San Antonio College Library

Gathers seventeen short plays set in the small Texas town of Harrison.

These seven one-act plays, singly and as a cycle, are part of the permanent repertory of drama groups in all parts of the world and are a striking illustration of O'Neill's remarkable ability to create dramatic tension and atmosphere.

The Water Engine is a story of a poor young factory worker who invents an engine that runs on water. Big business tries to force him to sell the rights. Mr. Happiness is a companion piece where a host of a radio show attempts to help his listeners in their personal problems.

The plays in this volume of 5-Minute Plays are geared toward adults. Some are comedic, some are dramatic, some are realistic in style, while others are more unconventional. Their length makes them perfect for scene work in class. A few of the plays are written by playwrights who have established quite a reputation with their full-length plays, such as Don Nigro, Lee Blessing, Y York, and Sheila Callaghan. But most are by what I call exciting up-and-comers,...

The typists : When Paul Cunningham reports for work addressing postcards for a mail-order house, he makes it clear to his fellow worker, Sylvia Payton, that his employment is strictly temporary. Paul, a married man, is studying law at night, and with his uncle already in successful practice there is every hope that his future will be a promising one. Sylvia, the "supervisor" of the two-employee office, has a few dreams herself mostly of the romantic...

The variety, originality, and spontaneity of these plays is a testament to what happens when you give gifted, committed playwrights the opportunity to write a short play knowing that it will be produced. In their hands it has been proven to be a risk that pays off. At the heart of this event is the imaginative impulse of a playwright writing a play knowing that it will be produced as opposed to hoping that it will be produced. How liberating that...