Anne Washburn

Theatre has a complex history of responding to crises, long before they happen. Through stage plays, contemporary challenges can be presented, explored and even foreshadowed in ways that help audiences understand the world around them. Since the theatre of the Greeks, audiences have turned to live theatre in order to find answers in uncertain political, social and economic times, and through this unique collection questions about This anthology brings together a collection of 20 scenes from 20 playwrights that each respond to the world in crisis. Twenty of the world’s most prolific playwrights were asked to select one scene from across their published work that speaks to the current world situation in 2020. As COVID-19 continues to challenge every aspect of global life, contemporary theatre has long predicted a world on the edge. Through these 20 scenes from plays spanning from 1980 to 2020, we see how theatre and art has the capacity to respond, comment on and grapple with global challenges that in turn speak to the current time in which we are living. Each scene, chosen by the writer, is prefaced by an interview in which they discuss their process, their reason for selection and how their work reflects both the past and the present. From the political plays of Lucy Prebble and James Graham to the polemics of Philip Ridley and Tim Crouch. From bold works by Inua Ellams, Morgan Lloyd Malcom and Tanika Gupta to the social relevance of Hannah Khalil, Zoe Cooper and Simon Stephens this anthology looks at theatre in the present and asks the question: “how can theatre respond to a world in crisis?” The collection is prefaced by an introduction from Edward Bond, one of contemporary theatre’s most prolific dramatists.

If you're not ready there's still hope for you. The change we aren't ready for transforms us. I'm ripping it down. Somewhere in foggy Northern California, an intentional community tries to live off the land and keep an unsteady world at bay. But when one of their own dies unexpectedly, ideals are tested and faith in their independence is rocked. The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire is a tender, funny, probing story about a death, a pageant, a rescue, a resurrection, pigs, and the act of saying grace. The kids may not be all right. Published to coincide with the world-premiere production at the Vineyard Theatre in New York, renowned American playwright Anne Washburn re-unites with Obie-Award winning director Steve Cosson, following their acclaimed collaborations on Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play (“downright brilliant”, NYT) and A Devil at Noon.

"Anne Washburn’s downright brilliant play has arrived to leave you dizzy with the scope and dazzle of its ideas." - The New York TimesIt’s the end of everything in contemporary America. A future without power. But what will survive? Mr Burns asks how the stories we tell make us the people we are, explodes the boundaries between pop and high culture and, when society has crumbled, imagines the future for America’s most famous family. A delightfully bizarre, funny, bleak and wonderful play that challenges dramatic form and the nature of theatre as storytelling. Published for the first time in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series, this edition features a new introduction by Charlotte Higgins.

From across the room I saw the President, torchlight playing across his visage. And the violins began, and the low rumble of the timpani. I screamed. I ran. An old farmhouse upstate. Snow is falling. Mountains are falling. Something is breaking apart. You are formally invited to dinner with the 45th President of the United States. Anne Washburn (The Twilight Zone, Mr Burns) returns with her sinister and sensational play, now updated in a special dual edition to coincide with its audio premiere on WNYC Public Radio, to be aired in October 2020 in partnership with New York Public Theater. As part of a bold experiment to write a history play about the present, this edition includes both the stage and audio versions of the play, as well as extensive commentary from the writer herself about the significant changes made to it in reaction to the unprecedented crises and protest movements of 2020.

"Ms. Washburn is a writer of questing imagination and convention-bending technique." --Ben Brantley, New York Times In Anne Washburn's captivating new drama, a group of old friends--who, now in middle age, have mostly lost touch over the years--reunite at a remote Texas estate for the funeral of one of their own. As the former friends confront the memories of their shared past, the walls quickly dissolve (literally and figuratively) into a realm bordering on supernatural. A haunting tale of loss and friendship, Washburn seamlessly blurs the lines between the real and surreal, inviting us into a world of humor, imagination and mystery.

From across the room I saw the President, torchlight playing across his visage. And the violins began, and the low rumble of the timpani. I screamed. I ran. An old farmhouse upstate. Snow is falling. Mountains are falling. Something is breaking apart. You are formally invited to dinner with the 45th President of the United States. Anne Washburn (The Twilight Zone, Mr Burns) returns with a sinister and sensational new play, directed by Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold.

A group gathers at a remote ranch in the Texas Hill Country to mourn the loss of a friend they haven't seen in years. As they mine through their pasts it may be more than just the loss of a friend that binds them. The past and present begin to blur in Anne Washburn's haunting exploration of friendship and loss.

"One of the most spectacularly original plays in recent memory."--"Entertainment Weekly""Fascinating and hilarious . . . With each of its three acts, "Mr. Burns" grows grander."--"Village Voice""When was the last time you met a new play that was so smart it made your head spin? . . . Mr. Burns has arrived to leave you dizzy with the scope and dazzle of its ideas . . . with depths of feeling to match its breadth of imagination."--"The New York Times"An ode to live theater and the resilience of "The Simpsons," Anne Washburn's apocalyptic comedy "Mr. Burns"--"even better than its hype" ("New York Post")--is an imaginative exploration of how the culture of one generation can evolve into the mythology of the next. Following an enthusiastic critical reception from New York critics for its world premiere, Mr. Burns will receive its London premiere in spring 2014. Also included in the collection are "The Small," "I Have Loved Strangers," and "Orestes," all of which, together, develop a theme of destruction, from the personal to the city to civilization and, finally, to the destruction of form. Anne Washburn's plays include "The Internationalist," "A Devil at Noon," "Apparition," "The Communist Dracula Pageant," "I Have Loved Strangers," "The Ladies," "The Small," and a transadaptation of Euripides's "Orestes." Her awards include a Guggenheim, NYFA Fellowship, Time Warner Fellowship, and a Susan Smith Blackburn finalist. She is a member of 13P, The Civilians, and is a New Georges affiliated artist.

Anne Washburn is the recipient of the 2015 Whiting Award for DramaLadies and gentlemen welcome to tech. Around you a company of 14 is engaged in the very peculiar-and peculiarly impossible-task of making a new play. You'll have a seat next to the sound designer as he mixes cues. You'll eavesdrop on backstage gossip as it happens over headset. You'll watch the director struggle to contain the uncontainable. Anne Washburn (Mr. Burns) took notes during her tech rehearsals over the years. 10

Lost-in-translation business trips and global travel are put under the microscope in The Internationalist, a play of wit, romance, misunderstandings and the mysteries of communication. Lowell goes abroad on business. He thinks he's in one of those great American films where you go to a foreign land and there's romance and adventure. However Lowell soon discovers that he's not in one of those movies, he's in one of those foreign films where nothing is as it seems, where there is no clear hero, and most importantly: no subtitles.