June 2025
The two-volume collection features 14 of Beau O’Reilly’s most distinguished plays, spanning his career. It offers a rich tapestry of his creative genius and an unparalleled journey through his artistic evolution.
Beau O’Reilly is a voice. A voice that booms when fronting a band, a voice that whispers when he’s in story-teller mode. A voice alternately bemused or bombastic. And as you will see in this career-spanning volume, that voice is equally protean on the page, as Beau the playwright conjures up ecstatic vernaculars for his panoply of dreamers and murderers.
―David Isaacson
ISBN: 978-1-956907-26-1
June 2025
Don’t miss volume two of this stunning set of books celebrating Beau O’Reilly’s impressive oeuvre of over 80 plays. Volume two features work from 2000 to 2025 and is more than a collection of plays; it is an invitation to experience theater's stirring and transformative power as seen through the eyes of one of its most innovative voices. Discover the legacy of a true theatrical virtuoso.
“Here is a bound collection of Beau O’Reilly’s plays, but O’Reilly’s imagination is unbounded—wise, funny, playful, exuberant, sharp, and consoling. Chicago is forever grateful for him.”
―Sara Levine author, Treasure Island!!!
ISBN: 978-1956907278
Dive into this “introspectacle” and weird world of the Curious! This anthology of eight plays offers readers irreverent and iconoclastic narratives by playwrights with a keen ear for the eccentricities and homespun quirks of language. The Curious Theatre Branch offers an ensemble of diverse creators with plays ranging from experiments in form to character-driven stories exploring the absurdity of human nature and the banality of personal relationships. Curious Plays is a celebration of Chicago’s beloved Curious Theatre Branch and The Rhinoceros Theater Festival, a mainstay of Chicago’s experimental theater. Curious Plays reflects the theater company it is: a team of creatives who put writing and originality first. With an introduction by playwright Barrie Cole and historical reference materials, the anthology showcases Curious’ 35-year history of making diverse, experimental theater while flagrantly flouting the ordinary.
ISBN: 9781956907025
Like Brecht, she uses music, text, broad characters, very few props. Her people are curious and smart and very funny. They are always out on a limb, divulging something terribly embarrassing. In Magnus' stories, characters have unexplained encounters that are so lively and absurd that it takes a moment to realize they are in pain. There's just no rest for the lazy in these scripts. Here is the work of an artist as courageous as you'll ever experience. Here is the work of an artist, timeless and true. Relish it. ―Achy Obejas
ISBN: 9781737330721