THE MALTESE FRENCHMAN
A 6-character comedy about the glory of dreams - and their conflict with reality.
3M / 3W
Finalist — National Play Award
Maggie's Monlogue published in Audition Monologs for Student Actors II,
Meriwether Publishing, Colorado Springs, CO
AND JONAH ROSE UP
Set in Jonah's time (c. 784 B.C.) and told in modern language,
this comedy reexamines the story of Jonah and the whale, from Jonah's point of view.
6M / 2W (Can also be done with 27 actors if not double cast)
Semifinalist — Dorothy Silver Playwriting Compeition
HOW IT WORKS
A 5-character play that explores the issues of success, power, fame, recognition,
compromise, integrity, and personal satisfaction in the world of art.
How do you handle The Struggle?
How do you maintain personal integrity as a person and an artist?
What happens when you’re given one of the most prestigious awards in the world,
but you yearn for a “smaller” award the public knows nothing about?
2M / 3W
Winner — 2012 Ashland New Plays Festival
Finalist — FutureFest 2010
Semifinalist — 2013 Firehouse Theatre Project Festival of New American Plays
ORBITING SATURN
Your best friend asks for a Really Big Favor...
You’d rather eat broken glass than do this...
Where do you go from here?
A story of friendship, family, disappointment, intimacy, and souvenir T-shirts.
4M / 1W
Second Place — Jim Highsmith Playwriting Award
Grant's Monlogue published as "Reconciliation" in
Scenes and Monologs from the Best New International Plays,
Meriwether Publishing, Colorado Springs, CO
CHASING WADE
A talented playwright who’s finally breaking through receives an unexpected visit -
from the main character in his new play.
Who isn’t happy with what the playwright has done to “his” play.
3M
RECLAMATION
Fundamentalist preached Jerry Jim Creedblind knows that he alone understands the True Word
of He from whom all blessing flow.
How can Jerry Jim be so sure?
He’s got Him locked in the basement.
3M / 1W
THE ONE LESS TRAVELLED
A two-act cat-and-mouse battle of wits and survival between a street-wise wanderer
fleeing a drug buy gone bad,
and an unworldly, borderline psychotic who’s gone too far and is now willing to do anything
to avoid prison.
4M (Or 3M / 1W)
Semifinalist — Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference
Semifinalist — Pleiades Playwrighting Competition
AGORA
A Traveler meets two Merchants at a country crossroads and trades for the things he thinks he wants.
After living with his Bargain for 20 years, the unhappy Traveler stumbles upon the Merchants once more.
And he wants to trade again...
2M / 1W
OEDIPUS RECKS
A reinterpretatation of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, set in a parallel universe.
On our calendar, it would be September 2008.
8M / 1W
THE CLAWS THAT CATCH
Five ex-college buddies now in their mid-20s grapple with the transition from adolescence to maturity.
Maybe.
5M / 2W
CUFFLINKED
A collector of handcuffs meets a control freak who's out of control.
Will she help him get that rare set of cuffs he's after?
Or show him what restraint really means?
A B&D free-for-all. Or is it S&M? Q&A?
2M / 1W
Semi-Finalist — 2014 Ashland New Play Festival
Semi-Finalist — 2013 HotCity Greenhouse New Play Festival
PARTY LINES
When self-funded Independent candidate Malcolm Wilkes starts waging
a surprisingly successful campaign, the national party comes calling to offer support.
Which includes both funding and a couple of unprincipled political operatives
with a repertoire of dirty tricks that threaten to turn what has been a clean campaign
into a slugfest that could ruin lives.
Malcolm’s response is in line with his intention to “change things,”
but soon he makes an off-the-cuff remark and starts a media frenzy
that derails his campaign and puts a complete incompetent within a stone’s throw
of being elected.
Is it politics as usual? Or can Malcolm make a difference?
2M / 2W
THE OTHER AMANDAS
It's 1992. There is no Internet. There is Trash TV.
When Amanda Adan receives a bizarre phone call,
she learns there are three other people with her name.
That call is from 22-year-old Stephen Hilliard, who's searching for his birth mother,
having recently learned he was adopted.
Is Amanda his mother?
Can the Dallas Troy Show help Stephen find her by bringing all the Amandas together?
Or will the show boost its numbers by going further than it's ever gone before?
4M / 3W
DOING DAN
VICKY and MARK are two very attractive, worldly people who have a solid marriage,
are totally comfortable with their bodies and sexuality, and very secure in their relationship.
Which is why Mark has always been no more than teasingly amused by Vicky’s wild crush
on movie star DAN SLATE.
One playful evening, Vicky cajoles Mark into making a deal: If the opportunity ever comes up,
she can “do Dan.” It’s just once-in-a-lifetime special-dispensation thrill sex.
In return, he can be with someone equivalent to-be-named later.
“It’s just a fantasy,” she assures him. “It’s never gonna happen.”
But almost as soon as they strike the bargain, circumstances materialize
that make it possible for her fantasy to become reality.
Days later, Vicky and Mark wind up at a fund-raiser in Dan’s hotel room.
With Dan is JAYCEE MORGAN, the gorgeous co-star of Dan’s latest film.
Who, apparently, is as drawn to Mark as Vicky is to Dan.
Sometimes fantasies do come true. But they don’t always follow the script.
And if tonight is one of those times when fantasy becomes reality, whose fantasy will it be?
2M / 2W
FAMILY MATTERS
WAYNE (50s, white) and MAYA (50s, Chinese, born in the United States) have three children.
KYLA (31, Chinese / African-American) is Maya’s daughter from her first marriage;
VICTOR (25, white) is Wayne’s son from his first marriage; PACE (20, White / Chinese) is their daughter.
In Maya’s words, they’re “a patchwork family.”
When Wayne’s business partner and close friend is diagnosed with cancer, Wayne decides
the family should take “one of those tests” that reveal ancestry. (And also medical markers.)
Kyla and Pace are all for it, but Victor wants no part of the test.
“Just because you can find out something, doesn’t mean you should.”
So the family proceeds without him, sending in cheek swabs of their saliva
and waiting the 6-8 weeks for the results.
When the results do arrive, they bring a surprise that forces everyone - especially Vic and Kyla -
to consider what really matters when it comes to family.
2M / 3W
FROM THE HOOT
MASON has been cast in a newly-discovered, never-before-seen play by the world-class absurdist LaSalle Montclare.
On the first day of rehearsal, he learns that Montclare’s estate is insisting the play be performed
exactly as Montclare wrote it. Not a word can be changed.
Problem is, Montclare was a terrible typist. Which is why the play opens with Mason holding his costar
at gunpoint and saying, “I’ve got a bun.”
Mason can’t believe they’re going to perform the play as written, typos and all, but JOHN,
his director, says the estate will pull production rights if they don’t.
And Mason is even more astounded when he hears that his next line is “Come out or I’ll hoot.”
When Mason threatens to quit the show, John points out that critics love Montclare.
All his plays get rave reviews like this one: “Montclare is a world-class absurdist with an amazing ear
for language, who turns society’s foibles squarely on their heads with devastating comic effect.”
That was The New York Times.
Mason’s costar, GLORIA, arrives and loses no time in revealing she’s just read a Ph.D. thesis
on Montclare and understands him perfectly: Montclare’s unique dialogue should not be viewed
within the framework of the traditional communication paradigm.
With John insisting that every word of dialog be performed exactly as written, and Gloria sharing
her new insights about Montclare (He explores that shadowy region where humankind’s primal nebulaic plasma merges with its outward veneer of imposed order and the primitive Uh! runs headlong into
the nascent Oh!”) soon Mason is wondering if he’s the only sane person in the room.
Which is when John mentions there’s already so much media buzz surrounding this play
that all their careers are about to go into the stratosphere. “Are you going to walk away from that?”
Let’s start over.
From the hoot...
3M / 3W
Winner – Playwrights First Best New Play Award 2022
Semi-Finalist – B Street Theatre 2020 New Comedies Festival
