The Playwrights Database
CRAIG ABERNETHY
Nationality: USA
email: Click here to contact Website: Click here
Literary Agent: n/a
Craig abernethy returned to the '06 Fritz Blitz of New California Playwrights with "a View Unassisted" (also selected for Studio Rep's "Insert Title Here: Part Deux!" new plays festival). "Mr ali ali" received two recent productions (San Diego's Sixth at Penn Theatre and "Cruz the east Festival" - Santa Cruz actors' Theatre), and a staged reading at the Univ. of San Diego's Joan Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice. "State of the art" (6th @ Penn) was a critical and audience favorite, and "absolutes" - an apolitical comedy - was also a Blitz hit and selected for "OKtoberfest '04" (NYC). Craig's theatrical background includes studying playwriting, acting, and directing at the University of California, Berkeley; working in a variety of backstage capacities at venues including the New York Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, and Zellerbach auditorium; and acting on the stages of the Melrose Theatre and American Theatre Arts in L.A. Craig is member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Inc.
Research: Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)
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below is a list of Craig Abernethy's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Absolutes Choices, Choices! Do/Don't Do Over Coffee Sort Of Happy Ending To the Sad Tale Of Mr Ali Ali, The, Or the Lighter Side Of Torture State Of the Art Swell! That Day View Unassisted, A Your Best InterestAbsolutes
Synopsis:
an anti-politics-as-usual one-act comedy about finger pointing, political spin, and the role played by "them.". Critics said wit is dry and deft and deliciously subversive stuff.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Fritz Theatre Of San Diego, Ca 2004
Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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Genre:
Comedy One act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: 2 actors
Further Reference:
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Top of PageChoices, Choices!
Synopsis:
Two movers do their best to help a frustrated new tenant decide what goes where given all the "choices" the new resident must make (and the effect each has on the next). the movers try their best but the tenant ends up consumed by her/his own inability to decide.
Notes:
a bare stage And A couch that can "consume" the tenant - can be practical or . . .?
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Genre:
Comedy - Fantasy Comedy
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: 3 actors not gender specific
Further Reference:
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Top of PageDo/Don't Do
Synopsis:
Craig abernethy's sharp comedy Do/Don't Do turns the playwright's incredible eye for social commentary on a (not so) ordinary street crossing.
- nytheatre.com
- nytheatre.com
Notes:
part of Questionable Content A program of four new plays About life in these modern times
1st Produced:
Kraine Theater, NY, USA >>> 17 Sep 2008
Organisations:
Co-Op Theatre east
1st Published:
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Music:
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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
One act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageOver Coffee
Synopsis:
a one-act comedy in which three ministers have to deal with the all too temporal reality of running out of coffee while on spiritual retreat
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Comedy One act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageSort Of Happy Ending To the Sad Tale Of Mr Ali Ali, The, Or the Lighter Side Of Torture
Synopsis:
is a one-act (mostly) comedy about the misfortune of a man mistakenly kidnapped by US government agents, delivered to foreign agents to be tortured, and its effect on him, his family, and American society
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Comedy One act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageState Of the Art
Synopsis:
about creativity and the role the ego can play in the decision making process. Was described by critics as being dazzling and witty, delightfully clever, and side splitting.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
The Sixth At Penn Theatre In San Diego, Ca 2003
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
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Genre:
Ironic Comedy One act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: 3 actors not gender specific
Further Reference:
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Top of PageSwell!
Synopsis:
Caroline's first day on the new job turns into a contest of values as she learns that the real "work" she'll have to do is get along with how things get done if she's to get what she really wants from her employer.
Notes:
a clerical's "work-station"
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Ironic Comedy Comedy
Parts:
Male: - Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageThat Day
Synopsis:
Two young urbanites struggle to make peace with the date (he wasn't sure was such a good idea and she reluctantly joined) that exploded among images of the fallen towers and with the their own loss and grief over "the Day." Two people and their memories populate this impressionistic Drama of striving to make "sense" of insane acts and struggling to "accept" the reality of the unacceptable.
Notes:
a bare stage with two pools of light merging to one.
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageView Unassisted, A
Synopsis:
a woman ("Miss Nancy") and Man ("the Ralphster") meet to maybe exchange what they both have to get what they really need.Both are afraid of being found out but willing to take the risk of meeting a stranger, and breaking the law, for a few moments of. . .
Notes:
Takes place in A "dingy corner of the not too distant future" (written for corner outdoor coffee shop but could be park, Alley. . . . . Needs pay phone And places to sit)
1st Produced:
Lyceum Space 2006
Organisations:
Fritz Theatre
1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Comic Drama Comedy
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageYour Best Interest
Synopsis:
Two anxious adults, fearful for their father's health, are confronted by a sometimes threatening stranger who informs them their father, wanting to avoid the pain and humiliation of getting any older, has hired him to "remove" dad "to lonely place that he might die with dignity" and to inform "Susan" and "Tom" of their role in completing their father's plan. the responses are mixed: one child feels compelled to protest being manipulated, while the other (partly convinced by the stranger's seemingly air-tight scenario and financially needy) sees little choice but to wittingly become a co-conspirator. His job done, the stranger departs abruptly leaving the siblings to fight it out over which plan (their "controlling" father's or one of theirs) will prevail.
Notes:
a bare stage, one easy chair, A lamp, And An end table.
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
ironic Drama Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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