Reviewed by Carine Engelbrecht for Readers' Favorite

As young actors train in their craft, they will need to exercise their ability to don a particular character's quirks and attitudes at will, making that character come alive through their interpretation of his lines and actions. For this purpose, Power Plays: Dramatic Short Plays for Student Actors by Laurie Allen serves as excellent source material. The collection consists of twenty one-act plays that explore a wide range of moods, emotions and situations. Plays are categorized in the contents page by title, topic and character requirement, making it easy for drama teachers to make their selections according to the composition of a student group. Purchase of the book includes amateur performance rights, as set out in the appendix.

As a general purpose collection, this book offers drama students a great opportunity to dig deep in fine tuning their interpretations. Several of the plays feature multi-faceted characters whose hidden motivations and agendas will provide young thespians with intriguing choices in expression. Additionally, the last two plays add a little flexibility, in casting and performance style. Overall, it is obvious that Laurie Allen knows her target market with Power Plays: Dramatic Short Plays for Student Actors. I do feel, though, that there are a few missed opportunities. For example, one expects that in Obsession, an anorexic like Maddie might have taken it badly if her roommate asks whether she is pregnant, and in The Riot, political correctness seems to rob the narrative of some of its potential impact. On the other hand, that does give actors the opportunity to add the unvoiced emotions through the non-verbal component of their interpretations.

There is some unexplored territory. For example, the author could have added the powerful dynamic of a crime situation or the needy desperation of substance abuse to the spectrum. While there are several parent-child narratives, it might also have been interesting to explore the power relationships within workplace hierarchies - many young adults do tackle part-time or full-time employment from a relatively early age. Nevertheless, the present selection does present a satisfying variety of themes and characters for young actors to utilize in preparation for their careers.