Ten plays

Who was Tom Eyen? Well, he was a playwright, actor, producer, director, artist, and lyricist as well. Despite his contributions to the hit musical, Dreamgirls, Tom Eyen was a prolific artist in the New York City theatre scene in the 1960s and 1970s. Granted, he didn't conform to the norms of theatre as a dreary place for people to see the same situation over and over again. In his time, people probably went to the theatre more because it was less costly than by today's standards. A regular New York City theatre goer would have probably known about the outrageous Tom Eyen.I am truly surprised by picking up this book now. I think he's so relevant. He writes shockingly about women as well as men in general. Is he a misogynist or not? You have to be the judge for yourself. While he touches on women as leading figures in his plays, he offers them as equals especially during the women's liberation movement of the time.I'm shocked that Tom Eyen's plays which could also be considered racy, scathing, even x-rated, aren't played out today. I think his works would reach a new generation of theatre audiences who are not normally at the theatre. That's the trick is getting those people to the theatre who would never go otherwise. Maybe his works aren't going to win awards but he does strike a cord that some award winners don't. He doesn't play it safe in the theatre. He uses the theatre stage as a place to explore his imagination. Sure, it's vulgar, obscene, and not for children. It's for adults who should be encouraged to spend a night at the theatre to be offended, shocked, enlightened, and bedazzled by the work itself.I think it's a terrible shame that his legacy is not being celebrated at all. In these times, I think a Tom Eyen play might allow us to forget our troubles away even for a just a little bit.His plays, are"The Three Sisters (from Springfield, Illinois): A Trilogy"I. Why Hanna's Skirt Won't Stay Down?II. Who Killed My bald sister Sophie?III. What is making Gilda So Gray?His trilogy is really a parody of Anton Chekhov's play, "The Three Sisters," with an Americanized version. Although Eyen and Chekhov's writings are far apart, Eyen is actually shocking, grotesque, and vulgar at times but still entertaining.4.Sarah B. Divine5.Areatha in the Ice Palace6.The Kama Sutra (An Organic Happening)7.My Next Husband Will Be A Beauty!8.The Death of Off-Broadway (A Street Play)9.The White Whore and the Bit Player10.Grand Tenement/November 22This play takes place on the day of John F. Kennedy's assassination set around a New York City tenement house.