Ask anyone working in a theatre bookstore or any bookstore with a good theatre section—they'll tell you that one of their most frequent requests comes from women looking for scenes to play, usually with other women. And these scenes are very rare—and almost always written by men.

Here is a book of more than fifty previously performed scenes for women only. Most of these scenes have never been published before, providing actresses with fresh material to let their work shine. The scenes will make you weep and laugh out loud—sometimes in quick succession. Most of them are realistic in style, but a few push the borders of realism to offer actresses a more experimental acting situation. The playwrights whose work appears here include: Susan Yankowitz, Laura Harrington, Naomi Iizuka, Corrine Jacker, and many others.

And as if that's not enough, Scenes for Women by Women also includes an index to more than fifty additional scenes for women by women that appear in readily available playscripts. Quite simply, this book is a treasure trove of scenes for actresses, directors, acting teachers . . . anyone interested in women or in theatre. No other book on the market provides such a variety from which to choose.

Tori Haring-Smith is chair of the performing and visual arts department at the American University in Cairo, where she is also artistic director of the Wallace Theatre. Before going to Cairo, she was on the faculty of Brown University for sixteen years and served as the dramaturg of Trinity Repertory Company for seven years.