The Texas Book of Beasts by Jeff Irvin

The 2022 Original Works Selection​, Jeff Irvin’s “The Texas Book of Beasts” is told through a series of 25 short scenes featuring four characters: a property developer, a university professor, an idealistic biologist, and a toad. This cast of characters is involved in raucous public meetings as the twenty-something woman learns to organize a diverse community to save the endangered toad's habitat from a large encroaching development. Featuring metaphors in verse, interjections in unison, and group movements that mimic Texas fauna, "Texas Book of Beasts" is a melodrama and romantic comedy about learning to recognize a sharp brain and a good heart.