Vanities: The Musical chronicles the life-affirming journey of three vivacious Texas teens from cheerleaders to sorority sisters to housewives to liberated women and beyond. This musical captures a snapshot-sharp portrait of the lives, loves, disappointments, and dreams of these young women growing up during the turbulent sixties and seventies and reconnecting in the late 1980s. With a tunefully evocative score by David Kirshenbaum (Summer of '42) and Jack Heifner's hilarious adaptation of his long-running Off-Broadway smash, Vanities: The Musical is a funny and poignant look at three best friends who discover that, through thirty years of rapidly changing times, the one thing they can rely on is each other.
Winner! 2011 Obie for Playwriting A New York Times Critic's Pick! Invasion! is a tornado of words, images and ideas, all centered around a magical name: Abulkasem. The play assaults our deepest prejudices about identity, race and language. At once hilarious, disturbing and poignant, this deeply subversive play deconstructs a threatening identity - the Arabic male - and forces us to confront our own cultural identity.
Characters: 6 male, 3 female Interior Robert Montgomery calls his Subject To Fits not an adaptation but "a response to Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, smacking of The Idiot, dreaming of The Idiot, but mostly taking off from where The Idiot drove it."Prince Myshkin, a pure soul just released from an epilepsy clinic, is thrown into the mad whirl of St. Petersburg society. His child-like honesty steals the hearts of two competing women: the aris
Characters: 5 male, 1 female Genre: Drama Unit Set Jeff is a Minneapolis sports anchor who hasn't had a drink in years - not a drop. When he hears that his 23 year-old daughter Margo's stutter has caused her to stop speaking altogether, he heads out into the bracing winter night to bring her a gift for her birthday. All he needs to do is find an all-night pet store. And convince someone to tell him where Margo lives. And maybe stop for a drink. Just one..."
Characters: 2 male, 2 female Int. Two jurors on a grisly murder trial become romantically involved. As the trial progresses, they realize they disagree adamantly on the verdict. Their story unfolds to a frightening climax while a couple in a different time frame occupies the same apartment and plays out a bizarre relationship also tied to the Stanway case. Here is a psychological thriller by the veteran playwright of Norman Is that You?, Murder at the Howard Johnson's
ComedyCharacters: 4 male, 1 female When New Jersey Gaffing Assistant Al Gurvis accidentally gets his new business cards swapped with those of real-estate agent Eileen Lee, he's mildly annoyed. Little does he know that this tiny mix up has sparked a chain reaction which will ultimately ruin his life. A comedy about waking up from the American Dream. A New York Times Critic's Pick! "Plenty of young writers hit on a good opening gimmick for a play but don't know where to go
Characters 1 male, 1 female Dramatic ComedyIn this play of letters, a young official in a college alumni off ce invites a celebrated but reclusive author to the thirty-fifth reunion of his class. When he declines, she charmingly prods him, and thereby begins a witty and revelatory correspondence that becomes part mystery, part memory, and part romance. Rich and revealing." - The New Yorker "Written beautifully as a series of letters, this warm and satisfying work follows in the footsteps of A.R. Gurney's Love Letters and deserves to become just as enduringly popular... Cahn serves up something of a bona fide thriller along with the genuinely wise psychological insights that lie at the heart of Roses in December, keeping us riveted until the final word has been read." -NYTheatre.com
Dramatic MusicalCharacters: 8 male, 5 femaleThis musical revolves around a boy named Lucius Sims. With his sea-green eyes more displaced than most people's and a nose deformed at birth, Lucius, or "Lizard" as he is called by his friends at the Leesville State School for Retarded Boys, looks and feels like a freak due to his reptilian features. So when Callahan, a shoe salesman from up North arrives and claims to be his father, Lizard takes a chance. Believing that his father is dead, he escapes from his miserable life at the reformatory and into the madcap world of Callahan's traveling theater troupe and their ragtag production of Shakespeare's The Tempest. His journey with the charismatic yet brooding Callahan is at the heart of this deeply affecting story as Lizard touches the lives of all that know him and in his search to find a real "home," Lizard just might find a world in which he can truly be accepted and set his spirit free. "Impressive...Every bit as sweeping and panoramic as anything on Broadway!" -Variety. "This production shines. It's a wistful coming-of-age odyssey with shades of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain." -Backstage West. "Outstanding! Very touching! This entire show is resplendent with heart, soul and captivating music." -ReviewPlays.com
Dramatic Comedy / Characters: 5m, 5f"Roy, is this a dream?A dream, a story, high school, insanity. It's hard to tell sometimes, isn't it?"A high school Homecoming dance in the south. In the bathroom Gretchen Black, the most popular girl in school, lights a cigarette and asks the mirror on the wall who's the fairest of them all. The mirror shows her a horrible witch instead of her own reflection. Gretchen puts the cigarette out in her armpit and the witch disappears. Moments later a mysteri
Characters: 2m, 3f / Historic/Docu DramaPassionate. Brilliant. Defiant. Tonight, 18th century scientific genius Emilie du Châtelet is back and determined to answer the question she died with: love or philosophy, head or heart? In this highly theatrical rediscovery of one of history's most intriguing women, Emilie defends her life and loves; and ends up with both a formula and a legacy that permeates history."Gunderson possesses an antic imagination that seeks to invent its own rules. As soo
Wings of Madness:Short Play, Southern DramaCharacters: 1 femaleInterior SetSet in a tacky funeral parlor on a highway outside New Orleans, a murdered beauty taunts the audience, exposing her bare unshrouded back, and explaining why she was murdered. Other imaginary characters--her husband and daughter--add an eerie quality to her already surreal tale.Turtle Soup: Short Play, Southern ComedyCharacters: 1 male, 1 female
>Short Play, Comedy Characters: 2 male, 2 femaleBare stage w/props.A Southern comedy about mature love found later in life, and the trouble and insight that such discoveries can bring. Though well-warned, Kitten, a runaway housewife, decides to travel with her Tulane professor, Beau, on a train trip through the Louisiana swamp. Their plans are upset when her son, Bunky, in an effort to punish her, shows up as a stowaway on the train. Kitten and Beau struggle through their disappointments, mourning the futility of their lives, while the hurricane brewing outside the train builds toward its inevitable whirlwind of destruction. Also available in A Louisiana Gentleman and other New Orleans Comedies.
Short Play, DramaCharacters: 1 maleOne exterior set or bare stageA young writer faces love, death, and the challenges of creating a joyful life. Setting: Rocky coast of Ireland in the 1930's.
Dramatic Comedy / 2m, 1f / Interior An eccentric widower, Mack has been a stay-at-home dad for twenty years, his daily existence revolving around his son Billy. Not only can't he let go, Mack's convinced he's more needed than ever. First up is pulling Billy from a dead-end copy shop job and enrollment in culinary school-after all, he was a finalist in the Pillsbury Bake-off. Then Mack discovers that Billy, adopted from infancy, has contacted his birthmother, a Washington, DC secretary about to make a first trip to New York City. Panicky Mack spends a sleepless three days coaching his son, determined to impress Adela with Billy's upbringing-and their indestructible father-son bond. Over a snowy Easter weekend, these three square off. Confronting timid Adela, Billy's romanticized ideas about his identity are turned inside out, as Mack's deepest insecurities surface. Mack is convinced the woman will psychologically lay claim to the child she gave up two decades earlier. Yet for Adela, a lasting reconnection with the boy couldn't be further from her mind. With abundant humor, Easter Monday addresses what it means to be a parent, and to be parented, illuminating both the pain and joy in finally saying goodbye to childhood. "....An interesting examination of an unusual father-son relationship... The Sondheim lyrics 'stay a child while you can be a child' are embodied in Mack, the overprotective father. In his eagerness to keep his adopted son Billy with him, Mack has in essence tried to keep him a child. He creates a wonderful world of nostalgia that is very moving... Easter Monday holds our interest, and Corley has written some beautifully evocative lines ... " -Connie Meng, NPR Radio Character Descriptions: MACK: 55-ish; a radically sentimental, unapologetic Pollyanna; unselfconscious, devoid of vanity, he's alternately tender, prickly, impatient, cuddly, bullying, at times fiercely defensive and aggressively paternal. BILLY: Mack's son, 20; attractively boyish, yet preternaturally world-weary; gentle, introspective and cautious, he has developed a short fuse, and though desperate to avoid confrontation, he can turn combative. ADELA: Billy's birthmother; 35; unprepossessing, plain-spoken and intensely focused on whatever meager task is at hand; though decidedly meek, she's capable of standing up for the truth - and herself. Please contact Samuel French, Inc. (www.samuelfrench.com) for performance licensing inquiries.
Judges selected from the audience actually vote and determine the winner who, therefore, may be different at each performance. The show takes its shots not by mocking the pageant from the outside, but by being one. The six contestants compete for the title of Miss Glamouresse (Glamouresse being a cosmetics company). Miss Deep South, Miss West Coast, Miss Great Plains, Miss Bible Belt, Miss Industrial Northeast. and Miss Texas and compete in evening gowns, talent, swim-wear and spokemodeling, plus the finalists answer actual calls from the Glamouresse Beauty Crisis Hotline.
Not a farce, but a true comedy of manners, and as such requires genuine character performances. Hugely successful premieres in the UK and the USA. Ah, Provence! The French Riviera. Where the well-to-do rent luxury villas for exorbitant sums in order to get their annual fix of sun, sea, and haute cuisine. However, imagine the crisis if one such sumptuous place was double-booked. Worse - imagine it triple-booked! By a French couple, an English couple, and heaven forbid, an Irish/American couple. M
DramaCharacters: 4 male, 3 female Interior Set This poignant drama about a dysfunctional Jewish family in Massachusetts is structured as a memory play. Roddy Stern recalls what it was like growing up in a family dominated by his paranoid and pathologically jealous father, a truck driver who lurked outside his house instead of working to catch his wife with other men. A long suffering and abused saint, Roddy's mother raised two children in this difficult environment. Roddy's
Comedy / Characters: 5 male, 2 femaleScenery Requirements: Simple setPeter and Madeline have been friends since they were teenagers in Queens. They have Manhattan apartments and separate unsatisfactory sex lives. Though more loving than most couples and searching for partners, they are incompatible: he is gay. Maddi is overweight and drawn to men who treat her badly. He hides behind snappy retorts and skepticism. Maddie's alcoholic mother, Peter's father, lovers, pickups and friends with A
This hard-hitting psychological drama swirls around a young Irishman who moves into lodgings in London already occupied by two bigots, one of them Irish and a student who's slumming to research his thesis. Damien is befriended by the student, who appreciates his intellect, and by the student's girlfriend, a devotee of causes and an aspiring journalist. When the IRA mounts a bombing campaign in London, it appears that the enigmatic Damien may be involved. Tension mounts as he remains noncommittal in the face of inquires. Gradually, Damien is drawn into an affair with the student's girlfriend, a lady attracted by the IRA specter. Realizing he has misled those around him, Damien tells her the truth: he's a dispatch clerk with absolutely no IRA ties. Back at the lodging house, misconceptions and resentments explode into sudden violence.
Four people have come to the Paradise Lounge on the same night for the same reason - to kill the singer. The four do not know each other, and therefore, do not know that the others are there for the same purpose. As the singer, Cindy, is onstage for her first set, the villains discuss with their accomplices the reason and method they've devised for Cindy's death. One by one, they each set a trap in Cindy's dressing room. Cindy finishes her set and leaves the stage to change clothes for the secon
Two people move into an empty room and begin to construct a life together in this work by the author of Noises Off, Copenhagen, Benefactors and numerous other well known plays. Should the bed go here and the table go there? Or the bed there and the table here? Everything inside this small space is for them to decide. The responsibility is daunting - especially when they reflect that it has taken the whole history of the world to get them together in this particular place at this particular time and that the whole future of the world will be different if the table is here instead of there. But how can they decide anything when the other person keeps disagreeing and when the woman downstairs maddeningly dumps unwanted furniture on them that they do not have the heart to refuse?
Comic drama Characters: 2 male, 4 female Interior, exterior or unit set. A warm drama played against the hatred in Northern Ireland, Remembrance charts the love that develops between a Protestant father and a Catholic mother who meet in the cemetery where their sons are buried, both victims of violence. Family members burden the courtship with personal antagonisms. "An absorbing, powerful and touching play.... A gripping account of the brutality of bigotry that knows
This stage biography of gifted short-story writer Katherine Mansfield is set in the tuberculosis sanitarium where she went with her devoted companion, Ida Baker, to regain her health over the winter of 1920-21. The play focuses on the relationship between these two ladies and on this important literary figure's sensibilities as a writer and a woman, while revealing harsh truths about her marriage to a writer and critic who treated her with selfish insensitivity.
Comedy Characters: 1 male, 1 female Interior Set This amusing and insightful look at marriage focuses on one middle aged couple, Barry and Gen, in whose marriage it is possible to see most of the agony and the ecstasy of the institution. Barry, for example, has difficulty accepting that Gen wants to have a career and, indeed, an identity of her own. She wants to be more than merely Mrs. Barry. Eventually, of course, he comes around.
Denis Diderot, Translated and adapted by Shelley Berc and Andrei Belgrader Comic DialogueCharacters: 2 male Simple Interior SetThe two characters in this amazing, almost theatre of the absurd play are an aloof 18th century philosopher and a callow youth who happens to be the nephew of a great French court composer. The young man has recently offended his rich patron and been cut loose. The philosopher maintains that he should swallow his pride and beg forgiveness. As they argue, this tour de force becomes more and more manic. "It has the charm of Amadeus, the irony of Shaw.... The whole evening is one to be seen, savored and treasured." -New York Post
A collection of short plays selected by New York theatre critics, professionals, and the editorial staff of Samuel French, Inc. as the most important plays of the 15th Annual Off Off Broadway Original Short Play Festival, sponsored by Love Creek Productions. This collection includes: The Adventures of Captain Neato-Man by Timothy Harris, A Chance Meeting by Frederick Stroppel, Chateau Rene by Sam Ingraffia, Does This Woman Have A Name? by Theresa Rebeck, For Anne by Peter Gruen, The Heartbreak T
Genre: Comedy Characters: 4 males and 2 females Scenery: Interior This is a riotous comedy about divorce. Arthur and Norma, ex-spouses, live in separate apartments in the same building. Norma has second thoughts about her ongoing affair with Arthur's best friend, while Arthur isn't so sure he wants to continue his dalliance with Sonia. Dennis, Sonia's husband, doesn't mind his wife having an affair as long as she provides him with titillating accounts of it while he is dressed as a lady traffic cop. She greatly embellishes the tales to make him happy. Comic sparks are ignited into farcical flames when Dennis arrives at Arthur's flat for lessons in love making. "Riotous! A domestic laughter romp! A super play. You'll laugh all the way home, I promise you." - Eastbourne News "Very funny.... A Churchill comedy that most people will thoroughly enjoy." - The Stage
Characters: 4 male, 2 female 2 Interiors Maestro Vito De Angelis, an egomaniacal but charming conductor, is under contract to a major publisher to deliver his autobiography. The publisher has paid a huge advance and Vito has just fired his fifth ghost writer. The publisher sends pretty Iris Peabody, knowing that Vito is a sucker for the ladies, to gain his cooperation as she ghost writes the book. The stratagem works, a fact that distresses Mrs. Vito, former opera star Rachel Garla
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