Comedy/ 15 men with doubling, 12 women/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis:
(from The Washington Post): “Kenneth Robbins story is rooted in a question that often must hit visitors to Savannah, Georgia. Why didn’t William Tecumseh Sherman continue those fires he set from Atlanta almost to the sea?

Robbins imagines Celestine, a spirited, individualistic young lady who discomfits her father and friends by sending a letter to Sherman, whose march through Georgia has frightened all, inviting him to their home for Christmas dinner. The General is happily piqued by this novel, indeed unique, invitation and arrives with a peacock’s proud anticipation.

Celestine has made thorough preparations. Being practical, she has recognized that setting fires takes matches and, aided by her Dorcas society friends, she has pretty much cornered the match market of Savannah and vicinity. Through wiles worthy of Scarlet O’Hara and manners worthy of Rhett Butler, the city is preserved. It’s an amusing, mocking conceit, but, after all, G. B. Shaw and R. E. Sherwood have had comparable fun rethinking history.”

“I relished Matchless.”
– Richard Coe, The Washington Post

“Matchless is an offbeat look at the fearsome general and a Georgia belle. Its theme would be that war is not only hell, but also ridiculous, especially juxtaposed to the civilian frivolity on which it intruded.”
– Robert Jennings, Memphis Commercial Appeal

“Provocative.”
– Ann Holmes, The Houston Chronicle

Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
c/o Dr. Dorothy Dodge Robbins
School of Literature and Language
Louisiana Tech University
Ruston, LA 71272
318-278-3863
email: krobbins@latech.edu

About the Playwright: Kenneth Robbins is the author of four published novels and 21 published plays, as well as four collections of literary works. His work has received the Toni Morrison Prize for Fiction, the Associated Writing Programs Novel Award, the Charles Getchell Award, and a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Award, among others.

His works for the stage have been produced by the New Works Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Nashville Academy Theatre, Theatre Atlanta Off Peachtree, and the Project Arts Center, Dublin, Ireland. His radio play, Dynamite Hill, was aired over National Public Radio and BBC Radio 3.

Matchless was first presented by the Festival of Southern Theatre, Oxford, Mississippi in 1987.