# Recommend me some contemporary scripts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-contemporary-scripts/432630 "2008-01-07T20:43:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![coffinjumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@coffinjumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffinjumper)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-contemporary-scripts/432630/1 "2008-01-07T20:43:14Z")
Hopefully this will be okay. As part of our degree program we have to get experience with different aspect of theatre than our concentration. This quarter, I’m going to experiment with directing. So, in order to do so, I have to pick a script to direct. I’ve been introduced to several playwrights of course, and read some before, but I kind of want to come into this without previous associations from shows I’ve worked on or seen a lot. I thought I’d appeal to the minds here to introduce me to some new (for me) scripts it might be fun to work with for the next two months. It has to be contemporary, have literary merit, be a full script, and have at least one 4 minutes scene with only 2 characters, but other than that have at it. I will defintiley at least research anything that sounds interesting here and I always like having new reading material, and future design possibilites, even if it isn’t the script I work with actors on. To give some ideas on my taste, I’ll mention a few things. I’ve read Mamet, specifically _Oleanna_, and he annoyed me. I have liked Paula Vogel, both _How I Learned to Drive_ and _And Baby Makes Seven_. Carter Lewis’ \*While We Were Bowling \* was great. Both Ibsen and Beckett were interesting, it’s been a little while though. Neil Simon is good too, I think I liked _Fools_ best. And I was surprised myself by how much I liked Tim Clue and Spike Manton’s _Leaving Iowa_. So, any good ones for me to check out? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-contemporary-scripts/432630/2 "2008-01-07T20:50:15Z")
Edward Albee’s **A Zoo Story**? Anthony Schaeffer’s **Sleuth**? George Bernard Shaw’s \*\* The Man of Destiny\*\* or **The Dark Lady of the Sonnets**? (Not that modern) ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-contemporary-scripts/432630/3 "2008-01-07T21:51:16Z")
Enid Bagnold’s **The Chalk Garden** is a marvelous little play with several meaty 2-character bits. It was made into a film starring Deborah Kerr and Hayley Mills, but the film omitted several scenes.