Awake and Singing: Six Great American Jewish Plays [Paperback]

Ellen Schiff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

Jewish playwrights and plays of Jewish interest intended for general audiences have been increasingly conspicuous on the American stage since the early 20th century. No wonder. The evolution of Jewish life in America teems with richly dramatic material: immigration, "making it," intergenerational family relationships, the impact of the Great Depression, two World Wars, the Holocaust, the establishment of Israel, and the emergence of feminism and alternative life styles. And pre-eminently and enduringly, the dilemma of identity: how to acculturate without losing one's Jewish identity. A retrospective of the American Jewish repertoire of the last 80 years tells us a good deal about how Jews have perceived themselves and America and how America has perceived Jews. Schiff's collections, Awake and Singing (1995) and Fruitful and Multiplying (1996) were the first ever to represent the magnitude and importance of the American Jewish repertoire. This new edition brings together five plays from those pioneering anthologies: Elmer Rice's Counsellor-at-Law; Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing!; Sylvia Regan's Morning Star; Paddy Chayefsky's The Tenth Man; and Herb Gardner's Conversations with My Father. They are joined by Broken Glass, Arthur Miller's first play to focus specifically on deeply disturbing American Jewish problems: assimilation, self-hatred and terrified awareness of the Nazi threat to European co-religionists. The introductory essay provides a cultural and historical overview and there are generous headnotes to each play.

Product Details

• Paperback: 587 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books; New Edition edition (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557835306
• ISBN-13: 978-1557835307
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,803,447 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars American- Jewish theatre, August 13, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Awake and Singing: Six Great American Jewish Plays (Paperback)

Perhaps more than any other person Ellen Schiff has worked to bring to wider attention the work of American- Jewish playwrights. This present anthology culls from previous ones.
It contains: Elmer Rice's Counsellor-at-Law; Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing!; Sylvia Regan's Morning Star; Paddy Chayefsky's The Tenth Man; and Herb Gardner's Conversations with My Father. An additional work is what is arguably the play in which Arthur Miller is most concerned with the Jewish problems of assimilation and self - hatred,"Broken Glass,"
Schiff provides a useful introduction to the work.
A fine anthology.