1 comments about A Journey Through Other Spaces: Essays and Manifestos, 1944-1990.

1. This exhaustive collection of Kantor's writing on theater accompanied by an exhaustive biography of his life is a must-have for ANY (I repeat: ANY) person interested in avante-garde theater. His theories about representation and memory address some of the most important issues facing all theater workers. His work has been ignored for far too long.

5 comments about Honors Disguise (Rocky Mountain Legacy #4).

1. This series gets better and better. As always, Kristen Heitzmann has a lovely way with words. Her characters are deep and lifelike. Things finally seemed ready to settle down and Cole's up and kidnapped by bounty hunters haulin' him in for a murder, of a harlot of all things. Of course, Abbie's gotta hitch up her skirts and tear off after him like heat on a summer day and of course, she finds and frees him. That's where the fun begins. Cole's still determined to walk towards danger for honor's sake.



2. Abbie is fearless, a loving wife, a devoted mother. She's a good daughter and friend. She has many qualities most ladies aspire to.
   
   I love the series, and I cannot wait to see what happens next. I love the narration by Kate Forbes. I can't wait for the 2nd series when Janette gets married, and Eliot finds his true love as well; and even how Marci's daughter turns out.
   
   Kristen keep writing,
   
   Julia



3. Cole has returned to Abbie's ranch as foreman, but Abbie is not about to let down her guard to love again, until -- could it be happening? Just as she begins to wonder, a stranger rides onto the ranch and beats Cole severely immediately before bounty hunters come and violently take Cole away for the murder of an El Paso woman, a lady of the night with whom Cole's brother, Sam was in love.
   
   Consuming a good portion of the whole book is the long journeys most of the main characters are making to El Paso and back, leaving the children, 7 and 4 behind in the care of Abbie's parents. The journey is long and hard, unlikely characters from past books appear and one surprise after another lands Abbie in El Paso, visiting Cole in jail. She has a hard time really knowing if he is innocent or guilty, but someone does know, and Abbie feels she owes it to Cole to find out the truth. After all, he has saved her life on several occasions. Her faithful young stable hand, Will, is by her side, helping in every way he can.
   
   A circuit rider preacher has accompanied Cole part of the way on this trip and Cole has decided he needs to know God. However, Abbie has a hard time believing he really has changed. The author throws in some difficult situations with Cole's past and his family's tragedies and some real surprises in this book which features mainly, the life, the hanging charges and the changes which take place in the lives of Abbie Farrell and Cole Jasper.
   
   I already have the next book ready to start. Thanks Kristen, for this wonderful, historical Christian fiction series!



4. I think this is the best book,but I realy wish monte did not die. I think she should write another book to the series, and have monte not realy be dead,and have it turn out that he realy was just badly injured and before they put him in the dirt a native american came and grabbed him and patched him up but lost his memory.So Abbie falls in love with cole and gets married, and so monte comes home after a few months they've been married, with his memory back,and abbie has to choose between them........you could finish the rest kristen if you decide to use my idea in another rocky mountian legacy. Keep up the good work,and GOD BLESS YOU! P.S Keep me informed please!



5. I think this is the best book,but I realy wish monte did not die. I think she should write another book to the series, and have monte not realy be dead,and have it turn out that he realy was just badly injured and before they put him in the dirt a native american came and grabbed him and patched him up but lost his memory.So Abbie falls in love with cole and gets married, and so monte comes home after a few months they've been married, with his memory back,and abbie has to choose between them........you could finish the rest kristen if you decide to use my idea in another rocky mountian legacy. Keep up the good work,and GOD BLESS YOU! P.S Keep me informed please!

5 comments about Mommie Dearest.

1. Their is a lot of controversy around this book. Honestly after reading this book, I felt that it was true, but now I watched the movie, I felt that I don't think so anymore. I believe that Christina was angry that she was disinheired and she wanted to get the last word.
   This book was very well written with alot of good stories. If those stories are true.



2. I don't know much except for the film version featuring Faye Dunaway who played Joan Crawford and Diana Scarwid as Christina Crawford. Joan Crawford may have been difficult but she was a movie star and they don't make them like they used too. Regardless, she adopted four children. Christina recalls Mommie Dearest with both love and hate. I believe Joan wanted a mini version of herself. The mother and daugher had a complicated and stormy relationship to say the least. Joan was abusive but rereading the book did shed light on how Joan became Joan Crawford. She was Lucille LeSeur before the Hollywood System changed the name to Joan Crawford which sounded like Crawfish. Much like her rival, Bette Davis, which I doubt that Joan went after her and was rejected. They were much more alike in reality. They couldn't stand not being the star and disliked sharing the spotlight. In the first chapter, it details how the stars of Crawford and Davis' generation were worked like horses for the studio system which has long dismantled. Joan had a drinking problem and she was pressured to maintain her figure, her image which was important to her, and her obsession with being loved by her fans, her children, her colleagues, and lovers (many male lovers, they say)which was legendary. I don't know much about her childhood but it wasn't very happy. Crawford might have become as well-known as Davis if it had not been for this scathing book which paints such a negative portrait of Crawford as an abusive, angry, vengeful, mother. Maybe because she and her brother Christopher were disinherited from their mother's estate. We'll never know. I feel sorry the legendary Joan Crawford who besides being devoted to her fans is painted so negatively here.



3. Anyone buy this book for a penny? If it were possible to give negative stars I would have. This book reads like the diary of a twelve year old complaining about her mean mommy.
   
   The adopted daughter of Joan Crawford, a movie actress from the 20's to the 70's, Christina Crawford clings to her desperation to ride her mother's coat tails into fame and fortune. The book chronicles the authors childhood and ends with the bitter will reading where Chirstina and her adopted brother Christopher were left nothing whle their two adopted sisters made out well. Enraged by her failure to inherite her mothers estate, Christina takes the cowardly chance to ruin forever the reputation her mother built, by writing this tell-all book andhaving it printed after her mothers death.
   
   The story line is shallow at best and sadly, people read this book and for the most part gulp down every word. Pooooor Chirstina. If the reader is smart enough to realize, the "abuse" Christina, a lazy child furious at not being handed everything in life on a golden platter, was commonplace punishment methods used by parents of the time. Sent to bed without dinner, taught by example how to clean and display proper manners, and actual spankings! Joan Crawford busted her hump working and was understandibly stressed at being a single mother of four adopted children in a time where a single woman adopting was unheard of.
   
   While child abuse is a real problme and by no means excusable, this book fails miserably to paint a story of the long undeserved suffering of a child. Was Joan Crawford perfect? Of course not, she was human. If you want to read about real child abuse and compare this waste of paper to a REAL story of child abuse; I suggest reading "A boy called IT". Mommie Dearest is nothing more than a revenge diary trashing a mother who refused to let her priviledged children grown up spoilt rotten and taught them values that seem lost on most parents nowadays.



4. "Mommie Dearest," by Christina Crawford,eldest adopted daughter of famed movie star Joan Crawford, has been piggybacking on Mommie's fame for some time now, and has been quite widely publicized. And it lives up to its reputation. Joan Crawford, for sure, was a major international movie star, won herself an Oscar for playing the tormented mother in "Mildred Pierce," and made quite a few other movies, 81 to be precise, notable by her presence. Christina won fame by telling tales on Mommie.
   
   There are, of course, plenty of those here. Mommie's midnight raids, alcoholism, multitudes of lovers. Tieing up brother Christopher every night before bedtime. And, of course, the unforgettable "No wire hangers."
   
   You can't doubt Christina's story, that Mildred Pierce was, in real life, a terrible mother: and other sources, such as biographer Bob Thomas agree.
   
   And it undoubtedly took a certain amount of bravery, at that time and place, for Christina to discuss the abusive conditions in the Crawford home. It wasn't being done, period, let alone by children/adopted children of someone as well-known and admired as Joan Crawford. Christina's honesty, at that time and place, may well have helped others.
   
   But Christina's rather like the couple someone once told me about, who, when asked what they thought of a new restaurant they'd just tried, said the food was awful, and the servings were too small. Anytime Mommie's budget gets tight, and the money doesn't come in and go out in large enough quantities, quickly enough to suit Christina, she complains.
   
   Her grudge against Mom is so strong as to dominate the book; even the photo captions are hostile. Mommie's hair looked awful in the mornings; Mommie wanted the kids to be quiet when she was asleep. Can you beat that?
   
   As a dutiful daughter, Christina raises the question as to whether, in her struggling starlet days, Mom turned a trick or two, and then wonders about Mommie's "lesbian tendencies." She even hints that Mommie threw her last, millionaire husband, Alfred Steele of Pepsi Cola, down the stairs. All this, mind you, without so much as a single supporting paragraph. Even so, let's be fair, life was undoubtedly hard for daughter, as it had been, and was, for mother. In fact, to be perfectly clear about it, Christina's life might well have been hard no matter who did, or didn't take her in. Life did give her a tough row to hoe.
   
   Don't know if anyone still feels the need to buy this book, but don't worry, the dirt's all here if you do. And it's still Joan Crawford selling the book if anything is. Christina had some tough times; anyone can feel for the sobbing little girl scrubbing Mommie's dressing room with Bon Ami in the middle of the night, but Mommie's still paying the bills.



5. When Mommie Dearest was written in the 1970s, many people seemed to think child abuse didn't happen in the homes of the rich and famous. Some disputed the things Christina said about her adptive mother, but people who knew Joan confirmed much of what was described in Mommie Dearest. Some things, such as the "night raids" were probably only witnessed by the children. Even if ( I said if) that was exaggerated, much of what Joan did was abuse, even when you consider people had different standards about discipline 50 years ago. For one thing, people were much less likely to intervene, I think, than they are today, especially when the abusive parent is rich and famous. I don't understand why another reviewer here said Joan paid for college-- I don't remember that part. Christina was out on her own very young. Just because Joan Crawford was famous doesn't mean she was a good person or a good parent, and it is not whining to let people know that.
   Having said that, I only gave the book 3 stars. Mommie Dearest is not the best written book I have ever seen. I would have liked to have seen more depth, more understanding of why Joan was what she was, and how she became that way. Of course, Christina is not a professional writer, just someone who had to endure abuse that might have broken a lesser person.

No comments about Performance: A Critical Introduction.

1 comments about Gianfranco Pedersoli - Master Engraver.

1. This book is a masterpiece. Actually not the book itself, but all the Pedersoli work this book conains are just exceptional. Page after page after page just world class engraving with very good quality photos. All his engraving are so lifelike, created with love and executed superbly. If you are even little interested in engraving, then you have to get this book. And even if you're just into fantasy art, then his work has a lot of this too.
   
   Just plain amazing, what can I say.

1 comments about Basics of Video Production, Second Edition.

1. This book is a concise, well organized and inexpensive text for beginning level video production classes as well as a good reference for first time producers and directors. It gives a good overview of lighting, audio, crew positions and responsibilities, studio equipment, concept generation, wardrobe and more.

   A good, functional teaching tool.

5 comments about The Playbill Broadway Yearbook: June 1, 2005 - May 31, 2006, Second Annual Edition (Playbill Broadway Yearbook).

1. stellar compilation of the entire broadway season's playbills; a must have for any theater fan



2. I live in South Africa and am a regular visitor to New York but was unable to get there this year. This book gives me full information on all aspects of shows on Broadway. I find it exceptionally interesting particularly on those shows that opened within that period.



3. This book was just what I expected, and it was wonderful! I shall definitely go back and buy the previous years' books. However, it is targeted at a specific reader/theatregoer. Lots and lots of pictures and behind the scenes lists, not only cast, but crew, producers, etc. Also lists awards and nominations. A great find for avid theatre buffs, but probably boring for the general public.



4. I purchased the first year yearbook as well as this second one. It is a good source of documentation of the theater season- complete with the cast listing, crew,stage door stories (which I particularly enjoy), photos and events that transpired on that particular theater season.



5. This was an ideal gift for my granddaughter who is majoring in theater in college. I also bought her the previous year's book. She had seen many of the plays and thoroughly enjoyed reading about those along with those she hadn't seen.

5 comments about Stones in His Pockets: A Play by Marie Jones with an Introduction by Mel Gussow.

1. I laughed, I cried, I covered my ears. This is such a classic piece of Irish-ness! The storyline is fanciful (unless YOU regularly have Hollywood crews arrive in your little town) but the underlying truths are not. When we saw this play performed in London, two actors played all the parts, which just added to the poignancy and hilarity. Drunks, dreamers and the depressed are all part of the Irish national psyche, and "Stones" hits on all these. This little gem of a story deserves wider acclaim.



2. This is a wonderful play, but unless you have a prodigious imagination, reading it won't be nearly as enjoyable as seeing it performed. 'Tis no small feat to move this one from the page to the stage.
   
   Plenty of laughs to earn the "comedy" label, but it wouldn't be Oirish if it was nothing but funny.



3. Reading the book was like seeing this marvelous play again. An absolute treat in every sense of the word. I now want to see the play again and experience things I didn't grasp when I first saw it. I'm going to wear the book out reading it and re-reading it. A very special book indeed.



4. This is an Irish play calling for two actors to play multiple parts. The main characters, Charlie and Jake are extras for an American film in County Kerry to shoot Quiet Valley, a rural Irish romance. In the course of the play the two actors are also Production Assistants, other extras, a couple local kids, the film's famous lead actress, and other characters. As an acting piece this would be both awe-enducing in it's complexity and thrilling in it's shifting of tone and character. The skill to perform this piece demands well worked out, detailed individualized characters. All the demands of an actor in a solo piece are here, only for two.
   
   The play itself is frequently funny, marked by a swift pace, moving toward a hopeful and unforeseen ending. I enjoyed very much the possibility of seeing or being in Stones in His Pockets, as the movement from scene to scene is immediate, and the development of relationships tight-igniting my imagination. There is also much said thematically, about Hollywood hypocrisy (i.e., authentic dialects vs. being able to understand) and inspiration, small town dreams, and "the whole disintegration of rural Ireland." This quote is from Mel Gussow in the Introduction.
   
   I would suggest reading the intro after the play, as the spirit of Stones in His Pockets is best kept to the text of the play itself. The intro is informative though. I would love to see this performed.



5. A small farming village in County Kerry, Ireland, where a new Hollywood film is being shot, serves as the setting for this hilarious and affecting comedy. Many of the local residents are working as extras for "forty smackaronies a day," including Charlie Conlon and Jake Quinn, both in their mid-thirties, through whose eyes we observe the lives of the real residents of Kerry, a world dramatically different from what is being recorded on film. For the director and crew of the film and for Caroline Giovanni, the American star, the daily takes and on-set activity are, unfortunately, the only reality. When Sean Harkin, a dream-filled, 17-year-old local boy with crushed hopes, is humiliated by the film crew, and, depressed, puts stones in his pockets and drowns himself, this wry and exuberant social commentary tackles important themes and achieves a universality and significance that are rare in comedy.
   
   Winner of the Olivier Award in 2000, this play by Marie Jones features fourteen characters played by two actors, whose role changes occur instantaneously. These include, among others, the roles of the film's star, Caroline Giovanni; Mickey Riordan, a 70-year-old local man whose only claim to fame is that he was an extra in The Quiet Man; Clem, a British Director; Jock Campbell, a Scottish security man; and Dave, a Cockney crew member. Requiring a variety of accents and quick-change artistry, this is a daunting play for all but the most ambitious director and most versatile of actors. The two actors reflect moods that range from satiric amusement at the silliness of the film industry to righteous anger at the insensitivity of the film crew, from poignant understanding of Sean's dreams to the guilt-filled helplessness of the friend who witnessed Sean's death, and from Charlie's hopeless cynicism about the possibilities of getting his own script produced to Jake's infectious optimism about "taking on the real world."
   
   As the village and the film crew come together at Sean's wake and funeral, the themes of real life vs. reel life, the importance of dreams and need to keep working for them, and the acknowledgment that genuine respect must underlie meaningful human relationships permeate the play but never intrude. This is a comedy, after all, and as Jake and Charlie come to new recognitions about themselves and think about their future lives, the audience is there with them, rooting for their success. Mary Whipple

No comments about Experimental Theatre: From Stanislavsky to Peter Brook.

5 comments about Costuming Made Easy: How to Make Theatrical Costumes from Cast-Off Clothing.

1. If you need to make a costume for an event or for a theatrical performance and you don't have the time, skill or interest in sewing from a pattern, then this book is for you. It is packed with clever ideas that transform old clothing into great costumes. The woman is a genius! On the down side, it is not geared to kids costumes, so you might be disappointed if that is what you are looking for. Also, be warned that some of the costumes shown for a particular show are not period or character correct in some cases (Jud in Oklahoma for example). If you are costuming a show, you should do your own research. Overall, though, this is a great book that I refer to often.



2. If you think this book would be a good inspiring source for your Halloween costume or for your kids' school show, think again.
   The ideas in this book are good but it has several big problems. First, there are no color pictures. Each entity has a hand drawn illustration for the alternation and a two inches high, whole person figure, very bad quality, black and white picture to show the final result. Since most of the costumes here need at lest two pieces of original clothing of different color and style to combine with, only if you saw a lot of board way show and hopefully remember exactly how the major characters' costumes looked like, you probably will be easily confused by those illustrations. Second, a lot of material she used here is originally costume itself (or quite fancy old-style dress to say the least) but not ordinary cast-off clothing you might think you could find in nowadays closet.



3. I had my doubts at first when the author said she could assemble a costume with just glue,some seam ripping and little to no sewing. Then I saw the costumes. Wow! I just wish the pics were IN COLOR(hint,hint) so I could fully appreciate them. Now were's my glue gun?;-)



4. Even though we had never before made a costume in our lives the book allowed both me and my wife to win a local costume contest. The clear and consise directions saved my life when I had to finish my costume the weekend my wife was out of town. And thanks to Ms Rogers we not only impressed our friends, we're $50 richer!



5. I thought this book was wonderfully written so even somone like me does not sew well, I can still create a costume to die for. I am always making costumes for something, but this book has really opened my eyes to new innovative ways to create something alot nicer than I would ordinarily make. Thank You Barb for the book, it helped me alot and I am sure I am not the only one.