One Acts, Ten Minute Plays and Theatre Pieces
Recent Publications:
Keep Breathing
a short play published in 5-Minute Plays, Applause Books, NYC
an imprint of Hal Leonard LLC, MN
Billy's monologue from the play The Wakeville Stories
published in Best Male Stage Monologues 2016,
published by Smith and Krause, Portsmouth, NH.
Porch By Moonlight (10 minutes)
Produced in New York City. Named “Best of the Festival”
2009 NYC Westside YMCA Short Play Festival
Dori (James’s mother, mid-40s, a widow)
Steph (James’s fiancée, early 20s)
Setting: Small town America,
the porch of a 1920s era working class frame house.
The fall of 2004, during the Iraq war. Two women meet
on the older woman’s porch night after night, awaiting James,
an Iraqi war vet, to emerge from his locked room. The play
takes place several months after the abuses at the military
prison at Abu Ghraib have been made public.
Ophelia Cordelia (10 minutes)
Finalist in the Red Bull New Play Festival
Ophelia, from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, 20s
Cordelia, from Shakespeare’s King Lear, 20s to 30s
The two women meet in a darkened empty theatre and try to
escape from their stories that they must play out over and over.
First produced at the Rosendale Theatre’s New Play Festival,
Rosendale, NY, April 2012.
Directed by Susan Einhorn
The Waiting Time (10 minutes)
Lion, Adult Male
Impala, Adult Female
Gorilla, Young Female
Wild Boar, Young Male
Four captured African animals, in their holding pens,
discuss their lives as free beings as they await their fates.
Each animal is shackled. The actors wear prison orange jumpsuits
and one item that identifies each animal. No masks should be used.
An early version of this play (longer and with additional characters)
was performed as part of an evening titled, Anthropomorphosis,
produced by The Michael Chekov Project and The Studio Upstairs
at the Producer’s Club in New York City in the fall of 2003,
directed by David Cohen. A second current version of
The Waiting Time had a reading at the Mohonk Mountain Stage
Company in New Paltz, NY in October 2006.
The American Auditions (20 minutes)
Man #1 mid to late 20s
Man #2 mid to late 20s
Woman #1 early 20s
Woman #2 early 20s
A Man in an electric chair and a Women preparing backstage at a
sex club speak about their lives and what brings them to this moment
where their lives meet and end.
The two male actors play the same character: “The Man”
The two female actors play the same character: “The Woman”
The men and women speak in monologues, sometimes to themselves,
ometimes to each other.
The men should look somewhat alike and be dressed identically.
The same holds for the women.
CASTING NOTE: The play can also be done with 1 woman and 1 man.
Time: Near our own
Place: The outskirts of small town America
Script History
The one act play, The American Auditions, has had a long history.
The work, subtitled “A Meditation on Sex and Violence”, was first conceived
and drafted in 1983 as a theatrical response to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska album.
It was also created as a companion piece to another one act, Scenes From Soviet Life,
a series of theatrical snap-shots depicting life under Soviet rule in the late 1970s
and early 1980s.
The first staging of The American Auditions (along with the Soviet play, under
the collective title, Bourbon and Vodka) was at The SSDC (Society of Stage Directors
and Choreographers) New Play Reading Series at Lincoln Center in October of 1984.
The director was Gavin Cameron-Webb and the cast featured Jimmy Smits and
Jacqueline Riggs.
The second staging of The American Auditions and its Soviet counterpart was in
March, 1987 at the The New York Theatre Workshop, directed of David Esbjornson.
Tony Kushner served there as literary manager/dramaturg. The cast featured
John C. McGinley and Park Overall.
Over the next years, the two acts separated and The American Auditions transformed
into performance pieces for three women, a solo piece for a man, and was broken up into
shorter monologues. In October 2003, the piece was produced in its entirety by The Michael
Chekhov Project in NYC, under the direction of David Cohen. The play was part of an evening
of one-acts, Detours: Expect Delays and the cast included Jason Rohloff, Doug Nyman, Cyan
Corwine and Jessica Pagan. The current version of The American Auditions, for four actors,
has remained the finalized script.
I Miss Communism (25-30 minutes)
Michael/Mikhail, 32, businessman, import/export
Anna, 29, his fiancé, a teacher of preschool children
Boris, over 100 years old; the last of the old guard
Bolshevik revolutionaries, Mikhail’s Grandfather
The Teacher
Peter
Olga
Note: The actor playing Mikhail also plays the Teacher and Peter.
The actor playing Anna also plays Olga
Time: Spring, 1995 or later
Setting: An old age home/hospital outside Moscow
First produced at Mohonk Mountain Stage Company Reader’s Theatre,
New Paltz, NY
This play was an expanded version of a scene from the one-act:
Scenes From Soviet Life.
Baklava, a play for voices (20 minutes)
A Male Voice
A Female Voice
Two voices, male and female, try to remember their relationship
as they sift through past memories, both real and imaginary.
The piece has been produced both as a play for voices and as
a fully mounted stage play.
History
Baklava was originally commissioned by The Sound Foundation, Inc., for the National Public Radio program, “Airworks” with the voices of the author and Naomi Kay. It was then produced onstage by The Aegean Theatre Company in New York City with actors Ed Baker and Danette Baker. It was later translated into Slovak and broadcast on Slovak Republic Public Radio in Bratislava. It was also produced as a play for voices at The State University at New Paltz, read by Eva Tenuto and the author.
Carving In Bamboo (a film, stage play and play for voices and a short story)
20-29 minutes
The film and theatre piece:
A Man played by Jonathan Freeman
Voices: David Emge and Naomi Kay
Setting: A room
The film played at the Independent Film Festival in New York City.
It was later produced as a play for voices and written as a short story.
Wise Fools, a Commedia play (45-50 minutes)
Produced at The GeVa Theatre 1979, directed by the author.
In Renaissance Italy, five Commedia performers are thrown into prison for offending The Duke.
They are put under penalty of death unless they can come up with something funny. The pressure is on!
“ . . . outrageous humor (and) stunning when the play turned at the end from slapstick comedy to serious drama.
It shouldn’t be missed.”
Rochester Times-Union
Scenes From Soviet Life (20-40 minutes)
Produced as a staged reading at the New York Theatre Workshop.
David Esbjornson, director
A series of theatrical snap-shots depicting life under Soviet rule in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
One scene was produced at Mohonk Mountain Stage Company New Paltz, NY.
The D’Artangan Project (20 minutes)
The play was produced at the New City Theatre in Seattle
in the early 1980s
A robot inventor, Croyden Scloot, perfects his humanoid companions all too well.
Keep Breathing
a short play published in 5-Minute Plays, Applause Books, NYC
an imprint of Hal Leonard LLC, MN
Billy's monologue from the play The Wakeville Stories
published in Best Male Stage Monologues 2016,
published by Smith and Krause, Portsmouth, NH.
Porch By Moonlight (10 minutes)
Produced in New York City. Named “Best of the Festival”
2009 NYC Westside YMCA Short Play Festival
Dori (James’s mother, mid-40s, a widow)
Steph (James’s fiancée, early 20s)
Setting: Small town America,
the porch of a 1920s era working class frame house.
The fall of 2004, during the Iraq war. Two women meet
on the older woman’s porch night after night, awaiting James,
an Iraqi war vet, to emerge from his locked room. The play
takes place several months after the abuses at the military
prison at Abu Ghraib have been made public.
Ophelia Cordelia (10 minutes)
Finalist in the Red Bull New Play Festival
Ophelia, from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, 20s
Cordelia, from Shakespeare’s King Lear, 20s to 30s
The two women meet in a darkened empty theatre and try to
escape from their stories that they must play out over and over.
First produced at the Rosendale Theatre’s New Play Festival,
Rosendale, NY, April 2012.
Directed by Susan Einhorn
The Waiting Time (10 minutes)
Lion, Adult Male
Impala, Adult Female
Gorilla, Young Female
Wild Boar, Young Male
Four captured African animals, in their holding pens,
discuss their lives as free beings as they await their fates.
Each animal is shackled. The actors wear prison orange jumpsuits
and one item that identifies each animal. No masks should be used.
An early version of this play (longer and with additional characters)
was performed as part of an evening titled, Anthropomorphosis,
produced by The Michael Chekov Project and The Studio Upstairs
at the Producer’s Club in New York City in the fall of 2003,
directed by David Cohen. A second current version of
The Waiting Time had a reading at the Mohonk Mountain Stage
Company in New Paltz, NY in October 2006.
The American Auditions (20 minutes)
Man #1 mid to late 20s
Man #2 mid to late 20s
Woman #1 early 20s
Woman #2 early 20s
A Man in an electric chair and a Women preparing backstage at a
sex club speak about their lives and what brings them to this moment
where their lives meet and end.
The two male actors play the same character: “The Man”
The two female actors play the same character: “The Woman”
The men and women speak in monologues, sometimes to themselves,
ometimes to each other.
The men should look somewhat alike and be dressed identically.
The same holds for the women.
CASTING NOTE: The play can also be done with 1 woman and 1 man.
Time: Near our own
Place: The outskirts of small town America
Script History
The one act play, The American Auditions, has had a long history.
The work, subtitled “A Meditation on Sex and Violence”, was first conceived
and drafted in 1983 as a theatrical response to Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska album.
It was also created as a companion piece to another one act, Scenes From Soviet Life,
a series of theatrical snap-shots depicting life under Soviet rule in the late 1970s
and early 1980s.
The first staging of The American Auditions (along with the Soviet play, under
the collective title, Bourbon and Vodka) was at The SSDC (Society of Stage Directors
and Choreographers) New Play Reading Series at Lincoln Center in October of 1984.
The director was Gavin Cameron-Webb and the cast featured Jimmy Smits and
Jacqueline Riggs.
The second staging of The American Auditions and its Soviet counterpart was in
March, 1987 at the The New York Theatre Workshop, directed of David Esbjornson.
Tony Kushner served there as literary manager/dramaturg. The cast featured
John C. McGinley and Park Overall.
Over the next years, the two acts separated and The American Auditions transformed
into performance pieces for three women, a solo piece for a man, and was broken up into
shorter monologues. In October 2003, the piece was produced in its entirety by The Michael
Chekhov Project in NYC, under the direction of David Cohen. The play was part of an evening
of one-acts, Detours: Expect Delays and the cast included Jason Rohloff, Doug Nyman, Cyan
Corwine and Jessica Pagan. The current version of The American Auditions, for four actors,
has remained the finalized script.
I Miss Communism (25-30 minutes)
Michael/Mikhail, 32, businessman, import/export
Anna, 29, his fiancé, a teacher of preschool children
Boris, over 100 years old; the last of the old guard
Bolshevik revolutionaries, Mikhail’s Grandfather
The Teacher
Peter
Olga
Note: The actor playing Mikhail also plays the Teacher and Peter.
The actor playing Anna also plays Olga
Time: Spring, 1995 or later
Setting: An old age home/hospital outside Moscow
First produced at Mohonk Mountain Stage Company Reader’s Theatre,
New Paltz, NY
This play was an expanded version of a scene from the one-act:
Scenes From Soviet Life.
Baklava, a play for voices (20 minutes)
A Male Voice
A Female Voice
Two voices, male and female, try to remember their relationship
as they sift through past memories, both real and imaginary.
The piece has been produced both as a play for voices and as
a fully mounted stage play.
History
Baklava was originally commissioned by The Sound Foundation, Inc., for the National Public Radio program, “Airworks” with the voices of the author and Naomi Kay. It was then produced onstage by The Aegean Theatre Company in New York City with actors Ed Baker and Danette Baker. It was later translated into Slovak and broadcast on Slovak Republic Public Radio in Bratislava. It was also produced as a play for voices at The State University at New Paltz, read by Eva Tenuto and the author.
Carving In Bamboo (a film, stage play and play for voices and a short story)
20-29 minutes
The film and theatre piece:
A Man played by Jonathan Freeman
Voices: David Emge and Naomi Kay
Setting: A room
The film played at the Independent Film Festival in New York City.
It was later produced as a play for voices and written as a short story.
Wise Fools, a Commedia play (45-50 minutes)
Produced at The GeVa Theatre 1979, directed by the author.
In Renaissance Italy, five Commedia performers are thrown into prison for offending The Duke.
They are put under penalty of death unless they can come up with something funny. The pressure is on!
“ . . . outrageous humor (and) stunning when the play turned at the end from slapstick comedy to serious drama.
It shouldn’t be missed.”
Rochester Times-Union
Scenes From Soviet Life (20-40 minutes)
Produced as a staged reading at the New York Theatre Workshop.
David Esbjornson, director
A series of theatrical snap-shots depicting life under Soviet rule in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
One scene was produced at Mohonk Mountain Stage Company New Paltz, NY.
The D’Artangan Project (20 minutes)
The play was produced at the New City Theatre in Seattle
in the early 1980s
A robot inventor, Croyden Scloot, perfects his humanoid companions all too well.