In addition to the Nasruddin play, you can find some other great trickster plays in this collection: Anansi the African Spider, Ijapa the Tortoise, Abu Nawas, and Little Mouse-Deer. There are other plays in the book too, of course, but you know I'm just on the lookout for tricksters these days!
The African plays in this book actually come from another book by Winther devoted to African folktales with more trickster stories: Plays from African Tales. So, if you are looking for the African rabbit, you will find him here: Trickster Hare's Feast. The rabbit is also the trickster hero of this play: The Great Tug of War. There's even a play about the San trickster: Mantis the Dreamer.
And.... there's more! Winther also wrote a book of Hispanic plays, and you will find trickster plays here too: Plays from Hispanic Tales. There are two rabbit plays: The Great Hurricane and Brother Rabbit Sells Corn. There is even a play about the trickster Pedro de Urdemalas.
Barbara Winther [1926-2018] began writing folktale plays when she was working as a teacher in California and could not find any folktale scripts to perform with her students. These are "royalty-free" scripts which means they can be performed without paying royalties. The books are still copyrighted, but you can borrow them at the Internet Archive, thanks to the power of Controlled Digital Lending!
So, I'll be back with more trickster books when I get back home; meanwhile, you can browse the past trickster resource blog posts. There are over a 100 posts so far... and lots more to come!
by Barbara Winther
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