Plays for Three

PLAYS FOR THREE is a unique anthology of 23 outstanding plays for three actors by an exciting mix of established and emerging playwrights.

Everyone's heard that "Two's company, three's a crowd." That may be true on a date, but on stage, three is a magic number. Add a third character to any interaction and the dramatic possibilities increase exponentially: suddenly there's competition, intrigue, shifting allegiances, comic misunderstandings, secrets and lies. Triangles make excellent drama, and three-handers offer the kind of substantial and challenging roles that actors love. Plays for Three offers six full-length and seventeen short plays featuring dramatic trios of every sort.

Rob Ackerman
Pete Barry
Stephen Belber
Cesi Davidson
Adrienne Dawes
Philip Dawkins
Catherine Filloux
Madeleine George
Amlin Gray
Frank Higgins
Cory Hinkle
Wendy Kesselman
Eric Lane
Kitt Lavoie
Mark Harvey Levine
Matthew Lopez
Donald Margulies
Anna Moench
A. Rey Pamatmat
David Riedy
Nina Shengold
Stephen Webb
Craig Wright

Eric Laneand Nina Shengold have edited 14 contemporary play anthologies for Viking Penguin and Vintage Books, earning them a Lambda Literary Award nomination. Eric’s plays have been performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia. Plays include Ride, Filming O’Keeffe, Ibis, Riverbed, Heart of the City, Times of War, and Dancing on Checkers’ Grave. Eric wrote the book for A Thousand Faces: The Lon Chaney Musical. He wrote and produced the award-winning short films First Breath and Cater-Waiter, which he also directed. For ABC-TV’s Ryan’s Hope, he received a Writers Guild Award. His honors include the La MaMa Playwright Award, the Berilla Kerr Award, plus fellowships at Yaddo and St. James Cavalier in Malta. Eric is an honors graduate of Brown University.

Nina Shengold’s plays include Finger Foods, War at Home, Homesteaders, and Romeo/Juliet, and have been produced around the world. Her one-act No Shoulder was filmed by director Suzi Yoonessi, with Melissa Leo and Samantha Sloyan. Nina won a Writers Guild Award for her teleplay Labor of Love, starring Marcia Gay Harden; other teleplays include Blind Spot, with Joanne Woodward and Laura Linney, and Unwed Father. Her books include the novel Clearcut; River of Words: Portraits of Hudson Valley Writers (with photographer Jennifer May), and a growing posse of pseudonymous books for young readers. A graduate of Wesleyan, she is currently teaching creative writing at Manhattanville College. Nina lives in New York’s Hudson Valley, where she has been books editor of Chronogram magazine since 2004.