I was only familiar with one of the eight authors represented here when I went into the collection, but I was thoroughly impressed with all of them by the end. The one-acts here were well-chosen for readers; each one has few enough characters that the plays are fairly easily read, and none are so long that you can't read them and stay with them (and interested) for the full piece. It's true that some of them come across as a bit dated either in subject matter or language, but they're all provocative and thought-provoking in their own way, as well as wonderfully written. I'd highly recommend them to readers who enjoy plays or want to get a better feel for what's out there in the way of one-acts. It's also a nice surprise to be introduced to so many new authors with one single work--in the future, I'll be looking up all of these writers to see what they did in years following this collection. Highly recommended for those interested! ( )