The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 1997 [Paperback]

Jocelyn A. Beard (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1575251388 | ISBN-13: 978-1575251387 | Publication Date: December 1998

The seventh volume of America's best-selling monologue series for women. All monologues are excerpted from plays produced during the 1998 theatrical season.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Playwright/Editor Jocelyn A. Beard, a veteran of NYU's film school and the Yale School of Drama, has edited almost forty monologue books for Smith and Kraus. Her Screenplay, Igor and the Lunatics, was made into a feature film and subsequently listed in Heavy Metal magazine as "One of the 10 Sleaziest Movies Ever Made!" Notwithstanding, Jocelyn lives in an old haunted house in the Hudson River Valley with her husband, Kevin Kitowski, their beautiful daughter, Blythe, and lots of dogs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 122 pages
• Publisher: Smith & Kraus Pub Inc (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575251388
• ISBN-13: 978-1575251387
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,664,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Play (is still) The Thing, July 18, 2000

By 

Jo J. Adamson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 1997 (Paperback)

In June I had a play at the Spokane Civic Theatre. (The Playwrights Forum Festival 2000). The same night, "Dixie Chicks" were playing at the Spokane Arena. (The arena parking lot was directly across from the theatre.) Needless to say, thousands came to see the "Dixie Chicks" and about 99 souls came to see the festival plays. (99 is considered a full house in a small theatre.)

Now make no mistake, I'm not taking anything away from high-energy showmanship of The "Dixie Chicks" I only bring it up because I think the incident shows us where our premiums are.

I believe that most people expect to be entertained on a grand scale. When they see a show, they want special effects, dazzling lights, eye-popping costumes, and beautiful people. They want to be distracted and consumed by what they see on stage, not left intact and `thinking.' In short, they want to lose themselves rather than find themselves.

The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 1997 by Jocelyn A. Beard is a collection of monologues by women, who by the force of their talent make us think about ourselves and our place in society. With the `special effects' of words working, the plays make up a rich mosaic of moods that brings the characters alive before our very eyes. It makes us want to read the entire play from which the excerpts are taken.

"Bad Grrrls" by Linda Eisenstein made me want to know more about the relationship of Meg and Dana. How did they meet and where are they going with their lives?

Caitlin Hick's "Singing The Bones" is a powerful monologue about a woman's relationship with her preacher father and what happened the last time she saw him.

"In Search of the Red River Dog" by Sandra Perlman is about a woman who has just been raped by her husband. I would defy any woman (or man either for that matter) to read the monologue without being moved to anger or tears.

Joycelyn A. Beard is responsible for bringing these monologues to the reading public Every year or so they bloom like flowers in their yellow and orange colors as they fill in the tiny monologue collections in Barnes and Noble drama section. Ms. Beard works indefatigably bringing these books to life. It is Joycelyn Beard (and those like her) who keep theatre alive in a time of shrinking budgets and general apathy toward stage productions.

"The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 1997" is a must read for anyone who loves going the theatre and who want to be entertained without being obliterated.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, November 27, 2000

By 

"hherin" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 1997 (Paperback)

Not only is this book a window into a dozen or more wonderful plays, it's also a must-have for any actress dying for something substantial and challenging to perform. It often seems so hard to find a decent female role that hasn't already been played a thousand times..but Ms. Beard proves that there are many lesser-known playwrights out there writing tremendous stuff, and she makes them all readily accessible. I've found great pieces in several books of this yearly series, but this one is by far my favorite.