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William Missouri Downs

WILLIAM MISSOURI DOWNS

  
Nationality:    USA
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Literary Agent:    Bret Adams Ltd  represented by Mark Orsini

William Missouri Downs has won two Rolling Premieres from the National New Play Network (The Exit Interview and Women Playing Hamlet). He has also won numerous playwriting awards, twice been finalist at the Eugene O'Neill (Mad Gravity & How To Steal A Picasso) and published four books on the art of theatre including Naked Playwriting a popular guide to writing plays and Screenplay: Writing the Picture, which is used at many top film schools. Samuel French, Playscripts and Heuer Publishing have published his plays. The Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, The InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia, The San Diego Rep, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Salt Lake City Acting Company, the Actors Theatre of Charlotte, the Detroit Rep, the International Theatre Festival in Israel, the New York City Fringe Festival, the Stadt Theater Walfischgasse in Austria and the Durban Performing Arts Center in South Africa are a few of the 150 theatres that have produced his plays. In Hollywood he served as a staff and freelance writer on several NBC television shows (including Fresh Prince of Bel Air) and he sold a movie to Ron Howard's Imagine Films. He holds an MFA in acting from the University of Illinois, an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA and was trained in playwriting at The Circle Rep Theatre in New York City.

Research:    Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)

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below is a list of William Missouri Downs's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Books On Tape         Cockeyed         Dead White Males: A Year In the Trenches Of Teaching         Exit Interview, The         Forgiving John Lennon         Headsets - The View From The Light Booth         How To Steal A Picasso         Innocent Thoughts         Kosher Lutherans         M Word, The         Mad Gravity         Mr Perfect         Seagulls In A Cherry Tree         Shelf Life Of Sushi, The         Women Playing Hamlet

Books On Tape

Synopsis:
Adrienne is obsessed with "bodice-rippers" on audio book. She is having an affair with Jeffrey who works at the shop where she buys or rents them. She is introduced to a church where the priest "mixes and matches" various bits from all religions to bring in a congregation

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Vintage Theatre, Denver    06 Apr 2011

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Cockeyed

Cockeyed
Phil, an average nice guy, is madly in love with the beautiful Sophia. the only problem is that she's unaware of his existence. He tries to introduce himself but she looks right through him. When Phil discovers Sophia has a glass eye, he thinks that might be the problem, but soon realizes that she really can't see him. Perhaps he is caught in a philosophical hyperspace or dualistic reality or perhaps beautiful women are just unaware of nice guys. armed only with a B.a. in philosophy, Phil sets out to prove his existence and win Sophia's heart

Notes:
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1st Produced:
St Louis: Hotcity Theatre    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:

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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dead White Males: A Year In the Trenches Of Teaching

Synopsis:
Meet Janet, a rookie history teacher who goes from idealist to burnout as she fights insidious internal politics in her effort to truly affect her students. During her tenure Janet learns how to write a proper self-evaluation, censor musicals, and cultivate paranoia in a system dominated by constant accountability and deep corruption. When Janet's mentor has a nervous breakdown while being forced to teach creationism, Janet is called to testify against her, and then something even more tragic occurs in this biting satire of the public school system.

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York   -

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:
110-120 min Dark Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  3 males, 4 females

Further Reference:
-

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Exit Interview, The

Exit Interview, The
Bertolt Brecht scholar Dick Fig has been terminated by his university and is having an excruciating exit interview with eunice - a decidedly droll administrator. Downs' witty play ricochets through Brechtian interludes, a pair of politically-radicalized cheerleaders, a pompous newsman, communiques from God, and debates on religion, science and politics before reaching its surprising conclusion.

Notes:
the exit Interview received the lead Rolling World Premiere Production as part of the National New Play Networks Continued Life for New Plays Fund

1st Produced:
Orlando Shakespeare Theater In Partnership With Ucf    29 Sep 2012

Organisations:
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1st Published:

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:
dark comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Forgiving John Lennon

Synopsis:
at a small liberal Arts college a student on the campus radio says that there is a new rule henceforth all Muslim scholars must wear an identification badge so that they can be identified. He was joking - but the ramifications grow and grow

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Repertory Theatre, Detroit    31 Mar 2011

Organisations:
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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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Headsets - The View From The Light Booth

Synopsis:
The final night of a disastrous production of "Hamlet". Yorrick's skull has gone missing; most of the cast have food poisoning. Then the police arrive to close down the production because the rent has not been paid. The drama critic of the Chicago Tribune arrives. The techies want to protect their reputation so they decide to kill him by dropping a light fixture on his head

Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Heuer Publishing   978-1615882397

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:  3            Female:  1            Other:  1 either sex

Further Reference:
-

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How To Steal A Picasso

Synopsis:
A comic-drama set against the bankruptcy of the Motor City. The Smith family doesn't agree on much, but when their son Johnny comes home for the first time in four years, they reluctantly reconvene to celebrate the father (a failed painter) winning the Yoko Ono Lifetime Achievement Award for Non-Objective Art. In fact, tonight, Sean (the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono) is to come to their house and give the father the award personally. But when a Picasso goes missing from the nearby Detroit Institute for the Arts, the family is suspected and Johnny's homecoming takes a dramatic turn. Soon it's discovered that the missing Picasso and the father's prestigious award could both be part of a cruel hoax that forces the family to question the purpose of art in this modern pixilated world where everything is copyrighted and art is no more than a commodity.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Unicorn Theatre Kansas City MO    27 Jan 2016

Organisations:
Unicorn Theatre Kansas City MO

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:
Comedy/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Innocent Thoughts

Synopsis:
a Jewish anthropologist is called in as an expert witness in a murder trial. the accused a white police officer is alleged to have murdered and buried a black man twenty years previously. the witness is surprised to find that the defence lawyer is black

Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Next Stage Press   -

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:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Kosher Lutherans

Kosher Lutherans
Kosher Lutherans centers on Hanna and Franklyn, the seemingly perfect couple who desperately want to have a child of their own, but are unable to do so. as the couple begins to wonder if they'll ever become parents, they have a chance encounter with a God-fearing pregnant girl from Iowa who offers to let the couple adopt her out-of-wedlock baby. Just before the adoption papers are signed, Hanna and Franklyn discover the girl is unaware that they are Jewish. Knowing the revelation could throw a ratchet into the whole works, the couple poses as Lutherans to appeal to the girl's apparent Midwestern sensibilities. But how far are they willing to go to have a family?

Notes:
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1st Produced:
University Of Wyoming Summer Theatre    2007

Organisations:
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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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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M Word, The

Synopsis:
Buster a talented High School pupil struggles with a broken heart and how being gay fits in with his conservative upbringing

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Basin College, Columbia    14 Nov 2010

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:
Comedy. - - Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mad Gravity

Synopsis:
Mad Gravity is a comedy about Archie and Eudora, two Dada performance artists who have built a theatre in their living room. Every night before a live audience they act out their lives. You've heard of reality television; think of it as reality theatre. They want to build a second experimental space in their kitchen but they just cannot take any more kitchen sink realism. Artaud would be proud of them. Tonight's Theatre of Cruelty performance concerns their teenage daughter who wants to marry the son of Joe and Mary. All the parties involved have been invited to the house/theatre. But when the kids forget to tell Joe and Mary about the live audience all hell breaks lose. Things go from bad to worse when they discover that a comet has been spotted in the night sky. There is a 50/50 chance it will hit the earth. Everyone, including the audience, may have only an hour to live. This forces the parents to stop arguing about insignificant things like marriage and start arguing about great philosophical questions of life: Is the comet a sign from God or is it just gravity? And what the hell is performance art?

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Bloomington Playwrights Project    Spring 2014

Organisations:
Bloomington Playwrights Project

1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York, 2015   -

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:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mr Perfect

Synopsis:
Mr. Perfect is not what you expect in a love story. It is a romantic comedy about a quirky flight attendant who is a romance novel junkie. When she meets Mr. Perfect she attempts to make love with him in the bathroom of an Airbus 32,000 feet over Dayton, Ohio. When it doesn't work out she sets out on a personal search to find the purpose of life by connecting the random chance events that make up existence. Her search leads her to find solace in the arms of a PhD student whose thesis is about human beings' feeble attempt to find meaning where no meaning exists. Mr. Perfect finds comfort in the arms of a nationally known self-help guru and author of such famous books as Ten Days to Self-Esteem and On a Wing and a Prayer: A Twelve-Step Crash Course on Conquering Your Fear of Flying. But when the self-help guru goes down on an airliner and the PhD is charged with plagiarism, the lovers by chance find each other again and set out to create their own through-line, narrative and meaning.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Salt Lake Acting Company    Apr 2015

Organisations:
Salt Lake Acting Company

1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York, 2015   -

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:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Seagulls In A Cherry Tree

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:
-

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Shelf Life Of Sushi, The

Synopsis:
a comedy about the dead and where they should be buried.

Notes:
part of the Source festival

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:
-

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Women Playing Hamlet

Synopsis:
Four women play twenty roles (including all the males) in this comedy about Jessica an actress from Minnesota who has been cast to play Hamlet in New York. After accidentally interrupting a production of Hamlet starring Patrick Stewart, not only does Jessica think Mr. Stewart is stalking her, but she also faces an up hill battle through a maze of self-important humanities professors, Freudian psychiatrists and a Minnesota mother, only to discover that she doesn't understand Hamlet or herself. The search for identity is the theme as Jessica takes on her emotional baggage and existential overload, as well as her self-doubt and disdain for Danish fondue. There is no need for the audience to have seen or even understand Hamlet in order to follow Jessica's comic search to find her unique self in this fast moving pageant full of bad advice and Starlings with diarrhea. Women Playing Hamlet is a comedy about the tragedy of modern life.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Unicorn Theatre Kansas City    Spring 2015

Organisations:
Unicorn Theatre Kansas City

1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York, 2015   -

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:
Company

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  4 to 19            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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