December 20, 2011
NO MEETING DUE TO HOLIDAY
December 6, 2011
• DANIELA SAYS – by Rob Katsuno
An award-winning play about a Rio de Janeiro woman married to a Japanese man, which starts as follows: I’m from Japan where more than anywhere else in the world, people actually die from overwork. So many die there’s a word for it—KAROUSHI—HARD WORK DEATH. Which results from mixing long office hours and physical inactivity. My wife is from Rio de Janeiro, where more than anywhere else in the world, people actually die from… overpartying. So many die there’s a word for it—CARNAVAL—which results from mixing… liquor and naked women.
So many people told us that my wife needs her own reality TV show so I started writing down her stories and have compiled them here in a way that is funny and also reflects back at the audience insight into global cultures and how they deeply affect our lives as Americans.
November 15, 2011
• DAD I HARDLY KNOW YOU – by Gary Corbin
Just when never-married, forty-something Victor thinks he may have talked his new girlfriend Andrea, an unemployed erotic yoga instructor, into moving in with him, his estranged father Abe barges back into his life—suitcase in hand. Abe’s obsession with his own aging body and his take-no-prisoners tendency to say whatever crosses his mind leads to confessions Vic is not ready to hear. Just when Vic thinks he’s had enough, Andrea delivers the ultimatum he fears the most—and only Abe can help him.
November 1, 2011
• SPELLBINDERS – by Brad Bolchunos
A mysterious memory drives Leon Theremin, Russian inventor and musician, to delve into hypnosis. He is not alone. At the core of his research stands Franz Anton Mesmer, whose use of hypnosis to help a young blind woman exploded in controversy. In the ethereal realm of memory and time-hopping, two innovators teeter on the brink of reality and illusion, creativity and madness, showmanship and scandal.
October 18, 2011
• MANFUL! – by John Servilio
It’s 1941 and Manliness is the law of the land. America’s success in The War depends on our men, all men everywhere, being rough and tough, and growing a manly beard. But the enemy has devised an evil plot to weaken our men and turn our country into mush. Can our heroes save the day or is there too much lurking beneath their own beards that will get in the way of victory?
October 4, 2011
• ASYLUM NO MORE – by Sandra de Helen
An African-American nurse who is estranged from her family for helping women escape the asylum puts her life at risk to aid her male cousin escape the violent ward.
September 20, 2011
• BRECKINRIDGE IN EXILE – by Dave Chapman
As the Civil War ends, Confederate General (and former U.S. Vice President) John C. Breckinridge evades federal troops by fleeing to Cuba. But the hot Havana summer yields him no rest, and he soon finds history repeating itself in more ways than one.
September 6, 2011
• CATE DARRINGER – by Sally Stember
The plans of even a clever girl can often go awry in this hour length old fashion story set in Indian Territory.
August 16, 2011
• JOLLY FRIENDS – by Sally Stember
Set in Portland in 1970 two best friends seem oblivious to the outside world until their parent’s religious views tear their world apart. Traditional and original music and dance are featured in this one-hour play that has both comedy and drama.
August 2, 2011
• THREE DUELS: DUEL 1, SWORDS – by Will Lund
Two strangers meet along the path. Both connected somehow. Both hiding something. Neither will leave unscathed. It’s a story of bitter sympathy and playful revenge.
• XMAS DEI – by Archie Washington
What if The Rapture happened on Christmas Day?
• A MEDIEVAL CHRISTMAS – by Miriam Feder
Set on Christmas morning, the sandwich generation of the extended Jeffries clan explores a new system to prevent the intergenerational discords of Christmas dinner.
July 19, 2011
• JERUSALEM STORY – by Sharon Sassone
A retelling of “Romeo and Juliet” set in Israel.
July 5, 2011
• THE KNOCKOFFS – by Archie Washington
For Topple, Tumble, and Bounce, every day at the carnival begins and ends with a fastball to the face. They take it with a grin while others get rewarded. But when they’ve finally had enough, any way out will do. A short comedy.
• IN THE BAG – by Brad Bolchunos
Something is hidden inside a brown paper bag left in the garbage. Who is the man desperate to get control of it? Who are the two ragamuffins playing keep away? All is not as it seems!
• CAPE ARAGO – by Brad Bolchunos
A sailor recalls his experiences on a ship, sinking in a storm, many years ago.
June 21, 2011
• SOLO – by Kate Belden
The soloists don’t know they’re singing a duet — or who’s the real slut in the room.
• GREEN – by Kate Belden
Sarah trains a rookie in her psychiatrist’s office.
• CLOSE – by Kate Belden
A game of pool turns out to be about more than right angles.
June 7, 2011
• GOD WAS STRANGELY QUIET – by Sally Stember
An Italian murder mystery based in upstate New York in 1880. Full-length play.
May 17, 2011
• COMMENTARY – by Will Lund
Commentary is an experimental show that takes place on a charter boat in the Carribean. When lonely Candace crashes Gordon and Julio’s romantic getaway, a love triangle erupts that even the drunken, singing captain can’t contain. Featuring: Cocktails, mystery, suspense, intrigue, tanning lotion, and sharks!
What’s so experimental? The play features an audio commentary, by the cast and director talking about the play as if it already happened. Got it? No? Well, good luck.
May 3, 2011
• EPHEMORY – by Miriam Feder
While Carole struggles with memory in her day to day life as an eighty-something year old woman, her memories of life as a young woman during World War two, when she left her family in Germany and made it on her own in New York City, are relatively fresh. But all memory is imperfect.
April 19, 2011
• DEATH PANEL – by David Holloway
Three executives and an office boy discuss pre-existing conditions and whether little Virginia with cancer lives or dies — all under the watchful eye Mr. Rockwell, the talking head on a monitor who can destroy them all.
April 5, 2011
• HAIL! (part 2) – by Sally Stember
“Hail!” is a romantic comedy. Ares and Aphrodite quarrel over the nature of love and war and set about to prove their points by meddling with the affairs of humans. But who is meddling with whom? Come find out in this musical farce.
March 15, 2011
• LEAVING – by Tana Hall
Virginia is always leaving men and cities, while dragging her daughter Jeannette along like a piece of luggage. Leaving tells the story of three pivotal moments when a daughter learns to grow up and grow away from her mother.
• SKIN GARDEN – by Jeremy Benjamin
In the not-too-distant future, scientists will figure out how to grow crops on the human body, the media will figure out how to make that sound appealing, and a cast of characters will make literal gardens of their skin, or so this playwright speculates in this ecological satire.
March 1, 2011
• A PRETTY GIRL WITH CANCER – by Dave Chapman
Popular student Vicki has been away from her high school for several months while receiving treatments for cervical cancer. Now a new school year is beginning, and Vicki tries to reintegrate into school, recover friendships, and ignore the judgment of those who don’t understand what she has gone through.
• HAIL! (part 1) – by Sally Stember
“Hail!” is a romantic comedy. Ares and Aphrodite quarrel over the nature of love and war and set about to prove their points by meddling with the affairs of humans. But who is meddling with whom? Come find out in this musical farce.
February 15, 2011
• NEIGHBORS – Ilima Considine
“Neighbors” is a musical play. The occupants of a studio apartment building listen to each other through the walls and the stress level rises… Sex, drugs, violence, nudity, murder w/ live-in super and utilities included.
February 1, 2011
• THIS IS TEMPORARY – by Debbie Lamedman
An ambitious, yet uptight man is looking to purchase the home of his dreams. As he enters the house he longs for, he finds it occupied by a group of people living an alternative lifestyle, and starts to question what he really wants out of life.
• CHASING HAPPINESS – by Debbie Lamedman
A boss fires his employee and then attempts to help her find another occupation more suitable for her eccentric personality.
• THE HOLE THAT HUNG BETWEEN THEM – by Sven Bonnichsen
Two twins stared into the hole that hung between them… From the darkness, a voice answered back. A minimalist theater poem, experimenting with the rhythms of speech.
January 18, 2011
• THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE BLUES – by Tana Hall
Karen Marx is having the worst night of her nursing career. Adding to the already crowded night, the venerable and opinionated Florence Nightingale decides to drop by with words of encouragement. Frustrated Karen decides to show Miss Nightingale what modern nursing is all about.
• DINNER THEATER AT THE DINNER THEATER – by Fred Cooprider
This is a short dinner theater piece. It opens with 4 servers (3 of whom are wanna be actors) and a hot blooded Italian cook who threatens one of the servers with a knife for stealing meatballs. The first course is served and the play within the play, “Passion on the Moors,” begins. Early in act one a character walks on stage and collapses with a knife in his back. The previously threatened server/actor jumps on stage, believing the cook has made good on his threat, and throws one of the stage actors off stage to wait on tables. By the end of the play all the actors and servers have switched places.
It is a comedy with elements of farce, bits of romance, some singing and dancing, and good food. How can it miss?
January 4, 2011
• FFIONA AND THE QUEEN OF BALTIMORE – by David Holloway
Margaret dreams herself to be Ffiona, Princess of Baltimore. Her father, Nathan, was killed in the war. Margaret seeks the place where he now resides — but cannot see that he walks in their dingy apartment. Only Margaret’s mother can see Nathan… And she has a plan.