doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


Paula Cizmar

PAULA CIZMAR

  
Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

Paula Cizmar's plays have been produced off-Broadway, in London, and in regional Theatres from Maine to California-including Portland Stage, American Place Theatre, the Women's Project (NY), San Diego Rep, the Jungle Theater, and Playwrights ArenA. She has been selected for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and Sundance Theatre Lab and is the recipient of numerous awards including a National endowment for the Arts playwriting grANT and a residency at the Rockefeller Foundation's study center in Bellagio, Italy. She has received commissions from Actors Theatre of Louisville (short plays), Cypress College (VeNUS IN ORaNGe, written with Laura Shamas), and Salt Lake acting Company (NOTHING SaCReD), among others. Often taking on political and social issues, her many published and produced plays include STReeT STORIeS, the DeaTH OF a MINOR, CAndy & SHeLLeY GO TO the DeSeRT, BONe DRY and STILL LIFe WITH PaRROT & MONKeY. also a screenwriter, Paula was a staff writer for two seasons on the PBS series American Family. She teaches playwriting at the University of Southern California.

Buy Plays with Doollee

Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.
AbeBooks.co.uk   AbeBooks.com   Stageplays.com   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template

below is a list of Paula Cizmar's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Bone Dry         Boodaboy         Cafe Royale         Candy & Shelley Go To the Desert         Chalk         Cupcakes         Death Of A Miner, The         Ghost Dance On Mulholland         Girl Room, The         January         Legend Of the Ice Birds, The         Love Song For the Woman Whose Child Shot My Son         Madonna Of the Powder Room         Marina Pisklakova-Parker (Russia)         Palm Sunday         Pretty Places         Seven         Sloopy Or Sam         Still Life With Parrot & Monkey         Street Stories         Tough Girls         Venus In Orange

Bone Dry

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Jungle Theater, Minneapolis    2005

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Alexander Street Press (restricted to internet subscribers)   -

Music:
-

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Boodaboy

Synopsis:
Love and zen, doggie style. a spiritually-seeking Dog struggles to keep his addled human companion Marge from a meltdown in this comedic short play

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Echo One-Acts, Echo @ The Elephant Asylum, Los Angeles, California    2003

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Alexander Street Press (restricted to internet subscribers)   -

Music:
-

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:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Cafe Royale

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Center Stage Minneapolis    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Candy & Shelley Go To the Desert

Candy & Shelley Go To the Desert
Heading west in search of romance and adventure, Candy and Shelley suddenly find themselves stranded in the vast emptiness of a western desert when their car boils over. alone under the blazing sun, with no recourse except to wait for another car to come along, the more resilient Candy decides to relax and add to her suntan, while her nervous (and ludicrously over-dressed) companion sneezes and recoils from the lizards basking on the nearby rocks. Fantasizing about being ravaged by a passing motorcycle gang, the girls are seized with terror when a lone biker does indeed turn up, having strayed off course in the trackless desert. While they try to fend him off with an orange juice container (which explodes in the heat), he proves to be a harmless sort who is riding west to attend his cousin's wedding and whose chief concern is undoing the jammed zipper of his leather jacket before he dehydrates totally. In the end, despite their misadventures and a momentary falling-out which occurs when Shelley admits to havi

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    978-0822201793

Music:
-

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

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Chalk

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Cupcakes

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Death Of A Miner, The

Death Of A Miner, The
difficulties of a female coal miner in a male dominated profession and of her husband coping with it and ultimately her death

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Women's Project

1st Published:
Samuel French Inc, New York   978-0573608421

Music:
-

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:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Ghost Dance On Mulholland

Synopsis:
In Ghost Dance On Mulholland, Lu is hired to do a light surveillance job by Chick, a less-than-forthcoming private investigator. Lu spends her nights on top of a ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking Los Angeles. Her orders? Keep her binoculars trained on an unsuspecting suburban neighborhood below to find-well, Chick refuses to tell her. From her outpost, Lu sees nothing unusual--until a mysterious stranger (Dawn) shows up. Dawn knows an awful lot about the mountaintop, which is a sacred Chumash burial ground; and she knows an awful lot about Lu, though they've never met. and she seems to know an awful lot about things that aren't there. Or can't be seen. Is Dawn real? Or just a figment of Lu's late night imagination? the play explores the question, What is it that Lu is running from, and what is it that causes her to be unable to see?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Zephyr Theatre, Los Angeles    -

Organisations:
Circle Rising Festival of New Plays

1st Published:
Alexander Street Press (restricted to internet subscribers)   -

Music:
-

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:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Girl Room, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in "the Poet's theatre" published by ailanthus Press, 1982   -

Music:
-

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

January

Synopsis:
The aftermath of a terrible tragedy. One child shoots another child; the mother of the victim is caught up in a media feeding frenzy while obsessing about the mother of the shooter.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
staged reading by MultiStages at the West End Theatre in NYC    2014

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://www.indietheaternow.com/Play/january   -

Music:
-

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 90 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Legend Of the Ice Birds, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Portland Stage Company, Maine    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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:
Childrens play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Love Song For the Woman Whose Child Shot My Son

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Casa 0101 Theater, Los Angeles    2006

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Madonna Of the Powder Room

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Portland Stage Company, Maine    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Marina Pisklakova-Parker (Russia)

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
part of Journeys is A series of stirring monologues from courageous women Around the world engaged in the dangerous struggle for human rights. each of these remarkable And heroic leaders tells An inspiring story of commitment.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Vital Voices Global Partnership

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Palm Sunday

Synopsis:
In Palm Sunday, a white woman tries to make peace with her African American neighbors after the death of her racist husband; but the widow is dazed and inarticulate, and can only finally communicate when she sings along with her neighbor's gospel group

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Passage Theatre, Trenton, New Jersey    1990

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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:
Drama/Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Pretty Places

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Alexander Street Press (restricted to internet subscribers)   -

Music:
-

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:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Seven

Seven
a collaboration of seven award-winning women playwrights, SeVeN is based on personal interviews with seven women leaders of the Vital Voices Global Partnership network who have triumphed over huge obstacles to create major changes in human rights in their home countries. In the seven interwoven stories we see the commonality of challenge and of bravery, and in the individual monologues that follow, we experience each fascinating whole true story.

Notes:
written by Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol K. Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith And Susan Yankowitz

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY (2009)   978-0822223511

Music:
-

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:
Documentary

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Sloopy Or Sam

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Still Life With Parrot & Monkey

Synopsis:
a play about the confusions of love in a world so complex it can barely be defined anymore. Celia lives with Len; he's centered, focused, interested in every facet of life and cosmology--in short, he's a brilliant thinker with great hopes for his future. Plus, he loves Celia. Celia, however, fears she's unlovable, a meaningless nothing--especially when she takes stock of herself and her life and comes up short. Thinking she has no purpose she sets off to find answers--through an affair with a quirky downtown painter, through a friendship with an offbeat housewife from the Valley who channels Frida Kahlo, through books, through dreams. For Celia, there is one desperate goal: to do whatever it takes to find inner peace. Which isn't easy--especially when the people around her spontaneously combust and frequent a mysterious hall of mirrors, the Blue Moon. Nontraditional and comedic, STILL LIFe is a blend of realism and illusion, a landscape reflecting the chaos we experience as we maneuver through what is supposed to be normal urban life.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
[workshop] Scene Dock Theater at the University of Southern California    2003

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://www.indietheaternow.com/Play/still-life-with-parrot--monkey   -

Music:
-

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 120 min

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Street Stories

Synopsis:
Set on one sleepless night on one city block of a blue-collar street in Hollywood, the characters of STReeT STORIeS are bombarded with the roar of traffic and sirens, with petty crime, with money anxieties, with the threat of old age. there are no movie stars, no cameras--the only bright lights are those of the police helicopters, roaring relentlessly overhead. Yet they are survivors, and in this play, the characters turn to eccentric and eclectic means to survive. Bayla, a transvestite hooker, befriends Motionless Man, neglected by his family. Monica hides out from her past and her nightmares and falls in with Eddie, a Korean American from the 1.5 generation who masks his brilliance with street talk, street walk. Tom searches for a sister who may or may not exist. elise, a runner, searches for the ultimate high. admir, an immigrant cab driver, searches for a sense of home-and in doing so connects the characters, driving his cab, from one place to another, inadvertently hooking up the lost and the waiting to be found. For all of them, the threat of unseen random violence looms constantly. It's a given. the characters inhabit a floating dream-and sometimes a nightmare-unfolding on the streets of multiracial, multiethnic America.

Notes:
STReeT STORIeS is intended to be A play About the haunting isolation of cities. But it is Also A play About mercy, About looking At the way, despite urban devastation, people survive And hold out their hands to each other

1st Produced:
Playwrights Arena @ the Los Angeles Theatre Center    2002

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://www.indietheaternow.com/Play/street-stories   -

Music:
-

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 90 min

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Tough Girls

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Venus In Orange

Synopsis:
a performance piece that takes an uncompromising look at women's lives, roles, and sexuality in the 21st Century. Using Venus-Goddess of Beauty, Sex, and Love-as a tour guide, the play weaves real-world stories, myth, movement, and poetry to shed light on the often-perplexing roles of women who are caught between media images of femininity and their own desires for fulfillment in a world that still doesn't view them as equal. Sometimes sensual, sometimes chilling, sometimes funny, VeNUS IN ORaNGe is a provocative look at who women are-and who they can become.

Notes:
written by Paula Cizmar & Laura Shamas

1st Produced:
Cypress College Theatre, Cypress, California, Usa    2004

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  Flexible; may be performed with 4 to 12 (or more) actors, all women

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page