"What brings the past alive better than stories performed by live actors? The 25 plays in this collection are short theatrical pieces that bring to life moments in American history from the early nineteenth century to the 1970s. Most of the characters in these plays are not famous figures or even factual people. They are ordinary Americans who did not make history, but lived it. Each play runs between eight and ten minutes, and cast sizes range from two to eight. The plays can be read aloud or simply staged in the classroom, or they can be fully staged with the help of complete character, set, and costume descriptions for each scene. Each play also includes a background description of the historical situation of the plot as well as an aftermath description that explains what happened after the dramatized event. Ideal for middle school or high school drama classes wanting relatable period pieces or for American history classes wanting to make past events and times real for todays students, these engaging scenes capture the essence of the American spirit of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."
Thomas Hischak is an internationally recognized author and teacher in the Performing He is the author of over thirty non-fiction books about theatre, film, and popular music, including The Oxford Companion to the American Musical. He is also the author of over fifty published plays. Hischak is a Fulbright scholar who has taught and directed in Greece, Lithuania, and Turkey. From 1983 to 2015 he was Professor of Theatre at the State University of New York at Cortland where he has received such honors as the 2004 SUNY Chancellors Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity and the 2010 SUNY Outstanding Achievement in Research Award. Four of his books have been cited as Outstanding Non-fiction Books by the American Library Association and The Oxford Companion to the American Musical was cited as an Outstanding Reference Work by the New York City Public Library in 2008. His playwriting awards include the Stanley Drama Award and the Julie Harris Playwriting Award. Hischak is currently an Adjunct Professor teaching film and theatre at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.