Category Archives: Dramas

Fateville by Gary L. Blackwood

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Drama/ 8 Characters, 6 Men, 2 Woman/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis: After Arly Banks, sick of living in poverty, runs off with a traveling book seller, his parents are determined not to let the same thing happen again. In an attempt to make life better for their daughter, Bonnie, they take to murdering travelers for their money and keep the girl a virtual prisoner in the house.

But then a handsome young stranger from St. Louis, stranded there in a storm, threatens to steal her away. The parents do him in, only to discover that he was their long-lost son. The story is based on an Ozark folk tale.

 

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Gary L. Blackwood
Box 215
Tatamagouche, NS
B0K 1V0
Email: garylblackwood@gmail.com

About the Playwright: Gary L. Blackwood’s first published novel, Wild Timothy (Atheneum), was a Weekly Reader Book Club selection and was translated into several languages. The Dying Sun (Atheneum) was voted Best YA Novel of 1989 by Friends of American Writers. Moonshine (Cavendish) was named a Notable Children’s Book of 1999 by Smithsonian Magazine. The Shakespeare Stealer (Dutton) was a Junior Library Guild Selection, a Scholastic Book Club selection, and one of School Library Journal’s Best Books. The American Library Association placed it on its lists of Notable Children’s Books and Best Books for Young Adults. The sequel, Shakespeare’s Scribe, is a Smithsonian Notable Book and an ALA Best Books for Young Adults.Mr. Blackwood’s stage plays have been produced in regional and university theatres. As winner of the 1993 Missouri Scriptworks, Dark Horse, a historical courtroom drama, was given a staged reading in St. Louis; the following year it won a playwriting competition at the Ferndale Repertory Theatre, where it was given a full production. His stage adaptation of Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome is published by Baker’s Plays, and an adaptation of The Shakespeare Stealerpremiered at The Kennedy Center in March, 2002.

Fateville awaits its first production.

Flowers In The Desert by Donna Hoke

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"Flowers in the Desert"
Comedy-Drama/ 2 Characters, 1 Man, 1 Woman/ One Act

Synopsis: After 14 years of marriage, Britt and Joe called it quits, so Joe is surprised when, three years later, Britt asks him to try again. Cheater Joe still loves his ex and their boys, so he’s willing to go along with date-nights and counseling — until he realizes that Britt has a very specific agenda.

“Passionate, thought-provoking and extremely truthful.” – Marina Lai, Delano Luxembourg

Semi-Finalist, Theatre 503 Playwriting Award, Theatre 503, 2016

Semi-Finalist, AACT New Play Contest, American Association of Community Theaters, 2013

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A portion of Flowers In The Desert may be read by clicking on the “Read It Now” button above. To obtain a complete reading copy, contact the playwright at donna@donnahoke.com

Contact Information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Donna Hoke
donna@donnahoke.com
Ph.: 973-919-2038
Playwright’s website: donnahoke.com
Representation: Patricia McLaughlin, Beacon Agency
beaconagency@hotmail.com
212-736-6630

About the Playwright: Donna’s work has been seen in 47 states and on five continents, including at Barrington Stage, Barrow Group, Celebration Theatre, Gulfshore Theatre, Queens Theatre, The Road, Writers Theatre New Jersey, Phoenix Theatre, Atlantic Stage, Purple Rose, Skylight, Pride Films and Plays, New Jersey Rep, Hens and Chickens (London), The Galway Fringe Festival, and Actors Repertory Theatre of Luxembourg. Plays include BRILLIANT WORKS OF ART (Kilroys List), ELEVATOR GIRL (O’Neill and Princess Grace finalist), SAFE (winner of the Todd McNerney, Naatak, and Great Gay Play and Musical Contests), and TEACH (Gulfshore New Works winner). She has been nominated for the Primus, Blackburn, and Laura Pels prizes, and is a three-time winner of the Emanuel Fried Award for Outstanding New Play (SEEDS, SONS & LOVERS, ONCE IN MY LIFETIME). She has also received an Individual Artist Award from the New York State Council on the Arts to develop HEARTS OF STONE, and, in its final three years, Artvoice named her Buffalo’s Best Writer—the only woman to ever receive the designation. 

Donna also serves on the Dramatists Guild Council, is an ensemble playwright at Road Less Traveled Productions, blogger, moderator of the 12,000+-member Official Playwrights of Facebook, New York Times-published crossword puzzle constructor; children’s and trivia book author; and founder/co-curator of BUA Takes 10: GLBT Short Stories. Speaking engagements include Citywrights, Kenyon Playwrights Conference, the Dramatists Guild National Conference, Chicago Dramatists, the Austin Film Festival, and a live Dramatists Guild webinar. Her commentary has been seen on #2amt, howlround, The Dramatist, the Official Playwrights of Facebook, Workshopping the New Play (Applause, 2017), and at donnahoke.com.

Gina and Fidel by Zsolt Pozsgai

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Gina and Fidel

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

Synopsis: In 1974, in “the capital city of an island nation,” the actress Gina Lollobrigida is determined to make a documentary about Fidel Castro. But interviewing a man who is the constant target of assassination attempts is no easy matter. Gina and Fidel is inspired by the author’s personal acquaintance with Lollobrigida and the stories she told of her meeting with the Cuban leader.

 

 

 

 

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Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Zsolt Pozsgai
H-7630 Pécs, Tétény u. 28.
Ph.: 00-36-30-2791324

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.

Gina and Fidel was first produced at the Theatre of Satire in Sofia, Bulgaria in April, 2016.

Girl At Her Mirror by Alan Rossett

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Comedy-Drama/ 1 Character, played by 2 Women/ Full Length, 80 minutes

Synopsis:
Who hasn’t dreamed of looking in a mirror and seeing the person one once was . . . or the one who’s waiting ahead.

Two actresses, one young, one old, trace the journey of Olivia, from her conventional beginnings in the French provinces, through her tumultous collisions with the art world . . . her first affair with a macho cubist . . . her marriage to a portraitist specialising in beautiful women . . . the Paradise that turns into Hell for both of them.

Adorable? Deplorable? Scheming? Generous? At the age of 70, she’s lost nothing of her cutting edge. On a live TV show, she reveals all her truths, all her secrets . . . and those of everybody else!

“A very moving evening in the theatre, a must-see.”
– Théâtreauteur

“Light, funny and utterly charming . . . the essence of Alan Rossett.”
– FR 3

“A lovely comedy . . . The author humorously traces two faces of the same woman to which two actresses lend moving reflections.”
– Dumas Theatre

“Tenderly but sardonically the author gets to the roots of one woman’s destiny, from the 1950’s to the present.”
– Direct Matin

“A gripping play bristling with truth.”
– Théâtre contemoprain.tv

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Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Alan Rossett
91, rue Nollet
75017 Paris
France
Ph.: (33) (0) 1 42 63 98 14
E-mail: 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. Au Pair Girls premiered in Paris and was revived successfully at the Avignon Festival where it was nominated for a PIAF as comedy of the year.

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.

Girl at her Mirror was first produced at the Comédie Nation, Paris, France in 2009, prior to an extensive tour.

Grace Notes by Rachel Rubin Ladutke

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Drama/ 9 Characters, 7 Women, 2 Men (some doubling possible)/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis: A heartfelt drama about three generations of a New England family. The story follows Grace, a feisty, witty American woman, over fifty years of her life, from her marriage in 1946 (as she attempts to reassure her about-to-be step-daughter — “I want you to love me, someday”), through 1994, as her own daughter and granddaughter struggle to reconnect after many years apart. Like its remarkable central character, Grace Notes is warm, rueful, and finally optimistic.

“…A wonderful family story about coping with conflict . . . poignant and funny.”
– Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

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Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Rachel Rubin Ladutke
Tel.: 212-875-7785
Email: rachel@rachelwrites.com
www.rachelwrites.com

About the Playwright: Rachel Rubin Ladutke is a playwright based in New York City. Grace Notes, her first full-length drama, has been widely excerpted in various monologue and scene anthologies. As one of four winners of the Pittsburgh New Plays Competition, this play premiered at Pittsburgh’s Gemini Theatre in February 2000. Later that same year, it was staged at The Looking Glass Theatre in NYC.

The Belles of the Mill, a fact-based historical epic, was a stageplay Finalist in the 2001 Moondance Film Festival, and Runner-Up in the Coe College Playwriting Symposia and in America’s Best Writing Competition. It has been excerpted in three anthologies. Her latest full-length play, Clary’s Exodus, was awarded Honorable Mention in the prestigious Jane Chambers competition.

Rachel is a member of the Looking Glass Theatre Playwrights’ Lab, Membership Director of the International Centre for Women Playwrights, and an Associate Member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and of the Dramatists’ Guild.

Guns, Shackles & Wintercoats by M. Stefan Strozier

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Drama/ 8 characters, 6 Men, 2 Women/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis (from The Compulsive Reader): “Sergeant John Brown has returned to the States from his tour in Iraq with a wife he met in Germany. His traumatic experiences as a soldier have left him with serious psychological problems; he is unable to keep a job, and he and his wife are experiencing marital difficulties. He feels he has post traumatic stress syndrome, but the Veterans administration doctors disagree.”

From NewYorkTheatre.com: “He can’t seem to hold a job. His whole world is falling apart. Strozier shows us the various pitfalls he encounters while trying to adjust to civilian life, and, via well-written flashbacks, takes us back to the battlegrounds.”

“If Strozier’s purpose is to get people to talk and think about our veterans, he has succeeded . . . . this play will find its way deeper into our hearts, where there is definitely room for it.”
NewYorkTheatre.com

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information: Amateur and professional rights:
M. Stefan Strozier
303 Park Avenue South
Suite 1440
New York, NY 10010-3657
Email: mstefanstrozier@gmail.com
Playwright’s website: www.mstefanstrozier.org

About the Playwright: M. Stefan Strozier has been published in Gallery, War Heroes; the Taj Mahal Review; Entropic Desires (online); the op-ed pages of the Chicago Sun Times; in several poetry collections; and in a self-published collection of short stories, Sickness of the Young. His other plays include The Whales and The Tragedy of Abraham Lincoln, both produced by La Muse Venale Acting Troupe on New York City. He has also produced and directed numerous play off-off-Broadway, and is founder and president of the ezine Audience.Guns, Shackles & Wintercoats was first performed at The Workshop Theater Company, New York City, in August, 2004, and produced by La Muse Venale Acting Troupe at Where Eagles Dare Theatre as part of the 2005 Midtown International Theatre Festival.
If you prefer, click here to buy a printed copy.

Hello, Last Page Of My Life! by Julia Britton

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Drama – Comedy/ 17 Characters, 7 Men, 4 Women, 6 Either/Or/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis: The story of Anton Chekhov as seen from the perspective of the two women in his life: Actress Olga Knipper, his mistress and later wife, and his devoted sister Masha. They struggled, sometimes bitterly, for his love during his lifetime and, after his death, for their part in perpetuating his memory.

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A portion of Hello, Last Page of My Life may be read by clicking on the “Read It Now” button above. To obtain a complete reading copy, contact Simon Britton at simonbritton88@gmail.com.

Production rights requests:
Simon Britton
simonbritton88@gmail.com

About the Playwright: Julia Britton (1914-2012) graduated at Manchester University (Hons, Classics, Hons. English) and worked as a journalist and university teacher before she became a playwright. Her plays have had productions at The Stage Company (Adelaide, Australia), The Blue Room (Perth), La Mama (Carlton), Performing Arts Productions (Melbourne), and Theatreworks (Melbourne). Her play Miles Franklin and the Rainbow’s End was chosen for performance at the San Antonio Festival, Texas, produced by The Stage Company of South Australia, and later performed at the Festival Centre, Adelaide.

She wrote and adapted numerous plays for Performing Arts Productions, including Lady Chatterley’s Lover (seven seasons nationally in Australia), Women in Love (Rippon Lea), Loving Friends (two seasons at Rippon Lea), An Indian Summer (Rippon Lea), Little Lord Fauntleroy (Rippon Lea), The Secret Garden (seven seasons including Adelaide), Anne of Green Gables (two seasons in Perth and Melbourne), and The Lost (two seasons in Melbourne at the Old Treasury Building).

Other plays include Hello, Last Page of My Life, Magdalena Amati, Somehow the Times Passes, and Internet Baby (all seen in readings at La Mama), The Children, The Professor (reading at Rippon Lea), Erotica in Black and White (reading Adelaide, Theatre 62, short version performed in Adelaide at Lion Theatre), and Mrs. Bloem.

Her music theatre includes Faith, Folk and Fun (at the National Gallery of Victoria) and The Music of Milhaud (two seasons at the University of Adelaide and the National University Canberra). Robbie Burns: The Farmer Poet and The Young Lord Byron were produced at the Scottish Festival at the Opera House, Omaru in New Zealand. Awards and Nominations include the AWGIE Award (Monte Miller Award) for Exit and Entrances, directed John Edwards; Best Play Award, ABC Radio, Queensland; and a nomination for the Victorian Green Room Award for In Transit.

Hello, Last Page of My Life! was first performed at La Mama, Carlton, Australia in October, 2003.

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.

In Rebel Country by Kevin Barry

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Drama/ 3 characters, 2 Men, 1 Woman/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis (from The Cincinnati Enquirer): “The lessons of youth, discovered and undiscovered, are what confront two small-town friends as they make a trek from Elm Creek, Neb., to Fairmount, Ind., to visit the grave of their screen idol, James Dean.

“Johnnie is an obsessive movie buff who can name the year and director of seemingly every film ever made. Jamie has narrowed his obsession strictly to James Dean. He knows every fact from Mr. Dean’s few years (or does he?) and would rather live Mr. Dean’s life than his own.

“Along the way, they pick up Lizzie, a savvy hitchhiker from Los Angeles who alters their journey and adds an element of potential violence to the trip.”

“Mr. Barry sends his characters through the rebel country of the American Midwest, a sort of empty heartland without a heart. He adeptly blends flashes of humor and poetry to the gritty language and stark reality of this engaging highway to the unknown. . . . edgy and engrossing.”
– The Cincinnati Enquirer

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Kevin Barry
Ph.: 513-831-4421
E-mail: barrywerks@cinci.rr.com

About the Playwright: Kevin Barry is a native New Yorker and a member of the Dramatists Guild, as well as a founding member of Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative. His plays include: I Will Love You at 8PM Next Wednesday (Los Angeles, Cincinnati),Remember I’ll Always Be True (Los Angeles, Cincinnati), The Secret of Durable Pigments (Denver), American Standard (Chicago, Denver, Cincinnati), Remembering Juliet (Cincinnati), Him (New York, Cincinnati), The Portable Max (Cincinnati), Distracted by the Landscape (Los Angeles), In Rebel Country (Cincinnati), and Track and Field (Cincinnati), which was also nominated for the American Theatre Critics Association Award.

In Rebel Country was first produced by the Know Theatre Tribe, Cincinnati, Ohio in May, 2000
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In Search of Red River Dog by Sandra Perlman

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In Search of Red River Dog

Drama/ 4 Characters, 2 Women, 2 Men / Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis:
(From the Newark Star-Ledger): “Are people who live in trailers necessarily ‘trailer trash’? Playwright Sandra Perlman is out to refute the stereotype in ‘In Search of Red River Dog.’

“Though Paulette and Denny live in a ‘sardine can,’ they’re an eloquent and devoted couple, thanks to Perlman’s fresh dialogue. Not that the young marrieds don’t have problems. Denny’s out of work, which doesn’t help Paulette’s dreams of going to college. Worse, their baby has died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Their prospects have tarnished in the few years since Denny nearly became the football team’s MVP, and Paulette almost won the title of the town’s Apple Butter Queen.

“The playwright spends the second act replacing the couple’s dreams of a better life with far less savory alternatives. She suggests that there’s no escape from such a lower-middle-class life, and that poverty will eventually overwhelm even the brightest minds. What makes this a genuine tragedy is Perlman’s ability to rouse sympathy for these two kids, who had the raw material to succeed.”

“Perlman’s well-written piece captures the frustration of men who see their jobs vanish and their women grow stronger than themselves. Sam Shepard-like in its starkness, realism, and family dysfunction, Perlman nevertheless has a voice of her own…. NJ Rep once again has produced high quality theatre with an edge…”
– BackStage

“Once again New Jersey Repertory Company proves itself to be a fledgling playwright’s best friend, consistently giving new plays most remarkable productions. This is one of its better choices”
– The Newark Star-Ledger

“Sam Shepardesque in a stark, reality driven, highly emotional way” – Asbury Park Press

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Sandra Perlman
429 Carthage Avenue
Kent OH 44240
USA
Ph.: (330) 673-8632
E-mail: perl@sperlman.com
Playwright’s website: www.sperlman.com

About the Playwright: Sandra Perlman is an award-winning playwright and teacher with more than a dozen plays produced on stages around the world, including The Cleveland PlayHouse, New Jersey Repertory and many small theaters and universities. In 2011, her full length dramaJocasta was translated into Hindi and performed in India, In Search of Red River Dog appeared in Nice, France, and her newest script, 2/Caught, was a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Her play Lunacy premiered at Dobama Theatre in May, 2007 as part of The Cleveland PlayHouse FusionFest. Perlman is the recipient of three Ohio Arts Council fellowships in playwriting for In Search of Red River Dog, Cliff Diving and most recentlySwann. She has also been nominated for the American Theatre Critics Association’s M. Elizabeth Osborn Award for Emerging Playwright. A former writer-host for PBS television Channels 45/49, Perlman has taught and lectured about playwriting at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland State University, and currently teaches playwriting at Kent State University. Excerpts from her plays have been published in anthologies by Dramatic Publishing, Smith & Kraus and the Middle Tennessee State University Press.

In Search of Red River Dog was first produced at the University of Ohio (Dayton) and received its professional premiere at the New Jersey Repertory Company in October, 2000.