Clare Barron Plays 1

Book excerpt: In recent years Clare Barron has emerged as one of the most acclaimed and exciting new voices in American drama. The first ever collection of her work, this volume contains I'll Never Love Again, You Got Older, Dance Nation and Dirty Crusty. I'll Never Love Again A theatrical chamber piece about first love, first heartbreak and how those early teenage experiences haunt the rest of our lives, I'll Never Love Again was created from the playwright's real high school diary, and recalls the anguish and mysteries of sex and love during adolescence. You Got Older Mae returns home to help take care of Dad and – maybe (a little) – herself. You Got Older is a tender and darkly comic new play about family, illness, and cowboys – and how to remain standing when everything you know comes crashing down around you. Dance Nation Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plots to take over the world. And if their new routine is good enough, they'll claw their way to the top at the Boogie Down Grand Prix in Tampa Bay. Yet these young dancers have more than choreography on their minds, as every plié and jeté is a step toward finding themselves and unleashing their power. Dirty Crusty Jeanine is determined to improve her life. With sex. With dance. With new hobbies, like horticulture. But self-improvement is hard. Reclaiming your dreams is hard. And personal hygiene is really, really hard.