The Playwrights Database
BRUCE J ROBINSON
Nationality: USA
email: n/a Website: Click here
Literary Agent: The Susan Gurman Agency, LLC
BRUCE J. ROBINSON writes mainly for theatre and television. BYRD'S BOY was presented off-Broadway at Primary Stages (produced by Jeff Ash and co-produced by Casey Childs and Primary Stages). Under the direction of Arthur Masella, it starred David McCallum and Myra Lucretia Taylor. It also won a major grant from the Pilgrim Project and was a finalist in the Rosenthal New Play Contest at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. The Detroit Repertory Theatre production ofBYRD'S BOY was nominated as "Best Play" by Detroit Free Press's 20th Annual Award for Theatre Excellence. In the spring of 2008, his ANOTHER VERMEER had simultaneous productions by The Abingdon Theatre (NYC) and Theatre 40 (LA). The New York version stars Austin Pendleton and is directed by Kelly Morgan. Mr. Pendleton reprises the role he played in a workshop production at HB Playwrights. A finalist for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, the play was instrumental in Bruce's winning the Berrilla Kerr Playwrights Award. SHOOTING HOOPS was presented by the Westbeth Theatre Center's "New Playwright's Series." In Los Angeles, Mel Damski directed a reading of the play, featuring Richard Masur. BEYOND THE SEA (Bruce's book and lyrics) was developed for Tavel-Davis Productions under the direction of Jack Hofsiss. Bruce wrote the book for the revue THE BROADWAY KIDS SING BROADWAY. The show ran for two years at the John Houseman Theatre. His short play 21st CENTURY SECURITY was recently a featured production of the Deland Theatre Festival at the Sands Theatre. Upcoming is a staged reading by Ensemble Studio Theatre of Bruce's (SACCO-VANZETTI) VINCE, AL, & TEDDY. Among other theatres that have done productions of Bruce's plays are the Douglas Fairbanks (NYC), the Denver Center Theatre Company, and the Norris Theatre. Theatres that have done readings (staged and otherwise) of his work include New York Theatre Workshop, MCC, and the Theatricum Botanicum. Among the TV shows on which he's worked are Gary Goldberg's BROOKLYN BRIDGE and Glenn Caron's SHOWROOM. Specials include ALL THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS for PBS and Bell South. He's also written for the daytime series SEARCH FOR TOMORROW and worked as a story consultant for Stiletto Productions. Currently, his made-for TV film ARSON.com is under option to AFT Productions. In what seems another life, Bruce was a performer. He was seen in such otherwise reputable places as the Manhattan Theatre Company, Goodspeed, and the Orpheum. He was graduated from Franklin & Marshall College. Happily a New Yorker, he's even happier to be married to actress/singer/voice-over artist Donna Robinson.
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below is a list of Bruce J Robinson's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
(Sacco-Vanzetti) Vince, Al & Teddy 21st Century Security American Wake Another Vermeer Beyond the Sea Byrd's Boy Drowning Goldberg Nose Variations, The Innocence MIA Rare Indulgence Sixth Man, The Speed-The-Chow Urban Abo(Sacco-Vanzetti) Vince, Al & Teddy
Synopsis:
Set circa 1925, (SACCO-VANZETTI) VINCE, AL & TEDDY revolves around Al and Teddy Capuzzi and their father, Vince -- unassimilated and dedicated to fellow Italian-American anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti. Falsely accused of murder, they endured a seven-year ordeal that polarized the world. In his late teens, Teddy is trying to fashion a life that meets his own needs -- not those of his paradoxically authoritarian, anarchist father. Al, four years Teddy's junior, is a brilliant and talented young man who battles to contain his father and brother's combustible relationship. Al knows that his brother doesn't share his father's dream that Teddy will go to college and continue the family tradition of political activism. What Al doesn't know, however, is that Teddy blames Vince for the death of the boys' mother. (SACCO-VANZETTI) VINCE, AL & TEDDY explores painfully relevant themes. As in our time, the shadow of war and political disquiet made fear the atmosphere and personal liberty a luxury. Also as in our time, anyone too different or foreign caused apprehension. With the Sacco-Vanzetti trial as a backdrop and with their letters as a framing device, the play examines "otherness" in America through the immigrant experience. This five-actor, two-act play uses the trial of Sacco-Vanzetti as a touchstone and an emblem. It witnesses a young man changing against a dynamic background -- of course, all executed in a highly theatrical way.
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Readings by Ensemble Studio Theatre
Apr 2008
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Top of Page21st Century Security
Synopsis:
21st Century Security is the name of both this dark, one-act comedy and the company whose representative's sales-visit to Jasmine and Greg Deever's suburban home is the play's central event. But these are no ordinary times; 21st Century Security is no ordinary security company; and Cliff Oscar, no ordinary salesman. In the course of Cliff's zealous pitch, the Deevers learn just how dear the price of security can be. Featured production of the Deland Theatre Festival (2008).
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Genre:
short play
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageAmerican Wake
Synopsis:
the effect of the death of General Ulysses S Grant on General William Tecumseh - his best friend, Samuel Clemes - his biographer and Arthur Dubois - a black waiter
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Genre:
One act Drama
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageAnother Vermeer
Synopsis:
Does art help one deal with the void at the center of life, or does it cause it? That's the question at the core of this fact-based Drama, as accomplished Dutch painter Hans Van Meegeren must prove he forged the Vermeer he sold to Goering during World War II or face the death penalty for treason
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1st Produced:
Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, NY
2008
Organisations:
Abingdon Theatre Company
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageBeyond the Sea
Synopsis:
With the death of his Father he becomes Lord Fauntleroy and future Earl Dorincourt. His grandFather the present Earl wants to get control of the boy away from his American mother
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Based on "Little Lord Fauntleroy" by Frances Hodgson Burnett
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Genre:
Musical
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageByrd's Boy
Synopsis:
A black female night watchman and a white male vagrant in a waterside warehouse
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Genre:
Drama
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageDrowning
Synopsis:
One winter night in a New York suburb; 9 year-old Lynda, 11 year-old Melanie, and their mom (Kathy Zimanski) have just switched-off the video of The Little Mermaid in preparation of sleep. Their father's not yet home -- something not atypical. Melanie asks her mother which sister she'd save if she could only save one and they were Drowning (the name of this one-set, three-actress play). Of course, Kathy evades this question. Later; when Kathy tells the girls that their father won't be home that night, she learns just how grown-up and how uncomfortably wise they've become. And in this human comedy, the girls learn that nobody is drowning.
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Genre:
short play
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageGoldberg Nose Variations, The
Synopsis:
In The Goldberg Nose Variations, how to treat the Goldberg family (a family of four described as having the planet's greatest single concentration of nose meat) threatens the cosmetic surgery partnership of Dr. J. Whitney Christian and Dr. Carla Capozzi. As they grapple with issues of aesthetics, conformity, ethnic identity, anti-semitism, and sexism; the play explodes in dark comedy. And we discover that neither doctor is exactly who he/she seems.
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Genre:
short play
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageInnocence
Synopsis:
Wynn Pohlman becomes obsessed with one of the actors in a television series and his obsession leads to her murder. Put on trial things are further complicated when the prosecutor and defence lawyer fall in love
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Genre:
Drama
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageMIA
Synopsis:
Insurance salesman Frank Schuler has been helping an organisation that traces soldiers missing in action. He started working for them when his eldest son went missing during Operation Desert Shield. His youngest son, Randy, announces he wants to join up
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Genre:
Drama
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageRare Indulgence
Synopsis:
Doctor Marcus Carnoff and his wife Jenny have dedicated their lives in eating unusual things. they have written a book about their experiences. Now it is time to write the last chapter and for this they are to eat a small song bird called ortolans - as eaten in the musical "Gigi" - but their grand daughter does not approve. She tells her vegan teacher. the teacher confronts the couple - but they go ahead and eat the birds. then they realise they have never eaten human flesh and the teacher is in their clutches. . ..
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Genre:
Black comedy
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageSixth Man, The
Synopsis:
A comedy/drama driven by the dynamism and theatricality of on-stage basketball games, THE SIXTH MAN focuses on a phenomenon that most of us have experienced or will: how the end of middle age brings with it the limitation of possibilities. Much like a basketball team's sixth man waiting on the bench, the attractive characters in THE SIXTH MAN all feel on the edge of something big in which they have little or no control. The play centers around 52 year-old Brian Gordon. It revolves around two changes in his life. First: long happily married, Brian and his wife (Cammy) are sending their severely physically and mentally challenged son to live in an assisted adult living facility. Cammy especially has trouble trying to adjust to a life without her primary job -- caring for her son, Ian. Second: Brian's long-time weekend game of 2-on-2 basketball is replacing one of its players. The three remaining players include his best friend of 30 years -- the flamboyantly charming, complex, and corpulent Eric Gottman. That new player is a beautiful, younger African- American woman (M. L.). Quickly, Brian finds himself inevitably drawn to her, and Gottman finds himself both enamored and jealous of her. With their dynamic weekly game as a backdrop, Brian, Gottman, and M.L. struggle to make some difficult choices. The turmoil that this creates, however, leads to a conflict that helps each come to grips with what's truly vital. The fifth character we meet is Glen "The Burner" Turner. Also around 50, the charismatic African-American Turner is late in two ways. He rarely arrives on time to the games; and at the late age of 50, he and his wife are having a baby. The sixth character is Ian Gordon. In his life, the autistic 19 year-old young man can barely speak at all. In the play, however, he's glib and brilliant. The Ian Gordon we meet is actually a fantasy. That is, he's the nearly perfect child about whom Brian and Cammy Gordon dreamed. This play is viscerally compelling in that it's full of action. It's emotionally engaging in that it follows character changes about which the audience will care. Finally, it's intellectually fascinating in that it explores questions and issues about which many of us have to cope. Above all, THE SIXTH MAN is a highly theatrical blend of humor and drama that tells a common human story in an uncommon way.
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Readings by MCC and Westbeth Theatre Center's "New American Playwrights Series." It had an LA reading sponsored by Mel Damski (starring Richard Masur).
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Genre:
comedy drama
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageSpeed-The-Chow
Synopsis:
Speed-The-Chow (Or Power Lunch) is one-act comedy for three actors that in a Mamet-esque way tells a Mamet-esque story about an agent and producer (Glen Gary and Glenn Ross) who meet in Hollywood's hottest bistro in pursuit of that Mamet-esque objective: mammon. Over lunch, their battle for the better end of a deal quickly escalates into something more primal: which will be the Alpha Male. It's a wildly theatrical ride that skewers both the movie industry and (yes) Mamet.
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Genre:
short play
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Top of PageUrban Abo
Synopsis:
A large number of people want to murder Fred Wooford
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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