About the Author
One of Americas leading playwrights, Gus Edwards is also a director and educator. He has written several books addressing the concerns of African American theatre and is a tenured faculty member of Arizona State Universitys theatre department, where he teaches film and theatre studies. His first collection, Monologues on Black Life (1997), was also published by Heinemann.

About this Book
Monologues on Black Life addresses the paucity of relevant selections for modern black actors by offering a twist on the orthodox monolog compilation. The 50 pieces he assembles are original, including a beautifully elegaic six-part monolog play, "The Sorrows of Elva." Divided among half a dozen short story-like sections, Edwards's speeches are alternately raw and poetic, reflecting a wide diversity of ages, settings, and contemporary themes that are more individually complete and whole than the typically out-of-context three-minute speech.