GREAT BAY, St. Martin (January 26, 2003) — The House That Jack Built and Other Plays by Louie Laveist is now required reading for students of the University of St. Martin (USM) and the Creative Writing Program (CWP).
News of the book’s publication was made public here nearly two weeks ago, “But The House That Jack Built has already made a piece of book history before its scheduled February 1 launch,” said Jacqueline Sample, president of House of Nehesi Publishers. “This is the first time that a St. Martin book published by House of Nehesi has been ordered for use in academic courses before it reached the public’s hands through the book party or bookstores.”
While the book could be in bookstores by early this week, the collection of Laveist’s three original plays is already in the hands of the CWP 25 participants, who will study Laveist’s work as part of the “Introduction to literature” section of their 6-month course.
Last week, USM’s undergraduate literature class was set to begin thumbing through The House That Jack Built. “We are using The House That Jack Built and Other Plays along with other serious titles to introduce literature in a critical and relevant way to USM students,” said university instructor Rhoda Arrindell, who reviewed the book before selecting it for her class of nearly 20 students.
When Laveist was told by his publisher of the early progress of his first book at a recent book-launch planning session, the surprised playwright/director/actor could only manage to say, “I can’t believe it.” Meanwhile, according to plans for the book party, the guests could be the ones to be surprised and left speechless with some of the direction and dramatization of selections from the three plays in the book. Some of St. Martin’s leading actors and actresses will perform at the February 1 book party, said Sample.
The House That Jack Built and Other Plays contains Who’s Fooling Who?, Forbidden Love and the title play The House That Jack Built, considered by critics as one of Laveist’s best plays.