Plays: Maria Irene Fornes
by Maria Irene Fornes

María Irene Fornés, the celebrated playwright, director, translator, lyricist, and seven-time Obie Award winner, has been an influential voice in American theatre for more than four decades.

Here collected in one volume are four of her finest plays: THE CONDUCT OF LIFE, MUD, THE DANUBE, and SARITA.

THE CONDUCT OF LIFE: Orlando, a military officer and professional torturer, takes out the frustrations of his thwarted ambitions on his wife, Leticia, their maid, and the young woman he keeps in sexual bondage.

MUD: A play in 17 scenes.

Mae seeks to escape the basic life she has been living with Lloyd through education.

She befriends Henry, who offers to teach her, but he has a stroke and is forced to remain in the care of Mae and Lloyd.

Neither Henry nor Lloyd wish for Mae to leave them, which ultimately leads to her brutal killing before she is able to attain the freedom for which she has fought.

THE DANUBE: A love story set against the backdrop of war, perhaps nuclear holocaust.

Paul, an American, meets Eve in Budapest.

They fall in love and marry.

As they work to overcome their communication difficulties through foreign language instruction tapes, they gradually grow ill from the pollution as their world begins to fall apart.

SARITA: When young Sarita sees her crush, Julio, flirting with other women, she vows to do the same with men, and at fourteen she becomes pregnant.

She does not know by whom.

After giving birth, she runs away and belatedly becomes Julio's lover, but his inconstancy wears on her.

Even when she finally leaves him and marries a new man, Mark, she cannot give up Julio, who continues to torment her and eventually drives her into a murderous rage, the cost of which will be her sanity and freedom.

Piano score available for perusal or production on request.

Additional musical parts: bass, guitar, percussion, and trumpet.