Organized along broadly historical lines, this comprehensive collection of outstanding plays includes 41 works from the classical Greek period to the contemporary. As an introduction to the theater, the collection is unmatched for its theatrical variety and cultural diversity. It provides: (1) a general introduction on reading and witnessing a play; (2) introductions to each period of drama, with line drawings of typical theaters of the period; and (3) introductions to each of the dramatists, surveying their theatrical careers and major works. The collection is divided into sections on Classical Greek Theater (includes selections by Sophocles, Aristophanes, Euripides and Aeschylus); Medieval Theater (includes "Everyman," and "The Second Shepherd's Play"); Renaissance English Theater (includes selections by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, John Webster, and Ben Jonson); Neoclassical Theater (includes selections by Moliere and Richard Brinsley Sheridan); Modern Theater (includes selections by Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, Bernard Shaw, Sean O'Casey, Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, Bertolt Brecht, and Tennessee Williams); and Contemporary Theater (includes selections by Eugene Ionesco, Athol Fugard, Caryl Churchill, Samuel Beckett, Ntozake Shange, Harold Pinter, Sam Shepard, and David Mamet). The sections on Modern and Contemporary Theater are particularly extensive. Appendixes contain "Analyzing a Play: Close Reading for Writing" (with suggestions for papers that might develop from analysis), and a list of film and video productions of plays in the collection. (NKA)