Let’s Celebrate National Book Lovers Day!
Broadway Book Club
Join the Broadway Book Club with an annual or quarterly subscription to receive 5 or 7 scripts! Specialty Collections, curated packs of 5 scripts on themes such as Banned Books, Tony Award® Winners and more, are available for delivery at any time.
Alabama Story by
Photo by Stewart Edmonds, 2020 Alabama Shakespeare Festival production
As the Civil Rights movement is brewing, a controversial children’s book about a black rabbit marrying a white rabbit stirs the passions of a segregationist State Senator and a no-nonsense State Librarian in 1959 Montgomery, Alabama. A contrasting story of childhood friends—an African American man and a woman of white privilege, reunited in adulthood—provides private counterpoint to the public events swirling in the state capital. Political foes, star-crossed lovers, and one feisty children’s author inhabit the same page in a Deep South of the imagination that brims with humor, heartbreak, and hope. Inspired by true events!
Pride and Prejudice by
Photo by Geoff Greene, 2023 UMW Theatre production
Based on the novel by Jane Austen
This isn’t your grandmother’s Austen! Bold, surprising, boisterous, and timely, this P&P for a new era explores the absurdities and thrills of finding your perfect (or imperfect) match in life. The outspoken Lizzy Bennet is determined to never marry, despite mounting pressure from society. But can she resist love, especially when that vaguely handsome, mildly amusing, and impossibly aggravating Mr. Darcy keeps popping up at every turn?! Literature’s greatest tale of latent love has never felt so theatrical, or so full of life than it does in this effervescent adaptation. Because what turns us into greater fools…than the high-stakes game of love?
Sense and Sensibility by
Photo by Teresa Castracane, 2022 Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre production
Based on the novel by Jane Austen
A playful new adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel follows the fortunes (and misfortunes) of the Dashwood sisters—sensible Elinor and hypersensitive Marianne—after their father’s sudden death leaves them financially destitute and socially vulnerable. Set in gossipy late 18th-century England, with a fresh female voice, the play is full of humor, emotional depth, and bold theatricality. Sense and Sensibility examines our reactions, both reasonable and ridiculous, to societal pressures. When reputation is everything, how do you follow your heart?
Vanity Fair by
Photo by Sara Krulwich, 2017 Pearl Theater production
Based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray
Becky is “bad.” Amelia is “good.” But in an unfair world, it isn’t always that simple…Two women—one born into privilege, another straight from the streets—attempt to navigate a society that punishes them for every misstep. Clever Becky’s not afraid to break the rules; soft-hearted Amelia’s scared to bend them. Both strive for what they want—but neither can thrive without the other. Through Becky and Amelia’s victories and losses, this thrilling, highly theatrical (im)morality play explores how flexible our morals can become when the wheel of fortune turns…Bold, wickedly funny, and shockingly relevant, VANITY FAIR demands that we face our own hypocrisy. After all…who are we to judge?
All Quiet on the Western Front by
Based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque
In October 1918, a month before the end of World War I, Paul Bäumer is shot and killed by a sniper on the western front. He is the last of his classmates to fall in a war that will destroy many in his generation and disillusion those who remain. All Quiet on the Western Front chronicles Paul’s observations of life and death in the mud of the trenches and the impossibility of returning to civilian life after living in hell. Paul, Müller, Kat, and Kropp are all brought briefly to life in this adaptation of one of the great anti-war classics of the twentieth century.
The Bookstore by Adam Szymkowicz
2024 Invisible Theatre Production
The future of a whimsical, almost magical bookstore is uncertain after the owner dies and leaves the shop to her niece Rachel. Rachel has a job in New York City that doesn’t pay her enough and a fiancé that won’t stop calling. She doesn’t have the time or patience to run a bookstore, so when real estate magnate Max Brewer offers her more money than she can imagine to turn the store into an apartment complex, her choice seems like a no-brainer. But as the shop works its magic on her and she gets to know the eccentric employees and clientele, she starts to wonder: Can you really put a price on a beloved community bookstore?
Musicals
Little House on the Prairie; Book by Rachel Sheinkin, Music by Rachel Portman, Lyrics by Donna Di Novelli
Photo by Michal Daniel, 2008 Guthrie Theater production
This heartwarming musical follows the Ingalls family’s journey westward and settlement in De Smet, South Dakota where Ma and Pa Ingalls hope to make a better life for their children. It tells the story of their struggle to keep their land claim. In story, song, and dance, we see the Ingalls weathering the hardships of winter blizzards and prairie fires as well as rejoicing in the settlement of land and town. Most of all, the story follows Laura as she grows from a wild child who loves to run free into a woman who embraces the responsibilities of her own future while struggling to remain true to herself.
A Peter Rabbit Tale; Book by Sarah Brandt, Music and Lyrics by Neal Richardson
Peter Rabbit doesn’t think life as a rabbit is all it’s cracked up to be in this spirited children’s musical. His mother is always making him do chores, and Peter’s had just about all he can take of his goody two-shoes twin sisters. After being picked on for the last time, Peter decides to run away from home and find a better place to live — somewhere he can be in charge, do whatever he wants, and be free of responsibility. But as Peter struggles to live with other animals, from feisty squirrels to sewing mice, he begins to realize his life at home might not have been so bad after all.
Emma! A Pop Musical; Book and Concept by Eric Price
Photo by Tanzi Propst/Park Record, 2017 Egyptian Theatre’s YouTheatre production
Emma, a senior at Highbury Prep, is certain she knows what’s best for her classmates’ love lives, and is determined to find the perfect boyfriend for shy sophomore Harriet by the end of the school year. But will Emma’s relentless matchmaking get in the way of finding her own happiness? Based on Jane Austen’s classic novel, this sparkling new musical features the hit songs of legendary girl groups and iconic female singers from The Supremes to Katy Perry. Girl power has never sounded so good!
