A KNIFE IN THE HEART

recently had a stunning West Coast premiere at Sledgehammer Theatre in San Diego, garnering excellent reviews. The play is a visually dynamic, riveting, and all too relevant piece centering on a mother who must suddenly re-examine her life and assumptions when her son becomes a murderer. (See reviews on REVIEWS web page.)

CHÉRI

A successful corporate lawyer attempts to recover his idealism by defending a young homeless man accused of murdering a prostitute. As he becomes gradually more obsessed with the case, the boundaries between his life and that of his client become blurred and he finds himself trapped between conflicting ideas of moral and legal justice, and of personal and political responsibility. There are no simple solutions for anyone in the world of this play. One chord is sounded and another vibrates. The sexual hatred and confusion at the core of the violent acts spill over into the lawyer's domestic life, affecting not only him but his wife and daughter, with startling results for all.

FOREIGN BODIES reached the semi-finals in the 2008 O’Neill Playwrights Conference and a monologue from Act I has been published in the anthology, SCENES AND MONOLOGS FROM THE BEST NEW PLAYS II., edited by Roger Ellis. It was presented in 2007 by Vox Nova, a collaborative company in San Diego, directed by Kirsten Brandt. (A review by Pat Launer of this reading can be viewed on the REVIEWS page.)

PHAEDRA IN DELIRIUM

Adapted from various versions of the myth, Phaedra falls in love with her stepson, who embodies (literally) her philandering husband in his far more tender youth. The expression of her illicit passion, even more than the passion itself, leads to tragedy for all three. The play was produced at Women’s Project/CSC in NY and at Sledgehammer Theatre in San Diego. For the first scene of the play, as published in POLYPHONY, click on this link: September 2003. (See excerpts from reviews on REVIEWS web page.)

NOTE: After winning the 1999 poetic play competition sponsored by Quarterly Review of Literature, PHAEDRA IN DELIRIUM was published in Volume 37-38 of that journal, edited by Ted and Renee Weiss. It is also published in “Divine Fire,” an anthology devoted to radical reinventions of ancient Greek dramatic texts, edited by Caridad Svich. It can be purchased through BackStage Books, www.wgpub.com, and www.amazon.com

THE REVENGE

is adapted from Victor Hugo's play LE ROI' S'AMUSE (which also served as the basis for Verdi's opera RIGOLETTO). The REVENGE is a highly theatrical, expertly plotted story with classic themes of passion and politics, betrayal among cohorts, and paternal devotion. The play had a successful reading in New York City, starring F. Murray Abraham, and is available for full production.

SLAIN IN THE SPIRIT

A gospel-and-blues drama with composer Taj Mahal and the Lafayette Inspirational Choir on the subject of the Jonestown dream and failure, from the perspective of the people who joined the community, is now available to interested parties in manuscript and CD. A description of the project and some of the lyrics can be accessed at:
http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/JonestownReport/Volume8/Yankowitz.htm.

Inquiries should be addressed to Tonda Marton at the Marton Agency, tonda@martonagency.com.

TERMINAL

This ground-breaking collaboration with Joseph Chaikin and the Open Theatre -- an investigation into mortality -- was first produced in 1969 and then revised in 1996. Ms. Yankowitz won the Drama Desk Award for this unusual work. The original script can be found in “The New Radical Theatre Notebook” and ordered through Applause Books, 212 595-4735 or I” Types of Drama, Plays and Contexts”, at www.ablongman.com/barnettod. The later version of the play is available in Performing Arts Journal 57, Johns Hopkins Press, www.press.jhu.edu. (See press on REVIEWS page.)

PLAYS IN DEVELOPMENT

“One Square Block,” a documentary theatre piece in collaboration with Nahma Sandrow and “The Ludicrous Trial of Mr. P,” a multi-media piece for actors, video, puppets, and more.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

In Their Company: Portraits of American Playwrights

What is it that makes a man or woman able to look at a bare stage and create a stage play that makes that stage come alive with excitement, drama, song. In this book famed portrait photographer Ken Collins has photographed sixty one of the best playwrights of our time. Equally famed journalist Victor Wishna has interviewed these playwrights and seems to have a way of getting them to talk about themselves, their lives, what drives them, and how they think of their plays that is fascinating to read. Example, the last entry is Susan Yankowitz, she says: 'I see the theatrical event as something magnetic, hypnotic, emotionally and physically compelling. The audience leans forward in their seats; you, the writer, entice them into your work with everything at your disposal -- light, sound, movement, gesture, image -- not only words, as some believe…" The book includes 61 black and white photographs by Collins.

Visit www.umbragebooks.com for more information or order from Amazon.

Twelve plays

written by Ms. Yankowitz are now available through the Women's Drama collection of Alexander Street Press at www.alexanderstreetpress.com

Two Monologues

from THE LUDICROUS TRIAL OF MR. P have been published by Applause Books in ONE ON ONE: The Best Men's Monologues for the 21st Century -- and in ONE ON ONE: The Best Women’s Monologues for the 21st Century. Both books can be ordered through www.applausepub.com

Novel Excerpt

“Stuntwoman,” a chapter from a novel-in-progress will appear in Persimmon Tree, December 2008 (www.persimmontree.org)