THE PLAYS THE AMERICAN MASTERS LEARNED FROM ARE NOW BACK IN PRINT The Group Theatre's first play, THE HOUSE OF CONNELLY, Paul Green's poetic tale of the dueling South, past and present, was heralded by critics and audiences alike when it debuted in 1931. Will Connelly, the wayward heir to the once famous Connelly estate falls for the tenant farmer's daughter. Does she love him or is she just after the family name? This epic tale of past versus the future and family secrets is as timely now as it was 80 years ago! Following in the steps of his Pulitzer Prize winning In Abraham's Bosom, this is another example of Green's groundbreaking writing which gave African-Americans legitimate leading roles in a Broadway show - typical of his legendary social awareness. JOHNNY JOHNSON, Green's 2nd play for the Group, is a shockingly potent comedy that shows us the folly of blind patriotism and war. Johnny, championed as an artist who celebrates peace, gets swept into the war, and finds a way to solve it - through conversation. He is considered a traitor and a mental patient for wanting to solve the war without killing. Presented as a staged reading directed by Estelle Parsons in 2011, the show still packs a wallop. You will laugh, you will cry; you will never forget Johnny. The first time ever in print - Erwin Piscator's CASE OF CLYDE GRIFFITHS retells the popular true story depicted in Theodore Dreiser's best selling novel An American Tragedy (and later basis of the Elizabeth Taylor/Monty Clift classic film A Place in the Sun). Not only does Piscator tell the story, he focuses on the sociological ramifications of the tale. This is the closest the Group ever came to producing an abstract play. Presented a year before Thornton Wilder's Our Town,due to the tremendous similarities in storytelling, it's hard to imagine Wilder wasn't heavily influenced by Piscator's unique way of theatrical technique.
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