Three Major Plays: Tattoos, School Play, Tyrannos

These three contemporary plays by the father of ethnographic burlesque address human relations in the context of changing American social mores and political realities. Tattoos witnesses a father hitting on his son’s wife while the son if off at bootcamp. School Play tells of an oppositional yet strangely connective relationship between a young black African male and his middle-aged, unsuccessful white college instructor. Tyrannos weaves elements of Oedipus Rex into a darkly comic tale of modern authoritarianism. Of William Young’s Blue and Other Stories, Kirkus Reviews writes, A richly textured, engrossing collection of tales about people discovering who and why they love.