Santa Monica resident Amnon Kabatchnik’s celebrated Blood on the Stage series will grow by two volumes this Fall with the release of two new installments: Blood on the Stage: 1600-1800 and Blood on the Stage: 1800-1900. Published by Rowman & Littlefield, Blood on the Stage: 1600-1800 and Blood on the Stage: 1800-1900 will be available nationwide in late August 2017 and late September 2017 respectively.
Kabatchnik’s award-winning Blood on the Stage reference series analyzes plays of crimes and punishment. The series, which won honors in the Benjamin Franklin Awards, the ForeWord Book of the Year Awards, and the Independent Book Publishers Awards, has received high critical praise, including:
“….a wealth of material for lovers of theatre.” – Los Angeles Times
“The sheer readability of his works exceeds that of many reference books.” –Reference & User Services Quarterly
“A priceless reference.” – Deadly Pleasures
Blood on the Stage: 1600-1800 and Blood on the Stage: 1800-1900, the sixth and seventh releases in this acclaimed collection, cover 100 milestone thrillers depicting theft, chicanery, treachery, court intrigue, incest, kidnapping, and murder. These two extraordinary volumes focus both on manuscripts that passed the test of time as well as long-forgotten plays that deserve renewed scrutiny—from William Shakespeare to Arthur Conan Doyle.
Blood on the Stage: 1600-1800 and Blood on the Stage: 1800-1900 highlight authors who mixed their ink with stage blood, such as: Marlowe, Corneille, Racine, Voltaire, Goethe, Byron, Hugo, Dumas, Balzac, Dickens, Tolstoy, and Wilde. These volumes examine such plays as: The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster, The Beggars’ Opera by John Gay, Horace Walpole’s The Mysterious Mother, Friedrich Schiller’s The Robbers, the first bona fide American musical, The Black Crook, Emile Zola’s Therese Raquin, and Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White.
Kabatchnik’s research yielded such discoveries as the first play based on a real-life murder case, the first sensational Gothic, the first blood-and-thunder melodrama, the first theatrical vampire and Frankenstein monster, pioneering psychological thrillers, and early stage detectives. Entries are presented chronologically, and each includes a plot synopsis, production data, opinions by critics and scholars, and biographical sketches of playwrights and key actors.
Blood on the Stage: 1600-1800 and Blood on the Stage: 1800-1900 will join five previous entries: Blood on the Stage, 480 B.C. to 1600 A.D, Blood on the Stage: 1900-1925, Blood on the Stage: 1925-1950, Blood on the Stage: 1950-1975, and Blood on the Stage: 1975-2000.
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Amnon Kabatchnik received his BS degree in theatre and journalism from Boston University where he graduated summa cum laude, and won the Rodgers & Hammerstein Award. Kabatchnik also holds an MFA degree in directing from the Yale School of Drama. He served as Professor of Theatre at several universities, including Stanford University and Ohio State University, and directed numerous dramas, comedies, thrillers and musicals for off-Broadway, national road companies, resident theatres, summer stock, and abroad. In addition to the Blood on the Stage volumes, Kabatchnik is also the author of Sherlock Holmes on the Stage: A Chronological Encyclopedia of Plays Featuring the Great Detective. Visit Amnon Kabatchnik online at: www.amnonkabatchnik.com
Members of the news media wishing to request additional information about Amnon Kabatchnik or the Blood on the Stage volumes are kindly asked to contact Maryglenn McCombs by phone: (615) 297-9875, or by email: maryglenn@maryglenn.com
