Collected Plays
Gregory Corso
Introduction by Rick Schober
January 4, 2021
ISBN 9780578777016 / Paperback / 128 pages / $14.99

Collected Plays gathers, for the first time, Gregory Corso's dramatic work, revealing a lesser-known but vital dimension of one of the central figures of the Beat Generation. Ranging from the early 1950s through the late 1960s, these plays extend Corso's poetic vision into dialogue, performance, and theatrical experiment.

The volume includes six plays, among them two previously unpublished works (Untitled Play and JFK), alongside pieces that appeared in Evergreen Review, Encounter, and New Directions in Prose and Poetry. By turns comic, political, absurd, and lyrical, the plays grapple with Cold War anxiety, public spectacle, alienation, myth, and the individual conscience, often with Corso's characteristic blend of irreverence and moral urgency.

Also included is a substantial introduction that offers historical context, publication background, and critical insight into Corso's dramatic ambitions.