After Happily
4-9w, 1-2m (doubling possible)
Various settings
Synopsis:
Five short plays exploring what happens after “happily ever after” to various fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters: “Spring Visit”, “Tumbling, Tumbling After”, “Hortense and Birdie”, “A New Agenda”, and “Gone to the Dogs”. The plays may be performed individually or together.
Staged Readings:
Triangle Network of Theatres New Play Reading Series in Raleigh, North Carolina (2002); OutCharlotte Cultural Festival, Charlotte, North Carolina (2001).
Productions:
“Tumbling, Tumbling After” was produced by Off-Tryon Theatre Company in Charlotte, North Carolina (2003) and Informall Theatre Company in Greensboro, North Carolina (2001).
Awards:
“Gone to the Dogs” was a finalist for Emerging Artist Theatre Company’s EatFest in New York City (2003). “Spring Visit” received a Special Citation from Buntville Crew’s Prix Hors Pair in Buckley, Illinois (2000).
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Blessed Assurance
One-person play
1m
Various settings
Synopsis:
A stage adaptation of the novella by Allan Gurganus from his book, White People.
Productions:
Essential Theatre Company in Richmond, Virginia (2005); Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, North Carolina (2004). |
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Falling So Slowly
Comedy/Drama
3m, Interior
Synopsis:
Falling So Slowly chronicles the first weeks of a relationship between Bobby, a young white man from Alabama who recently relocated to New York City, and Grant, an African American musician from Philadelphia who has lived in Manhattan for several years. Bobby and Grant quickly connect sexually, but they struggle to find the rapport that will allow them to express their wants, their needs, and their private truths.
Awards:
Winner, Carolina Contemporary Playwrights’ Festival, Charlotte, North Carolina (2004)
Productions:
Fly-on-the-Wall Productions at St. Martin’s Theatre, Melbourne, Australia (2005)
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Gentleman’s Pleasure
2-8m, 1w
Various settings
Synopsis:
Inspired by La Ronde, a play by Viennese playwright Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931), Gentleman’s Pleasure maintains Schnitzler’s “roundelay” structure, but moves the setting to New York City in the 1920s—a time when the city was taking its place as the most powerful metropolis in the world. The play further stretches Schnitzler’s original premise by exploring the fears and secrecy that were so much a part of urban gay life during the decades prior to the Stonewall rebellion.
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The Jeff Trilogy
Comedy/Drama
2m, 2w
Various settings
Synopsis:
Three related one-acts that tell a chronological story: “Good Sense”, a monologue that introduces Jeff, a 29-year-old gay man who lives in a small trailer in a rural part of North Carolina who recently came out to his family; “Fixing Things”, a two-character play wherein Jeff and Dale, his closeted ex-lover, contemplate getting back together again; and “Resolution”, which chronicles a reunion between Jeff and his mother, who he has not seen for nearly two years.
Awards:
Runner-Up, New Southern Theatre Festival (2002)
Production:
Broach Theatre in Greensboro, North Carolina (1999)
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Mother, May I?
Comedy/Drama
3w, 2m, 2 children
Various settings
Synopsis:
Sexuality, parenting, and family responsibilities are major themes in this play about a young mother’s journey toward greater self-awareness and independence.
Staged Readings:
Triangle Network of Theatres New Play Reading Series in Raleigh, North Carolina (2001);Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, North Carolina (1999). |
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Notso Plain Folks
Comedy/Drama
3w, 2m
Five monologues
Awards:
Emerging Artist Grant, Central Piedmont Regional Artists Hub / North Carolina Arts Council (1997)
Productions:
Monologues from Notso Plain Folks have been produced in South Africa at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown (2005); at Bank Street Playhouse (2002), Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus (1999), and at Grove Street Playhouse (1998) in New York City; and throughout the southeast region.
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Passing Ceremonies
Fantasy
3 m
Simple Interior
Synopsis:
Poet/essayist/activist Essex Hemphill (1957-1995) meets Harlem Renaissance writer/visual artist Richard Bruce Nugent (1906-1987) in a terrace bar overlooking a river, somewhere between “earth life” and paradise. Essex is anxious to finish a project he was working on shortly before his death: a book on the lives of older black gay men. He wants to interview Bruce, but Bruce insists that it is now impossible for Essex to complete the book. Throughout the play, the two spar, lament, share stories about their passions, and challenge those left behind to “pick up [their] weapons.”
Awards:
Honorable Mention, The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Playwriting Competition, Cathedral City, California (2002).
Productions:
Diversionary Theatre in San Diego (2007); Juneteenth Theatre Festival at Actors’ Theatre of Louisville (2006); Bailiwick Repertory Theatre in Chicago (2003); and
OutCharlotte Cultural Festival in Charlotte, North Carolina (2000).
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Rest in Peace
3-5m, 3-5w (doubling possible)
Simple Exterior
Synopsis:
Five short plays set in the cemetery of a small North Carolina town: "Winter Afternoon," "Leola's Decision," "Robbie's Mother," "Right Back Around," and "Al and Pete (of The Sheltering Tree)."
Productions:
One-act plays from Rest in Peace have been produced at Bennett College for Women (2006); The Barnstormers Theatre in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania (2005); Elon University (2004); Greensboro Playwrights’ Forum (2003); and Center Stage Showcase in Charlotte, North Carolina (2003.) “Leola’s Decision” was filmed by Greene Pictures in 2007.
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The Shadow of Eldorado
2m, 2w
Interior
Synopsis:
A divorced couple struggle to come to terms with their troubled relationship as they face the death of their only son. Amanda and Ben met while she was a student at the university where he still teaches. They married after a brief affair and Andy was born a year or so later. Unable to cope with the sudden loss of her youth, Amanda abandoned her husband and son when Andy was still a small child. As the play opens, Amanda has not seen Ben or Andy in over two decades.
Staged Readings:
North Carolina Theatre Conference, Raleigh, North Carolina (2003) and Carolina Contemporary Playwrights’ Festival, Charlotte, North Carolina (2003).
Awards:
Winner, New Play Award, North Carolina Theatre Conference (2003);
Winner, Carolina Contemporary Playwrights’ Festival, Charlotte, North Carolina (2003); Top 10 Finalist, Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre Playwright’s Conference in Mars Hill, North Carolina (2002); First Place (one-act version), Greensboro Playwrights’ Forum New Play Competition (1994).
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Sprouting Wings
Drama
4w, 1m
Interior/Exterior
Synopsis:
A coming-of-age story about a young woman living in a small North Carolina town who dreams of Hollywood.
Staged Readings:
Carolina Playwrights Festival (1993 & 1995) and High Point University (1993).
Awards:
Top 10 Finalist, Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre Playwright’s Conference in Mars Hill, North Carolina (2003); Finalist, YES Festival of New Plays, Northern
Kentucky University (2003); Runner Up, New Southern Theatre Festival, 2000.
Honorable Mention, Paul Green National Playwrights Competition (1995).
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Truth and Noonday Light
Drama
2w, 2m
Interior
Synopsis:
An adaptation of Ibsen’s Ghosts set in the American south during the 1980s.
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One-Act Plays
Condolences to Every One of Us
Goodnight, Professor Broadway
Personal
Postcards
Ray's Request
The Truth About Fantasy
Waiting Games
We Never Close
Whitney's Grace
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Condolences to Every One of Us
Monologue
1w
Synopsis:
A stage adaptation of the short story by Allan Gurganus from his book White People.
Production:
Metamorphosis Theatre Project in Greensboro, North Carolina (2001)
Ethel’s Closed Casket
10-minute play
2w
Synopsis:
The social skills of two elderly women are challenged when they discover they are in the wrong funeral parlor.
Productions:
Community Theatre of Greensboro (2005) and Heartland Theatre Company in
Bloomington, Illinois (2004).
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Goodnight, Professor Broadway
3m
Interior
Synopsis: An unexpected reunion between a retired theatre professor and the former student he loved.
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Personal
Monologue
1m
Synopsis:
A college student attempts to improvise a public speaking assignment.
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Postcards
3m, 2w
Unit Set
Synopsis:
A stage Adaptation of short story by Lee Zacharias from her book Helping Muriel Make It Through the Night.
Staged Reading:
University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2001).
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Ray’s Request
10-minute play
2m
Interior
Synopsis:
An impatient English professor is reminded of the power of poetry during a brief meeting with a former student’s brother.
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The Truth About Fantasy
10-minute play
2 m
Interior
Synopsis:
Two business colleagues share a unique conversation as one of them ponders an affair.
Productions:
University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2004) and Greensboro Playwrights’ Forum (2003).
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Waiting Games
Fantasy
3m, 2w
Simple Interior
Synopsis:
Five people find themselves in a waiting room, but none of them can remember how they arrived or why.
Production:
North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina (1998)
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We Never Close
Comedy/Drama
1m, 1w
Interior
Synopsis:
A lonely waitress and a stranded traveler meet by chance at roadside diner in rural North Carolina.
Productions:
City Lights Theatre Company in Savannah, Georgia (1999); Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina (1999); North Carolina Theatre Conference in
Salisbury, North Carolina (1996); Greensboro Playwrights’ Forum (1994); and University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1994).
Awards:
First Place Winner, 17th Annual Savannah Playwrights Festival, Savannah, Georgia (1999).
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Whitney’s Grace
Drama
Cast size may vary
Minimal scenery
Synopsis:
Based on a true story about the friendship between two young women from different religious backgrounds.
Production:
L’Chaim Productions in Greensboro, North Carolina (2001)
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