Play Studies

For decades women have been playing competitive sports thanks in large part to the protective cover of Title IX. Since passage of that law, the number of women participating in sports and the level of competition in high school, college, and professionally, has risen dramatically. In Fair Play, award-winning journalist Katie Barnes traces the evolution of women’s sports as a pastime and a political arena, where equality and fairness have been fought over for generations.

This annotated edition includes: • A 16,000-word critical study of Aeschylus and the birth of tragedy • The complete Oresteia — the only surviving Greek trilogy • All seven surviving plays, including Prometheus Bound • A life of Aeschylus (c. 525–456 BCE), the soldier of Marathon • The Plumptre verse translation, public domain worldwide Before Aeschylus, there was no drama. One actor faced a chorus, and nothing could happen. He added a second — and with two figures who could disagree, tragedy, and all theatre after it, was born. Aeschylus is the oldest of the great ...

This annotated edition includes: • A 16,000-word critical study of Aeschylus and the birth of tragedy • The complete Oresteia — the only surviving Greek trilogy • All seven surviving plays, including Prometheus Bound • A life of Aeschylus (c. 525–456 BCE), the soldier of Marathon • The Plumptre verse translation, public domain worldwide Before Aeschylus, there was no drama. One actor faced a chorus, and nothing could happen. He added a second — and with two figures who could disagree, tragedy, and the whole of theatre after it, was born. Aeschylus is the oldest of the great ...

This annotated edition includes: • A 16,000-word critical study of Sophocles and tragedy • All seven surviving plays — everything that came down to us • The complete Theban cycle: Oedipus the King, Colonus, Antigone • A life of Sophocles (c. 497–406 BCE) • The Campbell verse translation, public domain worldwide A king hunts the murderer whose crime has plagued his city, swearing to bring him to justice — and discovers, scene by scene, that the man he is hunting is himself. Oedipus the King is the play on which Aristotle built the theory of tragedy, the play Freud reached for...

Everything Agatha Christie would become begins in these thirteen books. This annotated collection includes: • A 15,000-word critical study of the author's first decade • A full life of the author, from wartime dispenser to Queen of Crime • An introduction: how to read the early work • A Note on the Texts and their United States public-domain status • Thirteen complete works, 1920–1930, in one volume Everything the world's best-selling novelist would become begins in these thirteen books. Between 1920 and 1930 an unknown Englishwoman published the novels that invented modern ...

In this classic evaluation of play that has become a “must-listen” for those in game design, Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity in flourishing societies. Like civilization, play requires structure and participants willing to create within limits. Starting with Plato, Huizinga traces the contribution of Homo Ludens, or “man the player” through medieval times, the Renaissance, and into our modern civilization.

This annotated edition of Othello includes: • A 16,000-word critical study, "Begot Upon Itself" • A Note on the Text: the 1622 Quarto and the 1623 Folio • On the Willow Song, present in only one early text • A full life of Shakespeare — and the thin record behind it • The complete tragedy, the restored oaths and all A great general, newly married and newly happy, is destroyed in five acts by a man who will not say why he did it. Othello is the most intimate and the most unbearable of the tragedies, because its engine is not fate or ambition but a single man's malice with no ...

This dramatic retelling of the gospel illuminates the unique role we can play in the amazing story God is telling. Sure, good things happen, sometimes beautiful things. But tragic things happen too. What does it mean? We find ourselves in the middle of a story that is sometimes wonderful...

This annotated edition of Hamlet includes: • A 16,000-word critical study, "Frighted With False Fire" • A Note on the Text naming which early text each passage comes from • A full life of Shakespeare — and the thin record behind the legend • The complete, unabridged received text: all five acts • On the three Hamlets of 1603, 1604, and 1623 — and why they differ There is no such object as Hamlet. There are three early printed texts, they disagree, and the play everyone knows is a hybrid of two of them, stitched together by editors in the eighteenth century. No version ...

This program includes material read by the authors. In User Friendly, Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant reveal the untold story of a paradigm that quietly rules our modern lives: the assumption that machines should anticipate what we need. Spanning over a century of sweeping changes, from...

Combined for great value! The multi-award-winning SmartPass study guide with and without commentary options. Full-cast, unabridged performance with comprehensive commentary and analysis for any student to fully understand and appreciate the play.

"And nothing is, but what is not." Macbeth may be mystified by the Weird Sisters' words but this intense performance with incisive commentary cuts to the heart of Shakespeare's complex psychological tragedy.

Melanie is the kind of girl who looks out for herself. When she's not mooching off boyfriends, she makes her money by scamming her way into high-value medical studies. But when she turns up for a mysterious study involving a hypnotic TV set and a seductive but sadistic vixen, she'll learn that she hasn't yet begun to learn just how pleasurable it can be to submit to science!

This annotated edition of Romeo and Juliet includes: • A 15,000-word critical study, "A Lightning Before Death" • A full life of Shakespeare — and the thin record behind the legend • A Note on the Text: collated word-by-word against the 1599 Quarto • The complete, unabridged play: Prologue, Chorus, all five acts • On Queen Mab, the Nurse, and a heroine aged thirteen There is no reading Romeo and Juliet for the first time. The play arrives pre-digested, pre-quoted, pre-parodied — a balcony, a vial, two names that stopped being names long ago and became a unit of measurement. It...

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is one of the most powerful plays ever written about fear, power, and mass hysteria. Set during the Salem witch trials of 1692, the story shows how paranoia and accusation can destroy entire communities when truth becomes secondary to reputation and survival. This fast study guide breaks down the play in a clear and practical way so readers can understand the major ideas without getting lost in the language or historical context. Inside you will find a structured explanation of the story, characters, themes, and the deeper meaning behind the events in Salem. ...

Nathan the Wise, a play published by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in 1779, is a fervent plea for religious tolerance. It was first performed in 1783 at the Döbbelinsches Theatre in Berlin. The narrative is set in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade and describes how the wise Jewish merchant Nathan, the enlightened sultan Saladin, and a Templar Knight bridge the differences between Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Its major themes are friendship, tolerance, the relativism of God, a rejection of miracles and a need for communication.

This annotated edition of King Lear includes: • A 16,000-word critical study, "An O Without a Figure" • A Note on the Text: the two Lears, and why this is neither • On the mock trial and the scenes that exist in only one text • A full life of Shakespeare — and the thin record behind it • The complete received tragedy, all five acts An old king asks his three daughters how much they love him, believes the two who lie, and banishes the one who tells the truth. Everything after is the ruin. King Lear is the bleakest and largest of the tragedies — a play that strips a king to ...

Why do Shakespeare's plays continue to be read, studied, and performed more than four hundred years after they were written? Because the world changes—but human nature does not. The ambition that destroys Macbeth, the jealousy that consumes Othello, the love that unites and divides Romeo and Juliet, the pride that ruins King Lear, and the political intrigue that shapes Julius Caesar are not merely stories from a distant age. They are reflections of the same emotions, conflicts, desires, and struggles that continue to define human life today. Shakespeare's genius lies in his extraordinary ...

The multi award-winning SmartPass study guide with and without commentary options. This is a full-cast, unabridged performance with comprehensive commentary and analysis for any student to fully understand and appreciate the play. Universally accepted as Shakespeare's finest play, we peel back the layers of Hamlet to discover how and why it deserves such a place of honour in world literature.

This annotated edition of Macbeth includes: • A 16,000-word critical study, "The Future in the Instant" • A Note on the Text: the 1623 Folio, and the Middleton question • On the Hecate scenes — Shakespeare's hand, or another's? • A full life of Shakespeare — and the thin record behind it • The complete play: the shortest and fastest of the tragedies A soldier meets three witches on a heath, and by nightfall a king lies dead in his imagination long before the knife is in his hand. Macbeth is the most interior of the tragedies, and the most terrifying, because almost everything ...

The Ultimate Bible Study… for the Rest of Us, Volume 2, is a modern, non-denominational Bible study for adults and teens who want a clear, thoughtful, and approachable way to understand Scripture. Designed as an easy-to-follow Bible study guide for beginners, returning readers, skeptics, and independent learners, this book offers 28 more engaging lessons that combine biblical context, history, humor, and practical insight—without preaching, guilt, or pressure. If you’ve ever felt out of place in traditional Bible studies… If you love Scripture but struggle with how it’s often ...