In addition to a substantial introduction to the life and works of Federico García Lorca--avant-garde poet, playwright, and soul of Spain's "Generation of '27"--this collection features vibrant new English translations of four of his plays. The legacy of a dramatic, religious, and social iconoclast whose death made him a martyr of the left in Civil-War Spain and who today is embraced as a gay icon shines through in Michael Kidd's stage-worthy renderings of Yerma , Blood Wedding , The House of Bernarda Alba , and a more experimental play, The Audience , a kaleidoscopic exploration of sexual identity and theater.