Plays, Movies, and Critics

This exceptional collection explores the mutual concerns of dramatic theater, film, and those who comment on them.Plays, Movies, and Criticsopens with an original play by Don DeLillo. In the form of an interview, DeLillo's short play works as a kind of paradigm of the theatrical or cinematic event and serves as a keynote for the volume. DeLillo's interview play is accompanied in this collection by interviews with theater director Roberta Levitow, Martin Scorsese, and film/theater critic Stanley Kauffmann. Other contributions include a critical look at the current American theater scene, analyses of the place of politics in the careers of G. B. Shaw and Luigi Pirandello, a compelling reading of Chekhov's "The Seagull", a detailed inquiry into the obsessions that energize the works of Sam Shepard, provocative reinterpretations of the filmsMean StreetsandThe Sheltering Sky, and a translation of Andreacute; Bazin's important piece on theology and film. Originally published as a special issue ofSouth Atlantic Quarterly(Spring 1992), this book has been expanded to include a new introduction by the editor and an afterword by Jonathan Kalb.Contributors. Andreacute; Bazin, Robert Brustein, Bert Cardullo, Anthony DeCurtis, Don DeLillo, Jesse Ward Engdhal, Richard Gilman, Jim Hosney, Mame Hunt, Jonathan Kalb, Stanley Kauffmann, Jody McAuliffe, Mary Ann Frese Witt, Jacquelyn Wollman, David Wyatt