<p>My D is a junior in highschool and a very avid reader. She has decided that for this school year she is not going to read books for pleasure, but would like to read as many plays as possible instead. Does anyone have a link to a list of plays that are suggested reading for musical theatre or theatre majors?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for your help!</p>
<p>i havent seen any suggested lists, but i would recommend reading a play from every famous american playwright (O'neill, simon, gurney, miller, kushner, etc), a couple shakespeare, oscar wilde, a moliere, a chekhov. Basically as big as a variety as you can get your hands on. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>It would be nice to read some of the things that musical theater is based upon - for example - </p>
<p>The Taming of the Shrew</p>
<p>Pygmalion </p>
<p>Others that make good theater -</p>
<p>The Crucible</p>
<p>Death of a Salesman</p>
<p>Cat on a Hot Tim Roof</p>
<p>Long Day's Journey into Night</p>
<p>Raisin in the Sun</p>
<p>I would also include some Chekhov (The Seagull) and Ibsen (A Doll's House) </p>
<p>There are so many from which to choose.</p>
<p>while cartera's list is good, i would suggest going for the plays that usually aren't part of a high school lit curriculum. I would try some more comedy, risque plays, and modern plays, that way you gain a different perspective than every other hs grad.</p>
<p>Here is a link to the theatre reading list at JMU. Theatre</a> Reading List From James Madison University </p>
<p>It is a pretty extensive list -- pretty close to the reading list I had in graduate school. It has not been revised since 2005, so new plays are not on the list. </p>
<p>If your D also wants to read musicals, I would suggest using Broadway Musicals: Show by Show by Stanley Green as a resource of musical titles.</p>
<p>It's likely that students today will have read many of the classics so here's a list of some of my favorites which are more contemporary works:</p>
<p>Arthur Miller:
After the Fall
A View from the Bridge</p>
<p>David Lindsay-Abaire:
Rabbit Hole</p>
<p>David Mamet:
Oleanna</p>
<p>Edward Albee:
Everything in the Garden
The Play about the Baby
The Goat, or who is Sylvia?</p>
<p>Terrence McNally:
Love! Valour! Compassion!
Deuce</p>
<p>Sam Shepard:
True West
Buried Child</p>
<p>August Wilson:
The Pittsburgh Cycle (ten plays)</p>
<p>Richard Greenberg:
Three Days of Rain
Take Me Out</p>
<p>Doug Wright:
I Am My Own Wife</p>
<p>Charles Fuller:
A Soldier's Play</p>
<p>Eugene O'Neill:
A Moon for the Misbegotten</p>
<p>Tony Kushner:
Angels in America (parts 1&2)
In That Day</p>
<p>If she wants more than that, two good sources would be ibdb.com and tonys.org.</p>
<p>Great suggestions! Thanks! These lists will be good for my son who is going off to his BFA program in September, and especially for my daughter, who is a sophomore in hs and thinking seriously about a career in the performing arts, too! Keep those suggestions coming!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all of the suggestions so far. Her ultimate goal is to major in MT so any musicals you can suggest would also be great.</p>
<p>She would like to be familiar with more plays and musicals than she is now since she knows it will be very helpful once in college.</p>
<p>showmom, this site may also be of assistance.</p>
<p>The</a> Internet Theatre Bookshop - Plays & Musical Plays & Scripts & Skits</p>
<p>If she is reading musicals I would also suggest that she try to listen to recordings. </p>
<p>If you PM me or email me I can send you the listening/ reading list of musicals I give to my students at JMU.</p>
<p>Mamet stuff!!!
Also, "Dog Sees God" and "Boys Life" are a couple I have fallen in love with.</p>
<p>I would suggest Peter Schaffer's "Amadeus" and for a fun read Larry Shue's "The Foreigner" when I read this to myself I was hysterically laughing out loud.</p>
<p>Definitely read The complete works of William Shakespeare.</p>