Showing results by narrator "Amanda Friday" in All Categories

An uptight, self-contained college girl, Randi Becker just needed one thing: a room. Somewhere she could study, and keep away from the things that most confuse and frighten her: people.

This collection contains Oscar Wilde's four best-known comedies: The Importance of Being Earnest; Lady Windermere's Fan; An Ideal Husband; and A Woman of No Importance. All of them satirize upper-class English society of the 1890s, dramatizing scandalous secrets, political and marital intrigue, and dandyish bad behavior with Wilde's trademark wit and wisdom.

Spring Awakening (German: Frühlings Erwachen) was the first major play by Frank Wedekind. It was written in the early 1890s but, due to opposition from censorship authorities, was not presented on stage until 1906. The play explores two contentious themes: the development of adolescent sexuality and the repressive nature of the German education system.

Jane Eyre is a plain orphan girl, unloved and abused by her Aunt Reed, who is sent away to boarding school. Strong of heart and craving independence, Jane embarks upon a life of governess to a young French girl named Adele, the benefactor of the mysterious Mr. Rochester. Life at Thornfield Hall proves just as mysterious as its owner with haunting laughter and a dark secret living in the attic.

Idina Moorfield isn't the only one on her team with unusual powers. Her buddy, Stop, remembers everything he sees, and Cake is a new kind of man of steel. That's the last two, which means everyone in Idina's unit has a unique talent. Why would the Army want to bring them all together? Her commander, Hines, is still refusing to answer her questions. She's on a need-to-know basis, and right now, she doesn't need to know. But Idina's untapped powers are getting stronger and more aggressive. Not knowing on a battlefield can get someone hurt.

The story is told by the clergyman to his brother as a later-life confession concerning a brush with the supernatural which he has kept a secret for many years. Before he joined the church he met and fell in love with Miss Jeromette, a Frenchwoman living alone in London. They enter into a relationship but she tells him candidly she loves another man who has deserted her. Miss Jeromette predicts the man will return to her but that she will die young and miserably.

Idina Moorfield's elemental magic has changed. The problem may be spreading. Now, it's affecting Hellion Squadron and the monsters they face. But how does Idina's team do their job when magic keeps changing all the rules before they can learn them? Hellion's missions can't pause just because Bravo Team's abilities are causing a little more havoc than normal. They'll have to improvise, work together, and cover each other's backs until Uncle Richard's deadly research provides either an explanation or something they can use. If it ever does.

The Importance of Being Earnest is Wilde's most famous and oft-produced play. First performed in 1895, and subtitled "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People", it shows Wilde at his satirical and scathingly witty best. It follows the misadventures of Algy and Jack as they attempt to woo and wed Cecily and Gwendolen under the assumed name "Ernest", much to the disapproval of the aristocratic Lady Bracknell.

A new unit, new challenges, and possibly new friends await Idina Moorfield as she joins other magicals in the military to train against magical monsters.

Richard MacBlair has all the answers Idina Moorfield needs and is finally willing to share them. Well, most of them. Who knew there was a whole special forces division? Dedicated to people exhibiting magical powers to deal with unique challenges? Things are starting to make a lot more sense to Idina. But a lot more changes may be coming her way. She has to face new challenges. A series of tests to determine if she's good enough for a new special forces group.

The so-called "Bad Quarto" of Shakespeare's Hamlet is the first known version of this world-famous tragedy. Published in 1603, this text is significantly shorter, has some divergent character names, and contains different renditions of some of the play's most famous lines. Some scholars believe that the Bad Quarto is a pirated edition, written down by one or more of the company actors, while others think that it is Shakespeare's first attempt that he later revised and expanded.

World-famous detective Hercule Poirot has retired to the English village of King's Abbot, determined to dedicate his little grey cells to the growing of vegetable marrows. But when Roger Ackroyd, a local businessman and former acquaintance, is stabbed to death, the man's niece begs Poirot to investigate. Poirot enlists the local doctor to be his assistant and scribe, and the two of them sift through clues to try to discern the ones that will lead them to the killer.

In her lifetime, Allison Clark has made many bad choices. Topping the list; she married the wrong man. Now, on the cusp of signing her divorce papers, she finds herself sandwiched between caring for her often difficult and dying mother and dealing with the seemingly endless drama of her rebellious teenaged twins. When she thinks life couldn’t possibly get any more complicated, Allison discovers her mother has concealed a family secret from her for her entire life.

While playing outside on the farm in Kansas, Dorothy, and Toto happen upon the Shaggy Man, who asks for directions to Butterfield. The pair is happy to show him the way, but the road splits into seven different paths and Dorothy is unsure which is the correct choice. After some debate, the group decides to take the seventh path where they run into an adorable little boy named Button Bright who cannot seem to stop getting lost. Further down the road, they encounter Polychrome, who is the daughter of the Rainbow.

Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel is the most famous vampire tale ever told. British solicitor Jonathan Harker finds himself imprisoned in a castle in Transylvania and begins to believe his host, Count Dracula, is not entirely human. As his horror mounts, he suspects that Dracula plans to invade and conquer England, one victim at a time.

Persuasion has certain similarities with Emma, another late novel by Jane Austen. In both stories, the heroine is a young woman who lives with her widowed father, and who has an enduring attachment to her eventual spouse from the opening of the action. Persuasion also incorporates certain elements common to Austen's earlier novels, such as characters from the military, visits to Bath and calculating and cynical suitors. In the end, Anne Elliot successfully combats the destructive vanity of her father and the machinations of her villainous cousin William.

Lady Susan is an epistolary novel by Jane Austen about a beautiful and manipulative widow scheming to arrange wealthy marriages for herself and her daughter. This book is the basis for the film Love & Friendship, written and directed by Whit Stillman, and starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny. This dramatized production is presented by the Online Stage.

The Three Sisters is Anton Chekhov's 1901 play about the Prosorov family, who are stuck in a provincial Russian town. The sisters - Olga, Masha, and Irina - fantasize about one day returning to Moscow. Meanwhile, their brother Andrey courts village girl Natasha, and the family socializes with the soldiers stationed nearby. Dreams, longing, and illicit love drive the action of Chekhov's comic drama.

Passion and intrigue among the upper classes form the basis of Lady Windermere's Fan, Oscar Wilde's first successful play, which displays his trademark wit and wisdom. Beautiful and innocent Lady Windermere finds out that her husband has been keeping company with the scandalous and mysterious Mrs. Erlynne. Her discovery unleashes a host of tensions at her 21st birthday party, where London's elite have gathered to gossip.

While traveling to Australia with Uncle Henry, Dorothy is swept overboard. She is able to save herself by means of a floating chicken coop, complete with a Yellow Hen inside, who she names Billina. Dorothy and her new friend explore their surroundings and meet a mechanical man named Tik Tok who joins their adventure. Back in Oz, Princess Ozma is on a mission to demand the release of the royal family of Ev from the evil Nome King. She meets up with Dorothy and the group must band together to solve the riddles of the King and restore order to the land.