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Diana Howie

DIANA HOWIE

  (1945 - )
Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

Diana Howie's plays have been performed in Houston, Chicago, Edinburgh, Vienna, and other cities. Her twelve full-length plays have received recognition in competitions in Texas, South Carolina, and Massachusetts. A touring production of "Susanna of Stratford" was sponsored by both the Texas Commission on the Arts and Young Audiences. Her collection of fifty monologues for teens, "Tight Spots," is available from Pioneer Drama Service. Playscripts, Inc. published her play about Alexander Hamilton, "The Brightest Light" in 2004, and it has been anthologized in "Best Stage Scenes of 2005" (Smith & Kraus). Ms. Howie is the bookwriter of an original contemporary musical about a jury on a murder trial ("The Jury is Out!"), the songs of which are on SoundCloud.. Ms. Howie produced an annual New Play Reading Series for local playwrights from 1993- 2013 at Houston's Country Playhouse, where she was Playwright in Residence from 1997 through 2015. She holds an MA in Theatre Arts from the University of Houston, studying there with José Quintero and Edward Albee. She is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America.

Research:    Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2018)

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

         At Liberty         Brightest Light, The         Burette         Come Hell or High Water         Hansel And Gretel         Jackson Square         Judy's Friend And Marilyn's Boy         Jury, The         Leaving San Jacinto         Madame Delicieuse         No Cash Value         Promise of the Moon         Street Where I Live, The         Susanna And Will         Susanna Of Stratford         The Jury's Out!         Tight Spots         Top Dogs
At Liberty

Synopsis:
Susan, the new reference librarian at Ridgeview Library adores helping people find answers to questions, but she refuses to confront problems (such as smelly men or noisy teenagers). as more people arrive, the library grows raucous. the other librarian gets an emergency call from home. He tells Susan her top priority is to restore the quiet. When Bill returns, he finds a scene of total uproar, and he fires Susan on the spot. as she is packing her things, a surprise attack threatens the library and everyone in it, and Susan is finally provoked to confrontation - to protect the place she loves.

Notes:
First production was essentially A workshop with 8 performances in A 50-seat theater. Part of the Author's Public employee Trilogy.

1st Produced:
Country Playhouse, Houston Tx     2000

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:  7            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Brightest Light, The

Synopsis:
alexander Hamilton can hardly wait to make a name for himself in his adopted country, but his eagerness for fame engenders a rashness that his peers find harder and harder to bear. after thirty years of working brilliantly and diligently to create a new American government, Alex finds himself ignored -- a political has-been. as he has done before, Alex speaks out slanderously, but this time he refuses to apologize, taking the chance to ensure his legacy at the risk of death.

Notes:
Included in Smith & Kraus Anthology Best Stage Scenes of 2005. First production was essentially A workshop with 8 performances in A 50-seat theater. Cast size is A minimum - could go As large As 12m, 5f.

1st Produced:
The Country Playhouse (Workshop) (Houston, Tx, United States)     1998

Organisations:
-

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 Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  3            Other:  9 males, 3 females (9-80 actors possible: 7-68 males, 2-34 females)

Further Reference:
-

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Burette

Synopsis:
Burette Furder at 81 has never lost his zest for life, a fact Dramatically pointed out by the slew of women with whom he carries on regularly in the town of Goshen, Texas. Now Burette is about to take Lois as his fifth wife. as a wedding present, Lois demands that she be "his only one." the play's action is the persistence, the waning, and the renewal of Burette Furder's ever-present sex drive.

Notes:
Written by Diana Howie And Jeanette Wiggins. First production was essentially A workshop with 8 performances in A 50-seat theater.

1st Produced:
Country Playhouse, Houston Tx     1993

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:  3            Female:  9            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Come Hell or High Water

Synopsis:
After "stealing" the engaged Almeron Dickinson from her friend, fifteen-year old Susanna is willing to follow her husband's dream and leave Tennessee for Texas. All she wants is to be with Almer, but the life of a Texas settler is not a life of "togetherness," and Susanna is alone in Gonzales for many frightening new experiences. The fight for independence takes Almer away to San Antonio for two months as the Texans try to push the soldiers back to Mexico. Insisting on going back to San Antonio with him as more soldiers are on the march in, Susanna survives the horror of the Alamo massacre in March 1836. Then she is called to meet with Santa Anna.

Notes:
The action in this play is a work of fiction but it is not improbable. It does follow the known facts of the Dickinsons' life from Tennessee to the Alamo, and includes the various incidents that Susanna herself told contemporaries whose subsequent reporting (in letters mostly) I could trust.

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:
drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hansel And Gretel

Synopsis:
aspects of the traditional tale of children abandoned in the woods have been altered for contemporary audiences. Here the Father insists on going to look for his lost children, and the stepmother, shamed by his remorse, goes with him. the children do not take any valuables when leaving the Witch's house. and the story ends in the forest with the family joyfully reunited. the children learn to think, to survive, to forgive, and to appreciate the family.

Notes:
a 50-minute play for Ages 4-8. Commissioned by the Children's theatre Festival, A professional project of the University of Houston School of theatre.

1st Produced:
Children's Theatre Festival, Houston Tx     1999

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:
Youth audience

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Jackson Square

Synopsis:
National Historic Park Ranger Ceal DiOrio is giving her very first walking tour in New Orleans' old French Quarter, but hustlers interrupt, vying for the group's attention (and dollars). Ceal keeps moving on, but repeatedly must double back to retrieve one of the tour group who was more attracted to hustlers than history. In front of the cathedral, sales pitches reach a fever point and Ceal loses every one in her group to praline and balloon sales, tap dancers, and magicians. afraid to go back to Headquarters without the group in tow, Ceal collapses in an artist's chair, only to have the Cop demand a cut of her tour business. Is there any way she can keep this job she loves?

Notes:
First production was essentially A workshop with 8 performances in A 50-seat theater. Cast size is A minimum - 5 of the Actors play 18 roles. Part of the Author's Public employee Trilogy.

1st Produced:
Country Playhouse, Houston Tx     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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Judy's Friend And Marilyn's Boy

Synopsis:
In a bookstore marked for demolition, an old midget arranges what he hopes will stop the wreckers: Judy Garland memorabilia. as Sean creates his homage to Judy, he chafes at how the film industry treated her. Once his mementos are on display, he waits for the wrecking crew. In act Two, Marilyn Monroe's once-very-attractive son, Jack, comes in to bag any animal remains before bulldozers level the bookstore site. the boss hollers in repeatedly, anxious to finish. Threatened with the loss of even this low-level job, Jack turns away from flirting with us demolition groupies, and spots Sean.

Notes:
Nominated for 2004 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Semi-finalist 1997 Nantucket theatrical Productions Competition.

1st Produced:
Country Playhouse, Houston Tx     2003

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:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Jury, The

Synopsis:
It's all the officers can do to corral the unwilling jurors into the jury box. It's a murder trial but the disgruntled jurors are more interested in their jobs, their flirtations, their backaches, and their appetites. In the jury room, several push for a Guilty vote without even talking about the defendant's plea that it was an accidental shooting. after all, there were no witnesses, and the killer clearly fired the gun. What else could there be to talk about?

Notes:
First production was essentially A workshop with 8 performances in A 50-seat theater. Another workshop was performed in 2005 At the Minneapolis Fringe Festival. Ms. Howie is the book writer. Anna Fay Williams is the composer/lyricist.

1st Produced:
Country Playhouse, Houston Tx     2004

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:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Leaving San Jacinto

Synopsis:
Aboard the Yellow Stone steamboat to Galveston Island, the captive Santa Anna fears he will be killed at any moment and tries various ploys to persuade his two traveling companions to help him. He calls on loyalty to get his old friend Lorenzo Zavala (former statesman of Mexico and now Vice-President of Texas) on his side, but Zavala has been skunked by Santa Anna too many times. And Santa Anna's every attempt to persuade the badly-injured Houston to help him is also thwarted by Zavala.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Country Playhouse, Houston Tx     28 Feb 2013

Organisations:
Country Playhouse

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:
drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Madame Delicieuse

Synopsis:
each evening in New Orleans Clairelise Broussard tucks her two children into bed, reading a story from the book Old Creole Days. But the warmth of this perfect hour is not enough to keep Daddy's absence off their minds. In Scene Two, "the Broussard Family Storyhour" is in its second week of local radio broadcasts, direct from the children's bedroom in New Orleans. When reading some of the letters the program has received, there is one from a producer in Montreal. He would "broadcast them to the world if they would only move to Canada." Could they leave their Louisiana heritage? could they leave Daddy?

Notes:
a 45-minute play for dinner or dessert theatre. Full-length version Available.

1st Produced:
The Brownstone, Houston Tx     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

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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No Cash Value

Synopsis:
When Mark Peters graduated high school, his parents gave him one last tank of gas and told him to "get a job." When they proudly arrive to see his first workplace, a sandwich shop, Mark lunges at his dad. Luckily a customer, Joe Winston, is able to contain the boy, and encourages the parents to leave. Joe stays for coffee at the shop, but is thrown out when the boss discovers Joe bathing in the restroom. In the next days, Joe makes a nuisance of himself, yet Mark finds it hard to ignore this exasperating and desperately needy man.

Notes:
First production was essentially A workshop with 8 performances in A 50-seat theater.

1st Produced:
Country Playhouse, Houston Tx     1999

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:
comedic Drama Comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Promise of the Moon

Synopsis:
Having travelled from Latvia to North America, Edward has left his former life far behind him, except for his dream to marry Agnes, the girl who jilted him the day before their wedding. Finally, he settles in the tip of Florida, but the longer he lives isolated in this farm community, safe from embarrassing questions about his past, the more he longs for Agnes. His only companion is the moon, to whom he empties his broken-hearted shame. When a damning letter arrives from Agnes' husband, Edward loses himself in the moon's sweet embrace.

Notes:
One of four plays in a collected work entitled Awesome America, with each play based on a real location in the U.S. This play was inspired by the Coral Castle in Miami, Florida.

1st Produced:
Barnevelder, Houston TX     2012

Organisations:
Ohana Theatre Company

1st Published:
Next Stage Press 2014   

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:
Romantic drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Street Where I Live, The

Synopsis:
Mark, a kid whose Father went off to work early today, is bored to death on this Saturday morning in his suburban neighborhood. In anger, he pulls down the sign for Beckner Street, and it comes apart into two nineteenth century German-Americans, Gustav and Clara Beckner. they are as startled to see Mark as he is to see them. (they are the original owners of the farm that is now this subdivision.) Mark is commandeered by the Beckners to help them find their farmhouse, and while accompanying them, this eight-year-old boy time-travels and finds out that his neighborhood isn't so boring after all.

Notes:
45-minute play for children Ages 5-11

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:
Youth audience

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Susanna And Will

Synopsis:
at her mother's grave with the new Folio in hand, Shakespeare's daughter demands that her mother reconsider Will. Will "appears", telling Susanna to stop harassing anne. She turns on him (the absent father), and is even more determined to set the family history straight. In act Two Queen Henrietta is encamped at Susanna's house. It is a time of Civil War. Susanna fears her Folio will be seized and sold to fund the King's army. Desperate and scared, Susanna unwittingly conjures up Will again. Together they find a way she can cope in these very frightening times.

Notes:
a re-working of the Author's one-person play Susanna of Stratford. Semit-finalist in 2001 Texas educational theatre Association Contest.

1st Produced:
The Country Playhouse, Houston, Texas     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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Susanna Of Stratford

Synopsis:
at forty-years old, Susanna Hall is finally confronting the discrepancies between what Stratford people have told her, and what she has suspected, about her Father William Shakespeare. She just received tangible proof (the Folio) that he might not be so bad after all. In act Two Susanna is sixty years old, and in a wartime emergency as the Queen of england is staying in Susanna's house. the prized folio may be seized. In these two acts, slapstick, pathos, and steely determination combine to bring the sensibilities of both Elizabethan england and the Puritan Revolution to life again.

Notes:
Susanna has played in many Venues in Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, And Austria (the International theatre in Vienna). When the Actress for whom the play was written lived in Texas, the show was sponsored by the Texas Commission on the Arts And Young Audiences of Houston.

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:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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The Jury's Out!

Synopsis:
It's all Officer Thompson can do to corral the unwilling jurors into the jury box. They've been chosen for a murder trial but most are more interested in their jobs, their flirtations, their backaches, their appetites and, for Alexandra, the illegal pistol she forgot was in her pocket and passed undiscovered through security. After the trial phase, Alexandra pushes her fellow disgruntled jurors for a speedy verdict. After all, there were no witnesses, and the killer clearly fired the gun. What else could there be to talk about? One juror, Della, will not be rushed into consensus without delving into the defendant's plea that it was an accidental shooting, driving Alexandra into near apoplexy and earning them all a reprimand from the Officer. It is only when threatened with jail themselves that the jurors are forced to dig deeper and discover their own similarities to the defendant's story.

Notes:
Studio recording of all songs at https://soundcloud.com/user-thejurymusical/sets/the-jury-musical

1st Produced:
Country Playhouse, Houston Tx     2005

Organisations:
Country Playhouse

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:
musical

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Tight Spots

Synopsis:
a collection of monologues drawn from experiences of contemporary teens, living in both urban/suburban areas and in small towns. Divorce, parents, school, getting in trouble, finding your own way, physical appearance, the opposite sex - all loom large. In each one, the character is anticipating a difficult confrontation, experiencing something frightening or new, or weighing his options in a decisive situation. each piece takes five minutes or less to perform. as there is this common thread of "being in a jam", a one or two-hour program of related monologues could be presented under the collective title of Tight Spots.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Meriwether, 1999   

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:
monologues One act

Parts:
Male:  25            Female:  25            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Top Dogs

Synopsis:
Must a modern man keep his armor at the ready? Does a civilized person need doggie skills? You betcha! even in the field of education, the hallways are full of power plays. Journey with Michael Harrison as he pursues his dream in the schools to "just have a life without having to compete every minute of the day", tangling with top dogs every step of the way. even when Michael arrives at the pinnacle of his career, as Superintendent of Schools, he comes up against a Mayor who thinks nothing of ruining everyone in town to achieve his own desires.

Notes:
First production was essentially A workshop with 8 performances in A 50-seat theater. Cast size is A minimum - could go As large As 8m, 4f. Part of the Author's Public employee Trilogy. Semi-finalist 2002 Trustus theatre Playwrights Festival.

1st Produced:
Country Playhouse, Houston Tx     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:
comedic Drama Comedy

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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