Joseph Chaikin and Sam

Daniels, who teaches at Kent State, here collects everything you ever wanted to know (and more) about three collaborations between playwright Shepard and director Chaikin. The slim volume--featuring letters between the two, drafts of plays and Daniels's commentary--benefits from an academic's inclusiveness and a cultist's obsessiveness, yet the whole, surprisingly, exceeds the sum of its parts. The material reveals the plays in question ( Tongues ; Savage/Love ; The War in Heaven ) as collaborative in the best sense: we observe the excitement of dramatist and performers sharing and merging respective influences. However, in limiting himself to written documents, Daniels unfairly, if unintentionally, privileges Shepard; only audiotapes and/or videotapes of performances could fully represent Chaikin's contributions. (Nov.)