About The Book

Jean-Claude van Itallie is one of the most distinguished playwrights of the American avant-garde. A keen deconstruction of American popular culture, the America Hurrah triptych served notice that here was a major new dramatic voice. Rounded out with such works as Bag Lady, written in the voice of a deceptively insightful homeless woman; The Serpent, a fanciful interpretation of the story of Adam and Eve; The Traveler, which depicts a charismatic and brilliant artist recovering from a stroke; and van Itallie’s dazzling play based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, America Hurrah & Other Plays is the definitive collection of the work of a major American playwright.

This volume also includes Eat Cake and The Hunter and the Bird.

Praise

“Van Itallie conveys an especially timely sensation, that of a world of fragmented experience so speeded up past human endurance that a man must either die laughing or go mad. America Hurrah is as lively as a sand tick. It is anguishingly funny, yet oddly poignant, and more than passing wise in the ways of today’s world.” –Time

“Jean-Claude van Itallie is the only playwriting teacher I ever had.” –Tony Kushner

“[The Traveler is] a deeply felt work of art . . . brilliant.” –Tom Jacobs, Los Angeles Daily News