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J B Edwards

J B EDWARDS

  (1957 - )
Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

J.B. Edwards has had seven plays produced in New York in the last four years in 18 separate productions. they are William's Last Chance, a Family Reunion, the Sanctuary, Three Women Dating Henry, the Day einstein Died, einstein's Secret Letters, and a Delicate Matter. Two new plays Dating Henry, the Musical and the Best of everything, are currently scheduled for upcoming productions in New York.. JB's play Una Reunion Familiar has been played at the Spanish language Theater ITaT in New York City, and was also played in Puerto Rico. He has produced and co-written the New York cabaret show Stripped. J.B. Edwards has written, directed and produced a feature film based on his play Three Women Dating Henry. the DVD was released in February of 2006. He has also arranged and produced a CD musical from Three Women called theme from Henry, Music by Candlelight. also JB has written and produced an audio CD called the Relationship advantage. J.B. Edwards is the executive Producer and founder of Third avenue Productions. He has been a member of the Board of the Eugene O'Neil Theater in Waterford, Connecticut. He is a member the National Arts Club and the Players Club, as well as the Dramatist Guild. Visit www.thirdavenueplays.com.

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below is a list of J B Edwards's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Delicate Matter, A         Einstein's Secret Letters: A Love Story         Family Reunion, A         Requiem For A Marriage         Sanctuary, The

Delicate Matter, A

Synopsis:
Mattie and Jen are two middle aged sisters who have come back to live with their ageing mother in a small New York apartment. Mattie is a single career woman and has been executive Vice President of Citibank for years and is now just retired. With no boyfriend or significant other in her life, she has decided temporarily to come back and help her elderly mother who is rapidly sinking into infirmity and dementia. Her younger sister Jen is recently divorced for the third time, and has also moved back in with mother. She is broke and without a job and besides, she sort of likes the idea of going back to her childhood days with her mother and sister. Mother is elderly and frail and rapidly declining into dementia. She has already given over all responsibility to her daughters (mostly to Mattie); who now makes all of the everyday decisions of life for her, and worries about her impending end. Jen is making every effort to block out the obvious decline of her mother. To her, that represents the inevitable transfer of responsibility to the next generation and loss of her childhood fantasies. at this vulnerable stage in her life, the last thing she wants is to accept the responsibilities of adulthood. In fact she never has throughout her life. Stacey, the third and youngest sister, is totally confused and has been on and off drugs, alcohol, boyfriends and psychiatrists since she was a teenager. She has never left home. She always refers to her mother as "momma", whereas the other daughters call her mother, suggesting that she has an unhealthy, infantile attachment to her mother. Mattie is the practical, businesslike career woman, who takes charge at every crisis and solves every one else's problems. In fact, she is very comfortable helping others cope. That way she can avoid dealing with her own fears about growing older alone. as she sees her mother declining into dependency and delusions, she imagines that she too will end up that way herself. Mattie knows that dealing with her mother's illness, her sisters' immaturity and her own worries about facing life alone is a delicate matter.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Reading National Arts Club    2006

Organisations:
Third avenue Productions

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:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Einstein's Secret Letters: A Love Story

Synopsis:
set on April 18, 1955, the day albert einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey. the "day" is really the telescoped highlights of his final years. His long time friend and intimate, Johanna Fantova is at his side throughout the play talking to him with the gentleness and warmth that every man wants from a woman. With her we see the emotional life and the personal doubts and troubles of this famous public man. einstein's secretary, Helen Dukas, is his professional and personal gatekeeper. Dukas is cold and manipulative, and sees her role as protecting the Great Man's legacy, even from him! Her control of his life is threatened by the secret letters that Johanna keeps near her heart. the other character in this play is the great actor and social activist Paul Robeson. He gives fire to the story as he engages his friend einstein in several of the controversies in which he played so prominent a role, particularly the fight for equality of black people in this country and the settlement of the displaced Jews of europe. einstein and Robeson, although from entirely different worlds, share a passion for music and social justice. they also are two very controversial and outspoken men. the arc of the play is to explore albert einstein's personal feelings of isolation and disappointment with the accomplishments of his life, both personally and in his humanitarian efforts. Set fifty years ago, we see that the world affairs that einstein and Robeson struggled with are exactly mirrored in present day events. We seem to be back to the future!

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Third avenue Productions

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:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Family Reunion, A

Synopsis:
This is a play about a man who comes to the memorial service of his ex-wife, from whom he has been divorced for many years. He has a conversation with a woman at the service who knows everything about his marriage. Is she a ghost, an apparition, his guilty conscience? Whoever she is, at least they are finally saying all of those things they couldn't talk about in life. the main character, Bob Houseman, has been called unexpectedly to the memorial service of his ex-wife Judy. She has suddenly passed away from a heart attack. Bob and Judy had been married for twenty years when they were right out of college. they raised a family, lived in the suburbs, had two cars and a dog, and argued all of the time. In their early forties, they divorced and went their separate ways in life. they were always loosely connected to each other by the children. You know, the usual: birthdays, graduations and trouble. But over those twenty years of divorce, they harbored secret feelings of resentment, relief, freedom, loneliness and failure. But they never talked about it. they were always the perfect divorced couple: cordial, distant and wondering how the other one was doing on their own. Now, Bob finds himself at the wake of his long estranged partner and he wonders out loud, where did it all go so terribly wrong, or did it? the play opens with Bob at the memorial service. He says a little silent prayer, and retreats to the side of the room. One by one, the visitors leave and Bob is suddenly alone. Bob begins to talk to his long ago wife Judy. He says how sorry he is to see her die at such a young age. How he did really love her back then. How he missed her and thought about her for all of those years that they were divorced. and how he had fantasies about getting back together someday. at that point a woman enters the room and stands behind Bob. at first he doesn't know she's there, and he continues on with his ranting about how wonderful everything really was, while she just listens. Finally, she can stand this no more and says to him, "Why didn't you say those things to her when she could hear them." Well this startles Bob and he turns around to talk to this woman. He tells her of all of the wonderful things that he and Judy had together and how it all went wrong, mainly because of the way Judy was impossible to live with. as they play goes on the woman questions all of Bob's statements and gradually brings the dialog into a more realistic and balanced picture of their married life. the two of them explore all of the issues that eventually made them grow apart and ended their marriage. By the end of the play, it is apparent that the mysterious woman who has visited Bob is really the ghost of his ex-wife Judy. In the final scene at the conclusion of the play we see how their union really was, and why it ended as it did.

Notes:
the Spanish Translation of "a Family Reunion": Una Reunion Familiar (Reading) Nyrican theater Oct 2004, Una Reunion Familiar (Reading) National Arts Club May 2004

1st Produced:
Blue Heron theatre    2003

Organisations:
Third avenue Productions

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:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Requiem For A Marriage

Synopsis:
Will adam and Jean Smiley's shocking secret shatter their daughter Erica's existence? adam and Jean Smiley find their thirty year marriage hangs in a state of limbo because of a shocking secret they share about their daughter Erica. Will this knowledge shatter Erica's existence? Or will their world fall apart when Margo, a young interloper, sets her sight on adam?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Mainstage Theater, NY (Midtown International Theatre Festival)    2009

Organisations:
Many Hats Productions & Third avenue Productions

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:
90 minutes

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sanctuary, The

Synopsis:
Caribbean. the Sanctuary bar is owned by Missy and her boyfriend John Francis Sheehan. He is an ex-priest, who got kicked out of the Church. all that happened about ten years ago, and John and his close friend and confidant Missy have put that sad history behind them. But his past is discovered by a drifter named Rocky. Rocky has eyes for a bar girl Daisy, but hates John Francis because of his past mistake. Rocky strikes out at John Francis. Two New York tourists, with their own problems, are by standers to the mayhem.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York Blue Heron theater    2005

Organisations:
Third avenue Productions

1st Published:
TriMark Publications, 2005   -

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:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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