Four One-Act Plays by Robert Schenkkan.

3/5 ( ratings)

In CONVERSATIONS WITH THE SPANISH LADY, a sleepless old railroad man describes hauling trains full of the dead across Canada during the World War I home-front plague of influenza that killed thousands of people. As he defends his life, a Spanish lady, cloaked in white, hovers over him as a spectral visitor. "Schenkkan has written a theatrical tome poem, not primarily of history but of AIDS." LA Times. At LUNCH BREAK, two strangers strike up a lunchtime conversation in the park that will leave both of them changed forever. " we are reminded how suddenly violence can enter our lives and how easy it is for innocent bystanders to become victims." Louisville Times. During INTERMISSION, in the star's dressing room, on a disastrous opening night, old debts are settled while love and power vie for a place on the bill. " powerful dramatic anecdote redolent with theatrical gossip at its bitchiest an extremely cunning play with all the fascination of eavesdropping on a particularly juicy scandal." Courier-Journal. "Anger, frustration and fear are the prevailing emotions in this well-written backstage drama. Schenkkan knows theatre people and the pressures that touch both their personal and professional lives." Louisville Times. Calvin Renner is THE SURVIVALIST, a "survival engineer," a doomsday prophet/profiteer with a very special pitch for surviving the twentieth century. Don't be the last on your block. "Chilling and heavily ironic." The Scotsman. "Terrifying, squirm in your seat stuff." LA Times. "