Love in a Thirsty Land
Play Description
A love story and a murder mystery, LOVE IN A THIRSTY LAND uses materials from an actual case, the first trial of a Jew for murder in the New World, 1875. The circumstances — a very religious young married man, alone in America, is accused of killing the young woman with whom it’s been rumored he has been having an affair. Flesh vs spirit, old world ways and the new drive the four character two-act play.
Production Info
Cast: 5 total (2 female, 3 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
Press Quotes
“What becomes of the old ways in the New World? That question is posed by Alan Glass in his absorbing, passionate new play, LOVE IN A THIRSTY LAND. Inspired by an 1875 murder case in Brooklyn, LOVE IN A THIRSTY LAND uses an adulterous love affair between immigrant Jews to address substantial and enduring issues like the future of Judaism in America, the attractions of assimilation and the temptations that pit inflamed flesh against a cold marriage. No play can be expected to do more than cast fresh and arresting light on problems like these, which have long defied easy solution. Yet in the end, with its innate intelligence and intensity, its vivid, sympathetic principals, its powerful love story, its air of mystery and its skillful evocation of a bygone era, LOVE IN A THIRSTY LAND manages to maintain its grip on philosophy and religion while telling its wrenching tale of doomed young love …” —Lawrence Van Gelder, The New York Times
Author(s)
Alan GlassAlan Glass's first full-length play, LOVE IN A THIRSTY LAND, was workshopped at the Ensemble Studio Theater in New York. It subsequently won first prize in the nationwide SUNY-Stony Brook University John Gassner Playwriting Competition, following which it was produced Off-Broadway by New York's Jewish Repertory Theatre in 2000. The New York Times reviewer called the play "absorbing and passionate." Among Alan Glass's other works, a one-act play, TRUTH IN ADVERTISNG, sending up greed on Madison Avenue, was workshopped at the Ensemble Studio Theatre and produced as part of several New York City play festivals. Recently retired from a career on Madison Avenue, Alan was the creator of many well known T V advertising campaigns. He is a life member of the Dramatists Guild.
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:
First presented by Jewish Repertory Theater, New York
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–$15.00
Play Description
Illinois, 1861: Without proof of insanity, Elizabeth Packard is committed by her husband to an asylum. Based on historical events, Emily Mann’s play tells of one woman’s struggle to right a system gone wrong.
Production Info
Cast: 9 total (4 female, 5 male)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Single Set
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Ferdinand is an army major and son of President von Walter, a high-ranking noble in a German duke’s court, while Luise Miller is the daughter of a middle-class musician. The couple fall in love with each other, but both their fathers tell them to end their affair. The President instead wants to expand his own influence by marrying Ferdinand to Lady Milford, the duke’s mistress, but Ferdinand rebels against his father’s plan and tries to persuade Luise to elope with him.
Production Info
Cast: 9 total (2 female, 7 male)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
Set in a country weighed down by political, ideological and spiritual stagnation, Chekhov's compelling early play is rooted in the revolutionary atmosphere of Russia at the turn of the 20th century.
Production Info
Cast: 10 total (4 female, 6 male)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$0.00–$15.95
Play Description
Based on the classic novella, this original adaptation takes you to the dismal streets of London in the 1860s, where societal pressures silence a gentle doctor's questions about the nature of morality. As the pressure intensifies, Dr Jekyll takes matters into his own hands. However, things take an eerie turn when his experiment takes on a life of its own. Will his efforts save the world, or will they destroy all that he holds dear? After all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Production Info
Cast: 16 total (7 female, 9 male, flexible casting, bit parts)Full Length Comedy (about 80 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$15.00
Play Description
As the 19th century moves into the 20th century, the Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi struggles to hold together the proud ancient Chinese empire, which is being assaulted by foreign nations and the technological advances of the age. Following the arrest of a Young Actor who is playing her in the streets, she finds herself powerless at the pinnacle of power, trying to preserve traditional Chinese civilization against overwhelming forces for change.
Production Info
Cast: 8 total (3 female, 5 male, optional extras: court attendants)Full Length Drama (about 130 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
In the Garden of Eden and crosscutting to New York, the enactment and re-enactment of Adam, Lilith, and Eve take the stage as the two women confront one another and the very identify of metaphysical woman. A love triangle which defies the heavens, supernatural Lilith will not willingly disappear from this world.
Production Info
Cast: 4 total (2 female, 2 male)Full Length Drama (about 90 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$11.95–$15.00
Play Description
The classic 1851 farce. Fadinard is on the way to his wedding when his horse eats a straw hat hanging on a bush. The owner of the hat is a former girlfriend who insists that Fadinard buys her a new hat instantly. He sets off to find a replacement hat, followed by his fiancée and all their guests. The play develops into a delirious chase as Fadinard hunts the hat and the guests hunt Fadinard and comic misunderstandings litter every scene.
Production Info
Cast: 18 total (6 female, 12 male)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Büchner’s classic is brought to vivid life in Sean Graney’s sensational adaptation.
Production Info
Cast: 7 total (2 female, 5 male, doubling)Full Length Drama (about 90 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$50.00
Play Description
Rural Central Texas, 1909. A young Russian-Jewish immigrant, newly arrived in America through the port of Galveston, pulls his banana cart into the hamlet of Hamilton. Fleeing the vicious pogroms of his homeland, he has sought refuge in the land of the free. Able to speak only Yiddish, alone in the midst of a staunchly Christian community, he begs for shelter. Over the next 30 years, he makes a home and raises a family in this tiny town. THE IMMIGRANT is the story of a young Russian-Jewish couple and the local couple that take them in, as religion meets religion, culture meets culture, fear meets fear, and love meets love. This is the true story of Haskell Harelik, “the Immigrant.”
Production Info
Cast: 4 total (2 female, 2 male)Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Several years after tragedy impacted their lives, a family comes together once again for Thanksgiving dinner. While family members struggle to come to terms with residual anger, grief and guilt, Jack Canfora’s thought-provoking play explores how people cope with personal and collective catastrophe. Displaying surprising humor and biting wit, this Jericho, Long Island clan exposes their desperate strategies for resolution and redemption.
Production Info
Cast: 6 total (3 female, 3 male)Full Length Drama (about 95 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Contemporary Costumes
$11.95
Play Description
In Strindberg’s classic, Miss Julie, the daughter of a powerful count, enters into a dangerously flirtatious relationship with a footman on her father’s estate. The critics have described Richard Nelson’s adaptation as “tight, sharp, idiomatic.”
Production Info
Cast: 3 total (2 female, 1 male)Full Length Drama (about 90 minutes)
Single Set
Period Costumes