Best Women Playwrights of 1999

As a whole, a solid anthology. Let's go through the plays one by one.

'Asbtract Expression' by Theresa Rebeck. Dad is an artist. A has-been, actually. He's rediscovered by a gallery owner when his daughter caters the owner's engagement lunch. He kills himself after his opening, then becomes an instant success. The daughter grapples with grief and there's an interesting subplot about the kindly neighbor and his ne'er do well nephew.

It's a good play, but it's not my favorite. The subplot feels like it could be better in a different play altogether, and the art has been story feels like something I've heard or read before. The daughter is a good character, and it's really refreshing to see a strong female main character that isn't a one dimensional simp.

Next is 'The Exact Center of the Universe,' by Joan Vail Thorne. It's a parlor play. In the South. With a mother who loves her son too much. (no, not in that way!)

Guys, we've seen this before. It was big when Freud first came out. Oy. Been there, done that, went on to Jeung.

Granted, it's well done, and it deals with women aging and the transition from mother to grandmother in an interesting way, but it's not the best I've read or seen in quite a while.

Then, 'A Small Delegation' by Janet Neipris. Americans sent into China in 1988 to lecture. This is a very interesting play, and after reading Coming Home Crazy, it feels very familiar and not as shocking to someone who was fresh to the story. But dealing with life after a huge drama and the shift from the Cultural Revolution to the current society is fascinating. This is play is frustrating because the characters run up against so many walls. The people you root for are not perfect. The people you don't like have a likeable quality. The ending is unsatisfying, unsettling. The final note about Tianneman Square brings it all to a quiet close.

I didn't like this play, but I'd like to see it on stage.

'Lobster Alice' by Kira Obolensky.
Q: How many Surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: A fish!

Keep that kind of absurdity in mind while reading this play. Actually, the best answer in this case is 'a lobster,' but what can you do? Cross Salvador Dali with Alice in Wonderland (literally), give a character lobster arms, a couch in an office, a hole in a wall to another world and... well... it's a lovely fantasy that is quite captivating.

I would love to see the theater brave enough to mount this. I think it would be spectacular on a proscenium.

'Fall' by Bridget Carpenter. Swing dancing and scuba diving are metaphors for growth in this sweet and unsettling coming of age story. 14 year old is forced (forced!) to attend a 3 week swing camp with her parents. With no other kids around and the dance instructor and 24-year-old married with a kid guy (who came alone) eying her oddly, Lydia is pretending that she doesn't want to learn how to dance and deal with time until she can go back to school.

I wish I could see this with all of the swing dancing. It would be fantastic. One character is named Dog, the other is named Gopal (which means 'Cowboy'), so the metaphors are just a smidgeon heavy handed.

It's a story about family and trying to adapt as people grow older. Kids mature, lives change, nothing's how you want it to be and what do you do? In this case, dance.

'Last Train to Nibroc' by Arlene Hutton. Cute couple meets on a train going home from LA during WWII. Two dead writers are on the car, and they confess their secret passions to each other and their lives' disappointments so far.

I didn't really like this, but there's a play for everyone. This play is sweet. A grainy 1940s photograph of what life used to be like and what it could be.

All in all, this is a solid anthology. But it's not the best of this series of anthologies. Try Best Women Playwrights of 1994. I thought that was much better.