Kristin, if my student's account of the subways in Tokyo is any indication, that's no hoax.

He HATED taking the trains.

Ooh, for grotesque you could teach Anne Sexton's Transformations. I read that volume over and over again when I was a girl.

Geek Love would be great for grotesque.

Angela Carter: I'd say Magic Toyshop or Nights at the Circus. (Though personally I love The Passion of New Eve, but I don't think that'll fly in your class.)

I'd like a contemporary US playwright who wrote a comedy, juliana.

Beth Henley! C'mon, "Miss Firecracker"

Magic Realism: "Shoeless Joe" by W.P. Kinsella is really one of the few American runs at Magic Realism that's any good. Michael Chabon kind of trends that way though.

Colin Firth and Jon Stewart's conversation on The Daily Show: Comedy Gold.

Simon, Henley, and Durang are all good contemporary choices. George F. Walker is an awesome current Canadian playwright, chock-full of dark humor.

However, I'd rec Terrence McNally, Paula Vogel, or Wendy Wasserstein. Those and the previous three listed are fairly canonical and have humorous plays.

The thing about Durang which could be a good or a bad thing, is that I find the funniest of his plays requires you to have a fairly wide knowledge of other theatre pieces. If they have already read Glass Menagerie, it would be fun to read For whom the southern belle tolls, but it doesn' really make much sense if you haven't. The same with Actor's Nightmare, and A Stye in the Eye (which sends up Sam Shepard).

hopping the awesome reading list discussion (man how I want to be one of kat's students) to say

Hey scola - just crossing into staten island if you get off work early today. Profile addy is good.

It's like farmers cheese

You're description of farmer's cheese is totally different than what I know as farmer's cheese. To me it's a hard, dry, very much like cheddar, but usually white.

Colin Firth and Jon Stewart's conversation on The Daily Show: Comedy Gold.

By the end, when they were both giggling about Colin Firth's penis, I was in hysterics.

There was snow on the ground when I woke up this morning. It just sets the tone for the day.

Kat, for contemporary comedy writers, I think some of Tom Stoppard's work would count.

Also, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead would tie in to Shakespeare.

Oh, I agree with Frank, Stoppard is good. Or Joe Orton. Or, and it's really a monologue more than a play, something by Spaulding Gray.