I am an active playgoer and play-reader, and perhaps my best reason for editing this book is a hope of sharing my enthusiasm for the theater with others. To do this I have searched through dozens of plays to find the ones that I think best show the power and purpose of the short play.
我是一个活跃的戏剧爱好者和读者，也许我编辑这本书的最好原因是希望与他人分享我对戏剧的热情。为了做到这一点，我已经翻阅了几十部戏剧，想找出我认为最能体现短剧的力量和目的的戏剧。
Each play has a theme or central idea which the playwright hopes to get across through dialogue and action. A few characters are used to create a single impression growing out of the theme. It is not my intention to point out the central theme of each of the plays in this collection, for that would, indeed, ruin the pleasure of reading, discussing, and thinking about the plays and the effectiveness of the playwright. However, a variety of types is represented here. These include comedy, satire, poignant drama, historical and regional drama. To show the versatility of the short play, I have included a guidance play, a radio play and a television play.
每部戏剧都有一个主题或中心思想，剧作家希望通过对话和行为来传达。一些角色被用来创造出主题之外的单一印象。我无意指出这本剧集中每一部剧作的中心主题，因为那样的话，真的会破坏阅读、讨论和思考这些剧作的乐趣，以及剧作家的功力。不过，这里呈现了多种类型，包括喜剧、讽刺剧、辛酸剧、历史剧和地方戏剧。为了展示短剧的多面性，包括引导剧、广播剧和电视剧。
Among the writers of the plays in this collection, Paul Green, Susan Glaspell,Maxwell Anderson, Thornton Wilder, William Saroyan, and Tennessee Williams have all received Pulitzer Prizes for their contributions to the theater. More information about the playwrights will be found at the end of this book.
本剧集中的剧作家保罗·格林、苏珊·格拉斯贝尔、麦克斯韦尔·安德森、桑顿·怀尔德、威廉·瑟罗扬和田纳西·威廉姆斯均因其对戏剧的贡献而获得普利策奖。本书的结尾处有关于这些剧作家的更多信息。
To get the most out of reading these plays, try to picture the play on stage, with you, the reader, in the audience. The houselights dim. The curtains are about to open, and in a few minutes the action and dialogue will tell you the story.
为了能更好地地阅读这些剧本，试着在舞台上想象你作为读者作为观众的情景。调暗室内照明灯，拉上窗帘，几分钟后故事将通过行为和对话展开。
网友评论