One-Act Plays
Fax Trax.
Comedy in one act (1m, 2w, 1 offstage male voice, bare set). Mary tries to master the increasingly complex dating scene, now conducted electronically and over the wires. Things look promising when Guy answers her jazzy personal ad, but his wife gets wind of the clandestine romance, and things become complicated beyond anything she imagined. Performed by: Eastern Illinois University Theatre; Missouri Association of Playwrights, St. Louis; Playwrights Express, St. Louis.
Here, There, Anywhere.
Four interlocking “dramatic odes,” two comic and two serious (2m, 1w), enact the ending of the world as we know it and starting over in the unknown.
Mother and Child on Board.
Comedy in one act (1m, 2w, 1 offstage male voice, 1 offstage female voice, simple set). This heart-warming yet substantive Christmas play features a middle-aged couple during a stormy commuter flight, who encounter a contemporary mother and child on board. Performed by Parkland College (Champaign, IL).
Last Picnic.
Drama in one act (3m, 2w, bare set). Sometime in the future, a young girl, her father, and the father’s male partner arrive to enjoy what may be the “last picnic” in a decaying American landscape. When the ex-wife arrives to contest the new family, the characters try to deal with social and environmental change. Performed by Charleston (IL) Alley Theatre; Kulturhaus Ostenfeld, Pforzheim, Germany; Love Creek Productions (OOB, New York).
On Hallowed Ground.
Drama in one act (4m, 3w, bare set). Three nuns, “the last religious of the earth,” attempt to found a church sometime in the future in the forbidding landscape of the American Southwest. When soldiers arrive to challenge their right to save lives and occupy government land, their seemingly ridiculous faith somehow works wonders. Performed by Charleston (IL) Alley Theatre; Kulturhaus Ostenfeld, Pforzheim, Germany; Love Creek Productions (OOB, New York).
Passacaglia.
Drama in one act (5m, 3w, bare set). Many decades from now, three soldiers wait for action with an enemy nobody knows. The “Enemy” arrives, they fight for reasons which no one understands, several are killed, and the cycle repeats itself without purpose. An other-worldly couple arrives serenely, regarding their petty war-mongering with contempt, followed by a soldier desperate for a new and better world. Performed by Charleston (IL) Alley Theatre; Kulturhaus Ostenfeld, Pforzheim, Germany.
Strangers at the Well.
Lyric drama in one act (3m, 2w, minimal set). This modern interpretation of the Biblical parable of the woman at the well explores issues of discrimination, equitable distribution of water resources, and compassion in a broader context. Performed at University United Methodist Church, Chapel Hill, NC; Christ Church, Blacksburg, VA.
Sun City.
Drama in one act (2m, 3w, simple set.) A glitzy new retirement complex offering “total living” has just opened, funded largely through government-backed junk bonds. A careerwoman tries to convince her reluctant mother, newly disabled in a car wreck that killed her husband, to tour the facilities. When the project begins to collapse, everyone is forced to re-think. Performed by Charleston (IL) Alley Theatre; Kulturhaus Ostenfeld, Pforzheim, Germany; Missouri Association of Playwrights, St. Louis.
A Terrible Beauty.
Drama in one act (2w, simple set). A young scholar attending a conference on violence in contemporary literature encounters an eccentric artist in the park, who wants her to experience both art and violence as lived “on the street.” Performed by Charleston (IL) Alley Theatre; Kulturhaus Ostenfeld, Pforzheim, Germany.
Time’s Daughter.
Comedy in one act (3m, 2w, single set). A budding young scientist has just moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho to pursue his true love: nuclear research. Only he meets and falls in love with Melissa, a glittering beauty whose father has brought her up on minuscule doses of radioactive waste. How to love without harming the environment? Performed by the Missouri Association of Playwrights, St. Louis.
Wake Me No Wake.
Tragicomedy in one act (1m, 2w, single set). In a fanciful encounter, a young careerwoman attempts to come to terms with her grief following her boyfriend’s senseless drunk-driving death. Performed by: Bridge Players (Champaign, IL); Love Creek Productions (OOB, New York); Mississippi State University Theatre; New Perspectives Theatre (OOB, New York); Red Mask Players (Danville, IL); Webster Groves Theatre Guild, St. Louis.
What Peace We Make.
Lyrical drama in one act (2m, 1w, single set). The Biblical character, Judith, confronts the Assyrian general, Holofernes, in a battle of faith, gender, seduction, and war. Performed by Love Creek Productions (OOB, New York).
Ten-Minute Plays and Scenes
At the Crossroads. Lyric scene (1m, 1 w, bare set). A well-off, grief-stricken mother leaving a church encounters a blind beggar who imagines he wants to trade places with her. Performed by the Missouri Association of Playwrights, St. Louis.
Bishop of Babylon. Ten-minute play (2m, simple set). An advertising writer confronts his boss about serving a “high priest” on behalf of corporate greed and political corruption. Performed by Parkland College (Champaign, IL).
Blowing Up Balloons. Ten-minute play (2m, bare set). Some years later, a childhood friend visits a man dying of AIDS. They reminisce in new, bittersweet honesty. Performed by Parkland College (Champaign, IL).
Going Home. Ten-minute play (2m, 1 w, bare set). After some kind of apocalypse, a family of three try to deal with their myriad feelings and what they will do now. What steps will lead forward?
Inside Out. Ten-minute play (2w, 1w, minimal set). A young sculptor convinces an innocent young woman to pose for his new sculpture – only her body-building boyfriend arrives to challenge the proceedings.
Night-Hawk. Ten-minute play (1m, 2w, bare set). Beside a lake, three teenagers plot a haunting kind of revenge on their restrictive mother. Performed by: First Stage Los Angeles (CA); Mid-America Playwrights Theatre (Springfield, IL); Parkland College (Champaign, IL).
Slouching Toward Bethlehem. Ten-minute farce (2m, 1w, simple set). A young scientist tries to “cure” the seemingly toxic distrust of his girlfriend with a special potion he has discovered.
Take Me Home. Dramatic scene (2w, bare set). An adult daughter tries to get her aging, grieving mother, now in a wheelchair, to tour a “total living” retirement complex in the American Southwest.
Take-Off. Ten-minute play (1m, 1w). A young man tries to justify his dropping out of high school and running away to his closest (female) friend.
This Animal Life. Ten-minute play (2m, 1w, minimal set). A contemporary family seems to be turning, literally, into animals. Can this be real?
Through a Glass Darkly. Dramatic scene (2w, minimal set). A young careerwoman strolling through an urban park encounters an older female artist, who draws to save herself from the violence in her neighborhood.