''Love's Fire'' is a collection of short plays by American writers based on

Shakespeare's Sonnets William Shakespeare (1565 –1616) wrote sonnets on a variety of themes. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare's sonnets, it is almost always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a quarto in 1609. Howe ...

. It was commissioned and premiered by The Acting Company in its 1997-98 season.

Plays

*"Bitter Sauce" by

Eric Bogosian Eric Michael Bogosian (; born April 24, 1953) is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian-American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and attended the University ...

, inspired by Sonnet 118 *"Hydraulics Phat Like Mean" by

Ntozake Shange Ntozake Shange ( ;
FilmReference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2018. October 18, 1948 – October 27, 2018 ...

, inspired by Sonnet 128, Original Music by Chico Freeman , Choreography by Dyane Harvey *"140" by

Marsha Norman Marsha Norman (born September 21, 1947) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. She received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play '' 'night, Mother''. She wrote the book and lyrics for such Broadway musicals as ''The S ...

, inspired by Sonnet 140 *"Terminating" by

Tony Kushner Anthony Robert Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Among his stage work, he is most known for ''Angels in America'', which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, as well as its subsequent acclaime ...

, inspired by Sonnet 75 *"Painting You" by

William Finn William Alan Finn (February 28, 1952 – April 7, 2025) was an American composer and lyricist. He was best known for his musicals, which include ''Falsettos'', for which he won the 1992 Tony Awards for Tony Award for Best Original Score, Best O ...

, inspired by Sonnet 102 *"Waiting for Philip Glass" by

Wendy Wasserstein Wendy Wasserstein (October 18, 1950 – January 30, 2006) was an American playwright. She was an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 ...

, inspired by Sonnet 94 *"The General of Hot Desire" by

John Guare John Guare ( ; born February 5, 1938) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is best known as the author of '' The House of Blue Leaves'' and '' Six Degrees of Separation''. Early life He was raised in Jackson Heights, Queens.Druckma ...

, inspired by Sonnets 153 and 154 and The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Varagine, Original Music by Adam Guettel

References

External links

Review of 1998 New York Production
at New York Magazine

at Curtain Up {{William Finn Plays and musicals based on works by William Shakespeare Off-Broadway musicals 1998 musicals