Now in one volume, the works of "the most successful international playwright of her generation" (Vogue). Yasmina Reza's plays reflect the razor sharp wit, social commentary, and impeccable comedic timing that have earned the praise of critics throughout the world, none more so than the Tony Award-winning Art, an eccentric and clever play of ideas that took the American theater community by storm. In this sly critique of contemporary relationships, Reza skillfully picks apart the friendship of three men via a bowl of olives and a white-on-white painting. Now translated into more than 30 languages, Art continues to be performed worldwide, even as Reza's other plays have garnered similar acclaim. Life x 3, Reza's most recent offering, again highlights her satirical wit as two couples face off in three different versions of the dinner from hell. Praised as "compact, cool and clever" by Christopher Isherwood of Variety, Reza uses the acidic exchanges of her characters to illuminate their inner desire for love and acceptance. Also included in this edition are two earlier plays, The Unexpected Man and Conversations After a Burial. Each elucidates the startling difference between public and private life, be it in the confines of a train compartment or a country estate in the aftermath of a loved one's passing.

THE STORY: Two strangers on a train. One is a famous author, the other a great admirer of his. Will she have the nerve to bring his latest book out of her bag and read it? Or better yet, will she have the nerve to speak to him? In searching monolog

The seven plays to date of Yasmina Reza, one of France's most prominent female playwrights, are popular both in France and abroad. Despite her commercial success, her plays have often been ignored in academic circles, and few scholars have attempted to explore the mechanics of her playwriting. This text seeks to unpack the essentials of Reza's style and to explore each play as a component of Reza's theatrical oeuvre. The result is a fuller understanding of her theatrical poetics and her development as an artist.

THE STORY: A playground altercation between eleven-year-old boys brings together two sets of Brooklyn parents for a meeting to resolve the matter. At first, diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the meeting progresses, and the rum flows, tension

Art is a comedy set in Paris which revolves around three friends and raises questions about art and friendship. Moving from disagreement on the questionable purchase of a completely white painting their arguments become less theoretical and more personal. They border on destroying their friendships.

Yasmina Reza is best known as the author of the immensely successful Tony award-winning play Art. Her latest work, Hammerklavier, is a bittersweet collection of autobiographical sketches that have love, loss, and the relentless passage of time as their themes. Convinced that one's deepest thoughts can be said simply, Reza does so with unequaled humor and perceptiveness. She contemplates evanescence and death in her young daughter's toothless smile, secretly mourning that it will inevitably change. In the title story, the sometimes adversarial but very loving relationship Reza shared with her father is examined in terms of their love of music.

THE STORY: Henry and Sonia are having a difficult evening with Arnaud, their wakeful six-year-old son; but Henry has other worries. About to publish the results of two years' research on the flatness of galaxy halos, he's desperate to make a good i