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Romulus Linney

ROMULUS LINNEY

  (1930 - 2011)
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    The Gersh Agency  

Romulus Zachariah Linney (September 21, 1930  January 15, 2011) was an American playwright and professor. "My plays and novels are drawn from either historical subjects or memories of my childhood in Tennessee and North Carolina, or direct personal experiences." Born in Philadelphia, PA on September21, 1930. BA. Oberlin College; M.F.A., Yale School of Drama. author of three novels, Heathen Valley, Slowly, By Thy Hand Unfurled and Jesus Tales. TV: CBS, American Parade; PBS, Feeling Good. adjunct Professor of Playwriting and Fiction, Brooklyn College; School of the Arts, Columbia University; Connecticut College and others. Recipient: National endowment for the Arts Grants; Commissions for plays from: appalachian Re-gional Commission; Kennedy Center; Virginia Museum Theatre; Phoenix Theatre; Actor's Theatre of Louisville; Guggenheim Fellowship; Obie award.

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

         2: Goering At Nuremberg         Akhmatova         Ambrosio         American Beauty         Appalachia Sounding         April Snow         Ave Maria         Can Can         Captivity Of Pixie Shedman, The         Childe Byron         Choir Practice         Christmas Carol, A         Clair De Lune         Cure, The         Death Of King Philip, The         Democracy         Democracy And Esther         El Hermano         Fm         Gardens Of Eden         Gint         Gold And Silver Waltz         Goodbye Oscar         Goodbye, Howard         Heathen Valley         His Wife         Holy Ghosts         Hrosvitha         Juliet         Just Folks         Klonsky And Schwartz         Komachi         Lark         Laughing Stock         Lesson Before Dying, A         Love Drunk         Love Like Fire         Love Suicide At Schofield Barracks, The         Masterbuilder Johnson         Mock Trial         Mountain Memory         Old Man Joseph And His Family         Oscar Over Here         Pageant         Pops         Precious Memories         Sand Mountain         Sand Mountain Matchmaking         Seasons, The, Man's Estate         Shotgun         Songs Of Love         Sorrows Of Frederick, The         Southern Comfort         Spain         Stars         Strindberg: Miss Julie And the Ghost Sonata         Tennessee         Three Poets         True Crimes         Two Whores         Unchanging Love         Unwritten Song, The         Why the Lord Come To Sand Mountain         Woman Without A Name, A         Wrath         Yancey         Yankee Doodle
2: Goering At Nuremberg

Synopsis:
April, 1945. the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials against the leaders of Nazi Germany are about to begin. Hermann Goering, in the place of adolf Hitler, leads the accused and with his German counsel, prepares his defense. Drug free and healthy from a spartan imprisonment, Goering is once again the formidable man who more than any other made Hitler Chancellor of Germany and built the engines of the Third Reich. He defies the Tribunal with wit and ferocity, refuses to blame Hitler for his actions, denies the right of any conqueror to fairly prosecute the conquered, and foretells a disturbing future for crimes of war. as the horrors of what he is responsible for come to light, he demonically refuses to accept them as anything but the natural consequences of human conflict, and after manipulating his own suicidal escape from hanging, asks the audience, "What do you think men are?"

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Six Plays, Theatre Communications Group, NY, 1993   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  1            Other:  1g

Further Reference:
-

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Akhmatova

Synopsis:
Akhmatova is summoned to the Kremlin upon the death of Stalin and must resist the ruthless Commissar's search for the words of her masterpiece, which has been committed to her memory and to the memories of her trusted friends.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Short Play One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ambrosio

Synopsis:
Freely adapted from Matthew Lewis' 18th century gothic novel, the Monk, ambrosio, the play, deftly transposes our own contemporary concerns about sexuality, desire and abstinence on to the original novel's voluptuous setting and, atmosphere. as the monk ambrosio confronts temptation, first in the form of a seductive young male novice, and then in a young woman who begs ambrosio to be her confessor, a mysterious fisherman named Don Pedro looks on. Is he, as ambrosio suspects, really the devil, offering up inducements for ambrosio to renounce his vows? Is this vision of the devil simply a case of delirium brought on by ambrosio's life of denial? Is either answer part of a plot by the Inquisition to shore up their own power? Ultimately, the crux of ambrosio's dilEmma lies in the realm of spirituality, where what distinguishes fantasy from reality has yet to be decided.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1992

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Seventeen Short Plays", Smith and Kraus, Newbury, Vermont, 1992   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Short Play One act

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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American Beauty

Synopsis:
Seven young women want to be Miss Delta Queen Beauty Pageant

Notes:
Music and lyrics by Michael Rice; book by Cliff F Baker; Hank Bates; Kent R Brown; Jack Heifner; Romolus Linney; Mary Rohde Scudday

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatic Publishing   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  7            Other:  1 male voice

Further Reference:
-

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Appalachia Sounding

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Carolina Readers Theatre Tour     1975

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

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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April Snow

Synopsis:
a deeply felt study of love and loneliness involving an aging writer and the women who have figured most significantly in his life-one of his four ex-wives, and a young protege, forty years his junior, who rekindles his long-lost passions. But, as this bittersweet comedy makes eloquently clear, old wounds are slow to heal, and happiness can be the most elusive-and illusory-of human conditions.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Costa Mesa, California     1983

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Three Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1989   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
One act. - - Lesbian, theme/character, one act

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ave Maria

Synopsis:
a tenth-century nun, Hrosvitha, the only female playwright of her time, confronts an outraged monk who is shocked by her contention that love is both spiritual and sensual.

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:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Can Can

Synopsis:
a poignant and telling fugue of overlapping soliloquies in which an ex-GI recalls his brief love affair with a French girl, while a Nashville housewife tells of the strange bond she feels for an older country woman.

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:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Captivity Of Pixie Shedman, The

Synopsis:
attempting a novel based on his late grandmother's diary, Bertram Shedman, a struggling young writer, is bemused by her extravagant tales and high-flown poetry. Trying to sort out the truth of this remarkable and singular woman he conjures up the fleshly spirit of Pixie herself-as she steps into the action of the play and attempts to persuade this quizzical young man that the lurid events and twisted relationships put down in her family history are indeed the stuff of real life. their confrontation brings forth other ghosts; his domineering great-grandfather, who whisked Pixie off to Washington after his election as a U.S. Senator; his hard-drinking physician grandfather, who stole Pixie away from his Father but looked for solace in the arms of a local waitress; and his own unhappy father, who led a life ordained by others and died of cancer while still a young man. In the end these apparitions step back into the past once more, but their legacy is now one of truth and a guide to the present descendant in reconciling the tangled strands of his own life.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Phoenix Theatre, NYC    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1981   

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 One act

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  1            Other:  1g

Further Reference:
-

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Childe Byron

Synopsis:
as the play begins, ada, the Countess of Lovelace, who was Byron's only legitimate daughter, is writing her will. She is thirty-six (the same age at which her Father died) and dying of cancer. While she had been estranged from her Father during his lifetime, and had reviled his memory, now, as her own end is drawing near, she is seized with a desire to know more about her profligate father. Stimulated by the drugs she is taking for her illness, she summons him to life and, in sharp, sarcastic exchanges, probes into the truth behind the myth. aided by a chorus of six other actors who impersonate a variety of characters, the life and art of Byron are unfolded; his tempestuous youth; his incestuous relationship with his sister; his homosexual escapades; the scandal surrounding his brief marriage; and his castigation by the society of his day. In the end the private man, the public figure and the protean poet are reconciled, and the rare dimension of this remarkable figure, who became the symbol of the Romanticism of his time, is made movingly real.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Virginia Museum Theatre, Richmond, Virginia     1977

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1981   

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:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Choir Practice

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Newhouse Theatre, Lincoln Center, NYC    

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

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Christmas Carol, A

Synopsis:
an adaptation of the story of ebenezer Scrooge's journey from an embittered, ungenerous creature into a giving, caring human being at the hands of three spirits, who, one Christmas eve, show him what life means. Of his new stage version of the story Linney writes, "When the Milwaukee Repertory asked me about adapting its new a CHRISTMaS CaROL for them, I did not remember actually reading the book, nor had I seen any of its numerous stage versions. I was only acquainted with the film starring alastair Sim, done in england years ago, which I had liked, but only dimly remembered. So when I read a CHRISTMaS CaROL, I was able to pretend I had never heard of the great story before. I was of course amazed not only at its beauty and durability, but at its blazing theatricality. It is part Hamelt . . .part everyman. . .and part Charlie Chaplin. I vowed to stick to the bones of the story as closely as I could to take the evolution of Scrooge seriously, and to try and find, as he goes, the child within him that slowly emerges from his ordeal to such bountiful happiness." This richly textured play brings the full spirit of the book, as well as those of Christmases Past, Present and Yet To Come, to life on the stage. Directions are included for a simplified version of the play.

Notes:
book by Charles Dickens

1st Produced:

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

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  19            Female:  17            Other:  (flexible casting): 20 total

Further Reference:
-

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Clair De Lune

Synopsis:
finds an older, retired couple basking in the solitude of Florida, while reminiscing, with some regret, about their chronically hell-raising children

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:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Cure, The

Synopsis:
a midwife talks about the problems she has faced including being called a witch

Notes:
-

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:
Monologue play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Death Of King Philip, The

Synopsis:
Set in colonial America, the play tells the story of Mary Rowlandson, who is abducted with her baby son during an Indian uprising that left a dozen New england settlements in ruins. at first we meet Mary as a woman of sixty recalling the momentous event of her youth; then Mary at thirty appears and acts out the events themselves-her capture by the Indian leader, King Philip; and the retribution exacted by her fanatical minister husband, Joseph Rowlandson, and the other settlers. In a series of deftly written, compelling scenes, the irony of the situation in which the protagonists find themselves is made clear: the noble, dignified Indian leader is forced into savage acts of vengeance against his will; while the God-fearing Puritans, despite the teachings of their church, counter with equally terrible acts. In the end King Philip, accepting the inevitable, lays down his arms and surrenders to his fate; yet, as the play so eloquently confirms, the end result is not a matter of victory-but, rather, of the sowing of the seeds of white racism which will bear bitter fruit in succeeding generations.

Notes:
music by Paul earls

1st Produced:
New England Chamber Opera, Boston     1979

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1984   

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 One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Democracy

Synopsis:
In the presidential society of Washington in the spring of 1875, two beautiful American women are courted by two dashing American men. Madelaine Lee, a wealthy widow from New York, and esther Dudley, an agnostic photographer from Washington, are pursued by Silas Raitcliffe, Senator from Illinois and candidate for the presidency, and by the Reverend Stephen Hazard, a handsome episcopal priest whose spellbinding oratory packs his church. around them move Baron Jacobi, the cynical Bulgarian ambassador; esther's unmarried aunt Lydia, who played at the feet of George Washington when she was a child; Mrs. essy Barker, an outrageous female lobbyist; and the President and his wife, the world-famous Grants themselves, innocent, blundering and touching. the two women must decide whether to marry the two men, knowing they will also marry what their men believe, about America, about religion, about final truth and untruth, about success and reality. their courageous decisions, in two highly charged scenes, are the same; they will not marry men they may or may not love, but whose fundamental beliefs they cannot share. Henry adams' comic vision of American democracy is scathing, passionate, funny, and in the deepest and best sense, loyal to his country.

Notes:
aka Democracy And esther, from novels by Henry Adams

1st Produced:
H.B. Playwrights Foundation, NYC    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1976   

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/Drama Comedy

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Democracy And Esther

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
aka Democracy, from novels by Henry Adams

1st Produced:
Milwaukee     1975

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Harcourt Brace, New York, 1973   

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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El Hermano

Synopsis:
the time is 1954, the place a seedy bar in San Francisco where two soldiers, one an eager draftee, the other a leathery veteran, are looking for a good time before being shipped overseas. Two attractive Hispanic women enter the bar, and the GI's move in quickly-Buddy, the older one, is all bravado and macho charm, while Frazier, the younger man, tries to ingratiate himself with his schoolboy Spanish. With the arrival of the girl's brother, esteban, a note of menace arises, as he attempts to explain that his sisters are ladies of breeding and good family fallen on hard times, while the cynical Buddy is convinced that he is their pimp, haggling over price. Unable to bridge the gulf of culture and language, Buddy and esteban fight but are quickly separated by Frazier, who realizes that the brother, unable to comprehend the rules of a game he has never played, can only fall back on the ways of his old world to meet the confusing challenges of the new.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Ensemble Studio Theatre, NY     1981

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1981   

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:
Short Play One act

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Fm

Fm
takes place in a creative writing class, where a rather prim teacher is at first appalled and then awed by the earthly brilliance of one of her pupils, a whiskey-guzzling, dirty-mouthed rough diamond whose primitive genius puts his dilettante classmates to shame.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Philadelphia     1982

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Laughing Stock", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1984   

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:
Drama One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Gardens Of Eden

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1982

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Gint

Synopsis:
Gint unfolds like a strange dream, beginning with Pete Gint, a ragged young man in the appalachian Mountains in 1917, who spends most of his time lying, drinking and getting into trouble. Gint is determined to become "something great grand and glorious," but he's not sure just what that is. the first act follows Gint's sexual misadventures with a married woman and a woman who turns out to be a razorback hog, but Gint's true love is Sally Vicks. at first Sally disdains Gint, finding him rough and loud, but slowly he wins her over. as they move into a humble mountain cabin, however, the hog woman shows up with Gint's bastard son. Not wanting Sally to be hurt or disgraced by "this nastiness," Gint decides to leave appalachia and travel far away. Years pass, and the second act finds Gint at 75 and a billionaire. He has called together several other powerful billionaires for he has a dream of founding a new country, based solely on corporations. the billionaires have other plans, however. they have secretly taken over Gint's companies and he is cast out and goes back into the wilderness. Gint then begins a nightmarish journey home, battling lunatics and devils until he arrives back in the arms of Sally Vicks, who accepts him and all his past history

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theater for the New City
155 First aVenue, New York, NY 10009     1998

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Gold And Silver Waltz

Synopsis:
a touching monologue about boyhood and first love in which the sole character is the author himself.

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:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Goodbye Oscar

Synopsis:
It is Oscar Wilde's last moment on earth. He thinks of his trip to the United States, when a young bellhop was sent to his hotel room as a "gift." It is obvious to Oscar that the youth does not want to be there. Oscar asks him what his troubles are, finds out, and sends him away with $100. then he thinks of himself at a dingy cafe in France, meeting the same young man, now dressed as a British gentleman, who knows all about him. Why? When he discovers that, Oscar Wilde understands that he is dead and accepts the love of heaven.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
E.S.T. Marathon     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:
Drama One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Goodbye, Howard

Goodbye, Howard
set in a North Carolina hospital, where three aging (and rich) spinster sisters wait for news of their brother's death. they are worried about how their mother (who must be 100) will react to the sad tidings an eventuality which is ameliorated by the intrusion of a brash young man who seems to lack the proper respect for the aged, and the dying

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1982

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Laughing Stock", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1984   

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 One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Heathen Valley

Synopsis:
Set in the 1860s, the action of the play centers on the desire of the episcopal Bishop of North Carolina to bring the word of God to a valley so remote and untamed that brothers marry sisters and the people live lives of brutal violence and grinding poverty. accompanied by an ex-convict named Starns, who once lived in the area and knows its ways, and a young orphan boy, Billy, the sometimes overbearing bishop sets about bringing "order and decency" to the valley. Returning to civilization to raise funds, he leaves Starns behind as his deacon, and before long Starns, aided by Billy, has indeed worked wonders-transforming a wild woman and her deranged lover into a respectable married couple, leading the grizzled mountaineers in hymns and building a church which, to allay local superstitions, has no corners. When the bishop returns he is amazed, but also disturbed that perhaps earthly pleasures are replacing the poverty that is more befitting for beholding the glory of God. He also announces that he has decided to renounce his calling and embrace the Roman church-which leaves Starns bereft of his illusive authority and, ironically, powerless to halt the slide of his now questioning flock back to the easy and evil ways of old.

Notes:
from his own novel.

1st Produced:
Theater for the New City
155 First aVenue, New York, NY 10009     1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1988   

Music:
-

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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His Wife

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Town Hall, New York     2002

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Holy Ghosts

Holy Ghosts
Seeking to retrieve his runaway wife (and the possessions she has taken with her), Coleman Shedman arrives at the rural meeting house of a southern pentecostal sect with a lawyer in tow. But his wife, Nancy, is unwilling to forsake the love and protection of her new "husband," the Reverend Obediah Buckhorn, and return to the brutal, hard-drinking Coleman. and when the strapping Reverend Buckhorn himself arrives, it is quickly evident that Coleman will not be able to take her back by force. Rich with atmosphere and the feel of southern rural life, the play blends humor and poignancy as it probes into the circumstances and stories of the various cult members-culminating in a gripping snake-handling scene in which the cynical Coleman, to his own amazement, is himself converted to a true believer.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
East Carolina University    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Harcourt Brace, New York, 1977   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hrosvitha

Synopsis:
Hrosvitha has her play acted before Mother Superior and a censoring monk, who have a furious battle over her work and leave her to decide how dedicated a poet she is.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
Short Play One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Juliet

Synopsis:
explores the debate between an intense and brilliant young director and his temperamental leading lady about their differing interpretations of Ibsen's "Ghosts." He wants to do the play "straight"-exactly as written by the master; while she insists on inserting an upbeat ending to relieve "all that Scandinavian depression." But his reasoned arguments that no grown man's mother would act as the actress suggests are unexpectedly challenged by the sudden appearance of his own mother, a lonely older woman who, ironically proceeds to give the lie to his theories

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1988

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Three Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1989   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Short Play One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Just Folks

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theater for the New City
155 First aVenue, New York, NY 10009     1978

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Klonsky And Schwartz

Synopsis:
the turbulent relationship between struggling writer Milton Klonsky and his mentor, the brilliant poet Delmore Schwartz, is the basis of this engrossing Drama. Warm scenes of their deep friendship alternate with vaudevillian routines and bold theatrics, ultimately painting a harrowing portrait of Schwartz's unnerving descent into madness.

Notes:
New Jersey Premiere August, 2005; New Jersey Repertory Company. www.njrep.org

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2007   

Music:
-

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Genre:
full length Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Komachi

Synopsis:
Komachi duels with the Prince Shoso, making her verses out of their conflict, until she meets a brutal end

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
Short Play One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lark

Synopsis:
a young piano prodigy named thea Kronberg finds herself creatively limited by family obligations in early 20th-century Colorado. When a good friend is suddenly killed in a train accident, thea is imparted with enough money to pursue her piano studies in Chicago. With the unwavering support of her family doctor, and the guidance of eccentric teachers, thea eventually discovers her true, hidden musical talent -- singing opera. In this beautiful adaptation of Willa Cather's beloved novel,Lark allows the audience to witness the life of a young talent -- from her childhood brush with death by pneumonia, all the way to becoming a celebrated opera star touring the country.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Ensemble Studio Theatre (One-Act Version) (New York, NY, United States)     2002

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York   

Music:
-

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Genre:
60-80 min Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  4 males, 3 females

Further Reference:
-

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Laughing Stock

Synopsis:
GOODBYe, HOWaRD. In a North Carolina hospital, three aging spinster sisters wait for news of their brother's death. as they worry about breaking the news to their elderly mother, a brash young man-who seems to lack the proper respect for the aged and the dying-suddenly intrudes on the sad tidings. (2 men, 4 women.) In the second play, F.M., a creative writing teacher is at first appalled and then awed by the earthly brilliance of one of her pupils-a whiskey-guzzling, dirty-mouthed, vagabond-whose primitive genius puts his dilettante classmates to shame. (1 man, 3 women.)

Notes:
includes Goodbye, Howard: F.M.; Tennessee

1st Produced:
New York     1984

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1984   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Three short plays One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  cast of 6

Further Reference:
-

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Lesson Before Dying, A

Synopsis:
Jefferson, an innocent young man, is condemned to death in backwoods Louisiana in 1948. at the trial his lawyer, trying to save his life, called him no more a human being than a hog. In prison, he acts like one, insisting that he will be dragged like that hog to his death in the electric chair. His godmother asks a schoolteacher to teach him to die like a man. the teacher, Grant Wiggins, struggling to quit his poor parish school and leave the South, faces both Jefferson and himself as execution day arrives. ernest J. Gaines' celebrated novel makes an engrossing, moving and finally devastating play for the stage.

Notes:
Based on the novel by ernest J. Gaines.

1st Produced:
Signature Theatre, Off Broadway, NY     2000

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Love Drunk

Synopsis:
Love Drunk is the story of an older man who picks up a much younger woman in a bar and brings her to his retreat, an appalachian palace. Her littered past collides with his desire and what follows is an inspired dance of sexual tension
- press release

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, NY     2009

Organisations:
abingdon Theatre Company

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2010   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Love Like Fire

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theater for the New City
155 First aVenue, New York, NY 10009     1996

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Love Suicide At Schofield Barracks, The

Love Suicide At Schofield Barracks, The
an army general and his wife have committed a ritual double suicide during a Halloween party in the officers' club at Schofield Barracks, and now an official court of inquiry has been convened to investigate their shocking, and apparently senseless act. Those present at the affair and others who knew the general and his wife well are called to testify and, as tension mounts, a remarkable and compassionate portrait of the dead couple emerges-and, with it, a shattering awareness of the significance of their deed. each character, in his testimony, contributes yet another insight, another piece of the mosaic, until the suicide is finally revealed and understood as an act of expiatory self-sacrifice, and a profound statement about war and killing and the responsibility of the individual. In the final essence, the play becomes not only an intense and moving emotional experience and a powerful evocation of the troubled conscience of contemporary America but also a stirring call to all of good will to reawaken their sense of responsibility for the moral and political actions of their country.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Anta Theatre, New York     09 Feb 1972

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1972   

Music:
-

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Genre:
one act play

Parts:
Male:  15            Female:  5            Other:  of the 15 men, several are bits

Further Reference:
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Bibliographies/VN_drama_bib.php

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Masterbuilder Johnson

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
ensemble Studio theatre presents Project 35, A festival celebrating their 35th Anniversary season. It consists of concert readings of 35 new plays in 35 days by 35 e.S.T. members And guest Artists

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mock Trial

Synopsis:
a patriotic American naned John adams Jones is being tried for treason in "Mock Trial," . the scene is a law school Moot Courtwhich simulates the People's Court of Montana. Its participants arelaw students in their late twenties and the case mixes a famous trial of the past with a not-too-imaginary one of the future. Its outcome becanes a chilling allegory of the body politic when the truth of its defendant is revealed.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theater for the New City
155 First aVenue, New York, NY 10009     16 Jan 1988

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mountain Memory

Synopsis:
the play follows the lives of a family of settlers in the appalachian Mountains. Father has found a plot of land which pleases him greatly, despite the fact that it is on a mountain slope and not in the more fertile farming land of the valley. Mother complains, but is devoted to her husband. Daughter is willing to wait and see what comes. as the family sets up their new home, a neighbor, Brother 1, enters. He is a hard working, ever struggling to get ahead man, unlike Brother 2, who likes to take it easy. a Boy lives nearby and tries to woo Daughter, who comes to love him, yet thinks he is too wild and needs to mature. She will wait, but Boy must grow up. Brother 1 comes back several times with new business proposals each time. First to buy Father's timber, then to buy the mineral rights. Father continues to refuse all offers, but Brother 2 comes in happily each time to report on what a great deal he has gotten from selling portions of his farm to Brother 1. In reality, however, Brother 2 is being driven of his land and is headed for disaster. Boy is slowly maturing. He has fought in the Civil War and seen a great deal of human nature, and Daughter is warming to him. Finally Brother 1 comes back looking to buy the land itself. He is part of a corporation now that is looking to build a mountain resort, and they want to buy the land, or, he threatens, they will take Father to court with a trumped-up claim of having an earlier deed to the land. Father is caught. He does not want to give up the land but is afraid of losing everything to this corporation. the family turns to the audience for help. the play ends with the actors introducing themselves to the audience and saying that they can do nothing to help this family. "Who will help?" they ask.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1997   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  flexible

Further Reference:
-

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Old Man Joseph And His Family

Synopsis:
Comprised of a series of vignettes, bridged by music and deft changes of scene, the play offers a fresh and colorful interpretation of biblical events and figures. as the action begins we meet the aged Joseph, a long-time widower, who, being unmarried, is forced by law to take the young Mary as his bride. all things considered he is bemused and bewildered when she becomes pregnant, although he agrees to accept the child, Jesus, as his son. as for the miracles which begin to occur from infancy on, Joseph is quizzical about these too, and when Jesus grows into a rebellious and confused teenager Joseph's annoyance at the boy's "tricks" deepens. as the various episodes are played out, however, a moving family Drama emerges, and the touching humanity of both the old man and the young boy are made real in a way which only the living theatre, and the "Bible of the Folk," could capture and set forth.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Westside Theatre (Upstairs), Off Broadway, NY     1978

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1978   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

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Oscar Over Here

Synopsis:
Four short plays combine to celebrate the wit and characters of Oscar Wilde by examining the life of the man behind the writing desk. From Wilde's travels on an American speaking tour, to his infamous whirlwind trial, to his final days on his deathbed, Oscar Over Here mixes tragedy with humor as Wilde navigates a world of sexual politics and struggles to find peace and faith within his work.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theater for the New City
155 First aVenue, New York, NY 10009     1995

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama. - - Gay, theme/character full length

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  5 either (5-27 actors possible: 2-13 females, 3-14 males)

Further Reference:
-

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Pageant

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
written with others, music And lyrics by Michael Rice

1st Produced:
Little Rock, Arkansas     1988

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Pops

Synopsis:
Unified by their shared theme of the myriad aspects of love, the plays are also related by their "musical" titles, which further underscore the author's intention of creating a "pops program" of short and virtuosic pieces. the first play, CaN CaN, is a poignant and telling fugue of overlapping soliloquies in which an ex-GI recalls his brief love affair with a French girl, while a Nashville housewife tells of the strange bond she feels for an older country woman. (1 man, 3 women). CLaIR De LUNe finds an older, retired couple basking in the solitude of Florida, while reminiscing, with some regret, about their chronically hell-raising children. (1 man, 1 woman). In aVe MaRIa, a tenth-century nun, Hrosvitha, the only female playwright of her time, confronts an outraged monk who is shocked by her contention that love is both spiritual and sensual. (2 men, 3 women). GOLD aND SILVeR WaLTZ is a touching monologue about boyhood and first love in which the sole character is the author himself. (1 man). YaNKee DOODLe finds a tipsy Jesse Grant, son of President Grant, at Windsor Castle and faced with a humbling slight from Queen Victoria. (2 man, 1 woman). SONGS OF LOVe is a warmly comic study of two doughty nursing home residents who decide to marry despite the explosive reactions of their children. (3 men, 3 women).

Notes:
includes Can Can, Claire de Lune, Ave Maria, Gold And Silver Waltz, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Songs of Love

1st Produced:
New York     1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1987   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Six Related Short Plays

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Precious Memories

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Anton Chekhov; Aka Unchanging Love

1st Produced:
New York     1988

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1991   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sand Mountain

Synopsis:
the first component play, SaND MOUNTaIN MaTCHMaKING, deals with an attractive young widow, Rebecca, who is wooed by a succession of thoroughly objectionable suitors: the first a conceited stud who is sure that she is physically attracted to him; the second a coarse old farmer who is looking for a compliant slave and who has already buried two wives; and the third a bible-spouting bore whose last wife deserted him. In desperation Rebecca seeks the counsel of Lottie, a wise old hill woman, who tells her that all is not lost; she can find the right man by posing a simple (if suggestive) question to those who come to court her. This Rebecca does, and her reward, happily enough, is Sam Bean-a strapping young widower with a mind of his own who gives Rebecca as good as he gets and is more than a match for her and the memory of her late husband. (4 men, 2 women, 1 boy). In the second portion of the program, WHY the LORD COMe TO SaND MOUNTaIN, the Lord and Saint Peter eschew the hospitality of a wealthy lowland farmer and, instead, pay an unexpected call on an impoverished mountain couple, who live in blissful ignorance with their fourteen illegitimate children. While the Lord and Saint Peter may not approve of the family's primitive life style, they are warmed by their lively company (and their jug of brandy) and begin to swap the sort of tall tales with which hill people seek to outdo each other, culminating in an hilarious retelling of the story of Joseph and Mary which puts the Lord in such an expansive mood that he is moved to bestow a miracle on his awe-struck hosts-with delightfully humorous results. (4 men, 2 women, 1 boy). While designed to be produced together as a single bill, the plays may be presented separately with equal effectiveness.

Notes:
includes Sand Mountain Matchmaking And Why the Lord Come to Sand Mountain

1st Produced:
New York     1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1985   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Two Interrelated Short Plays

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sand Mountain Matchmaking

Synopsis:
deals with an attractive young widow, Rebecca, who is wooed by a succession of thoroughly objectionable suitors: the first a conceited stud who is sure that she is physically attracted to him; the second a coarse old farmer who is looking for a compliant slave and who has already buried two wives; and the third a bible-spouting bore whose last wife deserted him. In desperation Rebecca seeks the counsel of Lottie, a wise old hill woman, who tells her that all is not lost; she can find the right man by posing a simple (if suggestive) question to those who come to court her. This Rebecca does, and her reward, happily enough, is Sam Bean-a strapping young widower with a mind of his own who gives Rebecca as good as he gets and is more than a match for her and the memory of her late husband.

Notes:
Part of Sand Mountain

1st Produced:
New York     1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1985   

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:
Short Play One act

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  1b

Further Reference:
-

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Seasons, The, Man's Estate

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1974

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Shotgun

Synopsis:
Whose tongue was peace, while his heart was colored with blood? a passage from the Last of the Mohicans begins one man's retreat to the wilderness of his lost boyhood. In a lakeside cottage, this habitually compliant son and husband brings together his long divorced parents, his wife and his best friend to face the disintegration of his marriage. Civility and enlightenment inevitably fall prey to the ferocity of his unexamined resentment. In the hands of Romulus Linney, a simple story of betrayal becomes a masterly parable of spiritual damage

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Humana Festival 1994: the Complete Plays, ed Marisa Smith, Smith & Kraus, 1994   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Two acts Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

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Songs Of Love

Synopsis:
a warmly comic study of two doughty nursing home residents who decide to marry despite the explosive reactions of their children.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sorrows Of Frederick, The

Sorrows Of Frederick, The
Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, aged 73, rises in his tent on the morning of a battle. He is bent, snarling, formidable and sardonically funny. He addresses his army and rouses it to savage fury, then, receiving a message, commands its retreat. He will leave the battlefield to go home and bury his dog. To his General's astonishment, he does, and riding home, we go back with him through his life. We see Frederick the artistic young prince, locked in unequal combat with a brutal, adored father. We see him a young king, forsaking music and poetry and philosophy for naked aggression. We see him a mature monarch, exchanging friendship and fury with Voltaire, and demolishing the Holy Roman empire with dazzling military genius. Finally, his journey ends. Over the body of a pet greyhound, he reveals how completely he has been the victim of his life and what the Village Voice called "the inescapable legacies of fathers." the play is a tour de force for actors, while its performance-its contrapuntal tragedy and humor-relates it to the profoundest sympathies of an enthralled audience.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, Ca     1966

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Harcourt Brace, New York, 1977   

Music:
-

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Genre:
full length Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  13            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Southern Comfort

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
H B Playwrights Foundation, NYC    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Spain

Synopsis:
Part I, TORQUeMaDa, takes place in 1490, in the middle of questioning by the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, archbishop Tomas de Torquemada, and his two assistants, Brother Puyal and Bishop acero. This day, the most ordinary of "crimes" -angrily calling out the names of devils when catching her husband in an affair-brings in Francisca Mendez and her husband, Fosco, to be questioned, tortured and questioned again. Despite his frailty, the Grand Inquisitor probes into the couples' life, finding grander infidelities in the past involving a young monk who turns out to be Brother Puyal. at the time of Puyal's indiscretion with Francisca, the abbot in the monastery where Puyal lived was escobedo de la aixa, now deceased. the Grand Inquisitor reminds those gathered of his power, and at the end we learn the very gruesome fates of each of the characters, including abbot escobedo de la aixa, whose body was dug up and dismembered. Part II, aNNa ReY, takes place in 1992, in the office of psychiatrist Dr. anna Rey who is writing a book on the Spanish treatment of the insane in a monastery at the end of the fifteenth century. the monastery was run by abbot escobedo de le aixa, whose philosophy was to unchain the insane and treat them warmly. alone in his theory, the monks working with him admired him and saw results in the madmen sent there. Dr. Rey does not see patients anymore, believing herself unfit to heal, and considers suicide as a way out of her own state of depression, when she is suddenly visited by Bradley Smith, a mental patient from a nearby hospital, who implores her help. Dr. Rey employs psychiatric techniques with Bradley, and though wanting him to leave, is intrigued by his lies, his life and his obvious pain. When Bradley reveals a knife he was going to use on himself, Dr. Rey shows him a bigger one and invites him to do away with her too. In the end, Dr. Rey convinces Bradley to go to a hospital and promises to be the Doctor he sees every day. Both have painfully turned back to life and to the struggle to continue. Part III, eSCOBeDO De La aIXa, takes us to 1480, ten years before the play began, in the garden of the abbey of Ripal, where abbot escobedo de la aixa walks with a madman who thinks he is God. the abbot must prove to the madman that he is indeed the abbot, so that the madman will feel comfortable speaking freely. after the madman is satisfied, the two talk over what the madman, as God, should do. they joke, listen to birds and enjoy the garden. the madman says the Inquisition means to stop the abbot's humane treatment of the insane. they talk lucidly of reality-which will kill them both-and the abbot breaks down in despair. the madman tells him that someone somewhere will remember the good abbot who lived in Spain, loving madmen. the madman will wait for the abbot in heaven.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theater for the New City
155 First aVenue, New York, NY 10009     1993

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1994   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Stars

Synopsis:
at a soiree in Manhattan, on a beautiful penthouse terrace, two strangers strike up a conversation. Inspired by the summer stars, they confide shocking truths--or delectable lies, take your pick. either way, their road to love is paved with strange intentions

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Humana Festival 1997: the Complete Plays, ed Michael Bigelow Dixon & Liz engleman, Smith & Kraus, 1997
in Ten Minute Plays From Actors Theatre Of Louisville, Vol 4, Samuel French NY   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Strindberg: Miss Julie And the Ghost Sonata

Synopsis:
Narrated by and starring Strindberg himself, these adaptations of the prolific playwright's Miss Julie and the Ghost Sonata take on new life as they are updated and relocated to Natchez, Mississippi and Savannah, Georgia. Whether exploring the tragic and twisted relationship between a young aristocrat and her servant or examining the deeply-rooted shame of a small community, these two plays reveal the brutal impulses of the human condition and the haunting truths of human behavior.

Notes:
Original Playwright - August Strindberg

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc   

Music:
-

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Tennessee

Synopsis:
Set in the mountains of North Carolina in 1870, the play deals with a frontier family; father, mother and son, who work long hours to wrest a living from the small farm they have bought from the county. Unexpectedly an old woman appears, perhaps deranged, and carrying a cowbell and a broken bit of mirror. they offer her food and drink, and she talks of her youth-which was apparently spent on the very farm which is now theirs. Years before, to ward off suitors, the woman had declared that she would only marry a man who could take her to Tennessee, but one man accepted her dare, selling off good bottom land to do so. Now in her later years, she realizes that the new farm which they carved from the wilderness was not in Tennessee at all, but only seven miles distant over the hills. Mingling scenes from past and present, the play is rich both in atmosphere and real emotion as it unfolds its tale of lives lived sometimes perilously but always to the full-and with the indomitable spirit which characterized those who laid the foundations of a great nation.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Ensemble Studio Theatre, NY     1979

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Best Short Plays', 1980, Chilton Press, Chilton Way, Radnor, Pa, 1980   

Music:
-

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Three Poets

Synopsis:
Three women who were astonishing poets are the subjects of this trio of linked short plays. Ono no Komachi (Japan, 9th century), Hrosvitha (Gandersheim, Saxony, 10th century), and anna akhmatova (USSR, 20th century) fight for their lives and their work. KOMaCHI duels with the Prince Shoso, making her verses out of their conflict, until she meets a brutal end. HROSVITHa has her play acted before Mother Superior and a censoring monk, who have a furious battle over her work and leave her to decide how dedicated a poet she is. aKHMaTOVa is summoned to the Kremlin upon the death of Stalin and must resist the ruthless Commissar's search for the words of her masterpiece, which has been committed to her memory and to the memories of her trusted friends.

Notes:
includes Komachi, Hrosvitha, Akhmatova

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1990   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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True Crimes

Synopsis:
Logan Novel is a lazy man, given to reading aloud from various "True Crime" magazines which fascinate him. Fortunately for him, he is also very attractive to women and has mistresses who support him. Mary Sparks clings to Logan the most, but she is married to a rich older man, Soony Sparks. Vangey, Logan's mother, comes up with a plan to set Logan working for Soony, so that Logan and Mary can continue their affair, gain Soony's trust, and after his imminent death, move onto the farm. With a little help from natural herbs, Soony dies and Mary and Logan marry. everything is fine until Nancy, Soony's daughter from his first marriage, seduces Logan and becomes pregnant. To keep Nancy quiet, Mary and Vangey scheme to marry her off to the son of a good family and send the bastard child to an orphanage. But after the baby is born, Mary, Vangey and ab, Logan's father, force Logan to kill the child. Before the marriage comes off, however, Sawdust, the seemingly slow-witted handyman, reveals himself to be a very sly con artist, and blackmails them into giving him nearly all the cash they have in order to buy his silence about the killing. Logan, consumed with guilt over what he has done, seems ready to tell the world of the crimes committed until Vangey reminds him of his complicity. Realizing things will fall into place if he says nothing, in the last moment of the play, as the neighboring family approaches to discuss the wedding, Logan silences his confessional urges and waves to them in welcome.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theater for the New City
155 First aVenue, New York, NY 10009     1996

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1996   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Two Whores

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Unchanging Love

Synopsis:
Set in 1921, the Pitman family of Manard, North Carolina is led by the seventy-five-year-old Benjamin Pitman, a successful owner of the town's general store. He has recently brought about the marriage of one son, avery, to a young woman, Leena, and has himself married a younger woman, Barbara. He means to get his other son, Shelby, married too, as insurance for the future. Shelby chooses Judy Musgrove, the daughter of a poor farming family, who also sing and dance for hire. Judy and Shelby have a baby, ensuring the continuance of the family line, but Shelby's learned apathy and greed commence a series of misdeeds which bring shame to the Pitman family. as time goes on, the whole family is slowly drawn under the influence of the increasingly dominating Leena Pitman, whose financial schemes clash with the values of some of the others, until a final catastrophe occurs. the play is filled with appalachian music, sung a cappella by Judy and her mother and father.

Notes:
from the story In the Hollow by Anton Chekhov. Aka Precious Memories

1st Produced:
New York     1991

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1991   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Unwritten Song, The

Synopsis:
Set against a primitive landscape, the Unwritten Song features timeless poetry in tandem with music and dance to tell a tale of love and loss over various generations. This collection of small scenes forms a vision of human life and gives voice to the experience of traditional peoples of the world.

Notes:
from the book by Willard R. Trask

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc   

Music:
-

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Genre:
45 min adaptation

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Why the Lord Come To Sand Mountain

Synopsis:
the Lord and Saint Peter eschew the hospitality of a wealthy lowland farmer and, instead, pay an unexpected call on an impoverished mountain couple, who live in blissful ignorance with their fourteen illegitimate children. While the Lord and Saint Peter may not approve of the family's primitive life style, they are warmed by their lively company (and their jug of brandy) and begin to swap the sort of tall tales with which hill people seek to outdo each other, culminating in an hilarious retelling of the story of Joseph and Mary which puts the Lord in such an expansive mood that he is moved to bestow a miracle on his awe-struck hosts-with delightfully humorous results

Notes:
Part of Sand Mountain

1st Produced:
New York     1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1985   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Short Play One act

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  1b

Further Reference:
-

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Woman Without A Name, A

Synopsis:
the place is a small American town. the time 1900. as the play begins the characters enter and seat themselves in a semi-circle of antique chairs. the last to enter is the Woman, who carries a ledger (her journal) from which she starts to read. It is quickly evident that the journal is not only a record of the Woman's daily life, but also a measure of her intellectual and emotional growth as she copes with the trials and tribulations with which she and her family are beset. as her story unfolds, the various characters involved in each episode leave their chairs and enter the action, while the others watch in silence. the Woman is sorely tried as she loses one daughter to a bungled abortion, another to a brain tumor and a son to TB. But, despite all, she manages to grow in learning and strength of character; to deal with her husband's descent into alcoholism; to forgive the young doctor whose clumsiness caused her daughter's death; and to accept the malevolence of her surviving son, who holds her responsible for the tragedies which the family has suffered. In the end the play is a study in compassion, determination and the indomitability of the human spirit-soaringly depicted through the character of a simple, unschooled woman who, in coming to terms with herself, and her life, was able to achieve a freedom and sense of being that her "betters" would never know.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Denver     1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1986   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wrath

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
in Faustus in hell

1st Produced:
Princeton, New Jersey     1985

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Yancey

Synopsis:
deals with a painfully shy country boy who finds that he can hold his own against a pair of brittle New York actors. exploring ideas of cruelty and personal courage the play becomes, in the words of andrew adler of the Louisville Courier-Journal, "15 minutes of riveting theater."

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York     1988

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "Three Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1989   

Music:
-

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Genre:
Short Play One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Yankee Doodle

Synopsis:
finds a tipsy Jesse Grant, son of President Grant, at Windsor Castle and faced with a humbling slight from Queen Victoria

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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