The first collection of plays from the critically acclaimed Karen Zacarias, one of the ten most produced playwrights in the USA. Contains the plays Native Gardens / The Book Club Play / Destiny of Desire The Book Club Play A hit comedy about books and the people who love them. When the members of a devoted book club become the subjects of a documentary filmmaker and accept a provocative new member, their long-standing group dynamics take a hilarious turn. Sprinkled with wit, joy and novels galore. Destiny of Desire On a stormy night in Bellarica, Mexico, two baby girls are born - one into a life of privilege and one into a life of poverty. When the newborns are swapped by a former beauty queen with an insatiable lust for power the stage is set for two outrageous misfortunes to grow into one remarkable destiny. Karen Zacarias infuses the Mexican telenovela genre with music, high drama and burning passion to make for a fast-paced modern comedy. Native Gardens You can't choose your neighbors. In this brilliant new comedy, cultures and gardens clash, turning well-intentioned neighbors into feuding enemies. Pablo, a rising attorney, and doctoral candidate Tania, his very pregnant wife, have just purchased a home next to Frank and Virginia, a well-established D.C. couple with a prize-worthy English garden. But an impending barbeque for Pablo's colleagues and a delicate disagreement over a long-standing fence line soon spirals into an all-out border dispute, exposing both couples' notions of race, taste, class and privilege.

Collected here for the first time are three of Zacarias' award-winning plays - Native Gardens, The Book Club Play, and Destiny of Desire - three works that explore American and Latino life today with Zacarias' trademark humour, heart, and narrative wit.

About the Author
Karen Zacarias is one of the most produced playwrights in the America. She is one of the inaugural Resident Playwrights at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, and is a core founder of the LATINX THEATRE COMMONS. She is the founder of Young Playwrights' Theater, an award winning theater company that teaches playwriting in local public schools in Washington, DC. Her awards include: New Voices Award, 2010 Steinberg Citation-Best New Play, Paul Aneillo Award, National Francesca Primus Prize, New Voices Award, National Latino Play Award, Finalist Susan Blackburn, Helen Hayes for Outstanding New Play. Karen lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and three children.

Reviews
A delightful, fresh comedy. * Talkin' Broadway *
Terrifically entertaining theatrical roller-coaster...a zany, funny delight. * - LA Times *
A true breath of comic fresh air. * - DC Theatre Scene *



Book Information
ISBN 9781350371934
Author Karen Zacarias
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Methuen Drama
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC