Author Archives: ProPlay

The Goodies by Alan Rossett

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The Goodies by Alan Rossett

The Goodies
Avignon Festival
Avignon, France


Comedy/ 2 women, or 8 women play 8 characters/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis: Beware au pair girls! Annie, a first-time mother at 35, hires Bibi, an exuberant 18-year old, to care for her baby while she returns to work. Bibi is keen, but when Annie returns home one evening to find that her new hire has gone off dancing and the baby has nearly burned down his nursery, she fires her.

An agency sends her a series of replacements, each more dreadful than the last. Meanwhile, Bibi’s next employer is Granny, an old crone who has gained custody of her grandson over the objections of her daughter-in-law, Marissa. Bibi inadvertently allows Marissa to kidnap the child. Panicked, she flees and finds herself in an unfamiliar train station where — after discovering a distressing letter from her mother in her apron pocket and realizing she can’t return home — she meets a kindly middle-aged woman, Alice. It transpires that Alice just happens to be out looking for an au pair, at 5 a.m., in a train station, to take care of her daughter. What are the chances?

It takes a few weeks, but Bibi eventually discovers there is no daughter, and Alice is just a lonely widow looking for companionship. But Bibi has begun to grow up and, sensing Alice’s desolation, befriends her.

Several years later Annie and Bibi bump into each other in a public garden, each wheeling a baby carriage. How did they get there and where are they going?

“Witty, wicked, wild” – Elle Magazine

“A lovely show and a very, very funny one.” – France Culture

“…a funny, original play.” – L’air d’Avignon

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Alan Rossett
91, rue Nollet
75017 Paris
France
Ph.: O1 7375 57 65
Email: rossdoal@aol.com

About the Playwright: “Cocteau meets Woody Allen” was film-director Jean Delannoy’s comment on Alan Rossett, the only American to have French language plays produced regularly in France . . . and to receive awards from the Centre National des Lettres. Born in Detroit, he began his career as an actor in New York, where he appeared for a season with the Living Theatre and also as James Earl Jones’ first Iago. Relocating in Paris, he wrote and directed an evocation of Montmartre Light and Shade with Charles Boyer. Then his comedy High Time went from London to Sydney to New York (at the Actors Studio) and wound up, translated, in a Parisian cafe theatre before transferring to La Bruyere, a Broadway category house.
Rossett made the language cross-over into French with two plays set in restaurants which he staged in the midst of diners at a show biz hang-out, running 200 performances. Many other productions followed of his French-language plays, including How It Happened, Cat As Cat Can, Love On Ice, Calamity Jane.

His French plays are published by Avant-Scene Theatre, Editions des quatre-vents, Editions Art et Comedie et Librairie Theatrale. He has adapted into English many of his own works as well as a series of plays by colleagues that have received grants from the Beaumarchais Association of the French Author’s Society. Rossett has done English versions as well of Alain Decaux’s historical pagaents (Chateau Blois Comes To Life and De Gaulle: the Man Who Said NO. As an actor, he has appeared in films of Marcel Carné, Woody Allen, and over 50 others.

The Goodies was was first produced under the title Annie Bettie et Cetera at Théâtre Essaïon, Paris, France in 1985.

“Rossett’s comedy, alternately biting and funny, is also notable for its underlying humanity.” – Information Service Press

Tide Beyond The Rift by Fred Rohan-Vargas

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Tide Beyond the Rift by Fred Rohan Vargas
Comedy-drama/ 4 Characters, 2 men, 2 women/ Full Length, app. 90 minutes

Synopsis: Liza, a middle school teacher, has found happiness with her husband, Bill, and their daughter, Kelly. In her past is an emotional wound: As a child, she was brought to America as part of Operation Peter Pan, a CIA-run mission to remove children from Fidel Castro’s Cuba. As a result, she spent most of her youth in an orphanage. But she has put that behind her — or so she thinks.

One day, she receives a letter from her long-lost father, Sebastian, asking if he may visit her. She is reluctant at first, but eventually agrees. When they meet, Sebastian uses humor and understanding to overcome Liza’s natural caution. Gradually, they begin to bond, and Kelly grows closer to him too. But when Bill makes a sudden discovery, Sebastian is forced to confess to Liza his true reason for visiting, with shattering effect.

Cuban Children in the early ’60s who were part of Operation Peter Pan during Fidel Castro’s takeover.

 

 

 

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Fred Rohan Vargas
Email: info@miuprod.com
rohanvargas@gmail.com
Playwright’s Website: miuprod.com

About the Playwright: Fred Rohan Vargas is the author of several full lengths, one acts and children’s plays that have been produced throughout the country and abroad. He holds a MFA in dramatic writing from New York University. Two of his plays have been published by The Riant Theatre (Anything But Black) and JAC Publishing and Promotions (Crystal). He is founder and executive producer of Mixing It Up Productions, LLC. He has received three nominations for his play Tide Beyond the Rift at the Midtown International Theatre Festival (2014) and has had his play Crystal produced in Bucharest, Romania the same year. As a producer, Fred has just finished a three month run at the 13th Street Repertory Theatre of his children’s musical, Yaki Yim Bamboo the Musical.

Fred also shows his ability in other genres by writing instrumental pieces for jazz, film and TV. A renaissance artist in the making, he has been noted by Song of the Year Songwriting Contest, Unisong International Song Writing Contest, Billboard World Song Contest, John Lennon Songwriters Contest and Great American Song Contest. His music is on a compilation of 3 CDs.

Fred has served on the theatre/dance grants panel for the Queens Council on the Arts, the panel of judges for the Daytime Emmy Awards (sponsored by The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences) and the Board of Directors of the New York Children’s Theatre. He is currently a member of The Broadway League, Theatre Resource Unlimited, The Dramatists Guild and The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Tide Beyond The Rift was first produced as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival at the Jewel Box Theater, New York, NY in July 2014.

Cathexis…or is it something else? by Julie Marino

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Comedy/ 6 Characters, 3 men, 3 women/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis: Tony-winning playwright Brett has lost his creative mojo and ended up at a small regional theater as Artist-in-Residence, hoping to fix the disaster that is his latest script. But Brett does not play well with others, and he especially doesn’t want input from those he considers small-town wannabes and not in his league.

Meanwhile, the members of the company, all hard-working professionals with years of experience, have no patience for the carryings-on of divas. After weeks of putting up with Brett’s resistance and tantrums, the cast decides to rewrite the play themselves, without his help or even his knowledge.

Instead of the searing drama they started with, the result is a laugh-out-loud farce that everyone except Brett seems to love. While Brett struggles to reconcile his overblown self-image with his need for a hit, the others gleefully dive into a project that rekindles their excitement and sense of joy.

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Brian Sherman
IPEX Literary Agency
Ph: 646-355-8050
bts@ipexartists.com

About the Playwright: Julie Marino is a playwright and producer living and working in Manhattan. Her previous play, Welcome to Paradise (also published on ProPlay), was a semi-finalist in the National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Center in 2015, and had its world premiere at the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea, Michigan in June, 2019. Other works include Mondo Condo, a musical comedy about life in a retirement community, not to mention a love triangle, money laundering and the Russian mob, and Wildfire Season, which was presented in workshop form by Pier Studios, New York City. Julie is also the writer/producer of Synesthesia Radio Theater, which produces and presents radio dramas for podcast. Further samples of her work may be seen on her website, juliemarino.nyc.

Cathexis…or is it something else? was presented in a workshop reading at Pier Studios in New York City in 2021. It awaits its first full production.

James Joyce on the Witches’ Sabbath by Giuseppe Cafiero

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James Joyce on the Witches’ Sabbath by Giuseppe Cafiero

James Joyce on the Witches’ Sabbath
Compañía Teatral Quinto Piso
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Drama/ 13 Characters, 9 men, 4 women, doubling possible/ Full Length, Two Parts

Synopsis: 1934. Kusnacht, Switzerland. Herr Dr. Gustav Jung’s clinic for the mentally ill. One of the patients is Miss Lucia Joyce. In a nightmarish atmosphere, her father, the Irish writer James Joyce, is pressed by the ghosts of his past to revisit his life, and his relationship with a daughter lost to madness and love for him.

The ghosts gradually become the protagonists of the drama. In song and word, they reconstruct the fragments of Joyce’s love-hate bond with Lucia, as well as his resentment towards Ireland, which ultimately led him to wander in exile.

They also become a Greek chorus in honor of the black bard William Blake, god of metaphysics. Drawing on the 16 engravings that illustrate his poem “The Gates of Paradise”, the poet opens up Joyce’s whole life, past, present and future.

Blake’s prophecies and Lucia’s phobic anguish plunge Joyce into his own Walpurgis Night. As the ghosts of his unconscious dance before him, to the sound of Monteverdi’s “Addio terra, addio cielo”, he lives out his own death and the heartrending anguish of having to abandon Lucia to her madness.

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Giuseppe Cafiero
g.cafiero23@gmail.com

About the Playwright: Giuseppe Cafiero lives in the Tuscan countryside, in Lucignano, in the province of Arezzo, Italy.

Born in Naples, he spent his childhood in several Italian cities. In Bologna, he frequented the intellectual circles at Roberto Roversi‘s renowned bookstore, Palma Verde. The first part of his novel James Joyce — Rome and Other Stories was initially published in one of the bookstore’s influential magazines.

Cafiero later worked for various radio producers, including Radio Capodistria and Italian Swiss Radio. Moving to Tuscany, he was finally able to devote himself to reading and pursuing his literary work.

Other work for radio includes collaborations with the RAI, Radio Sveringes, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He has also written re-editions, free adaptations, and translations based on the work of an extensive spectrum of authors, from Shakespeare to O’Neill, Raspe to Daudet, Toller to Brecht.

In addition to James Joyce — Rome and Other Stories, Cafiero has published the bio-fictions Vincent van Gogh and Gustave Flaubert: The Ambiguity of Imagination.

James Joyce on the Witches’ Sabbath was first produced under the title Ánima Joyce by Compañía Teatral Quinto Piso, Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2014.

Idols by Nicholas Bompart

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Comedy-Drama/ 11 Characters, 4 men, 5 women, 2 Either-Or, multiple casting possible/ Full-Length, 70 mins.

Synopsis: As a pianist plays in a corner of the stage, we meet Alex, a 10-year old piano prodigy who has been diagnosed with ADHD after getting into trouble at school. His parents are given an ultimatum: Alex must take Ritalin or face expulsion. As they struggle with the choice, Alex’s grandparents object. Russian immigrants, they have vivid memories of the 2nd World War, when Hitler gave the drug to his troops. They don’t want to see Alex turned into “an obedient little soldier.”

Meanwhile, Alex practices for his momentous upcoming piano recital with his inspiring teacher, Mr. Hoffman. “When I wake up I hear music,” he tells Mr. Hoffman, “when I do anything I hear music.” As he and his family continue to struggle with the effects of his ADHD, his grandfather makes a decision. Appearing to Alex dressed as the tooth fairy, he delivers an impassioned plea for his grandson never to believe “there is something ‘wrong’ with you,” and to remain true to his talent. In this tender and powerful play, the pianist playing in the corner of the stage — Alex as an adult — suggests that he listened to his grandfather.

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Nicholas Bompart
Ph.: 917-670-7097
NTBWorking@gmail.com

About the Playwright: Nicholas Bompart is an actor, director, writer, and musician from Forest Hills, New York. He began acting at the age of five and has continued in the theater up until the present. He has written and acted in more than 15 short films, which have been screened at multiple national and international film festivals and won extensive laurels, including awards for Best Horror Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor. In addition to writing and directing many plays, he has starred in numerous off-Broadway productions. His plays have been selected for the Rogue Theater Festival, CHAIN Theater Festival, Strawberry Theater Festival, and others. He has received favorable media reviews and been referred to as “a new up-and-coming artist” and “someone to watch” for upcoming work. Nicholas earned a B.A. in Theater Arts from Pace University. He also sings opera and has performed at Carnegie Hall.

Idols was first produced at Teatro LATEA in New York, NY in October 2022.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, adapted by Lee Wilson

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Drama/ 40 characters: 21 Nonbinary, 11 Female, 8 Male, 8 actors minumum, doubling/tripling possible/ One Act

Synopsis: Charles Dickens himself takes us through this new adaptation of one of the greatest Christmas stories ever told. Lee Wilson had yet to find a version of Dickens’ masterpiece that satisfied him as a director, so he was inspired to create one. He has endeavoured to create a version that is true to Dickens’ original story and also catered towards non-traditional proscenium theatre spaces (although this version works beautifully on those as well).

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Lee Wilson
wilsonle@tcd.ie
Ph.: 1-289-934-0154 (Ontario, Canada)

About the Playwright: Lee is an Assistant Professor in Acting at The University of Windsor, School of Dramatic Art, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Mr. Wilson holds Canadian, British and Irish citizenship.

In 2019, his production of A Fear and Loathing Actor in Dublin by Mark McCauley premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Theatre@36 in Dublin, Ireland. While living in Ireland, he directed the world premieres of Running with Dinosaurs by Nadine Flynn (The New Theatre); The Eurydice Project by Joanna Crawley (The Project Arts Centre Main Space); Fray by Margaret Perry and Pork by Nadine Flynn (Smock Alley); and The Sea Brothers by Padraig Colum/Joanna Crawley (O’Reilly Theatre/The Lir). In addition, his critically acclaimed production of East of Berlin by Hannah Moscovitch played to sold out houses at The Project Arts Centre in 2014/15. Lee was the Associate Director to Joe Dowling on Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge at The Gate Theatre, Dublin for the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2015.

His Canadian work includes being the founding artistic director of Resurgence Theatre Company in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada where he directed critically acclaimed productions of Hamlet, Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet. In 2013, he was nominated by his peers for the Christopher Plummer Fellowship Award for his outstanding contribution to the classics and Shakespeare performance in Canada. This award is administered by the Globe Theatre in England (Globe Centre in Canada) and recognized Lee as one of the most exciting young directors of Shakespeare in his native home of Canada.

His Canadian work includes being one of a handful of directors who participated in the Inaugural Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directors at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. As part of this program, he was the resident director to Des McAnuff on The Who’s Tommy and The Tempest film and stage production starring Christopher Plummer. Other credits at Stratford include assistant director to Antoni Cimolino on As You Like It and to Leon Rubin on Measure for Measure. He was the apprentice artistic director/artistic associate at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, Canada (2008/2009 season). In 2008, Lee was invited to The Old Vic in London, England to participate in a directing and writing workshop with the Peter Hall Company. He was an Intern Director at the Shaw Festival during the 2005/2006 season in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada; and the Resident Director in the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2004/2005. In 2003/2004, he was awarded the Urjo Kareda Residency Grant to study directing/artistic direction with Richard Rose at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Lee started off his professional career as a member of the Inaugural Soulpepper Training Company studying acting, design, and directing with his mentor Robin Phillips.

Lee is an associate member of ADA (Association of Drama Adjudicators) in Ireland and holds an MFA in Directing from The Lir, Irelands National Academy of Dramatic Art, Trinity College, Dublin; and a BFA in Acting from Ryerson Theatre School, Toronto, Canada.

A Christmas Carol is scheduled for production at the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in December, 2023.

The Valiant by Lee Wilson

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Drama/ 4 Men, 1 Woman, or non-binary/ One Act

Synopsis: Adapted from the original by Holworthy Hall and Robert Middlemass, The Valiant tells the story of James Dyke, a confessed killer who has been sentenced to die. As he awaits execution at a prison in Connecticut, the warden, chaplain, and others fight to learn his real identity and why he is so determined to take this secret with him to the grave. Then, on the night of Dyke’s execution, a young woman shows up adamant that this prisoner is her long-lost brother.

We are taken through many twists and turns, as she tries to unlock Dyke’s past with questions and triggers. Is he, or isn’t he, her brother? Shakespeare himself will be conjured to try to extract the truth.

The Valiant’s ending is as shocking and moving as any ending seen or heard on the stage. Family, history, love, mystery, poetry, relationships, and war are all brought together in this brilliant adaptation of this well-known one-act play.

Read it Now
Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Lee Wilson
Ph.: 1-289-934-0154
wilsonle@tcd.ie

About the Playwright: Lee is an Assistant Professor in Acting at The University of Windsor, School of Dramatic Art, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Mr. Wilson holds Canadian, British and Irish citizenship.

In 2019, his production of A Fear and Loathing Actor in Dublin by Mark McCauley premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Theatre@36 in Dublin, Ireland. While living in Ireland, he directed the world premieres of Running with Dinosaurs by Nadine Flynn (The New Theatre); The Eurydice Project by Joanna Crawley (The Project Arts Centre Main Space); Fray by Margaret Perry and Pork by Nadine Flynn (Smock Alley); and The Sea Brothers by Padraig Colum/Joanna Crawley (O’Reilly Theatre/The Lir). In addition, his critically acclaimed production of East of Berlin by Hannah Moscovitch played to sold out houses at The Project Arts Centre in 2014/15. Lee was the Associate Director to Joe Dowling on Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge at The Gate Theatre, Dublin for the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2015.

His Canadian work includes being the founding artistic director of Resurgence Theatre Company in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada where he directed critically acclaimed productions of Hamlet, Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet. In 2013, he was nominated by his peers for the Christopher Plummer Fellowship Award for his outstanding contribution to the classics and Shakespeare performance in Canada. This award is administered by the Globe Theatre in England (Globe Centre in Canada) and recognized Lee as one of the most exciting young directors of Shakespeare in his native home of Canada.

His Canadian work includes being one of a handful of directors who participated in the Inaugural Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directors at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. As part of this program, he was the resident director to Des McAnuff on The Who’s Tommy and The Tempest film and stage production starring Christopher Plummer. Other credits at Stratford include assistant director to Antoni Cimolino on As You Like It and to Leon Rubin on Measure for Measure. He was the apprentice artistic director/artistic associate at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, Canada (2008/2009 season). In 2008, Lee was invited to The Old Vic in London, England to participate in a directing and writing workshop with the Peter Hall Company. He was an Intern Director at the Shaw Festival during the 2005/2006 season in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada; and the Resident Director in the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2004/2005. In 2003/2004, he was awarded the Urjo Kareda Residency Grant to study directing/artistic direction with Richard Rose at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Lee started off his professional career as a member of the Inaugural Soulpepper Training Company studying acting, design, and directing with his mentor Robin Phillips.

Lee is an associate member of ADA (Association of Drama Adjudicators) in Ireland and holds an MFA in Directing from The Lir, Irelands National Academy of Dramatic Art, Trinity College, Dublin; and a BFA in Acting from Ryerson Theatre School, Toronto, Canada.

The Valiant first produced at the Shaw Festival Studio Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, in August 2006.

Wall: A Product of Resourcefulness and Efficiency in America’s Never-Ending Battle for Absolute Supremacy and General All-Around Kick-Assedness — by J.R. Spaulding Jr.

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Wall by J.R. Spaulding Jr.

Wall
MadLab Theatre
Columbus, Ohio

Comedy/ 11 characters + ensemble, 4 men, 2 women, 5 gender-fluid, 3 characters may be doubled/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis: A team of idealistic Americans sets out to build a “grandiloquent wall of epic proportions” as a symbolic testimony to America’s strength and all-around kick-assedness. However, after receiving a cease and desist notice from the Dept. of Redundancy, Waste, and Red Tape, they discover that their blue-collar intentions may not be so well-received by those in charge.

Brilliantly written . . . . Accurately capture(s) the absurdity of the state of the nation. – The Columbus Underground

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Most of Wall may be read by clicking on the “Read It Now” button above. To obtain a complete reading copy, use the contact info below.
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
J.R. Spaulding Jr.
Ph.: 906-748-2047
waneshaka@gmail.com

About the Playwright: J.R. Spaulding Jr. received an M.A. in theatre history from Michigan State University where his mentor, Professor Frank Rutledge, once told him with great sincerity, “Dionysus weeps for you.” He has worked professionally as an actor, director, technical director, and guest instructor at theatres in Alaska, Maine and various locations in between. As a playwright his works have been performed and staged throughout the United States, as well as in England. He is currently the theatre director at Detroit’s Renaissance High School where he uses his super powers to un-socialize and de-roboticize the youth of America in hopes to create a new world order of literati elitists.

Wall was first produced at MadLab Theatre, Columbus, Ohio in December, 2013.

The Myth of Summer by Conni Massing

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Comedy/ 8 Characters, 5 women, 3 men/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis: A lightning strike and the inspirational story of Joan of Arc trigger a series of magical occurrences for 16-year old Jessica and everyone else around her caught up in the fleeting euphoria of this most maddening season of the year. German massage therapist Werner and frantic puppeteer Melanie fall in love over dreams of the Canadian wilderness and French erudition, both of which turn out to be empty promises. Party planning duo Dacia and Kevin orchestrate important events for others while deluding themselves about the lack of meaning in their own lives. Meanwhile Jessica wields her newfound powers to help her mother Brenda, aunt Jackie, and boyfriend Mordred see the painful truth about love.

“Bursting with comedy and dynamic characters in a world both familiar and hilarious in its failures . . . . A grand, comic spectacle.” — Fast Forward

“Sashays from poignant moments to deep belly laughs.” — Calgary Sun

“Proves time and time again the comic ingenuity and richness that’s possible in the use of everyday language to bring not-so-ordinary situations to life.” — Calgary Herald

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Michael Petrasek
Kensington Literary Agency
Ph.: 416-848-9648
Email: kensingtonlit@rogers.com

About the Playwright: Conni is an award-winning writer working in theatre, film and television. Stage credits include Matara and The Invention of Romance, both premiered by Workshop West Playwrights Theatre, Oh! Christmas Tree (Roxy Performance Series), and her widely-produced stage adaptations of W.O Mitchell’s Jake and the Kid and Bruce Allen Powe’s The Aberhart Summer. Conni has worked as a story editor on television series such as Mentors, The Beat, North of 60, The Adventures of Shirley Holmes, Taking it Off, and Family Restaurant. Film projects include two feature-length comedies (in development) and two short films: Invisible, co-written with and directed by Neil Grahn and Voila, co-produced and directed by Geraldine Carr. Conni has several publications to her credit, including six of her plays and a comic memoir, Roadtripping: On the Move with the Buffalo Gals (Brindle and Glass Publishing). Her writing has been recognized by AMPIA, the Academy of Cinema and Television, the Betty Mitchell Awards, the Writers Guild of Alberta, and the Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards.

The Myth of Summer was first produced by Alberta Theatre Projects, Calgary, Alberta in Jan. 2005.

Bertha and Bertman by Zsolt Pozgai

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Drama/ 1 Man, 1 Woman/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis: Bertha, a nurse, lives peacefully in her apartment in Austria. She has had no success in finding a partner, but has resigned herself to the situation. One day, an unexpected guest arrives. Her love from grammar school — an established, wealthy man, youthful and athletic. But lonely. He lives with his mother, who is terminally ill. He needs somebody, a partner who loves him.

Bertha welcomes him. They live together. The man takes her on fabulous journeys. They sometimes visit his mother in the hospital. She is glad that her son is happy and has found someone.

Bertha and Bertman’s sexual, physical encounters are wonderful. Everything is perfect.

Then Bertman’s mother dies. Bertman thanks Bertha for everything she has done for him. Bertha realizes that the man was with her only to calm down his mother, to demonstrate that he had a partner, would have children, and his mother would have grandchildren. He pretended to enjoy their encounters, and pretended to be in love. But it was all a ruse.

Bertha is devastated. She kills the man. Everything she thought to be true, has turned out to be a lie. There is no mercy.

This drama is based on a real story.

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Zsolt Pozsgai
H-7630 Pécs, Tétény u. 28.
Ph.: 00-36-30-2791324
horatiofilm@gmail.com

About the Playwright: Award-winning dramatist Zsolt Pozsgai’s plays have been seen worldwide. He is a winner of the European Drama Award, and three-time winner of the Hungarian Playwright’s Competition. Liselotte in May, his most performed play, premiered at the Deutsches Theater, Budapest, Hungary, in May, 2002 and has since been seen in over 22 stagings from New York City to Geneva, Switzerland to Vancouver, Canada. By the end of 2014, 57 of Pozsgai’s pieces, including tragedies, comedies, farces, and plays with music, had been performed in 87 theatres. He has also worked widely as a stage director, and as a writer and director for film and TV.

Bertha and Bertman will premiere in Budapest, Hungary in February, 2022.