Polish Joke

Polish Joke PDF Author: David Ives
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 0802199208
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
A collection of four works from the American playwright known as “wizardly . . . magical and funny . . . a master of language” (The New York Times). This collection brings together four full-length plays from the same dazzling pen that produced the one-act comic masterpieces of All in the Timing. Polish Joke is about a young Polish-American’s trip through ethnic stereotypes. Nine-year-old Midwesterner Jan Bogdan Sadlowski, nicknamed Jasiu, is told by his uncle that Poles are thought to be “backward, stupid, inept, and gloomy.” The only way out is for Jasiu “to impersonate someone not Polish.” In Don Juan in Chicago, a Renaissance innocent makes a deal with the devil, only to become a reluctant Latin lover. Ancient History is a comedy-drama about the holy war that breaks out when two people from two very different cultures fall in love. The Red Address paints a searing portrait of a man with a secret who is forced by tragedy into self-revelation. Praise for David Ives “A pitcher with a great many tricks up his sleeve. He throws like an all-star . . . mixing comedic moods and styles with a dizzying assortment of changeups.” —The New York Times Polish Joke “Ives skillfully climbs the slippery slope of political incorrectness without a single mean-spirited stumble.” —CurtainUp Don Juan in Chicago “Ives invents an irresistible premise and has fun making good on its promise.” —Los Angeles Times Ancient History “A riveting theatrical experience.” —Show Business The Red Address “Mix Glengarry Glen Ross with Glen or Glenda . . . A tough-talking drama that mixes business sharks, blackmail, cross-dressing and murder.” —Variety

Polish Joke

Polish Joke PDF Author: David Ives
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 0802199208
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book Here

Book Description
A collection of four works from the American playwright known as “wizardly . . . magical and funny . . . a master of language” (The New York Times). This collection brings together four full-length plays from the same dazzling pen that produced the one-act comic masterpieces of All in the Timing. Polish Joke is about a young Polish-American’s trip through ethnic stereotypes. Nine-year-old Midwesterner Jan Bogdan Sadlowski, nicknamed Jasiu, is told by his uncle that Poles are thought to be “backward, stupid, inept, and gloomy.” The only way out is for Jasiu “to impersonate someone not Polish.” In Don Juan in Chicago, a Renaissance innocent makes a deal with the devil, only to become a reluctant Latin lover. Ancient History is a comedy-drama about the holy war that breaks out when two people from two very different cultures fall in love. The Red Address paints a searing portrait of a man with a secret who is forced by tragedy into self-revelation. Praise for David Ives “A pitcher with a great many tricks up his sleeve. He throws like an all-star . . . mixing comedic moods and styles with a dizzying assortment of changeups.” —The New York Times Polish Joke “Ives skillfully climbs the slippery slope of political incorrectness without a single mean-spirited stumble.” —CurtainUp Don Juan in Chicago “Ives invents an irresistible premise and has fun making good on its promise.” —Los Angeles Times Ancient History “A riveting theatrical experience.” —Show Business The Red Address “Mix Glengarry Glen Ross with Glen or Glenda . . . A tough-talking drama that mixes business sharks, blackmail, cross-dressing and murder.” —Variety

Polish Joke

Polish Joke PDF Author: David Ives
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
ISBN: 9780822219569
Category : Polish Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
THE STORY: A comedy about ethnic identity and the eternal American search for roots. Jasiu (thirtyish) is a Polish-American who has been taught not to value his own roots, so he decides to make his own roots, reinventing himself first as a sort o

The Red Address

The Red Address PDF Author: David Ives
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
ISBN: 9780822216063
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
THE STORY: In a radical departure from his comedies, David Ives writes a searing, disturbing drama about a middle-American businessman whose company and whose very life and sanity stand under attack. E. G. Triplett leads an outwardly respectable, a

Don Juan in Chicago

Don Juan in Chicago PDF Author: David Ives
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
ISBN: 9780822214793
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description
THE STORY: Don Juan is a handsome, rich, sexually naive nobleman in sixteenth-century Spain. His servant, Leporello, urges him to find a girlfriend and lead a normal life, but the Don is more interested in finding the meaning of life through books

The Mirth of Nations

The Mirth of Nations PDF Author: Christie Davies
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351479377
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
The Mirth of Nations is a social and historical study of jokes told in the principal English-speaking countries. It is based on use of archives and other primary sources, including old and rare joke books. Davies makes detailed comparisons between the humor of specific pairs of nations and ethnic and regional groups. In this way, he achieves an appreciation of the unique characteristics of the humor of each nation or group.A tightly argued book, The Mirth of Nations uses the comparative method to undermine existing theories of humor, which are rooted in notions of hostility, conflict, and superiority, and derive ultimately from Hobbes and Freud. Instead Davies argues that humor merely plays with aggression and with rule-breaking, and that the form this play takes is determined by social structures and intellectual traditions. It is not related to actual conflicts between groups. In particular, Davies convincingly argues that Jewish humor and jokes are neither uniquely nor overwhelmingly self-mocking as many writers since Freud have suggested. Rather Jewish jokes, like Scottish humor and jokes are the product of a strong cultural tradition of analytical thinking and intelligent self-awareness.The volume shows that the forty-year popularity of the Polish joke cycle in America was not a product of any special negative feeling towards Poles. Jokes are not serious and are not a form of determined aggression against others or against one's own group. The Mirth of Nations is readable as well as revisionist. It is written with great clarity and puts forward difficult and complex arguments without jargon in an accessible manner. Its rich use of examples of all kinds of humor entertains the reader, who will enjoy a great variety of jokes while being enlightened by the author's careful explanations of why particular sets of jokes exist and are immensely popular. The book will appeal to general readers as well as those in cultural stu

The Facts on File Companion to American Drama

The Facts on File Companion to American Drama PDF Author: Jackson R. Bryer
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438129661
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 657

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Book Description
Features a comprehensive guide to American dramatic literature, from its origins in the early days of the nation to the groundbreaking works of today's best writers.

Games Prisoners Play

Games Prisoners Play PDF Author: Marek M. Kaminski
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691187142
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
On March 11, 1985, a van was pulled over in Warsaw for a routine traffic check that turned out to be anything but routine. Inside was Marek Kaminski, a Warsaw University student who also ran an underground press for Solidarity. The police discovered illegal books in the vehicle, and in a matter of hours five secret police escorted Kaminski to jail. A sociology and mathematics major one day, Kaminski was the next a political prisoner trying to adjust to a bizarre and dangerous new world. This remarkable book represents his attempts to understand that world. As a coping strategy until he won his freedom half a year later by faking serious illness, Kaminski took clandestine notes on prison subculture. Much later, he discovered the key to unlocking that culture--game theory. Prison first appeared an irrational world of unpredictable violence and arbitrary codes of conduct. But as Kaminski shows in riveting detail, prisoners, to survive and prosper, have to master strategic decision-making. A clever move can shorten a sentence; a bad decision can lead to rape, beating, or social isolation. Much of the confusion in interpreting prison behavior, he argues, arises from a failure to understand that inmates are driven not by pathological emotion but by predictable and rational calculations. Kaminski presents unsparing accounts of initiation rituals, secret codes, caste structures, prison sex, self-injuries, and of the humor that makes this brutal world more bearable. This is a work of unusual power, originality, and eloquence, with implications for understanding human behavior far beyond the walls of one Polish prison.

Isn’t that Clever

Isn’t that Clever PDF Author: Steven Gimbel
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351622625
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Isn’t That Clever provides a new account of the nature of humor – the cleverness account – according to which humor is intentional conspicuous acts of playful cleverness. This volume asks whether there are limits to what can be said in dealing with a heckler and how do we determine whether one comedian has stolen jokes from another.

Encyclopedia of American Drama

Encyclopedia of American Drama PDF Author: Jackson R. Bryer
Publisher: Infobase Learning
ISBN: 1438140762
Category : American drama
Languages : en
Pages : 2466

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Book Description
Provides a comprehensive guide to American dramatic literature, from its origins in the early days of the nation to American classics such as Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Thornton Wilder's Our Town to the groundbreaking works of today's best writers.

The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture PDF Author: Randy Pausch
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780340978504
Category : Cancer
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.