Human Events
Play Description
Based on A R Gurney’s novel Entertaining Strangers, the story is reminiscent of TARTUFFE. Set in academia, at a large technological institute in the Boston area, HUMAN EVENTS follows the rise of a visiting instructor, presumably from England, as he ingratiates himself into the Humanities department and snakes his way up the ladder of success.
Production Info
Cast: 7 total (3 female, 4 male)Full Length Drama (about 110 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
Press Quotes
“Remember All About Eve, the classic film in which older actress Margo Channing takes younger actress Eve Harrington under her wing, only to see her protégé attempt to take over her life and her love? Back in 1977, A R Gurney … took that plot and reset it in academia for his novel Entertaining Strangers. Now he’s adapted that book into HUMAN EVENTS … a witty and entertaining comedy of manners. Porter Platt is an associate professor at an esteemed Boston college. He meets Englishman Christopher Simpson, and is impressed by his Eton and Oxford education. Simpson wants a job at the school, and Platt does yeoman work to get him one. Soon, Simpson is rising in the department, while Platt is not. Simpson also takes a shine to Platt’s wife, who’s attracted to him as well … HUMAN EVENTS shows that Gurney is still one of America’s most entertaining playwrights.” —Peter Filichia, The Star-Ledger
“[The play] poses questions about trust — among friends, among colleagues, between spouses. With its wit, literary quality, and insight into human nature, the work is up to the standard expected of Gurney, one of the most intelligent theatrical writers active today.” —Charles Paolino, Home News Tribune
Author(s)
A R GurneyA R ("Pete") Gurney's work has been produced in New York at Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons, and Primary Stages. Among his plays are THE DINING ROOM, THE COCKTAIL HOUR, LOVE LETTERS, SYLVIA, FAR EAST, THE FOURTH WALL, and BIG BILL. Four of his more political plays — O JERUSALEM, MRS FARNSWORTH, SCREEN PLAY, and POST MORTEM — have been produced at the Flea Theater in Tribeca. Gurney also wrote several published novels, as well as the libretto for Michael Torke's opera Strawberry Fields, presented by the New York City Opera. A former Professor of Literature at M I T, he was elected in 2005 to the Theater Hall of Fame and in 2006 to The American Academy of Arts and Letters. He passed away in June 2017. Audio Interview
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 The George Street Playhouse, New Brunswick NJ
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
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
At an elite women’s college in Massachusetts, two minor crises emerge during the fall semester: the philandering head of the English Department decides to callously end his affair with a colleague, and an aging professor is caught making unwanted sexual advances toward a student. But in the academic world of the early 21st century, there is no such thing as a minor crisis. For Jacob Freundlich, an English professor approaching middle age, the sudden necessity of making moral choices, rather than just teaching books about them, leads him into a devastating midlife crisis of his own. A comedy about the necessity, and the exquisite pain, of making choices.
Production Info
Cast: 10 total (5 female, 5 male)Full Length Comedy (about 105 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
What happened at that party? High school students become locked in an intense moral argument over how to treat a sexual encounter that happened in their midst.
Production Info
Cast: 10 total (7 female, 3 male)Full Length Drama (about 60 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
A creative writing professor is called to the office of the college president for questioning. What has been going on in his classroom to provoke a growing controversy and attract the attention of the United States military? Is there a real threat, or is it imagined?
Production Info
Cast: 3 total (1 female, 2 male)Full Length Drama (about 110 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Michaela, an African American dean at a major American university, summons Alan, a renowned professor of cultural psychology, in response to student protest over his controversial paper on female initiation rites in sub-Saharan Africa. But dormant feelings from an affair years earlier turn a heated argument over science and cultural pluralism into a knock-down, drag-out fight. Rozin's provocative play shatters the ivory tower of academia, upending questions of privilege and Western morality.
Production Info
Cast: 3 total (2 female, 1 male)Full Length Drama (about 90 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
What happened at that party? College students become locked in an intense moral argument over how to treat a sexual encounter that happened in their midst.
Production Info
Cast: 10 total (7 female, 3 male)Full Length Drama (about 60 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Melissa figures she has everything: a thriving career, a devoted partner (who never overstays his welcome), and the freedom to enjoy whatever and whomever else she wants. But when an unexpected visitor brings equally unexpected news, Melissa's rollicking life turns into comic confusion, replete with surprising twists and a tantalizing resolution.
Production Info
Cast: 3 total (2 female, 1 male)Full Length Comedy (about 90 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
John Greer has a charmed life: he is a professor at a renowned university, a beloved father, and he is about to be named Poet Laureate. He owes much of his success to his wife, Diane, who aggressively shepherds his career. But when their daughter and her new boyfriend return home for the weekend, hidden secrets emerge that threaten to destroy the image he has cultivated in both his public and private lives. POETIC LICENSE is a biting drama set against the cutthroat “publish or perish” world of academia and explores how one person’s past can shape his art, his family, and in this case his future.
Production Info
Cast: 4 total (2 female, 2 male)Full Length Drama (about 80 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
$11.95
Play Description
Subtitled “A Comedy of Trans-Atlantic Manners.” An Englishman and his family live far-flung across the vast American continent. Brought together by tragedy, they find comfort in attacking their adopted country, ridiculing its crude ways and lack of standards. Humour and irony as well as the sense of loss and longing permeate this story of exiles unable to address a world that is passing by.
Production Info
Cast: 8 total (4 female, 4 male)Full Length Comedy (about 90 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes