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Zan Skolnick

ZAN SKOLNICK

  (1933 - )
Nationality:    USA
facebook     email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Skolnick recently retired from a career in marketing/advertising/speech writing, and video production to devote full time to playwriting efforts. He writes in varying genres, sometimes mixing them as in The Color of Holes, a fusion of Romance and satire

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

         Adoration of Vladimir, The         And Puppy Dogs' Tails         Another Menagerie         Basement         Color of Holes, The         Enduring Loves         God Help the Rabbi         Jonah's Love, by ZAN SKOLNICK. Piven Theatre. Chicago/Evanston, NY 60202. May 11, 2015. AstonRep Ensemble of Chicago gave the show a reading last November that literally blew people away with its power. Hard to love three different women without upsetting at least one, and then there's the usual unintended consequences. . .sound a bit like Greek tragedy? Curtain 8 pm Tickets $10 to benefit Chicago Writers Bloc. http://WriersBlocFest.org         Private Audience, A         Tzigane         Ubu-Jarry
Adoration of Vladimir, The

Synopsis:
A fact-based, Marxian Bros. view of the scientific/bureaucratic contretemps to preserve Lenin's body, and its mutilation for posterity, while Stalin and his ace PR man plot to bolster Communist rule by immortalizing Lenin's memory, then marginalizing him to consolidate their power. Another arc describes the journey of Lenin's soul as his Spirit is influenced by Russian life and the Shechinah (God's feminine side). Betrayals, bureaucratic snafus, revengeful violence (esp. to Lenin's left nostril), an original song about the culture of fear (parallel to America today?) plus parodies of a few Irving Berlin songs of the era are threaded throughout. Two acts. Fairly simple sets for spot staging; historic Russian film footage, and songs available.

Notes:
Very successful in readings. Was being seriously considered by the Public theatre prior to the recent regime change there.

1st Produced:
Theatre Building, Chicago     2004

Organisations:
Writers Bloc - Chicago

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:
Historical-farcical-comedy Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  2            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

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And Puppy Dogs' Tails

Synopsis:
Two young men, about 25 years old, hie to French Canada, because it's as close to France as they can afford, hoping to score bigtime. Rabbit's engaged. Frenchy, who's prematurely balding, is not; he had an engagement broken and carries the ring with him "just in case." Rabbit's has to rev Frenchy's enthusiasm for romance, and there's lots of good, clean fun in their escapades, foibles, and fractured French.

Notes:
Boxoffice so good, show was repeated following season

1st Produced:
Playwrights Center, Chicago, Body Politic Theater, Country Club Comedy Theater     1969

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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Another Menagerie

Synopsis:
Another Menagerie is so named because it deals with the same family paradigm as T. Williams' great work. Here however, the brother is an activist. It's 1959: Jonah plans to marry out of his fatherless, financially strapped family. Mother can't quite put the guest list together, vainly applies for jobs she cannot handle hoping to pay off huge debts. Jonah's sister, Marilyn, is flunking out of college: because Ma uses her as a servant, or because Marilyn prefers Frank Sinatra records to homework? Little events escalate. Afraid his departure will leave Marilyn at the mercy of their assumedly hypochondriac mother, Jonah, at birthday party for his fiancee manipulates events to give Ma "truth therapy," with apparently tragic consequences.

Notes:
Finalist: in two recent national playwrighting competitions.

1st Produced:
Presbyterian Church, Evanston, Il     2001

Organisations:
Writers Bloc - Chicago

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:
Family Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Basement

Synopsis:
Basement is an epic memory play: Past/real/imagined time commingle as surviving mother and son, "cursed with perfect recall," prepare to move from their residence of 1964-75 -- when America's current economic/cultural shifts began. they relive flooding, vermin, economic hardship, political corruption, deaths of sister, father. the son, a college drop-out, serves as Stage Manager. Sardonic TV newscasts lock play in historic time.

Notes:
Simple sets, spot staging, good lighting required.

1st Produced:
Chicago Dramatists     2002

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:
Dark family tragedy

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  doubling, extras

Further Reference:
-

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Color of Holes, The

Synopsis:
This Romance wrapped in Satire was suggested by Shakespeare's the Winter's Tale. Emmy, ostensibly a Catholic girl, commits suicide. the Dick, an aesthetically-challenged-yet-magical private eye, cons her Jewish lover, Bernie, (read "Leontes") to undertake a mythic journey (ala Joseph Campbell) to explore his culpability. This flashback-laced odyssey of guilt, stupidity, and redemption has more flights of fancy, and a happier ending (similar to the Winter's Tale) than anyone has seen in ages. Scenes include an interview with a crazed nun; Bernie's capture by Radical Feminists while backstage at a rock concert; his subsequent trial in which the Dick calls forth Emmy's spirit as a witness; nightfall in a cemetery of dead phrases, and following Bernie's dream of Western literature's classic boy/saves damsel in distress scenario, his achievement of self-awareness in the Cave of Self. Meanwhile, Emmy's addled dad revivifies Bernie's widowed mother, who begins to sculpt marble ordered by the Dick that becomes a life-sized statue of Emmy. Returning home, Bernie brings the statue back to life. Emmy's true ethnicity and marriages are announced. the Dick vanishes. Act 2 opens with a parody of the opening of the Mikado sung as a pre-trial theme of the Radical Feminists.

Notes:
Small sets, spot staging, one special effect, nuns And militant feminist costumes, one miniature guillotine.

1st Produced:
Theatre Building - Chicago     1993

Organisations:
Writers Bloc - Chicago

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:
Satirical Romance Satire

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  doubling, extras

Further Reference:
-

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Enduring Loves

Synopsis:
Lifelong buddies Len and Marv, energetic septuagenarians, struggle in odd ways to deal with their losses of family, and financial well being. Marv needs to move in with Len so he can become a non-live-in nanny for his daughter's two toddler sons. Len's depression is reshaped when 20 year old Wendy appears with a photo of her grandmother, Joycee, who spent a night with Len on Malibu Beach 60 years ago, then 7 years later wrote him a letter he never answered, but could not get out of his mind.. Wendy arranges for Joycee to arrive he next day. And what a memory she has!. Will Len go back with her to Beverly Hills? What will Marv do when his daughter's family moves to Oregon? A marathon gin rummy tournament between the two men sets the stage for their off center, yet life affirming decision.

Notes:
The play was first developed through readings at Chicago Writers Bloc. It's first public reading was in New York in January 2013 at the Richmond Shepard Theater. Mr. Shepard thought so highly of the script, he gave me free use of his theater. Alexa Kelly (Pulse Ensemble Theater) directed and thought the theme was "wonderful." Austin Pendleton read the same script: he found the characters "lovely and fascinating," felt "rewarded with new insights" on virtually every page, and agreed that the male leads were "star-deserving roles." Said he'd like to direct a reading of the show and suggested ways to improve the script. I took his advice for a second reading in May 2013. The audience laughed and cried its way through the show. Comments were excellent. But two weaknesses were evident and I have made further revisions for the script you will see. Sheldon Patinkin, former Dean of Theater at Columbia College (Chicago) and Artistic Advisor to Steppenwolf, reviewed the new script; "I really like your play a lot, " he wrote. "The two men (it's a "Buddy Play') are really well drawn, fully dimensioned and excellently differentiated. The women don't have as much stage time, but I like them as well. . .It really deserves a production."

1st Produced:
Zan Skolnick, Next Theatre, Evanston, Il     07 May 2013

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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God Help the Rabbi

Synopsis:
Jewish family sent to small town so salesman, Marv Fine, can corner Jewish office supply business there. His wife, Derva trapped in a too-small apartment with 5 year old who's regressed with toilet training and infant with near constant earaches longs to return home. But Marv chooses to support his rabbi against his biggest potential customer, Lou Michaels. Knowing this will keep them away from home, Derva calls her mother, an immigrant "Bubbie" for help. Marv saves the rabbi, but Michaels offers hinm another chance with Derva's mother taking his side in the argument.

Notes:
Set boxoffice records in 3 productions

1st Produced:
Playwrights Center, Chicago, Il     1974

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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  preschool girl

Further Reference:
-

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Jonah's Love, by ZAN SKOLNICK. Piven Theatre. Chicago/Evanston, NY 60202. May 11, 2015. AstonRep Ensemble of Chicago gave the show a reading last November that literally blew people away with its power. Hard to love three different women without upsetting at least one, and then there's the usual unintended consequences. . .sound a bit like Greek tragedy? Curtain 8 pm Tickets $10 to benefit Chicago Writers Bloc. http://WriersBlocFest.org

Synopsis:
Hard to love three different women without upsetting at least one, and then there's the usual unintended consequences. . .sound a bit like Greek tragedy?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Piven Theatre. Chicago/Evanston, NY 60202     11 May 2015

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Private Audience, A

Synopsis:
the true story of Israel's Ambassador to Italy, Avi Pazner, securing a private audience with Pope John Paul II, despite lacking the credentials required to meet the pontiff. their meeting led to the Vatican's recognition of the State of Israel, and JPII's pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 2000. the play shows Amb. Pazner's struggle to gain a meeting with JPII. This includes his (and his wife's) unhappiness at being posted to Rome; his continuing conflicts with the Israeli Foreign Ministry which wants him to focus on "bread and butter" issues, and his frustrations at failing to penetrate the Vatican hierarchy until assistance comes from the U.S. A corollary arc discloses the Vatican's point of view. the private audience ends warmly, but neither the Ambassador nor his wife can be sure what the Pope meant by his closing remark. Once the Vatican's decision to negotiate is given, Amb. Pazner is visited by his immediate supervisor in which their prior relationship is revealed, a new one forged. To move negotiations forward, Amb. Pazner arranges for the Chief Rabbi of Israel to meet with the Pope: they discuss their common experiences during WWII, then discuss evil and the Abrahamic religions' ways to counter it; simultaneously the Chief Rabbi's older brother tells Amb. Pazner how he saved his younger brother during a Nazi death march.

Notes:
Written cinematically in small, simple set scenes using cross lighting effects.

1st Produced:
Theatre Building, Chicago     2007

Organisations:
Writer's Bloc

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:
Historical Drama with a humorous touch

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  doubling, extras

Further Reference:
-

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Tzigane

Synopsis:
Tzigane -- is Hungarian for "Gypsy," also a virtuoso piece for violin by Ravel). It's a tragi-comedy of the 1990s: He's married, she's not! She's macho, he's not! What a courtship! Thirty-something serially monogamous Regine fiddles with mid-60s Soren, a violinist who's never cheated on his wife before. they've been "friends" for 15 years, during which he has fantasized about her although unconsciously seeing her as a Moloch. She's recently lost a few parts to cervical cancer, he's now suffering arthritis of the left hand. His Hamletic fears of having an affair dissipate after he thinks he discovers the secret of perpetual courtship to the tune of Sibelius' 2nd Symphony. Intercourse, modestly done as the Narrator, plays a virtuosi passage from Tzigane on the violin, produces comically unanticipated results. the Narrator plays various roles, including Soren's god, Jascha Heifetz, who introduces the characters, key themes, and interprets Soren's thoughts.

Notes:
Virtually no set required. Hugely successful in readings. Just right for Aging Baby Boomers.

1st Produced:
Organic Theatre, Chicago     1992

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:
Tragi-comedy of manners Tragedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ubu-Jarry

Synopsis:
You thought the old West was wild? Check out pistol-toting Alfred Jarry, credited with penning Ubu Roi (a.k.a. King Turd), a travesty on Macbeth considered the world's first absurdist play. This kaleidoscopic look at Jarry's evolution from brilliant, bi-sexual scholar, to notorious playwright, and social terrorist embodying Ubu's grotesqueries, parallel the development of the play, it's premiere, and aftermath that isolates him from those he loves. Two songs, nudity, lots of raunch. Includes Act 1, Scene 1 of Ubu Roi, and (the Mime) dares audience to respond as it did at the play's 1897 Paris premiere -- a conceit proved hilarious in readings.

Notes:
Continues to prove itself in subsequent readings. Recent finalist in A national play writing Award. Spot staging for mostly small scenes, but few large ones, simple special effects. Some choreography needed, two songs, onstage band.

1st Produced:
Theatre Building - Chicago     1988

Organisations:
Writers Bloc - Chicago

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:
Multi-disciplinary biography of an absurdis

Parts:
Male:  9+            Female:  7            Other:  doubling, extras

Further Reference:
-

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