The Playwrights Database
SILVIA GONZALES S
Nationality: USA
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Literary Agent: n/a
Silvia began her playwriting in Arizona, after acting in numerous Yuma Community Theater productions. Her play EL VAGON/BOXCAR was a National Winner of VOCES at Repertorio Espanol (NYC). Subsequently, it was produced by Phoenixs Teatro Bravo with Borderlands Theater. Spindrift Theater in San Francisco produced the play and members remounted the play and named their new theater ELVagon Theater after the play. Theater for Young Folk at Arizona State University produced ALICIA IN WONDER TIERRA (Or I Cant Eat Goat Head) directed by Pam Sterling. The play was also produced by Berkeley Rep, The Coterie, Cara Mia Theatre Company with The Dallas Children's Theater, Utah State Theater, and Teatro Humildad. ALICIA was a Kennedy Center New Voices/New Vision participant. Silvia garnished a commission from John F. Kennedy Center and the Oregon Commission on the Arts.
Research: Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)
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below is a list of Silvia Gonzales S's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Alicia In Wonder Tierra (Or I Can't Eat Goat Head) Blanca Nieve And The Seven Boys (In Development) Border Boxcar Death Of A Social Security Benefit Fiesta! La Llorona Llora Los Matadores Migrant Farmworker's Son, The Narcissistic Personality Disorder Radio Show, The Plution Raw Deals And Some Satisfaction Repeat Hero Shrinking Wife, The Squeezed Avocados T (For Torture) Tower Of Babel, Inc. U Got The Look Waiting WomenAlicia In Wonder Tierra (Or I Can't Eat Goat Head)
Synopsis:
Alicia enters a Mexican curio shop with her mother. Fascinated by the Latin American imports, Alicia reaches for a Mexican doll, but trips over a piece of pottery. Spinning out of her hand, the doll vanishes beneath a Mexican blanket. Alicia follows and thus begins an amazing adventure. In a fantastical world, Alicia meets a variety of characters: a Day of the Dead sugar skull, an armadillo, and the chicken-claw-wielding Elvira gang - if touched by the claws, the soul becomes trapped in Mexican pottery. With the aid of the puppet, Ramon, Alicia heads off to find the Pottery Maker and learn the truth about the trapped souls. During the journey, she meets a goat head steaming in an oven, a sad old toad that is so ugly bricks keep falling on him, a soul-brother cactus man, and the Tree of Heads which holds the heads of Pancho Villa, Charo, a mambo king, a pachuco, and a Hispanic yuppie. Alicia journeys through the Distorted Memory Forest, the Village of Laughter, and a maze of black velvet paintings. Finally, she finds the Pottery Maker who reveals the truth about Mexican Pottery. Alicia magically finds herself back at the curio shop, where the shopkeeper looks like Ramon, and her mother reminds her of Rosa the doll. As they leave, Alicia's mother tells her they must hurry home to help cook a very special meal for a family gathering: baked goat head.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Berkeley Rep school tour 1998
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1st Published:
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Music:
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Genre:
Family Comedy one act & full length
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 4 Other: extras
Further Reference:
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Top of PageBlanca Nieve And The Seven Boys (In Development)
Synopsis:
A contemporary, Latino version of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.'Venezuela, South America. Blanca is ousted from her wealthy home by her evil step mother when her father becomes gravely ill. A servant is ordered to kill Blanca, but his heart gives way and he abandons her in the middle of a rain forest.
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Genre:
drama WIP
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 3 Other: children
Further Reference:
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Top of PageBorder
Synopsis:
A hilarious depiction of a smuggler enticing a reluctant young man to cross the border. Nacho is standing in front of a wall waiting for a passerby. When he sees one, he puts on the charm and attempts to convince the passerby there is much to be found on the other side of the wall for just one dollar. Estefan is not interested, but that doesn't stop Nacho. He uses every tactic until he gets Estefan interested to 'go to the other side.' Finally, Estefan pays his dollar and crawls through the hole to get to the other side. Then fate comes in.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Oregon Bilingual Conference in Bend, Oregon 1997
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1st Published:
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Music:
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Genre:
one act black comedy
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageBoxcar
Synopsis:
Looking for a life in the United States, six Mexicans and a teen from El Salvador wait for someone, even the border patrol, to open their sealed boxcar in the insufferable heat. Roberto is just doing his job and deporting illegal aliens along with his partner Bill. Meanwhile, six Mexicans and an El Salvadorian teen are riding in a hermetically sealed boxcar. They feel they are going to get across safely until the engine develops mechanical problems. The boxcar they are hiding in is left in the desert for many hours. Manual, a jovial character, refuses to give up. He pleads for all to remain calm and conserve their air. His pleas are ridiculed by Francisco who has been scarred by misfortune. Finally the border officers come, but it is too late for all but one man.
Notes:
roduced and remounted by The Original Theatre Works, Lee Korf Playwriting Award, a participant in the Greater Los Angeles Drama Fest, in the Portland International Theatre Festival as Part of the Miracle Theater Group's Milagro Staged Reading Series, a staged reading at Body Politic Theater, the Bilingual Foundation on the Arts, a workshop at The Seattle Group Theater, and presented at the Arizona Commission on the Arts conference.
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Genre:
Tragedy
Parts:
Male: 8 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageDeath Of A Social Security Benefit
Synopsis:
How does one keep a social security check coming in? Cover the fact your husband has died. This is what Shirley does until she is faced with her husband's ex-step son who works for the social security office. Shirley must make it appear that Jack is still alive. Shirley and Jack met through the senior citizen's personal ads. They've been living together for ten years quiet happily, until Shirley decides they should get married. Jack warns Shirley that if he dies before the required nine months after marriage, she won't be privy to his social security check. Shirley then panics when Jack coughs. After keeping a careful eye on Jack to make sure he lives the required nine months, they get into a fierce argument. Out of spite, Jack dies. To Shirley's horror it is only one day short of the nine months! She then mummifies the body to make it look like Jack is reading the paper in the kitchen. All is well until Jack's ex-step son from an earlier marriage comes to visit. It turns out he works for the Social Security office. Now Shirley has to get the ex-step son to agree not to utter a word of the mummified corpse of Jack Katz.
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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
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Genre:
farce
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageFiesta!
Synopsis:
Children playing in the park meet a strolling minstrel and his puppeteer assistant who tell Mexican folk tales, and sing songs. A traveling minstrel and his assistant come across some children playing 'ghost' with their friend who is in a wheel chair. Curious, the children convince the minstrel to tell them stories. They do so with a parrot puppet.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Kennedy Center Youth Dept -
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Genre:
TYA
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: 4 children (one physically challenged)
Further Reference:
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Top of PageLa Llorona Llora
Synopsis:
The La Llorona story is similar to the Greek Medea myth. La Llorona means "woman who cries." Though there are variations to this story, the oldest oral versions can be traced to the 1500s, when the Spanish conquistadors took the country now called Mexico. They married the Indian women and were very proud of their offspring, aware they were starting a new breed. In this play, a Spaniard, who has lived peacefully in the jungles with his new family, must return to Spain. He plans to take his wife and children with him, but his relatives in Spain won't hear of it. They consider the Indians worthless savages with no place in their society. After some debate, his family consents to his bringing only the children since they, at least, are half Spanish. The soldier tells his Indian wife of his plan and that because his family does not recognize their marriage, they have chosen a bride for him in Spain. Devastated and crazed that her children are to be taken away, La Llorona kills them so her husband cannot have them. Realizing what she has done, she runs through the streets screaming and crying. The Spaniard returns home, disconsolate.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Whole Art Theater, Kalamazoo 1994
Organisations:
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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:
drama one act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageLos Matadores
Synopsis:
If a woman could be a bull fighter, then Girl would have succeeded. Instead, she teaches a broken, old miserable wannabe. A broken, wannabe bullfighter buys a painting from a blind man and from the oils a flamenco dancer and guitar player come out of it to sing and dance for him. The boarding house maid appears to be educated in the art of bullfighting and educates him in the techniques. Later they become lovers. However, it is not until he makes love to a minotaur woman is he able to fight in the ring.
Notes:
Workshop at Paula Productions in Portland, Oregon 1997, Workshop and Staged reading at Body Politic Theater, various staged readings at Chicago Dramatists Workshop, The Bilingual Foundation on the Arts, and Seattle's Empty Space Theater.
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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:
drama
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageMigrant Farmworker's Son, The
Synopsis:
The horror of losing a child throws a family into silent turmoil with all the pressures of American assimilation. 1984. Henry, a well-adjusted Mexican-American teen, lives in a small Arizona town with his parents. His mother encourages Henry to assimilate, but his dad has a harder time learning the language and customs. Since the death of the young daughter, he feels haunted, isolated, and cut off from the rest of his family. Henry's abysmal command of Spanish fuels these feelings and his father is often abusive. Through the play, Blue Mexican peasants appear representing migrant life and the demand of a dual culture existence. Oliverio, a warm and funny old farmworker, embeds messages in his poetry to help Henry understand something of his father's feelings of pain and guilt.
Notes:
Whitfield Cook Award 1997, Workshop at Chicago Dramatists, staged reading at the University of Texas, Borderlands Theatre, and the Bilingual Foundation on the Arts
1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/p965/The-Migrant-Farmworker's-Son/product_info.php -
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:
Tragi-Comedy 60 min
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageNarcissistic Personality Disorder Radio Show, The
Synopsis:
Who is crazy? Natasha Woods is the host of The Narsissistic Personality Disorder Radio Show. She is not a licensed therapist, but a family member has the disorder--her mother. When her mother calls into the show to declare her innocence, the boundaries of medical health become blurred.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Stockyard Theatre Project Sep 2001
Organisations:
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1st Published:
- -
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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:
comedy one act
Parts:
Male: - Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PagePlution
Synopsis:
A dysfunctional family on Father's Day subconsciously want to kill each other and do, several times. It's Father's day and everyone gathers to give presents to grandpa and dad. Grandma has an anger-thing going towards grandpa. Grandpa retaliates by shooting her. In that moment of frenzy, all are shocked. Then the action picks up as if nothing happened. This continues with a conflict between dad and mom, and the son and daughter. Then the daughter, has had enough. She puts the gun to head to kill herself. The family tries to talk her out of it, but their heart isn't really not into it. A play with an anti-gun message.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Mid Michigan College 1995
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1st Published:
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To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
one actAbstract-black comedy
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageRaw Deals And Some Satisfaction
Synopsis:
The biology and psychology of some people can cause havoc to 'normalcy.' Three short plays showing resilience, defeat, and accommodation to life's 'curve balls.' Four one-acts on the 'will' to control one's destiny and to find solace. Each act has an underlining theme of strength against hopelessness, love and unloved, and procreation and barrenness. In the first act, we follow an Italian use psychological force as well as a gun to get a doctor to pull the plug on his comatose wife. In the second, a woman in a bar rationalizes the birth of her child through surrogacy. Third, we sense the entrapment from a mentally ill mother who comes back to belittle her daughter's achievements. In the fourth act characters from the previous acts come together to be in a form of 'purgatory.'
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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:
Evening of One acts
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageRepeat Hero
Synopsis:
A man returns a missing child and is praised as a hero. A detective suspects this is a repeated action of a laborer looking for job offers as rewards. In an El Centro, California town, a hero is claimed for finding a lost boy. He is showered with words of praise and other financial rewards. It's a windfall and the hero accepts all praise readily. His favorite form of praise is the offering of jobs. A Native-American detective suspects something strange about this event. He remembers a similar occurrence in another town. He then takes the hero to his office and interrogates him about the finding of the boy.
Notes:
Reading in Seattle with Northwest Playwrights Guild and at Borders Book Store, Beaverton, OR 1996
1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
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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:
drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageShrinking Wife, The
Synopsis:
Sex is more important to Van Nuys than ever before now that he is healthy again. However, his wife is weakening in health due to natural aging. A kind neighbor becomes the target of his obsession. After a coronary bypass, Van is ready to live the life he once led when he was in his younger days. However, Mabel cannot keep up with his pace because while he was healing, she started failing in health. Van, somewhat accepting his wife's inability to perform, starts to flirt with an unsuspecting neighbor fifty years his junior. This neighbor, Ana Cabrillo-Sherman, is new to the area, having escaped the big city with her doctor husband for a rural, calmer life. As Ana misinterprets Van's 'craziness' Mabel appears to be shrinking from being ignored and pushed aside.
Notes:
Staged reading with Mutt Rep at the Producer's Club in New York, staged reading at Chicago Dramatists Workshop
1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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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:
Tragic-comedy
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageSqueezed Avocados
Synopsis:
As soon as Margorie gets engaged, the fiancé dies. She's worried the same will happen with Tim. After an auto accident, Tim doesn't die, but is mentally disabled and cannot remember her. However, it appears he remembers a previous girlfriend. 1987. Margorie is convinced she is a jinx. Her first two fiancés died in freak car accidents. She then escapes to Yuma, Arizona and attempts to start her life over. Then she meets her third fiancé, Tim. An aging surfer dude who despite his confirmed bachelor-ness, tosses it all aside to propose to Margorie. Then, on the way back from San Diego, Tim loses control and crashes into a ditch. He is found by a snowbird-retired couple. In the hospital it is determined that Tim has lost vital mental functions. Linda, a physical therapist and a long time friend of Tim's, volunteers to help him recuperate and regain his memory. However, the only memory he seems to regain is the memory of when she and he were together in the 60s. Margorie is then pushed aside until she finds out the truth. Based on a true story.
Notes:
Staged reading at Chicago Dramatists Workshop, stage reading at Associated Artists of Central Oregon
1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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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:
Tragic-comedy
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageT (For Torture)
Synopsis:
How does one survive torture? Anyway he can. A man uses comedy, his charming personality, and fond memories to withstand his torture. A man is held captive in an undisclosed room. He has lost everything: time, family, and all his wealth. All he has left is his dignity, and his name. Unfortunately for him, that is what the torturer is trying to extract. In abstract motions and in the form of ballet, the torturer delivers his assault on the victim. With time, and the victim's constant discussion of his happier moments of life, the torturer discovers that there is only one thing that will break the victim. The face of a woman with blue eye shadow and ruby red lips.
Notes:
Staged Reading at Amnesty International charter meeting, and Produced in English and Spanish by Aguijon II Theater company (1992)
1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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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
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Genre:
one act drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageTower Of Babel, Inc.
Synopsis:
The corporate office mandates the English-Only rule and suddenly, the executives have forgotten English and are speaking in other languages. Executives meet and discuss the matters of the day. A discussion ensues on how they do not want the custodian to speak any other language but English. Despite protests from another executive, they mandate an English-Only rule. Then, the executives cannot understand each other. They have lost the ability to speak English and are speaking in languages they hate.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Staged reading at the Strawdog Theatre's Crossing Borders Festival 1995
Organisations:
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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
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Genre:
one act comedy
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageU Got The Look
Synopsis:
How does one keep a social security check coming in? Cover the fact your husband has died. This is what Shirley does until she is faced with her husband's ex-step son who works for the social security office. Shirley must make it appear that Jack is still alive. Shirley and Jack met through the senior citizen's personal ads. They've been living together for ten years quiet happily, until Shirley decides they should get married. Jack warns Shirley that if he dies before the required nine months after marriage, she won't be privy to his social security check. Shirley then panics when Jack coughs. After keeping a careful eye on Jack to make sure he lives the required nine months, they get into a fierce argument. Out of spite, Jack dies. To Shirley's horror it is only one day short of the nine months! She then mummifies the body to make it look like Jack is reading the paper in the kitchen. All is well until Jack's ex-step son from an earlier marriage comes to visit. It turns out he works for the Social Security office. Now Shirley has to get the ex-step son to agree not to utter a word of the mummified corpse of Jack Katz.
Notes:
Staged Readings at Chicago Dramatists Workshop and New Dramatists in New York
1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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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:
farce
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageWaiting Women
Synopsis:
Pearl Hart recounts her life as the notorious 'Bandit Girl' in the style of a Wild West Show. True accounts. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is the platform where the notorious Pearl Hart begins to tell of her magnificent life as the 'Bandit girl.' She takes us through her earlier life as a miner, and to a stage coach robbery she herself planned which resulted in an unbelievable celebrity trial. She's then confined to the Yuma Territorial Prison with cell mates of color. While in prison, she is constantly pursued by newspaper reporters who give her fine things for photograph opportunities. Pearl's many liberties in the prison creates havoc. Also creating havoc is that Manuela, another cell mate, came to prison pregnant. The townspeople do their best to get Manuela a pardon, but they fail in the attempt. A baby is then born in the prison. Pearl suspects Manuela's lack of release was due to racism. This play is a whirl wind of fun and actual portrayals of women of the west.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Mutt Repp May 1997
Organisations:
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1st Published:
http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=1662 -
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: 2 Female: 8 Other: -
Further Reference:
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