The Playwrights Database
MURRAY SCHISGAL
(1926 - 2000)
Nationality:
USA
email:
n/a
Website:
n/a
Literary Agent:
represented by
Zach Schisgal
Native New Yorker, the son of Jewish-born immigrants, Schisgal won his first recognition for the 1963 off-Broadway double-bill The Typists and The Tiger, which won him the Drama Desk Award. His 1965 Broadway debut, Luv, earned him Tony Award nominations for Best Play and Best Author of a Play. Other credits includeJimmy Shine, 74 Georgia Avenue, and All Over Town, which garnered him a Drama Desk nomination. Schisgal also penned The Love Song of Barney Kempinski, the first presentation of ABC Stage 67, and with Larry Gelbart co-wrote the screenplay for Tootsie, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA, and for which he won awards from the Writers Guild of America, New York Film Critics Circle,National Society of Film Critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Schisgal
Research: Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2021)
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below is a list of Murray Schisgal's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
74 Georgia Avenue
All Over Town
American Millionaire, An
Angel Wings
Artist And the Model, The
Artist And the Model/2, The
Basement, The
Chinese, The
Circus Life
Closet Madness
Consequence Of Goosing, The
Cowboy, The Indian And the Fervent Feminist, The
Death Of Bacon And Eggs
Dr Fish
Ducks And Lovers
Existence
Extensions
Fifty Years Ago
Flatulist, The
Fragments
How We Reached An Impasse On Nuclear Energy
Japanese Foreign Trade Minister, The
Jealousy
Jimmy Shine
Knit One, Purl Two
Little Johnny
Luv
Man Dangling
Man Who Couldn't Stop Crying
Memorial Day
Naked Old Man
Need For Brussels Sprouts, The
Need For Less Expertise, A
New Yorkers, The
Oatmeal And Kisses
Occasion For Celebration
Old Jew, The
Old Wine in a New Bottle
Play Time
Popkins
Pushcart Peddlers, The
Queenie
Rabbi and the Toyota Dealer, The
Reverberations
Road Show
Schneider
Schrecks: the Typists, The Postman, A Simple Kind Of Love
Sexaholics
Shpiel! Shpiel! Shpiel!
Simple Kind of Love Story
Slouching Towards the Millenium
Songs Of War, The
Summer Romance
There Are No Sacher Tortes In Our Society!
Tiger, The
Twice Around the Park
Typists, The
Walter
Way of Life, A
What About Luv?
Windows
74 Georgia Avenue
Synopsis:
deeply affecting examination of the bizarre developments which follow when a successful (but deeply unhappy) white businessman, Marty, decides to spend a few days in his boyhood home, in what has now become a black neighborhood. He encounters Joseph, the son of the now deceased black man who was once the janitor of the once thriving synagogue which Marty attended as a child, and whose recollections of those long ago years parallel his own. And, magically, these years are relived, as Joseph "becomes" the long-dead figures who peopled Marty's boyhood and who, in memory, have drawn him to his journey into the past
Notes:
the UK premiere presented At the New End theatre, London in 2011. Directed by Paul Blinkhorn
1st Produced:
West Bloomfield, Michigan
1992
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1988
Music:
-
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Genre:
One Act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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All Over Town
Synopsis:
Increasingly disenchanted by the myriad disasters in the world around him, Dr. Lionel Morris, an eminent psychiatrist, is on the verge of withdrawing to a life of Buddhist contemplation. However, egged on by his intense daughter and her social worker fiance, he is drawn into dealing with a very special welfare department case: a young man named Louie who has fathered nine children by five different women, all out of wedlock and all now on public assistance. the doctor's plan is to have Louie move into the family's luxurious apartment while he analyzes him, but, as luck would have it, a young black deliveryman, Lewis, strays by and is mistaken for Louie-a misconception with which he readily goes along. When the real Louie shows up Lewis conceals him in a guest room and gives him reams of the doctor's questionnaires to fill out, while he pursues his own scheme of hustling the good doctor into putting up the money for a tap-dancing school in Harlem. Adding to the general confusion are, among others, the doctor's vapid wife, who is carrying on an affair with a military man friend of the family; a lascivious Swedish maid who can't keep her hands off Lewis; a bogus "French" cook and maid; a near-sighted burglar; and the military man's opera-loving wife-all of whom make their individual, and very funny contributions both to the increasing merriment of the play and to the trenchant, underlying observations which liven and illuminate it.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Booth Theatre, New York
1974
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1975
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 12 Female: 6 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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American Millionaire, An
Synopsis:
the hero is the millionaire co-owner of a textile plant who seems to have all that one could wish for - but who finds himself thoroughly miserable. As things have gone from bad to worse his wife (whom he loves) has left him; he is overweight but can't stop eating; his partner has just about given up on him; and, to cap it all, someone is apparently trying to kill him. In an attempt to set matters straight his brilliant law student daughter enlists the aid of her professor (and lover of five years), whereupon the action becomes ever more pell-mell, and even funnier - leading on to a quite unexpected yet characteristically zany resolution.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Circle In The Square, Theatre, New York
1974
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1974
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Angel Wings
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
New York
1994
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Artist And the Model, The
Synopsis:
finds an aging male Artist sketching a young, female nude Model. Her youth and desirability provoke him to reflect on his life and the abyss that lies between age and youth, between desire and fulfillment.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,
Music:
-
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Genre:
One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Artist And the Model/2, The
Synopsis:
brings onstage a female Artist and her young, male nude Model. He is the son of her best friend who gave up the idea of being a painter to raise a family. Who made the wiser choice haunts the Artist as she sketches.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,
Music:
-
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Genre:
One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Basement, The
Synopsis:
serio-comedy study of a man who has estranged himself from his family, and given up all hope for children, career or money, to pursue the "noble" (and rather strange) scientific research which, in sad truth, has yielded only frustration and unhappiness.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
New York
1967
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,
Music:
-
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Genre:
One Act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Chinese, The
Synopsis:
the scene is the Chinese laundry which is also home for the Lee family-father, mother and son, Chester. the older Lees are quite obviously Asian while Chester (who is usually taken for Jewish) is not-but his questions as to the possibility of his "real biological parents" are invariably turned aside by the Lees. Chester asks his fiancee (a nice Jewish girl) to meet his family-without telling her they are Chinese-which results in a series of hilarious misunderstandings. the Lees, indignant at Chester's obvious reluctance to be Chinese, have other plans-in the form of Pu Ping Chow, a sweet little Chinese girl fresh from Hong Kong. In the end the burning question of Chester's identity is answered, but with such wry Asianl inscrutability that his future will most likely be as much a dilEmma as his past.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York
1970
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1974
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy One Act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Circus Life
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
New York
1995
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Closet Madness
Synopsis:
Six male friends all with marriage breakdowns. One decides that from now on gay is best and starts going through his friends to find a partner.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
1984
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Closet Madness and Other Plays published by Samuel French Inc, New York, 1984
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play One Act. - - Gay, theme/character one act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Consequence Of Goosing, The
Synopsis:
wryly humorous study of the sad/funny problems which beset a middle-aged corporate attorney when, in a fit of euphoria, he apparently gooses a shapely young high school girl on his way home from the office. the first question is: "Did he or didn't he?" the other (but equally important) questions are: Will his wife, his law partners, and society in general forgive him if he did? Needless to say, the answers to these questions provide moments of high humor, not to mention some telling insights into human nature.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Cowboy, The Indian And the Fervent Feminist, The
Synopsis:
After being fired from his job as a highly paid advertising executive, our hero seeks refuge in the fantasy that he is a cowboy in the Old West. His wife seeks to bring him back to reality with humorous unforeseen consequences.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
New York
1993
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in Best American Short Plays 1992-1993, Applause theater and Cinema Books, 1993
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Death Of Bacon And Eggs
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Dr Fish
Synopsis:
Anxious to make their sex life more "meaningful," a middle-aged couple consult the eminent Dr. Fish, a sex expert whose doctorate happens to be in American history. the wife and the doctor get along swimmingly once she has overcome her reluctance to say certain forbidden words, but the husband, a down-to-earth type, remains unconvinced. the efforts of the eager young Dr. Fish to overcome the doubts of this worthy lead to some enormously funny moments, but the one who finally wins over the husband is Dr. Fish's slightly dotty grandmother-who keeps bustling in with unwanted advice and steaming bowls of homemade lentil soup. In the end the grandmother, the husband, and a tureen of soup depart together, leaving Dr. Fish and his patient to ponder the deeper mysteries of sexual malaise and its cures.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York
1970
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1974
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Comedy One Act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Ducks And Lovers
Synopsis:
Having moved away from his gypsy heritage to a Phi Beta Kappa key in college and a high salaried job in advertising, Robert Latore now wants to make a complete break-marriage to the boss' daughter and a vice presidency in the firm. But the others in his family are reluctant to let him go, particularly his mother, Yana (who believes that Robert's late Father has returned in the form of a duck); his would-be bride, Tonya Panpanya (who was promised to him when he was eleven); and Queen Mother Lenya (who announces on her deathbed that Robert is the new gypsy king). Inevitably Robert's two worlds collide as his bizarre relatives scheme to retrieve him from the enticements of his Establishment colleagues, but somehow the antic turns and twists of the plot bring all the loose ends together in time for a happy, and wonderfully wacky, ending.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
London
1961
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1972
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 10 Female: 8 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Existence
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Organisations:
34th Marathon of One Act Plays
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
one act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Extensions
Synopsis:
a vaudeville team, waiting to hear from its agent, are subjected to a relentless barrage of supernatural telephone calls that encapsulate all of life's random vicissitudes. Song, dance and comic patter intertwine with the absurdist Dramatization of their isolation and desperate need for each other.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
New York
1994
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in Best American Short Plays 1991-1992, Applause theater and Cinema Books, 1992
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Fifty Years Ago
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in Best American Short Plays, Applause theater and Cinema Books, 1998
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Flatulist, The
Synopsis:
black comedy gem in which Gregory, the son of a once famous comedian, confronts his father's longtime agent, and pleads for a chance to demonstrate the rather bizarre "act" which he has perfected. As the two parry and thrust, the deep-seated antagonism which Gregory feels for his father's exploiter is revealed, and then, in the surprising finale, suitably avenged.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
New York
1980
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in "the Pushcart Peddlers, the Flautist, and Other Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1980
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Fragments
Synopsis:
we see three futile young men, lifelong friends (and enemies), who lash out at each other and alienate the young social worker who visits them in their cluttered room.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
1966
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in "Fragments, Windows and Other Plays", Coward McCann, New York, 1965
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 1 Other: doubling
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
How We Reached An Impasse On Nuclear Energy
Synopsis:
a nuclear energy official, Dennis, returns from a lengthy trip abroad to find that his wife, Rosalind, has grown a beard! While very much a believer in women's liberation, the startled Dennis finds his openmindedness sorely taxed this time-which leads on to some very pertinent, and funny, observations about sexism, role-playing, and the threat of nuclear annihilation.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Japanese Foreign Trade Minister, The
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Cleveland
1992
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Jealousy
Synopsis:
When Jerry Stone comes hone to his luxurious Manhattan apartment for dinner he is in exceptionally high spirits. His business is apparently doing well; his sex life is eminently satisfying; and both he and his wife, Nina, appear to be happier than they have ever been. But then the cracks appear: Nina confesses that she has been carrying on an affair with the elevator man for the past twelve years; and Jerry abruptly confesses that they are on the edge of bankruptcy. the Stones are then visited by Robert Ginsburg, Jerry's oldest friend, whom they haven't seen for many years. Robert, who has developed the power to predict the future, tells Jerry that Demco Petro (a stock Jerry had just sold to raise cash) will open $28 a share higher in the morning-which means that if Jerry had held on a day longer he would have realized a profit of $70,000! Shattered, Jerry and Nina move slowly away from each other, their life in ruins, as thunder and lightning crash ominously in the background
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
New York
1984
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1985
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy One Act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page
Jimmy Shine
Synopsis:
Martin Gottfried, in describing the play says: "the play is about a starving young painter living in a Greenwich Village loft. . .He is immediately established as mildly freaky: beer chilling on top of an ice cube, a mat of hair pasted on his chest. . .the play then moves into a flashback structure, which Schisgal handles with consummate skill, moving back and forth from the present to Brooklyn high school days, a quick trip to San Francisco and a painfully funny attempt at going straight working in a fish store. . .Shine is super-buddies with a school classmate, as boys are prone to be super-buddies in high school. A born follower, he is talked into skipping college by his pal, the idea being to become Village painters. Though he has neither an interest in nor a talent for painting, his friend-the ultimate phoney-convinces him that it is possible. So he goes off to paint while the buddy decides to go to college. As it turns out, need I say, the buddy never does become a painter. He goes into his father's real estate business and marries the girl Shine adored. So the artist holes up in his loft, painting terrible pictures and dreaming about the girls he never gets while satisfying himself with a lovely and quite real prostitute. . .When the play ends, he is still nowhere-still painting though now relieved of taking himself seriously-and so at last capable of doing something. For Schisgal (and for me) the only thing that counts is what you do. Properly, the ending is neither sweet-though it may seem that way-nor sour. It is merely right and the play of course, is the story of an artist."
Notes:
aka An Original Jimmy Shine, music by John Sebastian
1st Produced:
Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York
1968
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Athenaeum, New York, 1969
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play with Music
Parts:
Male: 9 Female: 9 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Knit One, Purl Two
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Boston
1963
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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Little Johnny
Synopsis:
we meet two cemetery caretakers, Mary and Tom, who lament the death of their sailor son, Little Johnny, and decide to create a proper chapel for him by looting the graves in their care. the project soon takes them over, reviving the passion which has dwindled between them, and so absorbing them that when Johnny (who has not drowned) suddenly returns they can no longer accept him and must drive him away once and for all.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
1980
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Luv
As described by the New York Times: "When the play begins there is Harry Berlin, looking like a shaved, mustachioed beatnik who has sunk so low that honest beatniks would disown him. He has no future except to jump off the bridge and is about to do so when Milt Manville comes along and intervenes. Milt and Harry turn out to be college classmates. As Harry, in his rags, slowly drops hints of his tale of woe, Milt, a picture of prosperity, is all sympathy. But LUV has ample place in its bosom for more than one miserable fellow. Milt is also full of frustration, for his wife won't release him and let him marry the girl he loves. Presently Milt's wife, Ellen, appears. As she stands under a lamppost, her expression congealed and fur-coated body rigid, it is clear that she, too, is torn by anguish. Now we have a triangle matched in misery. Milt has had an inspiration. Why not bring Ellen and Harry together and thus win the freedom to marry the other girl? But Ellen looks despairing; she needs sprucing up. Milt tidies her dress and slip, combs her hair, rouges her lips, powders her cheeks, delicately touches up her eyelashes and sprays her with perfume. Could a husband be more tender with a wife he hopes to palm off? the events that follow need not be detailed. All you will wish to know is that whatever marriages are made and unmade, Milt, Ellen and Harry end up in sorrow and agony, and the greater their misunderstandings and problems, the more you laugh."
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
London
1963
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Coward McCann, New York, 1965
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Man Dangling
Synopsis:
the first play, the CONSEQUENCES OF GOOSING, is a wryly humorous study of the sad/funny problems which beset a middle-aged corporate attorney when, in a fit of euphoria, he apparently gooses a shapely young high school girl on his way home from the office. the first question is: "Did he or didn't he?" the other (but equally important) questions are: will his wife, his law partners, and society in general forgive him if he did? Needless to say, the answers to these questions provide moments of high humor, not to mention some telling insights into human nature. (1 man, 1 woman.) In the second play, HOW WE REACHED AN IMPASSE ON NUCLEAR ENERGY, a nuclear energy official, Dennis, returns from a lengthy trip abroad to find that his wife, Rosalind, has grown a beard! While very much a believer in women's liberation, the startled Dennis finds his openmindedness sorely taxed this time-which leads on to some very pertinent, and funny, observations about sexism, role-playing, and the threat of nuclear annihilation. (1 man, 1 woman.) the third play, 74 GEORGIA AVENUE, is a deeply affecting examination of the bizarre developments which follow when a successful (but deeply unhappy) white businessman, Marty, decides to spend a few days in his boyhood home, in what has now become a black neighborhood. He encounters Joseph, the son of the now deceased black man who was once the janitor of the once thriving synagogue which Marty attended as a child, and whose recollections of those long ago years parallel his own. And, magically, these years are relived, as Joseph "becomes" the long-dead figures who peopled Marty's boyhood and who, in memory, have drawn him to his journey into the past. (2 men.)
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Apple Corps Theatre, NY
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1988
Music:
-
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Three One Act Plays One Act
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Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Man Who Couldn't Stop Crying
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Contained in: "Best American Short Plays 1997 - 1998" published by Applause Theatre Book Publishers 1999
Music:
-
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Genre:
Short play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Memorial Day
Synopsis:
shows us an unhappy couple bickering over the miseries of their marriage. they vie for the loyalties of the son they have consigned to the backyard well. When they haul him up, his is a final, uniting sadness-a straw dummy dressed in a soldier's uniform.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Baltimore
1968
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in "Fragments, Windows and Other Plays", Coward McCann, New York, 1965
Music:
-
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Genre:
Drama One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
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Naked Old Man
Synopsis:
Follows the ageing playwright and co-writer of the film Tootsie, as he is joined for the evening by three of his closest friends, all of whom happen to be deceased. "I confess to being the eighty-two-year-old man", says Murray in an accompanying note to the play, "and the three guests that come to share the evening with me are, even today, among my closest friends. What inspired me to write the play? A deep, emotional need, the only reason to write anything."
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Stanwix Arts Centre, Carlisle
01 Nov 2014
Organisations:
Northern Outlet Theatre Company
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
one act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: - Other: -
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Need For Brussels Sprouts, The
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Cort Theatre, New York
1982
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Contained in: "Best Short Plays 1982" published by Chilton Books
Music:
-
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Genre:
Short play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Need For Less Expertise, A
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Cort Theatre, New York
1982
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Contained in: "Best Short Plays 1982" published by Chilton Books
Music:
-
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Genre:
Short play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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New Yorkers, The
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
New York
1984
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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-
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Oatmeal And Kisses
Synopsis:
Schneider has become a glutton, and Roxanne, his pretty, and much younger wife, is surprised by the new method of trimming him down: a live-in, over-zealous, yet attractive doctor, Peter Wellington. Though Schneider agreed to this method, he rebels when he can't have all his vices around him while he diets and cleans his system. After lots of door-slamming and double-daring, Schneider becomes the epitome of a make-over to an extreme degree, Dr. Wellington falls hopelessly in love with Roxanne, and Roxanne struggles to get her old life back, though she'll settle for compromise. In the end, Roxanne gets her way as she straightens out both men in a style all her own.
Notes:
revised As Death of Bacon And Eggs
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,
Music:
-
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Genre:
Romantic Comedy Comedy
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Occasion For Celebration
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Watermill, New York, 1997
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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Old Jew, The
Synopsis:
the OLD JEW sits alone in his shabby room, an old man pouring out his anguish to a group of imaginary neighbors. then, removing his wig and makeup, reveals himself to be a young, embittered actor.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
1966
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in "Fragments, Windows and Other Plays", Coward McCann, New York, 1965
Music:
-
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Genre:
Drama One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: - Other: -
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Old Wine in a New Bottle
Synopsis:
Irving Berger, having reached a late-middle-aged crisis, has decided to leave his wife of twenty-two years and move in with Dawn Williams, an attractive young actress with whom he has been having a clandestine affair. Unfortunately Irving's arrival catches Dawn by surprise, and with a few loose ends in her own life which need to be tied up: namely Gary Duncan (who still has a key to her apartment); Scott Pomeranz (a lecherous dentist turned theatrical producer); and Darcy Slotnick (who may be a carrier of herpes). the unexpected appearance of Irving's wife, Marsha, to discuss their divorce procedure (and to pass along some rather unkind observations from their children) only adds to Irv's consternation, and fuels the growing suspicion that he may live to regret his rash decision. When the suddenly liberated Marsha goes off with Gary (who may have contracted herpes from Dawn, who may have picked it up from Darcy) Irv's spirits sink still further, and when he seeks guidance from the aged Rabbi Blaufarb, it is not this ancient worthy who turns up but, instead, his free-living young son and successor (who also had a summer fling with Dawn in the Hamptons). But it is always darkest before the dawn, as we discover when it develops that the herpes scare was a hoax and when Irving and Marsha (after really talking to each other for the first time in years) decide to give their marriage-and its neglected romance-another chance.
Notes:
produced in Flemish
1st Produced:
Antwerp
1985
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1987
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Play Time
Synopsis:
In a neo-naturalistic, comedic style, integrating original songs, verbal banter, dances and vaudeville turns, PLAY TIME explores the lives of five contemporary characters in an age of waning convictions. the story told is that of a stockbroker who, in a Faustian bargain, agrees to divulge "inside information" to an enormously successful Wall Street trader. This leads our stockbroker into a series of adventures that transform his personality and his beliefs.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Denver
1991
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1997
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Popkins
Synopsis:
As the play begins Chuck Popkin, an underpaid assistant editor, is greeted by his wife, Claudia, with the unsettling news that she is leaving him, not for another man but for another woman: Eleanor Lipton in the public relations department. Shortly thereafter his boss, Mr. Barnaby, tells him that his services are no longer required, although he does offer one slim ray of hope if the meek Chuck is man enough to take the risk involved. As it happens, a certain cold-blooded criminal known as "the Cobra," now serving time in the State Prison, is also an exceptional (if primitive) writer, but he refuses to talk with agents or publishers about his work. Chuck's assignment is to get himself put in jail, befriend "the Cobra," and persuade him to let Barnaby's firm publis his book. To everyone's surprise the plan not only works but does so with such success (thanks to Chuck's romantic involvement with "the Cobra") that Chuck ends up taking over the company. Meanwhile Claudia's liaison with Eleanor is not working out quite as happily as expected, so she leaves her to move in with two Costa Rican house painters and then to decamp with Stanley Hitzig, a free spirit who dresses like a Viking and who sets Claudia up in the real estate business in California. When Chuck and Claudia eventually get together again they are, to put it mildly, changed people, but, as the play ends, they decide to give it another go-this time, no doubt, to replace their former mistakes with even more antically outrageous new ones.
Notes:
This was revised in 1990 And the revision was first performed: L'Atelier theatre Paris (France). the book published by Dramatists Play Service is the revised edition - raymondport@hotmail.com
1st Produced:
Dallas
1978
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1984
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 2 Other: doubling
Further Reference:
-
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Pushcart Peddlers, The
Synopsis:
the greenhorn, Shimmel, fresh from the old country, meets the older, wiser Cornelius, and is inveigled into buying his pushcart business. Complications arise when Cornelius returns with another pushcart and proceeds to compete with Shimmel at the same location; and when Shimmel is smitten by Maggie, a flower seller who aspires to become a musical comedy star. Learning quickly to adapt, Shimmel decides to become a theatrical producer-with hilarious albeit satisfying results.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
New York
1979
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in "the Pushcart Peddlers, the Flautist, and Other Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1980
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Queenie
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
Ten Min
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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-
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Rabbi and the Toyota Dealer, The
Synopsis:
the Rabbi has been committing adultery for years. Now he wants to confess and become a Born Again Jew
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Los Angeles
1985
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in "Closet Madness and Other Plays", French, New York, 1984
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Reverberations
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
aka the Basement
1st Produced:
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
1965
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in "Fragments, Windows and Other Plays", Coward McCann, New York, 1965
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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-
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Road Show
Synopsis:
After achieving success in New York as a hard-driving television executive, Andy Broude and his wife, Bianca, are heading westward to Hollywood-where Andy expects to take over the helm of a major motion picture studio. Having decided to "see the country" en route, Andy and Bianca are driving to California (with frequent stops to call Andy's agent, who is still negotiating the fine points of Andy's contract) and as the play begins they are laying over in a small midwestern town. But then fate intervenes when Andy unexpectedly encounters his first love, Evelyn (who is now married to the local druggist), old memories flood back, and Andy unaccountably finds himself planning to give up California (and Bianca) to recapture the idealistic life he had once hoped for with Evelyn, when he was a struggling (but still dedicated) writer and she was a music student. However, complications arise in the form of Evelyn's rather odd but good-hearted husband, Robert; the demands of the children whom both couples have produced; and, of course, the indomitable Bianca. Using cardboard props and sets to emphasize the antic, fast-paced nature of the play, the action moves ahead swiftly as it follows the emotional ups and downs of the characters, and the eventual thudding return to reality when Andy is finally informed that his new job is definite (at a million plus per year), and he and Bianca hop back into their car to depart, with hardly a backward glance as, sadder but wiser, Evelyn and Robert (whose Father has just died) console each other for their respective losses.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1987
Music:
-
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Genre:
Comedy
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Schneider
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
1986
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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-
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Schrecks: the Typists, The Postman, A Simple Kind Of Love
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
aka the Typists, And the Tiger, Aka the Typists And Tiger
1st Produced:
London
1960
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Coward McCann, New York, 1963
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Sexaholics
Synopsis:
finds Tony and Juliet, in Scene 1, driven obsessively, pathologically, and hilariously, by sexual desire. This, prior to the advent of AIDS. Scene 2 occurs after 1981 and reveals how they try to cope, control, humanize their sexual drives. the results mirror our sexual lives in the 1990s.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Shpiel! Shpiel! Shpiel!
Synopsis:
Comprised of the comic plays the Pushcart Peddlers, the Man Who Couldn't Stop Crying, and 74 Georgia Avenue, Shpiel! Shpiel! Shpiel! chronicles the Jewish-American experience across three generations, in a sweeping panorama spanning early 20th century immigration through mid-century assimilation to the present day. As with all Folksbiene productions,Shpiel! Shpiel! Shpiel! is fully accessible to non-Yiddish speakers through the use of simultaneous English and Russian supertitles whenever dialogue is in Yiddish. (Russian supertitles run throughout whether the action is in Yiddish or English.) the following descriptions are provided by the company: "In the Pushcart Peddlers, first performed in the early '80s, an off-the-boat-greenhorn getting his first glimpse the 'gold-paved streets' of the Lower East Side is taught the ropes by an old hand who arrived two days earlier. Life moves quickly and so do both men's illusions. In the Man Who Couldn't Stop Crying, which receives its world premiere here, a successful camera store owner finds something to cry about in every thing he sees. In 74 Georgia Avenue, which will be performed in both English and Yiddish, an older man visits the once Jewish Brooklyn of his youth and is surprised to see how much of the past has actually endured in the apartment where he lived. First published in the early '90s, 74 Georgia Avenue has never been performed in the U.S., in English or in its unique Folksbiene adaptation combining both languages."
- nytheatre.com
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Jcc, 334 Amsterdam AVenue, NY
2009
Organisations:
National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Simple Kind of Love Story
Synopsis:
is a brilliantly inventive riches-to-rags saga in which a young writer is overwhelmed with flattery, gifts and promises of fortune by a high pressure agent and then, just as quickly, reduced to quivering uncertainty and suicide when it appears that his creative juices have run dry
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
1980
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Slouching Towards the Millenium
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
New York
1997
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
Three One Act Plays One Act
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Songs Of War, The
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Garden Grove, California
1989
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Summer Romance
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
1984
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
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There Are No Sacher Tortes In Our Society!
Synopsis:
and Alex Krieger, an apparently congenial couple, live in a comfortable (if rather messy) Manhattan apartment. One afternoon, however, when Janice is trying to clean up the place a bit, their domestic tranquillity is disrupted by the arrival of Alex's long lost brother, Max, who suddenly appears, complete with full beard and carrying a canary in a cage. Max's behavior is frantic and decidedly odd: He smashes a window with a frying pan in order to air out the apartment, and he abruptly disappears, only to resurface when Alex arrives home from work. Happy to be united with his brother after so many years, Max regales the impressionable Alex with tales of his wild escapades as a drifter, convincing Alex that marriage is stifling and that a man must get out on his own to experience life at its fullest. Alex, drawing himself together, then confronts Janice, announces that their marriage is over, and departs defiantly with Max. Six months later, however, we discover that Alex and Max now both seedy drifters and distressingly dependent on each other, are the ones who have sunk into a tiresome rut; while Janice, contentedly living by herself, has been promoted to a managerial position in the department store where Alex once worked
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
1985
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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Tiger, The
Synopsis:
Ben is a natively intelligent but slightly unstrung young man in revolt against a system which consigns him to being a mail carrier and to living in a tumble-down basement apartment. In a gesture of defiance he kidnaps a young woman and drags her to his lair, the object being that she, at least, will do as and what he orders-fulfilling the urge for domination that life has hitherto denied him. At first Ben is abrupt and sharp with his victim, playing cat and mouse with her in the hope that she will begin to panic and squirm. But while Gloria, a suburban housewife and mother, is hardly used to this sort of thing, she is also somewhat dissatisfied with the status quo herself. At first she must listen, but soon she is the one who leads the touching and funny conversation which ensues. Mutual confessions and confidences are forthcoming, and by the time Ben reveals that his dream of becoming a teacher was shattered by an inability to cope with French, Gloria is ready and willing to take on the job of tutoring him. But he sticks to his resolve to have his way with her and she, in turn, fools him again by being less the protesting victim than the willing conspirator. In the end he lets her go-but already she is making plans to drop by every Thursday when her dull husband will take it for granted that she is off playing bridge with friends
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Jonathan Cape, London, 1964
Music:
-
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Genre:
Tragi-Comedy One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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Twice Around the Park
Synopsis:
actor hopes to land TV commercial by playing opera at full blast and couple whose marriage is on the rocks with their self help audio tape
Notes:
includes A Need For Brussels Sprouts And A Need For Less Expertise
1st Produced:
Cort Theatre, New York
1982
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in "Luv and Other Plays", Dodd Mead, New York, 1983
Music:
-
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Genre:
comedies One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Typists, The
Synopsis:
When Paul Cunningham reports for work addressing postcards for a mail order house, he makes it clear to his fellow worker, Sylvia Payton, that his employment is strictly temporary. Paul, a married man, is studying law at night, and with his uncle already in successful practice there is every hope that his future will be a promising one. Sylvia, the "supervisor" of the two-employee office, has a few dreams herself-mostly of the romantic variety so often indulged in by not so young spinsters with widowed mothers to support. Paul and Sylvia hit it off well, and as Paul's "temporary" tenure stretches on from weeks to months to years they become involved in the shared experiences of close daily contact. And, within the short span of the play, they begin to age and grow gray. While they go on chattering of the important things that have happened to them and of the bright future which will be coming up any day, the futility of their existence becomes increasingly evident. And when they finally dodder off with friendly "good night" to their unseen employer we have witnessed a cycle of life complete with the humor, sadness, self-delusion and reconciliation which underly and infuse the human condition.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
British Drama League Theatre, London
1960
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Jonathan Cape, London, 1964
Music:
-
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Genre:
Tragi-Comedy One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Walter
Synopsis:
the scene is a funeral parlor, where Laura Katz has come to view the body of her late husband, Walter. As it happens, Walter was a chronic philanderer and Laura, as her cruelly funny comments make clear, deserted him. It also develops that the funeral director, Norbe, is not above "playing around" a bit himself-which offers Laura a chance to repay Walter in his own coin.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
New York
1980
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in "the Pushcart Peddlers, the Flautist, and Other Plays", Dramatists Play Service, New York, 1980
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play One Act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Way of Life, A
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
aka Roseland, Aka the Downstairs Boys
1st Produced:
Anta Playhouse, New York
1969
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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What About Luv?
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Windows
Synopsis:
introduces us to a not-so-young couple who, starting over again in a new neighborhood, rent an old house with too many windows-windows which peer disturbingly on the frantic and disjointed lives of those around them.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Los Angeles
1965
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in "Fragments, Windows and Other Plays", Coward McCann, New York, 1965
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: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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