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Three wickedly scintillating plays on the artistry and science of duplicity, mendacity, and deception. THE ART OF PAINTING: "The Art of Painting" is the magnum opus of Johannes Vermeer, one of the greatest artists in history, who lived his whole life ruing the life and work of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, one of the greatest-er artists in history. Or "The Art of Painting" is the magnum opus of Han van Meegren, one of the greatest art forgers in history who lived his whole life ruing the work of artist Johannes Vermeer. Or "The Art of Painting" is an act of rue by Jacques van Meegren, son of one of the greatest art forgers in history, who lived his whole life bereft of a father who let him down. A story of sex, Nazis, philosophy, forgery, patricide, creation, deception, art, authenticity, rue, rue, and rue all presented with the same eye for false historical verisimilitude that its sources pretended to demand. PHONIES, FRAUDS AND FAKES: A whirlwind tour of some of the greatest liars history and nature have to offer. A list that does not include the author's ex-girlfriend who scammed him for four years, about whom he will not be speaking. IMPOSTERS: Persecuted gay British codebreaker Alan Turing helped develop the first computers and an empirical test for artificial intelligence and other minds. To write about him, the author enlisted the two 1970's robots, ELIZA and PARRY, who first challenged Turing's test. Together with the author, ELIZA and PARRY have written their tribute to Turing: a dark meditation on whether and in what forms our minds really exist.THE ART OF PAINTING"If THE ART OF PAINTING were a real art history lecture, it would be a sophomore's dream. The instructor (Mark Chrisler) is cute, and he makes the lives of long-dead white European men entertaining." -Anita Gates, The New York Times"... more exciting and intellectually stimulating than anything I remember from college ... Chrisler builds a sense of unreliability and mystery, and the twists that follow are a refreshing reminder of the vivid worlds a one-man show can create onstage." -Marissa Oberlander, Chicago ReaderPHONIES, FRAUDS AND FAKES"What starts as a witty lecture on history's biggest lies soon morphs into the fascinating story of Chrisler's four-year involvement with a girlfriend who turned out to be a pathological liar. As he relates how he fell for one whopper after another, Chrisler is insightful on self-deception and the way great liars exploit our willingness to believe what we want to believe, even when the truth is staring us in the face. Still more ingenious, Chrisler uses those very qualities against us, carefully parceling out information in a way that leaves us eager to know what happens next even after we begin to doubt the reliability of our narrator ... an unsettling and irresistible act of storytelling that ... illustrates the power of a cracking good yarn." -Zac Thompson, Chicago ReaderIMPOSTERS"Mark Chrisler credits ELIZA and PARRY as his coauthors on IMPOSTERS, and their influence is undeniably apparent. ELIZA and PARRY were two 'chatterbots': computer programs, dating from 1966 and 1972, respectively, that could generate primitive forms of conversation. Their idiosyncrasies - including ELIZA's tendency to turn everything into a question and PARRY's preoccupation with Mob involvement in horse racing - gradually invade a dialogue between the tragic British computer genius Alan Turing and an interrogator called Nicolas Bourbaki (which is also the nom de plume of a group of mathematicians who specialized in set theory), raising the question of whether Turing and Bourbaki are human ... [What emerges is ] a surprisingly vivid sense of anguish as Turing seems to go off program and, well, raise the question of whether he's human." -Tony Adler, Chicago Reader

When Doc Frankenstein and the Count fall for the same showgirl, you're in for an evening of showdowns and hoedowns that could turn Tombstone into a ghost town. A Halloween Western family entertainment in two acts. And the Mummy dances."One of the most interesting young writing talents in the off-Loop scene, Goode is in equal parts funny, angry, imaginative, crude and hopelessly over the top." -Chicago Tribune"A depraved playwright." -Denver Post"A smarty-pants theater cult-god." -Northern California Bohemian"It's easy to see why some might call Jeff Goode 'anti-Christ.'" -Arizona Daily Star"Playwright Goode is a witty wordsmith." -Beacon Journal (Akron)

"The forms of love that dare not speak their names are pretty scarce in this age of the tabloid talk shows. But that hasn't stopped Edwin Sánchez, a new playwright of tremendous emotional conviction... How do you feel, for example, about a thirty year-old Roman Catholic priest in love with a ten year-old boy? The relationship-which, it should probably be noted right away, is never consummated-is at the center of CLEAN.... Mr Sánchez is a wide-eyed, unregenerate romantic who uses what he describes as `impossible' relationships to consider and celebrate the arbitrariness of love. In a sense, the play is like a contemporary MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM in which the passion-drunk characters, rather than being sorted into socially acceptable pairs, learn to live in a world ruled by a blind Cupid. It is a theme Mr Sánchez explored in TRAFFICKING IN BROKEN HEARTS, an unsettling drama about a doomed gay triangle.... He is, in other words, a playwright to watch closely."Ben Brantley, The New York Times

"Good humor, earnestness and lots of heart. Pastor Sorenson ended up in tears and, judging by the sniffles, so did much of the audience."Los Angeles Times "…it can hardly be denied that stage shows and formal Christian worship both revolve around the theatrically purposed performance of a text in front of an audience. Part of what's so exciting about CAPTAIN OF THE BIBLE QUIZ TEAM, the soberly engaging new play by Tom Jacobson…is what happens when a playwright of Jacobson's caliber acknowledges that relationship. The immersive drama uses both the logic and the liturgy of a Lutheran church service to create a hyper-naturalistic, audience-interactive, single-performer story dramatizing recent headlines."L A Weekly

Rural Central Texas, 1909. A young Russian-Jewish immigrant, newly arrived in America through the port of Galveston, pulls his banana cart into the hamlet of Hamilton. Fleeing the vicious pogroms of his homeland, he has sought refuge in the land of the free. Able to speak only Yiddish, alone in the midst of a staunchly Christian community, he begs for shelter. Over the next thirty years, he makes a home and raises a family in this tiny town. THE IMMIGRANT is the story of a young Russian-Jewish couple and the local couple that take them in, as religion meets religion, culture meets culture, fear meets fear, and love meets love. This is the true story of Haskell Harelik, "the Immigrant". "THE IMMIGRANT received a well-deserved standing ovation on opening night at the Mark Taper Forum…superb."Pros, Variety "A lovely and loving evening of theater. Harelik's story is tender and touching"Ed Kaufman, Hollywood Reporter "A funny new play… The scenes evoke the rural era with the firm-handed clarity of a Jewish Horton Foote…they glow."Linda Winer, U S A Today

Of the hundred or so plays Euripides wrote in his lifetime only nineteen survive. Not all of them won first prize at the festivals, but BAKKHAI did."From the outset, it is essential to understand that in Greek theater, as in fact in Shakespearean theater, the self that is really at stake is to be identified with the male, while the woman is assigned the role of the radical other." -Froma I Zeitlin"Intoxicatingly beautiful, coldly sordid, at one moment baffling, at the next thrilling us with the mystic charm of wood and hillside, this drama stands unique among Euripides's works." -Gilbert Norwood"... a tragic parody of a comic theme, which we have in THE BACCHAE [THE BAKKHAI], is really troublesome, and furthermore rare before our time and the great use of it by Samuel Beckett ... THE BACCHAE makes it plain that some uses of comedy do not diminish tragedy or 'relieve' it but indeed augment it." -Donald Sutherland"The most obvious influence of Euripides's BAKKHAI on Christian mythology lies in its concept of Dionysos as the suffering Son of God." -Arthur Evans"Sometimes Euripides seems like a religious man, and again, like a charlatan. Of course he was neither. He was a playwright." -John Jay Chapman

In Mac Wellman's black comedy, a very angry person attempts to make sense of his understanding of law and order in a world of other angry persons."... this comic/horror story examines the legacy that the cowboy has wrought on American society - where exactly the shoot-first-ask-questions-later attitude has left us ... a brilliantly funny opening scene ..." -Scott Proudfit, Backstage West

Set in South Lebanon, HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM is a soaring love story. When a fleeing refugee encounters a soldier wounded by a roadside bomb, irresistible Palestinian and Israeli characters clash, then ignite a passion that heals."One of the most powerful antiwar plays ever penned ... this life-altering script." -Plays International, London"Sunde's timely, gripping, and richly magical play ... this modern day ROMEO AND JULIET ... an engrossing look at how war can prematurely turn children into adults ... emotional pull of her drama ... will haunt audiences well after the end of the play ... forces beyond man might be at work." -AmericanTheaterWeb.com"A masterpiece ... no soft edges ... goes straight to the heart of the conflict ... outstanding writing, sound, direction, and acting - all the elements that make great theater." -Melissa Kleiner, Bloomberg Radio"Sunde does not take sides in the conflict, and the dialogue has a crisp, biting edge ... gripping drama ... timely romantic drama ... volatile battle zone ... vivid portraits of offstage characters and action ... cinematic thrust of the pieces summons the inspiration for a dandy film." -Variety"... its events seem ripped right out of today's headlines ... pacifist tragedy ... a fateful night that profoundly changes them - and us. Its incisive dialogue, riveting action, and searing audience impact ... The play would likewise make a first-rate film." -Plays International, London"HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM creates an extraordinary modern pacifist myth in which a wounded male Israeli soldier and a female Palestinian terrorist experience each other's passionate hunger for their homes and rights ... it indelibly etches itself upon viewers' souls." -Contemporary Dramatists, London