Comedy-Drama/ 2 characters, 1 man, 1 woman/ One Act

Synopsis: Liane and Jean’s spouses have driven off to pick up a fancy dessert at an all-night takeout service, and mysteriously disappeared. Their left-behind mates — who seem born not to get along — spar, commiserate, and exchange marital notes. As midnight turns into dawn, they are thrust into a new period of their lives, somewhere between idyll and nightmare.

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 pageants (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.

Flight From The Sticks was first produced at the Festival de l’Acte, Metz, France, in 1988.

Comedy/ 6 characters, 3 men, 3 women/ One Act

Synopsis: You Can Try It is a brisk comedy set in the eccentric Manion household, where the domineering presence of the late Judge Ezra Manion looms large—literally, in the form of an oversized portrait.

Widow Christine is convinced Ezra still haunts her, while her grown children, Lorraine and Delmore, struggle to exorcise his grip on the family. Lorraine’s fiancé Peter devises a faux séance, hoping to free them all from the Judge’s psychological stranglehold, but chaos—and hypnosis—ensue.

Daisy, Peter’s spunky sister, manipulates both minds and hearts, while Captain Ole Olsen, a bumbling suitor from Christine’s past, arrives to declare his long-simmering love. As tempers flare and identities blur, the living must face their ghosts—real or imagined.

This farce pokes affectionate fun at grief, guilt, and the absurd lengths people go to for love and liberation. In the end, healing may come . . . but not before a little havoc.

About the Playwright: George Freek’s plays have been produced by the Organic Theater in Chicago, the Milwaukee Repertory, the West Coast Ensemble in Los Angeles, and the Pittsburgh New Works Festival, as well as the 13th Street Theater, Love Creek Productions, and the Theater-Studio in New York. He has received grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts—the latter for a Residency at the New American Theater in Rockford, Illinois—and has also enjoyed residencies at Southern Methodist University and Southern Illinois University.

You Can Try It was first produced by Eclectic Theatre in Chicago, IL, USA, in August, 2022.

The Specialty
Le Beaubourgeois
Paris, France

Comedy-Drama/ 3 characters, 1 man, 2 women/ One Act

Synopsis: The Specialty is a bittersweet comedy that explores the passage of time and the evolution of human relationships. Set in a provincial French restaurant, the play spans decades, with scenes set in 1956, 1971, and 1983. It follows the interactions between Marielle, the restaurant owner, and a visiting couple, Alain and Dédette, whose lives intertwine with hers across these years.

In the 1950s, young and idealistic, Alain and Dédette stumble into Marielle’s eatery during a cycling trip, encountering her warmth and wisdom. Over time, their visits to the restaurant mirror their personal transformations, from romantic youth to disillusioned adulthood and finally, to a confrontation with their own nostalgia and choices.

Marielle, meanwhile, represents stability amidst change, her restaurant reflecting the evolving societal landscape. The play contrasts the characters’ dreams and disappointments, using humor and poignancy to address themes of love, ambition, and the inexorable march of time.

With sharp dialogue, the story is both a celebration of life’s simple pleasures and a meditation on its complexities, leaving audiences with a mix of laughter and reflection.

“A delicious ‘aperitif show’, light and charming.” – ELLE

“All aspects of human life are encompassed: suffering, exuberant joy, youthful freshness, resignation. An ambitious and artisanal play, mixing past and
present with a maximum of humor.” – Kirchlinteln

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 pageants (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 Specialty was first produced at Le Beaubourgeois, a restaurant in Paris, France, in October 1983.

“The poetry and tenderness of an Anouilh. Three meetings far apart in time define with a rare precision the churning of the Western world.” – Magazine Hebdo

“Light as a flaky pastry, sweet and perfumed as an apple tart.” – Le Parisien

Double Dreamburger
Théâtre de l’Opprimé
Paris, France

Comedy/ 7 characters, written for 5 actors, 3 men, 2 women (some doubling)/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis: Double Dreamburger is a nostalgic comedy that explores the cultural shifts and tensions between two bygone eras — the early 1950s and the late 1960s. Set in the Midwest, it alternates between a domestic living room and the surreal realm of dreams, blending sharp humor with poignant family dynamics.

At the heart of the story are siblings Ron and Milly, whose coming-of-age struggles mirror the era’s generational clashes. Ron’s scientific ambitions and Milly’s romantic entanglements with the eccentric Harvey challenge their overbearing mother Vera’s traditional values. Themes of love, rebellion, and self-discovery intertwine with absurdist comedy as dream sequences reveal deeper truths and personal yearnings.

Rossett employs caricature and satirical dialogue to depict the quirks and excesses of mid-century Americana, creating a vivid portrait of familial discord and societal transformation. The play juxtaposes youthful aspirations with the constraints of parental expectations, offering a bittersweet yet humorous commentary on identity, generational divides, and the fleeting nature of dreams.

“The most irresistibly wild play of the season.” – Le Quotidien de Paris

“A little crazy, sad, wicked, always funny.” – France Soir

“Whatever the exact meaning of the term black comedy, the latest show at the Australian
Theatre illustrates it.” – Sydney Morning Herald

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 pageants (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.

Double Dreamburger was first produced under the title High Time at the Hampstead Theatre Club, London, England in 1972.

“Always entertaining, often witty and compelling.” – Stage and Television Today

Punk Grandpa
FRIGID Festival
New York

Comedy/ 6 characters, 3 men, 3 women/ One Act

Synopsis: Punk Grandpa is a modern-day Auntie Mame with the genders switched. It’s all about being different, being yourself, and the value of the grandparent/grandchild relationship.

The story takes place one magical weekend when 8-and-3/4-years old Laura stays over with her grandparents. She’s a misfit and very serious young lady. Grandpa is an uninhibited prankster with a . . . unique sense of humor. Together, they’re an irresistible duo.

Using storytelling, dance, music, a little bit of puppetry, and vintage family movies and photos to tell its tale, Punk Grandpa also touches on the topics of enduring love, the joys of Big Band jazz and how to style your life after it, and — as Laura later remembers Grandpa’s final years — Alzheimer’s. (It’s been presented as a fund-raiser for various Alzheimer’s associations.)

As Grandpa likes to say, it’ll put hair on your chest.

From Theatre Is Easy, NYC: “As in love and memory, Punk Grandpa magnifies and celebrates the little moments with those we cherish, honoring the idiosyncrasies that define a person and the relationships that define our lives.”

Punk Grandpa received the Sold Out Show and Hangover Awards at the 2016 Frigid New York Festival, bringing it back for an additional performance. Performing it in the original one-person play version, playwright Laura Scruggs won the Outstanding Performance in a Solo Show Award at the 2015 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity in New York.

“For a young girl, even a seemingly innocuous trip to the bank is a magically wondrous adventure when mixed with a grandfather’s bawdy humor and complete lack of filter.” – My Entertainment World/My Theatre, NYC

About the Playwright: LaurA! Force Scruggs was a Playwright in Residence at Three Cat Productions in Chicago, and Resident Playwright in 2021 and 2023 for Write On, Door County in Wisconsin. She has her B.S. in Elementary Education, with a Jr. High/Middle School Theatre endorsement and M.A. in Communication, Media and Theatre. She taught theatre for about 10 years (ages 18 months to senior citizens) in a variety of environments, and sometimes teaches kids how to be fairies.

Punk Grandpa has been produced at over 30 venues, in cities including Chicago, Orlando, New York, Adelaide, Tampa, and Los Angeles. Laura also produced and directed Uncle Fun: You’re The One, a documentary about the late Chicago toy store, Uncle Fun, and its creator, Ted Frankel, which has been featured at several festivals and has won numerous awards. She loves playing with her nieces and nephews, thrift shopping, reading, exploring, and creative reuse centers. 

Punk Grandpa was first produced at the Chicago Fringe Festival, Chicago, Illinois, in August 2013.

“I loved ‘Punk Grandpa’ . . . . Sweetly honest and heartrending.” – NoHo Arts District, L.A

“While its psychedelic trappings and goofy humor delight, it’s Punk Grandpa’s honest simplicity which gives the play its real beauty.” – Theatre Is Easy, NYC