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Mark Dunn

MARK DUNN

  (1956 - )
Nationality:    USA
facebook     email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Mark Dunn is the author of over thirty full-length plays, with two of his one-acts and eleven of his full-lengths published in acting edition by Samuel French, Inc. His award-winning plays BELLES, FIVE TELLERS DANCING IN THE RAIN, NORTH FORK: A TEXAS TRAGICOMEDY and A DELIGHTFUL QUARANTINE have together been produced nearly 300 times throughout the world. Dunn writes largely for the amateur stage and is playwright-in-residence with both the Community Theatre League in Williamsport, PA, and Dalton Little Theatre in Georgia. Dunn is also an award-winning novelist, the author of a number of books, including WELCOME TO HIGBY, IBID: A LIFE, UNDER THE HARROW, and WE FIVE. LMNOP, the stage musical adaptation of his popular novel ELLA MINNOW PEA, has been produced several times around the country. Dunn makes his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife Mary.

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

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

         Belles         Belles: The Reunion         Deer And the Antelope Play, The         Delightful Quarantine, A         Dix Tableaux         Five Tellers Dancing In the Rain         Frank's Life         Genermat         Helen's Most Favourite Day         Island Fever         Judge And Jury         Minus Some Buttons         Mrs Townley Had A Pomeranian         North Fork         Oh Revoir, Mirabeau         Pigmalion         Sand Pies And Scissorlegs         Scent of Rain, The         Seven Interviews         T J Or the Publick And Private Intrigues Of Thomas Jefferson And His Illustrious Circle         Volley Boys

Belles

Belles
the full title of this piece is: Belles: a play in two acts and forty-five phone calls. This description is from the press release: "the Walker sisters, born and raised in Memphis, now live in six different US cities and communicate solely by phone. the eldest, Peggy, who remained with Mama in Tennessee, calls her siblings when their mother is hospitalized-nothing serious, she just ate some bad tuna-but the phone calls lead to often comedic and sometimes brutal confrontations about the past and the present."

Notes:
old in "two acts and forty-five phone calls," Belles visits six southern sisters, who, over the course of an autumn weekend, seek to bridge the physical and emotional distance between them via the telephone, and in the process come to terms with their shattered family history. The gold standard among Mr. Dunn's many plays about southern women, and offering very strong roles for an ensemble of six actresses, Belles continues to pack an emotional punch after all these years.

1st Produced:
as winner of the Margo Jones playwriting award competition sponsored by Texas Woman's University     29 Jan 1988

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

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Belles: The Reunion

Belles: The Reunion
Twenty-five years have passed since we last visited the six Walker sisters from Memphis, Tennessee, and theyre all back on the phone again for another crisis-filled weekend. The most immediate concern: Mama has taken off all her clothes in the community room of her nursing room and the sisters must put their heads together and decide what to do with her. And thats just for starters: oldest sister Peggy has been bilked out of all her money by a neer-do-well boyfriend. Aneece and Paiges marriages are on the rocks. Audrey continues to mourn the death of both her husband and her only child by climbing inside a bottle. Sherry is still trying to earn the respect of her sisters after so many years of being the free-spirited family laughingstock. And Roseanne, after three failed marriages to three minister husbands, has lost both her religious faith and the faith shes always put in her family. To top it all off, a cousin has asked all six Walker siblings to beta-taste her new candy, with mutually disastrous gastrointestinal results. The sequel to Belles, Dunns most popular comedy-drama, Belles: The Reunion will appeal to both those whove already fallen in love with the Walkers, as well as audiences discovering these telephone-tethered women for the very first time.

Notes:
The sequel to Belles, Dunns most popular comedy-drama, Belles: The Reunion will appeal to both those whove already fallen in love with the Walkers, as well as audiences discovering these telephone-tethered women for the very first time.

1st Produced:
McKinney Repertory Theatre in McKinney, TX     09 Oct 2015

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

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Deer And the Antelope Play, The

Synopsis:
a serious comedy about the value of family and friendship, the importance of self-forgiveness, and the special healing joy that comes to those who know how to "drink life to the dregs," the DeeR aND the aNTeLOPe PLaY tells the story of an east Texas family-a mother, daughter and grandmother-who face tragedy and assorted misfortunes head-on with the help of the strange young woman who comes to live with them: a possible ex-hooker who defines herself as "one who drinks from the well of life in big gulps." Much of the action of this four-character play takes place in the home of eleanor Kaiser, a sixty-three-year-old widow who has just opened her home to her daughter, Carol, and her teenage granddaughter, Mindy, following a devastating fire in Carol and Mindy's house across town. It becomes clear early in the play that Mindy, who is emotionally disturbed, was responsible for the fire and that it may have been a suicide attempt. Into the lives of these three women walks Kenetta Tate, a free spirit who, like eleanor and Carol, is struggling to jump-start a life that has ground to a halt. Focusing on Mindy, Kenetta sets off on a mission to prove to her roommate and new friend that the pleasures life has to offer can conquer the pain. . .when one knows how to fully embrace them.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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 Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Delightful Quarantine, A

Synopsis:
What would it be like to be confined with people you don't really know? Strange visitors leave behind a deadly disease that leaves seven separate households unexpectedly quarantined. Seven story lines are deftly balanced as people are forced to confront their personal issues. a heart-warming original comedy/Drama about how people react when there's nowhere else to go

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Community Theatre League, Williamsport, Pennsylvania     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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  10            Other:  2 girls

Further Reference:
-

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Dix Tableaux

Synopsis:
the story of friendship between two women in their sixties is played out over the course of ten years, each year representing another reunion for Beverly Duggins and addie Spools, two participants in a series of annual "tableaux" sponsored by the Museum of Dix, in a small city in the South. Within human diorama settings as simple as a frontier cabin porch or the cow stall of a local dairy barn, and as elaborate as the "Spit and Curl" beauty salon (circa 1930) and the front seat of thelma and Louise's plummeting convertible, Beverly, the lonely urban professional, and addie, the down-home pharmacist's assistant, chart the course of each other's lives, while fending off incursions from the officiously bothersome fellow-poser Maureen. Through the ten scenes which comprise the play, the two women are forced to endure the constant in terruptions of the museum "promenaders" who "ooh" and "ah" at the lifelike presentations, offering up their comical comments, both kind and cruel. Though they see one another only one weekend a year, and in spite of their very different backgrounds, Beverly and addie nurture a growing and abiding friendship. In the end, it becomes the strongest and most sustaining friendship of their lives.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Community Theatre League, Williamsport, Pennsylvania     2005

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

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  3            Other:  m/f ensemble of flexible number

Further Reference:
-

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Five Tellers Dancing In the Rain

Synopsis:
Southern sass, tears and charm as five bank tellers speak their hearts and brew lots of coffee

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Denver    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, NY,    -

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:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Frank's Life

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
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:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Genermat

Synopsis:
Cary and Frances break up or is Carrie and Francis or Francis and Cary or. . .. . .

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French 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:
Play/Drama. - - Gay, theme/character, full length

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Helen's Most Favourite Day

Synopsis:
Helen is swept off her feet by Jed. She wishes that her perfect day could last forever. Be careful what you wish for. . ..

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French 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:
Romance

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Island Fever

Synopsis:
Seven men are shipwrecked on a desert island. What will the straight ones do for sexual gratification?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Sanford Meisner Theater, New York     2002

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. - - Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Judge And Jury

Synopsis:
love and war rage in a Texas small claims court

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Inc, New York, 1994   -

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:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Minus Some Buttons

Synopsis:
is the new teacher at Graceland elementary School a complete lunatic or is she the only one with any sense whatsoever

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Inc, New York, 1991   -

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:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mrs Townley Had A Pomeranian

Synopsis:
Maddie tries to find homes for the pets left behind after a bus crash kills most of the congregation of her church. then she starts hearing voices.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French 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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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North Fork

Synopsis:
For Memorial Day the family are spending the weekend in their cabin. Father has taken to drink; one daughter cannot stop eating; one daughter thinks she has got rid of her husband but he turns up; the aunt is locked in the bathroom and cannot get out and the one daughter who was not invited (because she was locked up in an institution) also turns up with a hostage

Notes:
Original music by Merek Royce Press. Also known As "Cabin Fever"

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Published as "Cabin Fever" by Samuel French 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Oh Revoir, Mirabeau

Synopsis:
Broken hearts and broken dreams

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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Pigmalion

Pigmalion
nspired by Pygmalion, Shaw's classic drawing room tale of language and class division, and its musical incarnation, My Fair Lady, the play tells the story of one eliza Doolittle - the daughter of a hardscrabble Mississippi pig farmer - who sells homemade pork rinds at the Tri-Counties Fair and Livestock Show, and dreams of someday working as a waitress at one of those nice downtown barbecue restaurants where all the tourists go. With the support of her best friend, a sassy Transgender firecracker named Miss Tiffany Box, patroness Ida Hill and her daughter Clara; and with Ida's instantly enamored son Freddy nipping romantically at eliza's heels, Delta-drawlin' eliza engages the services of a Kudzu-league college prof named Henry Higgins to take the country out of her speech and give her some semblance of class. Devotees of Shaw's original will delight in the transplantation of eliza and Professor Higgins and his colleague Pickering to the American South. But this gentle, warm-hearted comedy gives us something else as well, a question for which everyone in the play must find the answer: how do we reconcile the way we present ourselves on the outside with who we truly are on the inside?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Community Theatre League, Williamsport, Pennsylvania     17 Oct 2008

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:
Dramatic comedy

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  8            Other:  cross casting and double casting possible

Further Reference:
-

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Sand Pies And Scissorlegs

Synopsis:
having run away from foster home and headed for Disney World children find how difficult it is to trade the safety and security of youth for the problems and responsibilities of the adult world

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Inc, New York, 1992   -

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:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Scent of Rain, The

Synopsis:
Rural America. An elderly farmer is dying and his three sons are unwed. He wants to make sure they are happily married before he departs. The two eldest sons are dating twin sisters and look likely to marry soon. The youngest son is gay and does not have a partner. The Father asks the farm hand to find a partner for his son. He lines up several potential partners - but none are suitable. This is because the son is in love with the farm hand

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, Chicago     2001

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:
Gay,full length

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Seven Interviews

Seven Interviews
Three actors. One desk. Three chairs. Theatre at its most elemental. Seven Interviews offers up seven different short plays, each with an interview format, and each of which illuminates some aspect of the human condition. The seven pieces range from the broadly comic to the achingly tragic. Among the situations set up in the seven pieces are a job interview to replace a secretary who is giving her employer nightmares, a biographer's horrible realization that she doesn't know her subject at all, the matter of a baseball team mascot who is frightening children at the ballpark, a dialogue between psychiatrist and patient with an unexpected outcome, a conference between parent and school principal over the expulsion of the woman's son; along with pieces about a very unlikely customer for a professional hit-man, and an office cleaning lady caught red-handed on Christmas Eve.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Auxiliary Dog Theatre In Albuquerque, New Mexico     11 Sep 2009

Organisations:
Ka-HOOTZ Theatre Company Emerging Directors' Project

1st Published:
Samuel French, NY   978-0573702150

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:
Collection / Anthology, Comedy 90 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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T J Or the Publick And Private Intrigues Of Thomas Jefferson And His Illustrious Circle

Synopsis:
Thomas Jefferson and his slave mistress. aaron Burr and alexander Hamilton and their duel. the early days of the American presidents

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Volley Boys

Synopsis:
the volley ball team is invited to watch a video of one of their games. It is all a ploy they are being held prisoner. they are told by their captor that he will return in an hour and they should have decided in that time who of their number should have his penis cut off. If they are unable to make a choice they will all have their penises cut off.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Thirteenth Street Rep, New York     1997

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. - - Gay, theme/character, full length

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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