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John Mattera

JOHN MATTERA

  
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

John Mattera is a member of The Dramatist's Guild and Horror Writers of America. He has been writing for Dramatic Publishing since 1980. His most well known adaptation of Dracula continues to be widely produced in the United States and Canada. His other full-length adaptation with Dramatic is Time After Time, from the novel of the same name. His other plays with Dramatic include the one-acts: An Open and Shut Case, Abra Cadaver (in English and German) and Frankenstein. He is also the Playwright for The Picture of Dori Gray, which won the Shubert Fendrich award. His other works include numerous short stories: Open Season, Thirst, The Girl in the Bikini, Resusci Annie, Turbulence, Maladjusted, Charades, Monkeys Have Been Known to Die, Better Dead than Norm, The Piano Player Has no Fingers, Bitch, Divine Intervention and Fortune Cookies. Mr. Mattera has worked with emotionally disturbed adolescents for most of his adult life and is currently a principal with the State of Connecticut. His job is to ensure that children without parents receive an appropriate education. He is currently in the midst of writing a novel.

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

         Abra Cadaver         Dracula         Frankenstein         Open and Shut Case, An         Picture of Dori Gray, The         Time After Time

Abra Cadaver

Synopsis:
This gem of a murder mystery has been constructed with consummate playwriting skill. With more twists than a mountain road, your audience will gasp as each new turn is revealed. As the play starts, Jack and his girlfriend Christine plot to kill Marie, Jack's wife. Then we find that Christine has informed Marie of the plot and they are working together to do in the unsuspecting Jack. However, Jack is working on another schemeand so is Marie! Just as you think you've got it all worked out, there's an even more astonishing switch.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
Dramatic Publishing   978-0871292025

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:
Mystery 30 min

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dracula

Synopsis:
Practical and playable, this stage adaptation is closely based on the original, presenting the frightening story that made this a horror classic. The mysterious Count Dracula has gone to England where he is living on a large estate next to an insane asylum run by the incredibly naive Dr. Seward. The others that make up the cast of this thriller include Professor Van Helsing who must convince Dr. Seward that Count Dracula is a vampire; Renfield, a fly-eating lunatic who serves the Count (once too often); beautiful Lucy Westenra, who has an uncanny resemblance to a girl Count Dracula loved over a hundred years ago; Charles, the Westenra family butler whose poor eyesight saves him from being hypnotized; as well as three female vampires! The plot develops with all the excitement of the original and then, in the end, the audience is given the jolt of a startling double twist. The exciting stage effects are fully explained and easy to stage. Multiple simple sets.

Notes:
Based on the book by Bram Stoker

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatic Publishing   978-0871293080

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:
thriller adaptation

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Frankenstein

Synopsis:
Murder, Mayhem and the Macabre are the main ingredients of this easy-to-stage new version. Unlike other versions of the famous thriller, this one catches the essence of Mary Shelley's classic and builds to a climax with an unexpected twist. On the surface, the ill-fated creature is to blame for the chain of grisly deaths, while Victor Frankenstein and Henry Clerval are old, dear friends. But underneath...ah, that's where the mystery lies. Victor Frankenstein is a man so deeply entangled with his scientific discoveries that he is blind to the manipulations of his best friend. Henry Clerval is a madman! Two int. sets.

Notes:
written by John Mattera and Stephen Barrows.

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatic Publishing   978-1583422145

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:
thriller

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  1 creaturee

Further Reference:
-

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Open and Shut Case, An

Synopsis:
Young, handsome Harold is married to elderly, wheelchair-ridden Elizabeth because of that age-old attraction?money. So naturally, Harold plans to murder her and inherit all that glorious money. He convinces Elizabeth that he can no longer tend to the big house by himself, and she reluctantly agrees to let him hire the people he claims are so urgently needed: a nurse/companion, to tend to Elizabeth's needs; Lisa LaRouche, a housekeeper who says she does windows and whatever else needs to be done; Inga Slayton, a cook with a flair for preparing Scandinavian dishes; and Zachary Flood, an unkempt, uncouth groundskeeper. Who-done-it? Your audience will be shocked when they finally find out the answer. One int. set

Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatic Publishing   978-1583421769

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:
mystery

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Picture of Dori Gray, The

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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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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Time After Time

Synopsis:
Amy, attractive, lonely and a little fed up with her dead-end job as a clerk in a San Francisco bank where men doing the same work are much better paid, is having an unusual day. An oddly dressed Englishman comes up to her desk, greatly concerned about an earlier visitor whom he is evidently following. What Amy doesn't realize yet is that both of these men have just left the fog-filled London streets of 1893 to come to these fume-filled streets of present-day San Francisco. Jack the Ripper has used H.G. Wells' Time Machine to disappear into the future, and H.G. decides it's his responsibility to bring him back to London and justice. Befriended by Amy, H.G. begins to close in on Jack, which puts H.G. and Amy into some scenes that will have your audience gasping. H.G. is finally successful in bringing Jack the Ripper to a strange justice and in persuading Amy that she should come back to old London and marry him. Could this possibly be true? We can recite the historical fact. H.G. Wells' wife was named Amy, and back in London she began a major battle for women's rights! Three simple sets.

Notes:
Based on the book by Karl Alexander

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
Dramatic Publishing   978-0871294230

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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