Late in life Saroyan wrote: “In 1943 I turned my back on Broadway, but I did not stop writing plays… I wrote new plays every year… and they are part of the real American theatre, and of the real world theatre, even though they have not been produced, performed, and witnessed.”
In fact, William Saroyan left some 150 unpublished plays, two of which are offered here. Typically Saroyan in their graceful, acrobatic use of language, these plays have a breadth, a universality, and a somber outlook rarely seen in his works. Warsaw Visitor is a retelling of the Faust legend with Saroyan himself as Faust. Tales from the Vienna Streets finds Saroyan making a rare excursion into the sociopolitical arena. Both plays merit performance and critique.
