- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
Press Quotes
“… Robert Alexander’s A PREFACE TO THE ALIEN GARDEN is a heart-thumping, gut wrenching peek into one small pocket of drugs, gangs and violence … the poetic beauty of Alexander’s script … Alexander’s language is sharp, quick and clever …” —Terry Byrne, Boston Herald
“… PREFACE is nothing less than a testament to what theater can do (and what T V and movies can’t), which is to stir something ineffable in your soul and transport you to a place where human potential can be raised and then dashed on the rocks. This tragic awareness that the theater can induce is achieved too rarely and seldom. But, as one of the play’s characters might say, PREFACE has ‘the juice.’ Playwright Robert Alexander has stated that he wrote his ‘gangsta’ play as a cautionary tale for his child, but his play is more than social commentary. And, yes, it’s filled with words that many will find offensive. But that is just one element in the language of this play which riffs and scats like the best bebop or hiphop. Filled with metaphor, imagery and rhyming syntax, Mr Alexander’s drama is one of sheer urban poetry … the play itself is brave and brilliant. The stark light that it shines forces acknowledgement of our shared world and challenges us all to do better.” —Bill Oakes, Bay Window
“… the soaring poetry of some of the rap duels and the plaintive speeches of Lisa and Rick as they bid to discover a way to escape their fates are testimony to Alexander’s authentic talent, expressed with an authentic voice …” —Laurence J Sasso Jr, The Observer
Author(s)
Robert AlexanderRobert Alexander is the author of 29 plays, including SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE, I AIN'T YO' UNCLE, A PREFACE TO THE ALIEN GARDEN, and THE LAST ORBIT OF BILLY MARS. His plays have been produced by Trinity Rep, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, the Mark Taper Forum, the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Hartford Stage, San Diego Repertory Company, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Mr. Alexander has received grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has a B.A. from Oberlin College, and an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa where he was a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow.
Special Notes
If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
Originally produced by Trinity Repertory Company, Providence RI
In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypub.com
Related Plays
$11.95–$15.00Play Description
Described by the New York Times as “a threatening portrait of urban insanity. A drug lord is king, corruption is endemic and parents instill offspring with perverse values. In Mr Brown’s Coney Island, everything is for sale.”
Production Info
Cast: 7 total (3 female, 4 male)Full Length Drama (about 125 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Contemporary Costumes
Play Description
Alma tries to reckon with injuries suffered by her beautiful daughter, Monique, while serving in the U.S. military in Iraq — injuries so severe that she no longer has a face.
Production Info
Cast: 4 total (4 female)Short Drama (about 40 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
Play Description
MIRAGE, so like “marriage” in its spelling and some pronunciations, is about how much more interesting mundane situations could be if people would only apply themselves.
Production Info
Cast: 2 total (1 female, 1 male)Short Drama (about 10 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
Play Description
Two baby-faced would-be criminals decide to rob the home of two women of advanced age who live in contention with their past, their present, their future, and each other. The brats get more than they’ve bargained for, including possible great futures behind bars in Joliet.
Production Info
Cast: 6 total (2 female, 4 male, 2 children)Full Length Drama (about 85 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
A tender, quirky play about two white women and a black man living in Seattle in 1992, as the nation and the media are transfixed by the trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused in the beating of Rodney King and the outcry of protest after the verdicts.
Production Info
Cast: 3 total (2 female, 1 male)Full Length Drama (about 90 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95Play Description
An African American college professor who is feeling stuck both in his life and in his world of words meets a female African American student who comes to represent for him a dangerous kind of renewal and redemption, one that leads to tragedy for two disparate families.
Production Info
Cast: 9 total (3 female, 6 male)Full Length Drama (about 115 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00Play Description
T’Wana Jepson has been bit before. And scratched. And kicked. And punched. And called every dirty word in the book. But so has her coworker and play mama, Miss Georgia. It comes with the territory as a nurse’s aide caring for patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia. You learn to not take it personal and to lean on your co-workers for support. But after T’Wana is attacked by the patient in E 204, something happens that threatens the bonds of trust and friendship.
Production Info
Cast: 4 total (3 female, 1 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95Play Description
On the docks of late 18th-century Rhode Island, two runaway slaves, Adjua and Dembi, plan a desperate and daring run to freedom. When a chance encounter triggers an unexpected collision of worlds, painful truths are uncovered, and the brutality of past crimes spills into the next generation.
Production Info
Cast: 10 total (3 female, 7 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes