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Steven Schutzman

STEVEN SCHUTZMAN  (1947 - )

 Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a


Steven Schutzman is a playwright and fiction writer, the author of seventeen published plays and more than 30 different plays produced (many numerous times) at such theatres as New Jersey Repertory, Cleveland Public, Baltimore Theatre Project and Revolution Theatre in Chicago among many others. He is a five- time recipient of Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant Awards and a three-time top-tier finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Center's National Playwright Conference. His one-act "Tree Man" won first prize in the First Stage L.A. One-Act Contest

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

 Ancient Island in the Brain         Bank, The         Blue and Darker Blue         Cask of Amontillado, The         Chelm Goes To War         Conquest of Mexico, The         Dead Man Talks         Driver's Ed         Driver's Side Air Bag         Emperor's New Clothes, The         Fall of the House of Usher, The         First Day of School, The         Five More Minutes         Ghost Play One         Italy         Kidnapped: Persephone in the Underworld         Nailing the Books Shut         Necessary Poison         No Chhhh-anukah In Chhhh-elm         No Talking on the First Date         Normal is a Country         Quiet Actor, The         Round The World Tales         Salesman, The         Theories In Limbo         Tree Man         Trying On         Where Things Are

Ancient Island in the Brain

Synopsis:
Stash and Limo, two hill fighters in a long ethnic war, smoke joints and play poker for the next chance to rape Birdwoman, their enemy prisoner. Playing with them is Gill, a dead comrade they have propped up so he can serve as third hand in the game. That's how far gone and degraded these guys are. And yet, their longings, fears, anger, hatred, humor and bickering place them very much in the circle of human behavior. Premiered at Revolution Theatre, Chicago/2005.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Abbie Hoffman Died For Your Sins Festival    2005

Organisations:
Revolution Theatre, Chicago

1st Published:
Eclectica Magazine, 2008   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bank, The

Synopsis:
A recently retired physician who doesn't know what to do with himself, causes such a disruption at a bank that he and the bank guard, a refugee from Africa, catch a whiff of the danger all around them.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bowie State University    2006

Organisations:
Accokeek Theatre Company

1st Published:
Post Road, a literary journal, 2005   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Blue and Darker Blue

Synopsis:
A man and his wife, with different needs now that she has become famous and is writing a memoir, come to new understanding of their past, present and future.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Alaska Quarterly Review, 2004   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Cask of Amontillado, The

Synopsis:
One of Poe's creepiest stories enacting the revenge of the obsessive Montresor against the wine lover Fortunato. On carnival night in Venice, Montresor lures the tipsy Fortunato to his estate with the promise of a rare sherry. Down in dank catacombs, Montresor finally chains the hapless Fortunato and walls him in alive. The claustrophobic atmosphere, Montresor's smiling meanness and Fortunato's growing horror are bound to send chills down anyone's spine.

Notes:
Based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe

1st Produced:
Baltimore Museum of Modern Art    2001

Organisations:
Children's Theatre Association of Maryland

1st Published:
Brooklyn Publishers2004   -

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:
adaptaqtion One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Chelm Goes To War

Synopsis:
Chelm declares war on nearby village Gorshkov. Someone switches the road signs so the Chelm warriors end up back in their own village

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:
Short play

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Conquest of Mexico, The

Synopsis:
Two parallel stories, the conquest of the Aztecs and the fall of a modern politician, penetrate and influence each other. The fascinating Dona Marina helps Cortez engineer Montezuma's downfall as the gifted illegal Marina brings down the mayor of a large city. Read it in Scene 4 Magazine

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Scene 4 Magazine http://www.scene4.com/archivesqv6/may-2007/The_Conquest_of_Mexico.pdf, 2007   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Full length Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dead Man Talks

Synopsis:
A group of villagers from Chelm are gathering logs in the wood. Two foresters agree to show them how to fell a tree. It falls on villager Avrom who declares he is dead - unless anyone can prove different

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:
Short play

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  7 either sex

Further Reference:
-

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Driver's Ed

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Baby Grand Theatre Wilmington DE    2002

Organisations:
City Theatre Company

1st Published:
Brooklyn Publishers2004   -

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:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Driver's Side Air Bag

Synopsis:
A man driving alone, the voice of his ex-wife echoing in his head, lets loose a wild stream of black humor, hard cruel emotion and linguistic acrobatics. Finally, he enacts a reckless plan that can only end in disaster. But it gets worse: He is decapitated. And worse: He goes on talking. Premiered at Saint John's Theatre Company, New Brunswick, CAN. Published in Third Coast, a literary journal.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New Brunswick, CAN    2007

Organisations:
Saint John's Theatre Company

1st Published:
Third Coast, a literary journal, 2007   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Emperor's New Clothes, The

Synopsis:
A hilarious retelling of the classic story: outrageous shenanigans, surreal verbal seizures, idiocy, imbecility and inanity, an empire ruled by a preening, primping, puffed up peacock. After the conmen Ludwig and Otto escape jail, with the bumbling detectives Boris and Morris in hot pursuit, they trick the clothes-horse Emperor into letting them create the royal garments for his daughters' weddings. The garments, they say, will not only be of the highest possible style, they will have the magical property of being invisible to fools unworthy of their positions. What fun to watch fools try to prove they are not foolish. Opportunities galore for scene-stealing comic acting.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Brooklyn Publishers2008   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:   9 M or F

Further Reference:
-

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Fall of the House of Usher, The

Synopsis:
Heeding the plea of his old friend, Roderick Usher, William Benson travels to the haunted House of Usher, where the very stones are alive with voices of trapped ancestors. There Roderick's sister, the beautiful Madeleine, only seems to die, and Roderick is seized by the paranoid dread that shows itself to be quite real at the heart-pounding climax of the play when the macabre Usher fate finally comes to pass. An adaptation that will delight modern audiences as it remains faithful to the language, atmosphere and psychological insight of the Poe classic.

Notes:
Based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe

1st Produced:
Baltimore Museum of Modern Art    2001

Organisations:
Children's Theatre Association of Maryland

1st Published:
Brooklyn Publishers2004   -

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:
adaptaqtion One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  1 m/f

Further Reference:
-

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First Day of School, The

Synopsis:
A play in 9 scenes of 10 lines. Couples deal with love, hate, fear, and raising the kids in this riotous and poignant dramatic poem

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Cleveland Public Theatre    2006

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Cafe Irreal, 2006   -

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:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Five More Minutes

Synopsis:
Laura, an emotional basket case, has been sitting on her porch swing all day when her tenant Gregory comes home from work to tell her he's moving out, because the night before her boyfriend slashed his tires. Laura and Gregory have more than their share of inertia but connect in absurd, sweet and poignant ways.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Algonquin Theatre, NYC    2008

Organisations:
Algonquin Theatre Company

1st Published:
Eclectica Magazine, 2007   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ghost Play One

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Fells Point Corner Theater, Baltimore    15 Jul 1994

Organisations:
Baltimore Playwrights Festival

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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Italy

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
The Best 10-Minute Plays Of 2012. Published by Smith and Kraus, Inc.    -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
ten min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Kidnapped: Persephone in the Underworld

Synopsis:
This adaptation of the Greek myth of the origin of the seasons succeeds in being dramatic, extremely funny and educational. It is perpetual summer when Zeus, bored on Mt. Olympus after being grounded by his jealous wife Hera, causes Hades, God of the Underworld, to fall in love with the beautiful Persephone. Hades kidnaps Persephone, forces her to be his bride and struggles to win her love. Persephone's mother, Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest, in a rage of revenge over the loss of her daughter, brings famine and perpetual winter to the Earth, taking human life to the brink of extinction. All wounded parties seek justice from the Gods. This lively, engaging play portrays the unique characters of the Greek Gods while enacting a story about the need for balance and change in Nature.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Brooklyn Publishers2008   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  6            Other:   8 M or F

Further Reference:
-

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Nailing the Books Shut

Synopsis:
Joy and Robert are breaking up but unable to divide their books. When Robert starts hammering nails through the disputed books, the couple discovers something they have lost.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Creative Place Theatre, NYC    2003

Organisations:
Love Creek Productions

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:
15 min play

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Necessary Poison

Synopsis:
A funny, stylized take on a 20 year marriage in three quick scenes: the meeting, falling in and out of love.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Baby Grand Theatre    2003

Organisations:
City Theatre Company`

1st Published:
Rockford Review, 2003   -

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:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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No Chhhh-anukah In Chhhh-elm

Synopsis:
To make money the villagers of Chelm decide to capture the Moon and charge admission to view it

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:
One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  7 either sex

Further Reference:
-

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No Talking on the First Date

Synopsis:
Two ridiculously self-absorbed people erotically and riotously turn the rules of blind dating upside down.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
City Theatre Company, Wilmington DE    2007

Organisations:
City Theatre Company

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:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Normal is a Country

Synopsis:
Brian's memory, language and sense of sense of self have been damaged by a war injury. He and his mother Eva struggle over the strategies he must take to make himself whole again.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Black Box Theatre Valencia Community College, Orlando FL    2008

Organisations:
Playwright's Round Table

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:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Quiet Actor, The

Synopsis:
At a relative's funeral, pretty, favored Tracy, 21, and her much plainer sister, Valerie, 20, confront the origins of their tangled relationship, natures and fates.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theatre Inspirato, Toronto CAN    2007

Organisations:
Theatre Inspirato

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:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Round The World Tales

Synopsis:
This easy-to-stage, highly theatrical and entertaining cycle of three 20 minute plays from world folklores focuses on the themes of generosity and greed. The plays show how greed throws people out of balance with their land and traditions, with each other and with themselves, and how generosity can re-establish balance and connection between people and their world. In the Swedish tale, "The Old Woman and the Tramp", a happy-go-lucky rhyming wanderer ingeniously brews up an outrageous soup to teach an old woman how to enjoy life again. The Japanese "Tongue-Cut Sparrow" shows how a wife's cruelty to her husband's pet ignites magical forces of good and evil to prove that people get what they deserve. In the third play, "The Invisible Hunters" from Nicaragua, two hunters gain the power of invisibility, but instead of using it to feed their village, they upset their tribe's traditional balance with nature.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
East Coast Tour    1997

Organisations:
Children's Theatre Association of Maryland

1st Published:
Pioneer Drama Service, 2001   -

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:
Children's plays

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Salesman, The

Synopsis:
An obese insurance salesman angers, bewilders and finally seduces a stranger on a train with his odd behavior and the hypnotic way he tells the amazing story of how he lost everything.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Barebones Fifteen Minute Play Festival    2001

Organisations:
Barebones Theatre Company

1st Published:
Poems&Plays 10, 2003   -

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:
15 min play

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Theories In Limbo

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania    23 Apr 2008

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:
Short Play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Tree Man

Synopsis:
Helen and Charlotte, relative strangers in very different circumstances, are watching their sons play in the backyard. After some wine, they connect in startling, truthful, imaginative and even reckless ways that transform them and might open the door to a different future.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
The Play's The Thing    2005

Organisations:
Baltimore Theatre Project

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:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Trying On

Synopsis:
A woman, isolated by her divorce, picks up a vapid businessman in a bar. After their alienating sexual encounter, she confronts her personal myths more clearly than ever before.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Samuel French One Act Festival    2002

Organisations:
Love Creek Productions

1st Published:
Eclectica Magazine, 2007   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Where Things Are

Synopsis:
A mother and her grown son, dressed in a party dress, celebrate his birthday, in a ritual of whacky mutual assured destruction.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New Jersey Repertory    2005

Organisations:
New Jersey Repertory

1st Published:
Alaska Quarterly Review, 2005   -

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:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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