO ME ABOUT CENTRALIA. Jim, the Gentleman Caller, leaves the Wingfields' disastrous dinner party to meet his fiancée Betty's train. The evening won't turn out the way either of them expected. (1 man, 1 woman.) THE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN A VIOLIN CASE AND A COFFIN. Tom and his sister Roe's childhood comes to a painful end when Richard Miles, who moves in light, arrives in town with his violin in a case. (2 men, 4 women.)
Table of contents: title: The resemblance between a violin case and a coffin  -- Beth Henley; title: The field of blue children  -- Rebecca Gilman; title: Attack of the giant tent worms  -- Elizabeth Egloff; title: Oriflamme  -- David Grimm; title: Desire quenched by touch  -- Marcus Gardley; title: You lied to me about Centralia -- John Guare.