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David Ives

DAVID IVES

  (1950 - )
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    A3 Artists Agency  represented by Sarah L Douglas

David Ives is probably best known for his evenings of one-acts, collected as all in the Timing (Vintage Books) and Time Flies(Grove Press). His full-length work to date has been collected in Polish Joke and Other Plays (Grove). He is also the author of two young-adult novels, Monsieur eek andScrib. He lives in New York City with his wife, MarthA.

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

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

         All In the Timing         Ancient History         Arabian Nights         Babel's In Arms         Blizzard, The         Bolero         Captive Audience         Cornered         Dance of the Vampires         Degas C'est Moi         Don Juan In Chicago         Dr Fritz         English Made Simple         Enigma Variations         Flea In Her Ear, A         Foreplay, Or, The Art Of the Fugue         Green Hills, The         Heir Apparent, The         Is He Dead?         Ives Six Pack, The         Land Of Cockaigne, The         Liar, The         Lives Of the Saints         Long Ago And Far Away         Mere Mortals         Metromaniacs, The         Moby Dude: Or the Three Minute Whale         Mystery At Twicknam Vicarage, The         New Jerusalem         Other Woman         Philadelphia, The         Philip Glass Buys A Loaf Of Bread         Phobia Clinic, The         Polish Joke         Red Address, The         Roll Over, Beethoven         Scenes From A Distance         School For Lies, The         Seven Menus         Singular Kind of Guy, A         Soap Opera         Spanish Play, The         Speed-the-Play         St Francis Talks To the Birds         Sure Thing         Time Flies         Universal Language         Variations On the Death Of Trotsky         Venus In Fur         Vicarage         White Christmas         Words, Words, Words
All In the Timing

Synopsis:
Sure Thing: Two people meet in a cafe and find their way through a conversational minefield as an off-stage bell interrupts their false starts, gaffes, and faux-pas on the way to falling in love. Words, Words, Words recalls the philosophical adage that three monkeys typing into infinity will sooner or later produce Hamlet and asks: what would monkeys talk about at their typewriters? the Universal Language brings together Dawn, a young woman with a stutter, and Don, the creator and teacher of Unamunda, a wild comic language. their lesson send them off into a dazzling display of hystErical verbal pyrotechnics-and, of course, true love. Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread is a parodic musical vignette in trademark Glassian style, with the celebrated composer having a moment of existential crisis in a bakery. the Philadelphia presents a young man in a restaurant who has fallen into "a Philadelphia," a Twilight-Zone-like state in which he cannot get anything he asks for. His only way out of the dilEmma? To ask for the opposite of what he wants. Variations on the Death of Trotsky shows us the Russian revolutionary on the day of his demise, desperately trying to cope with the mountain-climber's axe he's discovered in his head.

Notes:
Sure Thing; Words, Words, Words; the Universal Language; Philip Glass Buys A Loaf of Bread; the Philidelphia; Variations on the Death of Trotsky.

1st Produced:
New York     1993

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
American Theatre Magazine, NY - July, 1994    

Music:
-

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Genre:
Six 1 act Comedies

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Ancient History

Synopsis:
Ruth and Jack, both in their mid-thirties, believe themselves perfectly suited to each other. But when Ruth suddenly mentions marriage, a subtle but ominous change is felt in their relationship. as it happens, Ruth is Jewish, Jack is a lapsed Catholic who scorns religion; she is career oriented and bent on success; he is a poorly paid teacher who is happy to settle for what he has; she fears her stern parents would never accept her marrying a non-Jewish man; he has already been through one failed marriage and is wary of repeating his mistake. and while the mood at first is light-hearted and filled with brightly humorous lines, it is also punctuated by the random ringing of an unseen phone-at which times the protagonists quickly vary the mood and express their secret feelings and recriminations in brief, often caustic, monologues. Later, no holds are barred, and the irreconcilable differences that were largely sublimated in the beginning now burst forth in full fury, leading to a monumental explosion and, appa

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
45th Street Theatre (formerly Phil Bosakowski theatre)
354 West 45th Street, New York, NY 10036     21/2011

Organisations:
Good Foot Productions, LLC & Michael Chekhov Theatre Company

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Arabian Nights

Synopsis:
Utterly normal Norman walks into utterly ordinary Flora's shop looking for a souvenir of his travels and together they find whirlwind romance, spurred on by a wacky translator.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
comedy Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Babel's In Arms

Synopsis:
Two blue-collar Mesopotamian construction workers are handed a provocative task: Build the Tower of Babel-or else. How many stones does it take to get to heaven, anyway?

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

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Genre:
Comedy One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Blizzard, The

Blizzard, The
the Blizzard brings Salim and Natasha into the country house of Jenny and Neil on a fateful night when the house's owners must decide whether to put their trust in a pair of strangers

Notes:
In 1995, A group of writers, directors And Actors gathered on Manhattan's Lower east Side for what was supposed to be A one-time-only event: write, direct, produce And perform new plays with the span of 24 hours. More than A decade And just over 300 plays later, the 24 Hour Plays have been produced on Broadway, in London, Los Angeles, Chicago And Across the globe.

1st Produced:
American Airways Theatre, New York     2006

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2008
in 24 by 24: the 24 Hour Plays anthology, Playscripts Inc   

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bolero

Synopsis:
A woman's world threatens to come apart in the middle of the night, when she and her husband hear strange sounds and voices coming through their bedroom wall.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Outstanding Short Plays, 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:
short Play

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Captive Audience

Synopsis:
a cautionary fable tells how Rob and Laura face a menace in their living room: a television that talks back to them and threatens to swallow them whole.

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 One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Cornered

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
by David Ives, Jacquelyn Reingold, Richard Lauchman, Antony Sportiello

1st Produced:

Organisations:
eMee Theater Group

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dance of the Vampires

Synopsis:
Professor Abronsius and his assistant Alfred go to a remote village hunting vampires

Notes:
Music and lyrics by Jim Steinman; additional lyrics Don Black; book by David Ives; Michael Kunze; Jim Steinman. Based on "Tanze Der Vampire" by Michael Kunze; Jim Steinman and on the movie "The Fearless Vampire Killers" screenplay by Gerard Bracht; Roman Polanski

1st Produced:
Minskoff Theatre, New York     09 Dec 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:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Degas C'est Moi

Synopsis:
a man wakes up one morning and decides to be the French artist Degas. the best place to do that is in New York City where he encounters all that makes great art

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  flexible

Further Reference:

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Don Juan In Chicago

Synopsis:
Don Juan is a handsome, rich, sexually naive nobleman in sixteenth-century Spain. His servant, Leporello, urges him to find a girlfriend and lead a normal life, but the Don is more interested in finding the meaning of life through books and alchemy. afraid he won't have time to find it, Don Juan calls up the Devil and cuts a deal that grants him (and Leporello) immortality-as long as Don Juan seduces a different woman every day. Unfortunately, the first woman he seduces is Dona elvira, his true love. Infuriated by the Don's abandonment, elvira cuts her own deal with the Devil: She won't die until she sleeps with Don Juan a second time. Four hundred years later, exhausted by endless sex and still pursued by elvira, Don Juan and Leporello grapple with the sexual mores of contemporary urban America as embodied by Sandy, a woman of wide and wild sexual experience. Don also meets the young and innocent Zoey-who happens to be his daughter by Sandy. With never any time to pursue the meaning of life, Don Juan swears

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Shetler Theater 54, NY     2005

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1997   

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:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dr Fritz

Synopsis:
Vaudeville reigns as an American tourist in pain seeks medical help from a wacky souvenir seller named Maria who channels an even wackier German surgeon named Dr. Ringsvwandl. the comedy steps up when the doctor recommends an operation

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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English Made Simple

Synopsis:
a young man and woman meet at a party, and their immediate romantic attraction is translated into comically unromantic grammar lessons as they struggle to free themselves from the banal constrictions of party talk.

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Enigma Variations

Synopsis:
Zany hijinks as a pair of lookalikes named Bebe W.W. Doppel-gangler solve an identity crisis with the help of Dr. William W. Williams and his nurse Fifi, who may or may not be aphrodite the Goddess of Love. Or is she a male gym-teacher in a dress?

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 One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Flea In Her Ear, A

Flea In Her Ear, A
a FLea IN HeR eaR is the greatest of French farces, perhaps the greatest farce ever written. Raymonde Chandebise suspects that her husband, Victor, a placid and successful insurance executive, is secretly having an affair. To find out, she and her friend Lucienne write him an anonymous love letter suggesting a rendezvous at theshady Frisky Puss Hotel. Thinking the letter was intended for his coworker, the gigoloTournel, Victor sends Tournel off to make the rendezvous in his place. Lucienne'sjealous Spanish husband, meanwhile, finds the letter, recognizes his wife's handwritingand takes his pistols to the Frisky Puss, hoping to catch her in the act. Meanwhile,Victor's nephew Camille tries to warn everyone about the mix-up, but his ridiculousspeech impediment prevents anyone from understanding him. In act Two, all decampto the Frisky Puss where, it turns out, the drunken bellboy Poche is the exact double ofthe proper Victor Chandebise. Meeting Poche and thinking she's been caught by herhusband, Raymonde keeps trying to escape from the hotel with Tournel, but arevolving bed keeps flinging them from room to room, as more and more of theinvolved parties pile into the hotel in a climax culminating in the entrance of thejealous Spaniard and his pistols. In act Three the vortex spins even faster as all theparties return to the Chandebise home utterly confused about what actually happenedand who was who at the Frisky Puss. the drunken bellboy arrives, is mistaken onceagain for Victor, and all the threads of the multiple mix-ups are sorted out as Victorand Raymonde recognize their mutual confusions and are reunited.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Georges Feydeau. Winner of A 2006 Jefferson Award for best Adaptation.

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2007   

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:
farce adaptation

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  5            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

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Foreplay, Or, The Art Of the Fugue

Synopsis:
Chuck, a young man with a Don Juan reputation, brings his date to play a round of miniature golf and to seduce her. He philosophizes and jokes, slipping in as much sexual innuendo as he can. When they move to the second hole, a slightly older Chuck II appears with another date. His technique more slick, but his date is suspicious of him. Both couples continue their conversations and games, the dialogue comically interwoven. Finally a third Chuck, now in his late thirties, arrives with a young date. He is somewhat rumpled, tired and things are not going well for him. His latest date doesn't get his jokes and, worse, she is beating him at golf.

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Green Hills, The

Synopsis:
Jake has a vision of a lovely green hill, where he feels free and at peace. He knows the hill is real, and he has to go there. He sees a poster of the hill in a travel agent's window, but the hill's real location proves to be elusive. But Jake is relentless in his search.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Outstanding Short Plays, 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:
short Play

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Heir Apparent, The

Heir Apparent, The
an adaptation of Jean-Francois Regnard's 1706 masterpiece, directed by artistic Director Michael Kahn. eraste desperately wants to marry Isabelle, but first he needs to secure an inheritance from his miserable old uncle, Geronte. Geronte won't make it easy for eraste, though, as he's bequeathed his money to distant relatives. Can eraste's resourceful servant save the day with his powers of disguise and his quick wit? Love, family and intrigue join to make this a hilarious French farce that shouldn't be missed.
- dctheatrescene.com

Notes:
Original Playwright - Jean-Francois Regnard - "Le Legataire Universel"

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Shakespeare Theatre Company

1st Published:
Smith & Kraus (October 1, 2011)   

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Is He Dead?

Synopsis:
Jean-Francois Millet, a young painter of genius, is in love with Marie Leroux but in debt to a villainous picture-dealer, Bastien andre. andre forecloses on Millet, threatening debtor's prison unless Marie marries him. Millet realizes that the only way he can pay his debts and keep Marie from marrying andre is to die, as it is only dead painters who achieve fame and fortune. Millet fakes his death and prospers, all while passing himself off as his own sister, the Widow Tillou. Now a rich "widow," he must find a way to get out of a dress, return to life, and marry Marie.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Mark Twain

1st Produced:
Lyceum Theatre (Broadway) (New York, NY, United States)     2007

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:
105-120 min Comedy adaptation

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  4            Other:   (11-16 actors possible: 7-12 males, 4-6 females)

Further Reference:
-

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Ives Six Pack, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Arclight Theatre, NY     2006

Organisations:
the Bang Theatre Collective

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Land Of Cockaigne, The

Synopsis:
three poignant scenes depict a small family birthday party in a Midwestern yard on a summer day. each scene presents a different angle on the group, what they say and who they may be. Is this the ideal American family, exactly the opposite, or something in-between?

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:  2            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Liar, The

Synopsis:
Dorante is charming, handsome . . . and a pathological liar! When he arrives in Paris, Dorante's outlandish tales amaze and convince all who hear them, but for each problem his clever lying solves, it creates two new ones. Will he manage to keep his stories straight, his dupes none the wiser and somehow still get the girl?

Notes:
Original Playwright - Pierre Corneille (1643 French Comedy)

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Shakespeare Theatre Company

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service Inc, NY, 2011   

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:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lives Of the Saints

Synopsis:
a tender and gently comic meditation. Two women preparing a funeral breakfast in a church basement muse on life, death, and the meaning of Polish jokes-and along the way achieve a kind of sanctity.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia, Pa     1999

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 One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Long Ago And Far Away

Synopsis:
a domestic Drama of a troubled young wife who finds herself crossing through time-and identities-on a fateful winter evening in an empty apartment

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mere Mortals

Synopsis:
eavesdrops on a lunch hour on a girder 50 stories over the street, as three construction workers share increasingly amazing secrets of their past

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1998   

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:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Metromaniacs, The

Synopsis:
Mistaken identity, misplaced ardor and a fight for true love ensues in Alexis Piron's classic 1738 French farce, The Metromaniacs. Would-be poet Damis has fallen for the works of the mysterious Breton poetess, not knowing she is really middle-aged gentleman Francalou. However, Francalou allows Damis to believe the poetess is his own daughter, Lucile, in order to separate her from Dorante, the son of his sworn enemy. Add to the chaos some scheming servants, pseudonyms, disguises and poetic wooing reminiscent of Cyrano and there is much to untangle before love-plots are resolved and a happy ending found.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Shakespeare Theatre Company, Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th Street Nw, Washington, Dc     03 Feb 2015

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
adaptation 105 min

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Moby Dude: Or the Three Minute Whale

Synopsis:
a stoned-out surfer of seventeen proves to his teacher that he has in fact read "Moby-Dick" over the summer by summarizing the book in under two minutes. It is only a short piece, but it is very funny.

Notes:
I think it was originally written for Public Radio International for A program entitled Studio 360

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Talk to Me: Monologue Plays" edited by eric Lane and Nina Shengold,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
Monologue One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mystery At Twicknam Vicarage, The

Synopsis:
a body on the carpet, three ridiculous Masterpiece theatre-style suspects and a bumbling Scotland Yard detective solve philosophical quandaries as they investigate: Who killed Jeremy Thumpington-Fffienes?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

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New Jerusalem

Synopsis:
Baruch de Spinoza is a young merchant and the heir apparent of Saul Mortera, the chief Rabbi of amsterdam. But amsterdam's Sephardic Jews have made a fatal arrangement with the city: they have agreed to police their own community for unorthodox beliefs. When the city accuses Spinoza of atheism, Mortera must summon Baruch to the synagogue to defend himself. Spinoza's best friend, his sister and the woman he loves are all drawn into the controversy, a historical event that shook up not only the entire Jewish community of amsterdam, but changed Spinoza's and Mortera's lives-and all of Western thought-irrevocably. No written record survives of what was said at Temple Talmud Torah on July 27, 1656. In this eloquent and masterful Drama, David Ives attempts to open the temple doors and let us listen in on a dispute whose philosophical and political echoes still reverberate today.

Notes:
the Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza At Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2010   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Other Woman

Synopsis:
a dark Drama of sexual obsession within a marriage, as Thomas's sleepwalking wife, Emma, becomes his mistress without knowing it

Notes:
ensemble Studio theatre's 28th Annual presentation of the Marathon, featuring one-act plays

1st Produced:
Ensemble Studio Theatre, NY     2006

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2008   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Philadelphia, The

Synopsis:
presents a young man in a restaurant who has fallen into "a Philadelphia," a Twilight-Zone-like state in which he cannot get anything he asks for. His only way out of the dilEmma? To ask for the opposite of what he wants

Notes:
Part of All In the Timing

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

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Philip Glass Buys A Loaf Of Bread

Synopsis:
a quick-witted spoof of contemporary opera with Philip Glass, the guru of minimalist music, at its center. In the course of buying a loaf of bread, Glass, his ex-lover, her friend and a baker join in a spoken quartet about lost time and lost chances of love

Notes:
Part of All In the Timing

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
Ten minute musical

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Phobia Clinic, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Polish Joke

Synopsis:
a comedy about ethnic identity and the eternal American search for "roots." Jasiu (thirtyish) is a Polish-American who has been taught not to value his own roots, so he decides to make his own roots, reinventing himself first as a sort of non-ethnic everyman, then as an "Irishman." Jasiu's adventures-alternately zany and heartbreaking-take him through a job interview with an Ur-Wasp; to an attempt to become a Catholic priest; to a flower shop where he can't get service because he is weirdly invisible; to a doomed love affair with a Jewish woman; to a wacky Irish travel agency where he has to prove that he is Irish before he can buy a ticket; and to a doctor more interested in ethnic pain than in healing. Jasiu is also bedeviled by a reappearing Polish relative and has to face off with the ghost of a dead Polish patriot. In the end, by trying to get away from his ethnic background, Jasiu finds out who he is and what it means to be "a Pole."

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Red Address, The

Synopsis:
In a radical departure from his comedies, David Ives writes a searing, disturbing Drama about a middle-American businessman whose company and whose very life and sanity stand under attack. e. G. Triplett leads an outwardly respectable, all-American-male existence until a mysterious business rival, Driver, comes to town and threatens not only to take over e.G.'s business, but to reveal his sexual secret: that in the privacy of his own home, with the aid of his loving wife, Lady, e.G. dresses in women's clothing. When Lady is brutally murdered, e. G.'s world collapses and he makes a desperate attempt to hold himself together - losing his own life in the process. In the end, only e.G.'s friend, Dick, is left to piece together the meaning of what had happened, and to try to make sense of the baffling man he had known as e.G. Triplett.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1998   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Roll Over, Beethoven

Synopsis:
Robin, a shy teenager, comes for a first piano lesson to Dr. Felix Goldenbaum, an effusive and eccentric teacher. Robin is amazed to find that he must "play" for Dr. Goldenbaum even though there is no piano -- at least, no visible piano. In the end, in spite of the lack of a piano, Robin makes wonderful music with the help of the mad Doctor. So does the Doctor.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theatre Tulsa (Tulsa, Ok, United States)     2005

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York   

Music:
-

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Genre:
10-15 min Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  1 male, 1 either (2 actors possible: 1-2 males, exactly 1 female)

Further Reference:
-

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Scenes From A Distance

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
by Mary MIller, Sean O'Donnel, David Ives, Joe Pintauro

1st Produced:
Jan Hus Playhouse, NY     2005

Organisations:
Jan Hus Playhouse

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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School For Lies, The

Synopsis:
It's 1666 and the brightest, wittiest salon in Paris is that of Celimene, a beautiful young widow so known for her satiric tongue she's being sued for it. Surrounded by shallow suitors, whom she lives off of without surrendering to, Celimene has managed to evade love since her beloved husband died - until today, when Frank appears. A traveler from england known for his own coruscating wit and acidic misanthropy, Frank turns Celimene's world upside-down, taking on her suitors, matching her barb for barb, and teaching her how to live again. (Never mind that their love affair has been engineered by a couple of well-placed lies.) This wild farce of furious tempo and stunning verbal display, all in very contemporary couplets, runs variations on Moliere's the Misanthrope, which inspired it. Another incomparable romp from the brilliant author of All in the Timing.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Moliere

1st Produced:
Classic Stage
136 East 13th Street, New York, NY 10003     01 May 2011

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Seven Menus

Synopsis:
shows a round-robin of relationships at a restaurant table, as demonstrated by a group of friends that change, couple by couple and course by course, throughout several different meals.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Singular Kind of Guy, A

Synopsis:
Mitch is a young guy talking to a girl in a bar. She's nice, but he's got this sort of confession, see. There's something she ought to knowon the inside, he isn't really a guy at all. He's an Olivetti electric, self correcting typewriter.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Soap Opera

Synopsis:
a washing-machine repairman falls in love with a picture-perfect washer. Should he tell his girlfriend Mabel? Is the washer two-timing him with a dryer? Stay tuned

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Comedy One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Spanish Play, The

Synopsis:
the play goes behind the scenes at the rehearsal of a play, where the line between reality and the theater begin to blur.
nytheatre.com

Notes:
Original Playwright - Yasmina Reza

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Classic Stage Company

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Speed-the-Play

Synopsis:
we are presented with rewritten works of David Mamet, all which have been "boiled down with the gist extracted." AmericaN BUFFaLO, SPeeD-the-PLOW, SeXUaL PeRVeRSITY IN CHICaGO, and GLeNGaRRY GLeN ROSS are each condensed to about four pages of blunt, hilarious Mamet-like exchanges. This is a must for Mamet fans

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  2            Other:  flexible

Further Reference:
-

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St Francis Talks To the Birds

Synopsis:
a comic excursion into death and dying in which the holyman meets a couple of desert vultures waiting to turn him into dessert

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2008   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sure Thing

Synopsis:
a classic of contemporary comedy: Two people meet in a cafe and find their way through a conversational minefield as an off-stage bell interrupts their false starts, gaffes, and faux pas on the way to falling in love

Notes:
Part of All In the Timing

1st Produced:
West End Theatre, NY     2007

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Time Flies

Synopsis:
two lonely but sweet young mayflies meet at a pond and really hit it off. Unfortunately, Horace and May watch a nature program on this first night out and discover they have a lifespan of only one day-and their lives are half over. In volume entitled MeRe MORTaLS

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Laurie Beechman Theatre, NY     2007

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Universal Language

Synopsis:
brings together Dawn, a young woman with a stutter, and Don, the creator and teacher of Unamunda, a wild comic language. their lesson send them off into a dazzling display of hystErical verbal pyrotechnics-and, of course, true love

Notes:
Part of All In the Timing

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Variations On the Death Of Trotsky

Synopsis:
a comic look at the assassination of the famous Russian revolutionary, killed by his Mexican gardener, who smashed a mountain climber's axe into his skull. the play opens the day after the attack, with Trotsky busily writing and with the axe sticking out of his head. the play consists of quick scenes, each with a different comic take on Trotsky's death

Notes:
Part of All In the Timing

1st Produced:
West End Theatre, NY     2007

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Venus In Fur

Venus In Fur
Thomas, a beleaguered playwright/director, is desperate to find an actress to play Vanda, the female lead in his adaptation of the classic sadomasochistic tale, VeNUS IN FUR. Into his empty audition room walks a vulgar and equally desperate actress - oddly enough, named Vanda. Though utterly wrong for the sophisticated part, Vanda exhibits a strange command of the material, piquing Thomas' interest with her seductive talents and secretive manner. as the two work through the script, they blur the line between play and reality, entering into an increasingly serious game of submission and domination that only one of them can win.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Classic Stage, NY     26 Jan 2010

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,
Oberon Books (2017) >>>    

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Vicarage

Synopsis:
-

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

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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White Christmas

Synopsis:
White Christmas is the optimistic yarn about decent people who hurdle personal misunderstandings to end up being, well, decent people who are full of good cheer during the holidays in 1954. World War II army buddies and showmen Bob and Phil meet the sister act of Betty and Judy and end up at a Vermont Inn run by the guys' former commanding officer, Gen. Waverly. the inn has fallen on hard times, and so has the general, despite the presence of his caring ex-actress "concierge," Martha, and a visit by his granddaughter, Susan. the showfolk find a solution to the general's post-war malaise by planning a show at the inn - on Christmas eve, no less. Cue the snow.

Notes:
Based upon the Paramount Pictures film written for the screen by: Norman Krasna, Norman Panama And Melvin Frank; Book by David Ives And Paul Blake; Music by Irving Berlin; Lyrics by Irving Berlin

1st Produced:
San Francisco     2004

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  large cast

Further Reference:

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Words, Words, Words

Synopsis:
recalls the philosophical adage that three monkeys typing into infinity will sooner or later produce HaMLeT and asks: what would monkeys talk about at their typewriters?

Notes:
Part of All In the Timing

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

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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