William the Wonder Kid

"This is a voice from an old but much too infrequently heard theater form. Theorist, poet, and playwright Silk works in the subgenre of puppet plays for adults, combining Commedia and Absurdism, Magritte-style surrealism and childlike openness. The body of this book consists of over a dozen short plays for actors, puppets, and things and body-parts (mostly still attached to actors/puppets). Silk insists on the equality of people and things, so the plays often are about hats, chairs, toilets, and the like. These pieces are framed by two theoretical essays that help to make the intention clear and the plays accessible to the reader. Silk calls for a radical rethinking of the grammar of performance, and his works are funny, startling, and experimental in the best sense, forcing us to perceive stage imagery in a new way."—Library Journal

"Dennis Silk's brilliantly inventive, wickedly funny plays impart a truth that has the power of divination. I cannot praise this masterful collection too highly."—Walter Abish