Comedy/ 7 Characters, 4 Men, 3 Women/ Full Length, Two Acts
Synopsis: (from Between the Lines [Detroit]): “Abby and Dan are a successful married couple whose children are grown and out of the house. The peace and solitude they enjoy, however, abruptly changes when Abby invites her newly widowed mother-in-law, Sarah, to move in with them. In a classic case of one-upmanship common amongst in-laws, Sarah immediately phones Claudia, Abby’s mother, to tell her the good news. Not to be out maneuvered, Claudia masterfully applies the guilt routine with Dan, and before you know it, both mothers-in-law have packed their belongings and moved in with their now beleaguered children.
“The first act regales the audience with the problems that ensue once the widows stake their claim to the newly combined household. The second act reveals what happens when the former enemies find their common ground and become every parent’s worst nightmare, but with a twist: instead of their children running wild and carousing late into the night, it’s their parents who are behaving badly. Or are they?”
“A hilarious new comedy.”
– Between the Lines (Detroit)“Will trigger nostalgic laughs and shudders over matters maternal.”
– Providence Phoenix“Christner has a real gift for clever dialogue in which a play on words can get bounced between two or more characters in bouts of witty repartee.”
– Detroit Monitor
Amateur and professional rights:
David W. Christner
585 Indian Corner Road
Saunderstown, RI 02874-2120
E-mail: playwright43@gmail.com
About the Playwright: David W. Christner was born in Sweetwater, Tennessee and raised in a small farming community in southwestern Oklahoma. He received a BA and an MA from the University of Oklahoma. Two plays of his Vietnam Trilogy — The Wall and Bui-Doi: The Dust of Live — have been recognized in national playwriting competitions, and The Walk, Red Hot Mamas, The Babe, The Bard, and the Baron, The Bitch of Baily’s Beach, Ezra and Evil, and This Blood’s For You have also been finalists or winners in national/international playwriting competitions. His plays have been produced throughout the United States, as well as in Canada and Australia. Mr. Christner is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Inc., the Theatre Communications Group, and is published by The Dramatic Publishing Company.
Red Hot Mamas was first produced under the title Family Matters by the Canberra Repertory Company, Australia in 1999 and received its professional premiere at the Detroit Repertory Theatre in June, 2002. Since then it has been seen in India, Russia, Canada, Italy, and Ghana.
“Christner’s witty and adult-oriented script has created characters who are sympathetic and believable, yet never caricatures that are there simply to be laughed at.”
– Curtain Calls (Detroit)“Brilliantly funny.”
– The Morning Sun (Qualicum Beach, B.C.)