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Frank Higgins

FRANK HIGGINS

  
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Frank Higgins is the author of the Country of the Blind, a play about disability, which received a National endowment for the Arts grant to support its production and later toured through the Midwest. He is also the author of the Sweet By 'n' By which was produced with Blythe DAnner and Gwyneth Paltrow. Gunplay has been produced across the country and had several scenes read on Capitol Hill prior to Congress's passage of the Brady Bill. Miracles has been produced at major regional Theaters including Jack O'Brien's Old Globe Theater in San Diego and later played in New York. His musical WMKS: Where Music Kills Sorrow has also been produced at major regional Theaters. Lovers Leap was commissioned and produced at the Fulton Opera House and was also part of New York University's HotInk new play series. the Taste Test began as a reading at the asHLAnd New Plays Festival in Oregon, then received a reading at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York with Tony-winner Judith Ivey, and then debuted at Virginia Stage Company. Never Say Die was a finalist for the Eugene O'Neill New Play Festival. His plays for young audiences include the Slave Dancer's Choice, which debuted at the Omaha Theatre for Young People and was subsequently published by Dramatic Publishing. He was later commissioned by the same Theater to write anansi the Spider and the Middle Passage which toured nationally. His new play is Black Pearl Sings. Higgins lives in Kansas City, Missouri, and teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. photo:Don Ipock.

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

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

         Anansi the Spider And the Middle Passage         Black Pearl Sings!         Cheating Death         Collection, The         Country Of the Blind, The         Gunplay         Miracles         Peanutman         Questioning, The         Slave Dancer's Choice, The         Sweet By 'N' By, The

Anansi the Spider And the Middle Passage

Synopsis:
On a slave ship a mother comforts her daughter by telling her stories of anansi the Spider

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
Pioneer Drama Service Inc,    -

Music:
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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:
Childrens play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  5 to 19 mixed

Further Reference:
-

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Black Pearl Sings!

Synopsis:
a researcher for the Library of Congress discovers a woman in a Southern jail who has a huge repertoire of folk songs going back to the earliest days of slavery. She arranges parole for her and takes her to Washington.

Notes:
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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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Cheating Death

Synopsis:
a woman thinks she is getting the better deal when bargaining with Death.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Atlantis Playmakers In Billerica, Mass    2003

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Dramatic Publishing Company   -

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:
comedy One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Collection, The

Synopsis:
During World War II a starving woman at the Hermitage tries to barter for food from some Soviet soldiers

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Great Plains Theatre Conference    2006

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

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Country Of the Blind, The

Synopsis:
eduardo, a poor farmer in a South American village, dreams of being in love. Frustrated by his poverty and disability of being blind in one eye, he turns his back on his own world and risks his life to find a mythical village high in the andes mountains where everyone is blind and the streets are paved in gold. When he stumbles upon the village and realizes that the people who live there have no knowledge of the outside world, he fantasizes that "in the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king." However, he learns that the people have skills that he does not and that his presence is thought by the high priestess to be an infection that must be destroyed. He becomes friends with Medina, a beautiful girl who does not know that she is beautiful, whose job it is to determine whether he should live or die. When Medina and eduardo fall in love, the leader decides that eduardo can live, as long as the source of his crazy behavior-the tumors eduardo calls "eyes"-are removed. Will eduardo give up his sight for love? Or can he convince Medina to come to his world, where she will be regarded as the one who is less than normal? Premiered at the Coterie theatre and toured Kansas under the auspices of accessible Arts. area staging. approximate running time: 65 minutes.

Notes:
adapted from the story by H.G. Wells

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
Dramatic Publishing Company   -

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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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  May be expanded to 6m., 5w., extras

Further Reference:
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Gunplay

Synopsis:
Gunplay is a unique theater piece that can be produced by high schools, colleges, or professional theatres. the play is a kaleidoscope of scenes about guns in American life. the play overall does not take an anti-gun or pro-gun position, but bombards the audience with a variety of viewpoints that reflect the complexity of America, with scenes based on history, contemporary incidents and interviews. theaters can present the entire work as a full-length evening of theater or select any number of the scenes to present a shorter version.

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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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  or large ensemble cast

Further Reference:
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Miracles

Synopsis:
a Father becomes convinced by a charismatic teacher that his autistic daughter, whom he institutionalized, is in fact a savant. after Father and daughter enjoy a reunion, and prepare for the national announcement of her book of poetry, the Father discovers that not all with the teacher or his daughter is what it seems. Is his daughter truly a savant, or has the teacher used her as a Ouija board for her own needs? Will the Father be able to resist the urge to do the same thing? as things reach a crisis point between the Father and the teacher, the autistic girl reveals that she has a skill that neither has suspected and will turn her back on what either of them expects her to be.

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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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Peanutman

Synopsis:
Henry has not prepared his essay on George Washington Carver. the Carver appears and takes Henry through his life

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
Pioneer Drama Service Inc,    -

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:
Youth play

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Questioning, The

Synopsis:
a female American officer learns the ropes about the art of interrogation from a female Iraqi. With alexandra Devin, Suzan Mikiel-Kennedy, and Danielle Quisenberry
nytheatre.com

Notes:
part of emerging Artists theatre's 8th Annual Spring eaTFest, A festival of new one-act plays.

1st Produced:
Theater Five, NY    2007

Organisations:
emerging Artists Theatre

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:
play One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Slave Dancer's Choice, The

Synopsis:
In return for his freedom and that of his mother, Danny agrees to serve aboard a whaling ship. Once under sail he discovers that it is in fact a slave trader.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
Dramatic Publishing Company   -

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:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sweet By 'N' By, The

Synopsis:
the Bradley family has had a long history in the coal-mining town of Glen Daniel, West Virginia. Grandpa Bradley was union leader there for many years. His daughter, Babe, now uses their home as general store where she also raises her daughter, Libby, and takes care of her mother, Grandma Bradley. Babe vows to get Libby the education she needs to better herself, purchasing her the "Cyclopedia Americana" and sending her to summer school. Now sixteen, Libby is discovering many things in her life, including Owen, the twenty-year-old miner who wants to marry her. When Libby tells her mother that she wants to stay in Glen Daniel, Babe panics, and attempts, unsuccessfully, to change Libby's mind. then, Geneva, Babe's friend, takes Libby to the circus where an old neighbor's boy, Newton Horton, is the high-wire act. Hearing this, Babe invites Newton to the house for dinner and convinces him to encourage Libby to leave Glen Daniel and get an education. He does his job so well, in fact, he asks Libby to accompany him in the circus for a while-all honorable-so she can see the world. Babe consents, with the scorn of Grandma Bradley, and the spite of Owen, who organizes the miners to boycott the general store, making life difficult for the Bradleys. Libby goes with Newton, has a great time, so it seems, and by the end of the summer she and Newton are engaged, but when she shows up one day in Glen Daniel something is definitely wrong. Libby confesses that seeing the world means witnessing its terrors and sadness, and all she really wants to do is return home, live with her mother and grandmother, and create a better life there rather that run away from it. Babe threatens everything she can think of to get her daughter to go back to Newton. No match for the will of her mother and daughter, however, she aligns herself with generations of Bradley women in order to rebuild their lives and set examples for the next generation.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1997   -

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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