Slaight, Craig. New Plays from A.C.T.’s Young Conservatory, Volume III. Smith & Kraus, 1999. ISBN 1-57525-122-1. $16.95. 189 pp. A- Reviewed by Nathan F. Christiansen The Young Conservatory comprises the educational wing of California’s American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.). As part of their program, A.C.T. commissions new works specifically for performance by young actors. The resulting scripts are published in their New Plays series. Reviews of each of the plays in the collection follow. Alvarez, Lynne. Analiese. 1999. 44 pp. A 6+ Set in Denmark in 1898, this theatrical fairytale seems to draw upon The Snow Queen and Peer Gynt for inspiration. One winter, Analiese and her boyfriend, Christian, visit an aviary, where they meet an actress named Nina Iversen, who seems strangely attracted to Christian. The next day, Christian disappears, and Analiese sets out in a small boat to find him. While Christian lives at Nina’s home in the north, reading Strindberg and attending dances, Analiese suffers hunger and exhaustion. On her journey she meets a dim-witted boy, an amorous young opium addict, and a robber-girl named Sigrun. When Analiese finally finds Christian, he decides to return home with her so they can marry. Analiese, however, says she has no interest in marrying him--she only wanted to make sure he was still alive. While the “liberated” ending is not wholly unexpected, this is an exciting and innovative piece of theater. The story is interesting enough to sustain the interest of younger viewers, but is also thought provoking enough to interest a more sophisticated audience. Analiese has a cast of fourteen and uses a unit set.
