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Eastern professor authors book on American playwright Christopher Durang

by Dwight Bachman

Willimantic, CT (06/09/2020) — Glastonbury resident Miriam Chirico, English Professor at Eastern Connecticut State University, authored a new book, "The Theatre of Christopher Durang," published by Bloomsbury Publishers. This release follows the January 2020 publication of "How to Teach a Play: Essential Exercises for Popular Plays," which Chirico co-edited.

In describing Chirico's latest book, Bloomsbury notes: "This volume provides the first comprehensive examination of [the contemporary comedic playwright's] works and incorporates comedic theory to examine how laughter in performance subverts social conventions and hierarchies. Through a clear, detailed discussion of the plays, Miriam Chirico considers Durang's use of black comedy, satire and parody to explode such topics as Western literature, religion, dysfunctional families and American social malaise."

Teaching and scholarship, among other obligations, is an exercise in self-discipline, but Chirico enjoys the challenge of this demanding work and focusing her creative energy. She produced "The Theatre of Christopher Durang" over a three-year period during the summer months, when she could spend long periods of time reading Durang's plays and writing about them analytically.

"Christopher Durang is a major contemporary American playwright who has defined comedy for the American stage for over 40 years," said Chirico. "His most visible work, 'Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All to You' (1979), incited protests because of its portrayal of Catholicism and challenged the rights to free speech, while his Tony Award-winning play, 'Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike' (2012) offers a light-hearted rift on Chekhovian themes.

'In between these two moments, he has written more than 20 plays noted for attacking conservative religious beliefs, vacuous 24-hour media feeds, patriarchal government control, rosy images of the TV-perfect family and hypocrisy in all forms," Chirico continued. "In short, he is a mischievous diagnostician of America's social ills, pronouncing his verdicts with brilliant comic wit. A scholarly assessment of his theatrical works was long-overdue."

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Eastern Connecticut State University is the state of Connecticut's public liberal arts university, serving 5,000 students annually at its Willimantic campus and satellite locations. In addition to attracting students from 162 of Connecticut's 169 towns, Eastern also draws students from 34 other states and 19 countries. A residential campus offering 41 majors and 65 minors, Eastern offers students a strong liberal art foundation grounded in an array of applied learning opportunities. Ranked among the top 30 public universities in the North Region by U.S. News and World Report in its 2019 Best Colleges ratings, Eastern has also been awarded 'Green Campus' status by the Princeton Review 10 years in a row. For more information, visit www.easternct.edu.

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Miriam Chirico describes the process of publishing her first book of 2020, “How to Teach a Play,” in a March 11 lecture on campus.

The cover of Chirico's latest book “The Theatre of Christopher Durang."

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