Books That Changed the World
2 total works
John Guare's new play is astonishing, raucous and panoramic. A Free Man of Color is set in boisterous New Orleans prior to the historic Louisiana Purchase. Before law and order took hold, and class, racial and political lines were drawn, New Orleans was a carnival of beautiful women, flowing wine and pleasure for the taking. At the center of this Dionysian world is the mulatto Jacques Cornet, who commands men, seduces women and preens like a peacock. But, it is 1801 and the map of New Orleans is about to be redrawn. The Louisiana Purchase brings American rule and racial segregation to the chaotic, colorful world of Jacques Cornet and all that he represents, turning the tables on freedom and liberty.
One of John Guare's classic plays, Landscape of the Body tells the story of a woman's unfulfilled life and premature death -- and her reflections from the grave. Betty travels to New York to convince her sister Rosalie to leave her gritty New York City life and come home to bucolic Maine. After dying in a freak bicycle accident, Rosalie revisits the world she left behind. From the beyond Rosalie witnesses Betty effortlessly easing into her previous persona -- moving into her apartment, taking over her job, but then Betty abruptly loses her teenage son to a gruesome murder. In a sardonic turn of events, Betty finds herself the primary suspect in her son's death. Guare brilliantly moves back and forth in time and space to create and affecting study of the American dream gone awry.