ADRIFT
Is a memory play. Isaac, once confident and sure of himself and his role in the universe, is like the suffering seaman in Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The poem is a thread throughout the play. Isaac pleads with an audience member; “ I need to go back—circle back—retell my story. You must help me find an answer. Will I ever forgive myself for the choice I made?”  Life—and the nature of our life– is full of choices. Jack, Isaac’s father, is a naval officer unable to cope with the posttraumatic stress disorder. We experience Isaac’s reverence as a child, flippancy as a teenager and then compassion as an adult teacher who struggles to forgive himself for honoring father’s last wishes.

Judd, Isaac’s principal and church deacon, admires as well as reproves him. Judd’s son, Tom, is one of Isaac’s students and has become an atheist and is afraid to confront his father.  Relationships between father and son are intertwined with each one’s definition of loyalty and honor. Isaac and his student, Tom, learn and grow from each other and
learn what it means to be a son. As they reverse their roles; the teacher becomes the student and the student the teacher. The same is true with Jack and Judd as they reverse roles with their children. Parent and child; they each feel they have failed each other. As they each realize their humanity with all its shortcomings, that same humanity is strengthened.

Through its characters, “Adrift” reveals the conflicts that arise as one confronts and makes decisions concerning truth, loyalty, honor and accountability. Does our concept of them determine our lives or do our life experiences determine their definitions?

Set Requirements: A non-realistic set may be used.
Cast: 4 males.
Production History:   Azusa Productions i/a/w Polarity Ensemble Theatre
                               At Chicago’s Greenhouse Theater Center, 2012.

Reviews

“. . . is a wonderful and realistic story of relationships, communication, and parenting. Casting was perfect and the acting was superb as the story peeled away layer by layer each character’s personality and feelings. This 90-minute production pounded home the importance of choices and the realization that we make the decisions we do based on the circumstances at hand. When a play can hit home and truly make you look at your own life, it’s a winner. You can’t ask for anything more.”
Pam Powell, ReelHonestReviews

“…this is a play that should be seen, not just by fathers and sons, but mothers and daughters as well.”
Alan Bresloff, Aroundthetownchicago.com

“A play for anytime. Isaac searches for an answer to the question: “How does a man learn to forgive himself. The play does not give an answer, but suggests that it is helpful to our peace of mind to even ask ourselves the question.”
Frank West, Irish American Times

“. . . has some thought provoking answers while being an entertaining work. The sophistication of Adrift allows us to meet and relate to a quirky math nerd through an honest and haunting memory of the father-son dynastic. Alex shows his talent for weaving philosophical concepts into human dynamics. He also dramatizes the troubled effects of post traumatic stress disorder on a family.”
Tom Williams, Chicago Critic.com

A MORE PERFECT UNION
Mary is home of leave from her military service and finds she has left one battle zone for another back home. Her plans to marry longtime family friend, Lizbeth, disrupt an already tense family dynamic. It is only for the sake of maintaining the family unit that Mary’s mother, Corrine, tolerates her husband’s condescending treatment and remains home. The discovery of the lies regarding his military service exacerbates the family disintegration. Corrine’s father’s second wife, one of a different race, adds a sense of love, direction and perspective to the struggles.

A MORE PERFECT UNION explores the nature of faith, lies, hypocrisy and prejudice.

Cast Requirements: 4 women, 2 women
Set Requirement: Single set, home interior.

BIRTH RIGHTS
Ya’akov, a precocious thirteen year old orthodox Jewish boy, has come to a zoo to mourn the death of his pet dog and befriends, Eddy, a troubled young man who plans to kills the zoo’s alpha male chimpanzee, Hank.

Eddy, a former volunteer at the zoo, was dismissed for swearing at a visitor. Still bitter from what he interprets as rejection from a series of youth foster home placements, Eddy is angered further by Hank’s refusal to accept a newly transferred chimp in to the zoo’s troop.

Although it may seem that Ya’akov “has it all,” we see that he is rejected by his peers and finds little emotional support from his parents. He attempts to find strength and acceptance from his faith’s teachings and relies on them as he attempts to change Eddy’s decision to kill Hank.

Eddy and Ya’akov share their life experiences and learn from each other to find forgiveness, acceptance and perhaps the meaning of familial love.

Set:  A bare set may be used.

Cast:  Two characters.  2 m. 13, 20-30

Production History:  Greenhouse Theater (Chicago), Staged Reading, 2016

BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON
is set in Judah and Babylon in the year 586 B.C., however, its theme and characters are timeless and enduring; one’s faith is strengthened when it is tested.

Shamshaya is a thirteen-year-old Babylonian youth who has left home to search for and confront the ancient Babylonian god, Shamash. He believes the gods have “unjustly” taken the life of his younger brother. Shamshaya is a strong willed youth whose religious beliefs have been the source of many conflicts with his non-believing father. As a Temple Priestess, Shamshaja’s mother has to balance of the role of mother, wife and religious leader.

     While searching near Jerusalem, Shamshaya is arrested as a spy and imprisoned in the same dungeon as the Biblical Prophet, Jeremiah. Jeremiah has been arrested for encouraging his fellow Judeans to pray and repent instead of supporting King Zedekiah’s efforts to fight the attacking Babylonians The beatings Jeremiah has received have caused him to examine and question his own faith in God. We see Jeremiah as more than a Biblical Prophet. He is a man of great strength who now doubts the source of that strength.  Shmuel Ben Artzi, a Judean prison guard, resents Jeremiah’s “treason” and the Babylonian attack.

     While the Temple in Jerusalem is being destroyed by the Babylonians, the three learn from each other a deeper and stronger meaning of their own faith. The characters in BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON engage the audience at several levels. Not only do we feel for their plight, we are forced to examine the strength of our own beliefs.

     BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON was awarded a grant prize from the Pilgrim  Foundation for the manner in which the play deals with
issues of moral significance.

Cast Requirements:  5 males, 1 female.
Set:  A non-realistic set may be used.
Production History:   The Playwrights’ Center (1999), Chicago.

“. . . playwright David Alex examines faith, tolerance and forgiveness is a
balanced way that will appeal to people who subscribe to various belief systems. . . “
Chicago Sun Times

“. . also projects an urgent contemporary tone to make its esoteric issues
relevant.””
Loyola University

CORPUS DELICTI
Poetic justice is sometimes the most just.

Albert Durante, a proud African American, has read most of the books he restores in Contrapasso’s workshop.   Durante has a warm and supporting relationship with his teenage niece, Beatrice, who also works there.

During his walks in the park, Durante surprises himself by establishing a rapport with a homeless man, a veteran, Virgil, with a metal plate in his head.

Contrapasso prizes a religious statue of given to him by his mother as a confirmation present.  Beatrice accidentally breaks Contrapasso’s statue.  During a confrontation afterwards, he loses control and kills her.  As the police investigate the crime, Durante learns of Contrapasso’s guilt but is unable to prove it to the police.   

The Divine Comedy provides Durante and Virgil an idea for exacting poetic justice.  Durante takes us on a journey as he sees society and himself in a new light.

Set:  Book restoration shop, a bench in the park
Cast Requirements: 4 males , 1 female ,(teens)
Production History. Madkap Productions, Chicago, IL 2014.

“It doesn’t get any more tense or exciting than this.”
TheatreWorld

ENDS
is a socio-political drama set in 1967 and deals with a confrontation between two men and the ideas they represent. Kingsley, a thirty-year-old African-American man, has lived alone for the past eighteen years in a secured forest cabin. Besides his childhood experiences and memories, his view of life is based on his many books. Glober, a recently returned Vietnam veteran, is forced to take refuge in Kingsley’s cabin during a violent storm.

     ENDS places each of us in the cabin and forces each of us to re-examine our own perspective. The characters (and the audience) are faced with the question of whether Kingsley should leave for middle America of 1967 or stay in his self-sufficient seclusion. While Kingsley is trying to decide if he should “join” society, Glober is deciding if he should “leave” it.

     ENDS was honored by the African American Theatre Program of the University of Louisville and staged in its Annual Playwriting Festival; it was also a Finalist in the 1996 CONNECTIONS National Playwriting Competition by Delaware Theatre Company.

Cast requirements:  2 males, (white 25+, black, 30+)
Set:  cabin interior
Production History.  New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch NJ), Bowen Park Theatre Company (Waukegan IL), Victory Gardens Theater (Workshop), Chicago.

“Alex’s forceful and discerning sociopolitical drama pulls no punches when it comes to discussions about race and racism during the mid-twentieth century. . . . Despite its serious theme, the play contains a good deal of comedy, largely grounded in the two men’s very different understandings of what makes the world tick.” Around the Town Chicago                                                                   

“Although the show raises questions about life in 1960s America, its themes of what it means to be patriotic in the face of violence and turmoil are ever relevant. “ Chicago Reader                                          

“This terrestrial encounter instantaneously provides a different racial viewpoint and catapults the two men into debates about the divisiveness of racism, and the injustice within humanity and society, causing both men to ponder whether they want to rejoin a world that never treated them fairly.” Let’s Play Theatrical Reviews

                        
“Alex. . . does not surrender to contrived or cathartic measures to solves his characters problems. The play masterfully presents issues that polarized society decades ago and which citizens today are still trying to decide for themselves.”
Waukegan Times

“Alex’s forte in crafting Ends is his development of character.”
Art & Performance

“. . . explosive scenes take place as Glober unburdens himself of bitter and violent memories.”
Atlanticville

“. . .the story that unfolds is highly dramatic and often funny. . . .The line gets some thoughtful contemplation. It goes like this through much of the play that forces you to drop your perceived stereotypes and look at people and issues differently.”
Asbury Park Press

“. . . that is immensely intriguing. This unpretentious play is richly profound with
a trace of sentimentality or melodrama.”
ChicagoCritic.com

“. . two men taking an emotional journey towards friendship.. . .it is the
characters as much as the story that strengthens this work.
TriCity News

EROICA
is a timely play dealing with timeless issues. Set in 1967, it is the story of Sally, a woman patriot living in small town, U.S.A., who must balance her love for her husband with her patriotic ideals. While her brother is missing in action in Vietnam, she learns her husband, Victor,–the town’s high school basketball her and now coach–has secretly faked a medical condition to avoid the military draft. We see his anguish as his self-righteous attitude regarding loyalty, dedication and commitment conflicts with his illegal efforts to avoid the draft.

     Victor is protective of his disabled sister, Grace: a nun who prays for peace at political demonstrations while struggling silently with her own doubts regarding faith. Charles, an embittered former athlete, learns Victor’s secret and seeks revenge for being kicked off the team.  EROICA explores the nature of faith, commitment and betrayal. When Sally eventually learns Victor’s secret, she must decide if she can remain in “a relationship based on a lie” as we ask if that lie was justifiable. What happens when political and social questions conflict with certainties of the heart? In the end, we see that sometimes there are no right or wrong answers, no winners or losers; only victims.

Cast requirements; 2 male, 2 female. 20’s
Set requirements.  Home interior living room/dining room.

Script History.  EROICA was named a Finalist in the American TheatreCo-op, Reva Shiner and Coldwater (MI) Playwriting
                             Competitions, Semi-finalist in the Mill Mountain (VA) Playwriting and Reverie Productions (NY)competitions. It
                       was workshopped by NSP Productions (Elgin, IL).

Production History:

Azusa Productions i/a/w Redtwist Theatre at Redtwist Theatre (Chicago), 2016.

Chicago Theatre Review—Colin Douglas
“an impressive, thought-provoking drama.”
“a moving . . drama about secrets kept and confidences betrayed.”

Around The Town Chicago—Al Bresloff
Recommended ***
“tense story-line.”
“many special moments in this production, well -directed by Maggie Speer.. . “

Le Bon Travel & Culture—Betty Mohr
“Alex’s intriguing new play demonstrates the power of ideas, and the way in which relationships can be ruptured by opposing ideas. A compelling work, Eroica holds one’s attention and interest to the very end.”

TheatreWorld Internet Magazine—Ruth Smerling
“EROICA packs an unflinching 90 minutes full of deception, panic, forgiveness and acceptance.”  


HEART OF THE SUFFERER
dramatizes the conflict among Mary and her husband, Jack, and their seventeen-year old son, Jackie. Mary feels she is not a” good enough mother” and, therefore, is the cause of the conflict. Her visiting brother, John, reinforces this feeling. A religious woman, Mary cannot understand why she has been made to suffer.

     The most important part of Jack’s life is that the office payroll is properly prepared and balances. Jackie, arranges for a small time hoodlum, Rattler, to rob the payroll from Jack’s office. John is a successful businessman who is everything that Jack is not. The tension builds when Jackie learns of his father’s love and attempts to stop the robbery. The title of the play is from a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson; Tragedy is in the eye of the observer, and not in the heart of the sufferer.” It was originally staged under the title THE LEATHER BELT at Hoffman Estates High School.

Cast Requirements: 4 men, 1 woman
Set Requirements: A living room/dining room
Production History:  Hoffman Estates (IL) High School as “The Leather Belt”

N 
     Mrs. Page is a 70 year old, African-American widow; a passionate conservative who campaigned for Barry Goldwater and is a strong admirer of Booker T. Washington.  Her belief in role of astrology in determining one’s fate and guilt for a personal decision led her to the decision to never leave her home.
 
      Eddy, a liberal young white struggling actor, is her caregiver.  He is cast in show that is a career maker for him.  During the rehearsal process the playwright adds the N-Word to the script.  Eddy is repulsed by what he considers the offensive and destructive nature of the N-word and refuses to say it—ever, including on stage—and plans to leave the production.  
 
    Mrs. Page and Eddy learn something from each other and as well as about themselves while Eddy struggles to decide if he can perform the play and remain the person he hopes to be.
 
     “N” challenges us to look at the role society has played in shaping our personal, and thus, our national attitudes and prejudices. 

Cast Requirements: 1 woman, African American, 65+; 1 White male, 20-30’s, 1 African American male 20-30.

Set Requirements: Home interior.

Production History: Greenhouse Theater Center, 2019; Black Sheep Players (Sharon, PA), 2021; Lewis University (Romeoville, IL), 2021, Angel Wing Project (Glen Burnie, Maryland), June 2022.

 “Doublin, Hemphill, and Smetana all did incredible jobs portraying their characters as real, flawed people, with deeply held beliefs that they finally realize may not be as deeply held. So go see it, unless of course you’re worried you’ll leave having learned something about yourself you would rather have not.” Third Coast Review -James Brod

“If you need a reason other than seeing an incredibly relevant and powerful production, I’ll leave you with: I am a privileged white woman, and I most certainly did not pick up on all of the subtleties and deeper meanings. This is not for any lack of skill on the part of the production, but simply because I do not have the life experience that will lead me to fully comprehend all of the emotional depth of the piece or express the entire importance of this production through my own words. So, please see it and tell me what I missed and what I misinterpreted.” Chicago Theatre Review -Sophia Vitello

“A provocative world premiere by Chicago writer David Alex at the Greenhouse Theater Center, this 100-minute character piece stirs up the sometimes static tale of an evolving relationship between proverbial and political opposites. As they learn from each other, the audience gets the best of both worlds. . . Can a trigger word for hate ever be spoken on stage, especially by a white actor? Does tame talk ever touch the truth? These are questions around which Alex constructs a solid story. . .Director TaRon Patton keeps it real, with help from three actors who prove very present and accounted for.” Stage and Screen -Larry Bommer

“Racism is America’s embarrassment. With his latest masterpiece, N, performed at the Greenhouse Theatre with GLP Productions, directed by TaRon Patton, he creates the much needed dialogue that works to join people at the soul, as they realize that their humanity is as necessary as oxygen and transcends any color, emotional issues, past history or preconceived notions.  N proves that the need for human relationship goes beyond our social contrivances and comes from a deeper well that we have no control over.” Theater World -Ruth Smerling

“How these issues all unwind is the crux of the relationship between the characters, as well as the trajectory of the play. Indeed, that focus creates for a riveting production, and heartfelt performances by Doublin and Smetana add to the compelling nature of the work.” LeBon Travel and Culture -Betty Mohr

We really see the characters come into their own. Stacie Doublin is powerful in the later dialog. And a final, doleful scene performed in silence by Eddy and Mrs. Page is moving and strongly affecting. Also noteworthy is the performance of Reginald Hemphill as Eddy’s buddy DeShawn, who commands the stage for his brief time on it. Speaking also on word usage, “You are not a ‘brother,’” DeShawn, who is African-American, advises Eddy. “This may come as a shock to your white liberal sensibilities, but you are not black!” Buzz Center Stage -Bill Esler

ONTO INFINITY
     Don Ward, 21, is a mathematician who, while searching for a higher level of infinity, loses touch with the finite–the real world. Paralleling his search is his infinite but tragic love for his dying wife, Deborah. She is his 42 and his former a literature teacher.

     Don and Deborah find that their initially separate worlds are really the same. Deborah shows and “teaches” Don the paradox of love; that to be whole it must be shared. She helps him determine why love cannot be measured.  Other characters include two of Don’s college age male friends. Lifelong friends and teammates, they accept his eccentricities but cannot believe he “going to marry a teacher.” Deborah’s lively friend, Gwen, feels Deborah is making a mistake and doesn’t understand the difference between the love found in literature and that of the real world. Don’s grandfather is a source of strength and wisdom for Don. These relationships enable the characters to grow as they experience levels of life, death and beyond.

Winner of the Das Goldkiel First Place Award from Buntville Crew Theatre (IL). Finalist in the South Carolina Playwrights Festival, a Semi-finalist in the Jewel Box Theatre Playwriting Competition, and workshopped at the Midwest O’Neill Festival.


Cast Requirements: 4 men, 2 women
Set Requirements: A non-realistic set may be used.
Production History:  Bowen Park Theatre, Waukegan, IL, 2002; AzusProductions, Victory Gardens Greenhouse, Chicago, 2008.  

“Alex’s play is thought provoking. . .the Bowen Park Theater production is elegantly staged.”
Pioneer Press

“The results were more than “the sum of one”; they were a turning and dynamic synthesis. . . . I appreciated the intellectual and impassioned search for life and love explored by the cast.”
Lake County & Its Arts

“. . . an intelligent and plausible story unique in concept with a refreshing  character. This is a smart drama filled with passion, hope and a sense of the infinite possibilities of life.”
ChicagoCritic.com

“David Alex is a playwright who doesn’t think twice about challenging an audience’s mind.”
The Beverly Review

“We have here a provocative play. . .I urge you to see it.”
Streetwise


THE HUBBLE CONSTANT
    It didn’t start out to be a home invasion. Two brothers, sixteen-year old Flame, a brilliant chess prodigy, and twenty year-old Brando, a troubled school dropout, have beaten their father, Vern, and stolen his car. Exhausted and starving from their flight, they seek refuge in the suburban home of Ramsey, Deborah and their teenage daughter, Rachael. A home with two secrets; one known and one unknown—Ramsey’s physical abuse of his wife, sexual abuse of his daughter.

     Although befriended by their hosts, a misunderstanding between Ramsey and Brando leads to a violent confrontation. As the play opens, Ramsey’s family is preparing to leave for the Passover Seder. By the end of the play, everyone learns a new meaning of promise and freedom.

     During its development THE HUBBLE CONSTANT was given a reading in Chicago’s Victory Gardens Readers Theater Series of New Plays, Chicago’s around the coyote festival and The Artistic Home.

Cast Requirements: 4 men, 2 women (2 men maybe double cast).
Set Requirements: Home interior


THE LUTWIDGE CANVASS
is a fourteen character , no comedic holds barred, zany mystery filled with puns, Russian spies, innuendo, mistaken identities and murder that revolves around the most original and unique couple to ever destroy one’s equilibrium. Two roles may be double cast.

     Duncan Lutwidge is a brilliant professor of mathematical logic who attempts to solve a murder. He is almost as sharp and witty as his wife, Alice. They relish their repartee even if others do not always understand their biting humor. They assist dissident Russian artists, confuse waitresses and lead police authorities in circles with their verbal jousting. The other characters are strong and clearly defined comedic roles
and each engages the audience on their own way.  The majority of the action of THE LUTWIDGE CANVASS (Note the Spelling) is set
in an apartment. The remaining scenes require little space or setting and may be staged easily.

     Now prepare yourself for a hilarious adventure back to the era of evening clothes, secret identities, the FBI (the early years), the Lindy, Wrong Way Corrigan, Artie Shaw and the unconquerable obliviousness of Margaret Dumont. There is no preparing yourself for the Lutwidges, so fasten your seat belts. Love never had a funnier partner or sharper foil.

Cast Requirements: 8 men, 6 women, some roles are gender neutral, double casting
Set Requirements: A non-realistic set may be used.

Production History:    THE LUTWIDGE CANVASS has been given two high school productions.

Reviews

“. . . a promise made good on every minute of two of this newly minted, but1939 styled fun filled play by David Alex. . . The murder does eventually get solved, the double meanings of many lines are solved by grandmothers, mothers and daughters in the audience. It takes three generations to get them. . . just what is it that Margaret Dumont-like Alice Lutwidge know that keeps her so composed?”
Atthetheatre.com


THE SECOND-OLDEST PROFESSION
Set in the staff lounge, The Second Oldest Profession is a touching and hilarious musical about teachers waiting to learn who will be fired because of a decline in state funding. As the announcement approaches, we learn the personal stories as well as the underlying conflicts among the staff.
An orchestra is not required. The score for a piano accompaniment is included with the script. The Music and Lyrics are by David Reiser. The Book, based upon a concept by David Reiser.

Cast Requirements: 6 men, 7 woman
Set Requirements: The teachers lounge.
Production History:  Wood Street Theatre (Workshop)


THE TINKER WINS
is a comedy of an eccentric family who, when faced with a crisis, is forced to examine what it thought were its values.  Rachael, the mother, raises monkeys, lions, and llamas in the back yard. These noises are often heard throughout the play. Rachael’s husband, Jacob spends much of his time observing known planets and stars and submitting new names for them to astronomy societies. They have four children; Joey, Camille, and Ursula. Each in their twenties, have has or her individual eccentricities but share a joy a living. For Joey, legendary heroes such as Zorro and Robin Hood are real people. Camille assumes the roles of others personalities in order to understand how others feel. These people have been a rabbi, Madame Defarge, women who are deaf and born without any arms. Meanwhile, Ursula walks around quoting historical references as she prepares to appear on a television quiz program. Lionel, their brother, feels that he is the only “normal” one in what he sees as a crazy household. When Camille’s legs are amputated, Joey, Camille and Ursula change dramatically. They now feel there is no joy in life, that it has no purpose. As Joey proclaims, “If Camille can’t accept herself, how can anyone expect us to.” It is Lionel who has now discovered a meaning to his life as he leads the others to “hitch their wagon to a star.”

The title of the play refers to the archery contest that Robin Hood, disguised as a tinker, wins so that he may be awarded the silver arrow from the Maid Marion  The family resolution causes us to see ourselves as well as others in a new light.


THE TINKER WINS was selected by Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theatre to be given a reading in its Readers Theatre Series of New Plays.


Cast requirements.  3 males, 3 females.
Set:  Home interior.
Production History ;  Staged by Hoffman Estates High School.

ONE-ACT PLAYS

A HOUSE DIVIDED
is a large cast play for students from middle school to high school. Students learn about divorce and divided homes through soccer and Lincoln’s speech. .

Cast Requirements: 25 including 5 men, 5 women, others gender neutral,  double casting.
Set Requirements: A non-realistic set may be used in a gym or auditorium.


A PARENT CONFERENCE
is a ten-minute play involving a teacher who holds a conference with one of her student’s parents—at last she thinks she is. The parent seems to be caring and a good listener as the teacher eventually starts talking about her own unresolved issues. As the student comes to the door, the teacher learns a startling development, and there is a new peace of mind.

Cast Requirements: 3 women or 1 man, 2 women
Set Requirements: Non-realistic set, desk chairs.
Production History: Heartland Stage Company, Bloomington, IN; Mary-Arrchie Theatre (Chicago)


A PITCH AT WRIGLEY
is a ten-minute play set in front of Harry Carey’s statue in Chicago’s Wrigley Field. Two women meet and learn about the game, war and hope.

Cast Requirements: 2 women
Set Requirements: Non-realistic set


A SLICE OF TEEN LIFE
is a collection of nine monologues dealing with teen life is written to be staged by high school students. It has been given two productions. One monologue, A Rose is a Rose, is published by Dramatic Publishing.

Cast Requirements: 2 men, 7 women, some are gender neutral, double casting
Set Requirements: Non-realistic set.
Production History:  Chicago Writers Bloc Festival, Hoffman Estates High School (IL)

A WONDER
Every action of Hoy and Graham’s lives are determined by chance; a roll of a die or a playing card drawn from a gambling shoe directs their every decision. Today they’re hosting a Shakespeare slam. Who attends depends, of course, on the luck of the draw. A 10-Minute play.

Cast Requirements: 2 men
Set Requirements: Table, chairs


AFTER THE SECOND ESKIMO WAR
In order for civilization to survive, changes were made following the Second Eskimo War.
Society has learned that men are incapable of learning from the past. Since only women are capable of making educated and rational decisions, only women are permitted to serve in the military. A ten-minute play.

Cast Requirements: 2 men, 1 women
Set Requirements: Non-realistic set
Production History:   Livewire Theater Company

AND THY MOTHER
After leading a hard life, Maggie, a thirty-year old woman, is searching for the child she gave up for adoption at birth. Seventeen years later, she places an advertisement pretending to search for young women with a particular birthmark; the same as her child. A religious young woman, Mary, answers the notice. A ten-minute play.

Cast Requirements: 2 women
Set Requirements: A funeral home
Production History:  New World Arts, Goshen, IN.

ANTEDELUVIAN II
is a one-act play involving the complex relationships a religious cult. The Spirit of the Dove recruits lonely victims of tragedies during their most vulnerable moments. He believes he has been chosen divinely to recruit others to destroy financial institutions he believes are unjust and unrighteous. The ten minute and thirty minute versions have been staged. The play was developed in a workshop at Chicago Dramatists.

Cast Requirements: 3 men, 3 women
Set Requirements: Home interior.
Production History;  Keyhole Theatre, Chicago


KICHEL
demonstrates how the differences of race, gender, and religion are confused and exacerbated by a lack of communication. Two elderly gentlemen, an African-American male and a Jew are watching animals at the zoo.. The Jew, carrying a bag of Jewish pastry, Kichel, mistakes the other’s friendly conversation as a robbery attempt. As the jive and Yiddish attempt find common ground, they encounter a third person; a valley girl whom neither of them understand. A ten-minute play.

Cast Requirements: 2 men, 1 women
Set Requirements: Home interior
Production History: Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, Chicago;  Heartland Theatre. Bloomington, IL


LA COMMEDIA E FINITA
As the play opens, Conrad is exercising with his weights while listening to Leoncavallo’s opera, I Pagliacci. He later discovers his boyfriend, Ned, with another man, Silvio. With Vesti la Guibba, playing in the background, Conrad kills them both and buries them under the floor. When two policemen investigate the men’s disappearance, Conrad, haunted by   the final song, Ah! No, per mia madre, that only he hears, confesses his crime. As Conrad confesses his crime, we hear the final line of I Pagliacci, “La Commedia e finita.”

The play’s ending lline contains the only spoken dialogue.

Cast Requirements: 3 men
Set Requirements: Home interior
Production History:  Bailiwick Repertory Theatre

OFF SIDES
Carrie visits a funeral home to say hello and good-bye to the father who abandoned her at her birth. She learned of his funeral and city of his residence from a news story. She encounters father’s other daughter, Jennifer; one whom she never knew even existed. The ending of their father’s life is their beginning. A ten-minute play.

Cast Requirements: 3 men, 3 women
Set Requirements: Home interior
Production:  Wood Street Theatre, Palatine, IL

OTHELLO 2010
This comedy sets Othello’s confrontation with Desdemona in current time with a surprising outcome. A 10-Minute play.

Cast requirements: One woman, one man
Set Requirements: Non-realistic set


RIDE OF A LIFETIME
As they sit in their chairs, an elderly couple imagine they are taking a roller coaster ride; a ride of a lifetime. Winner of Boca Raton Gold Coast Players Play Competition. Published by Dramatic Publishing.

Cast Requirements: 1 man, 1 woman
Set Requirements: Two chairs
Production History:  Boca Raton Gold Coast Players,Boca Raton, FL


THE AKEDAH
is the story of a 37-year-old man, Isaac, who learns that his father is planning on killing him by offering him as a human sacrifice. Isaac and Abraham struggle with the nature of leadership and faith. Some leaders believe they have the right to command fathers to sacrifice their sons and daughters, and that these fathers should not question the moral righteousness of this command.

Cast Requirements: 2 men
Set Requirements: Non-realistic set


THE EMAIL CONSPIRACY
is a large cast 30-minute play for middle and high school students. With some help from her school friends and mother, a teenage girl convinces her father that a piano would not disturb his painting.

Cast Requirements: as large cast as possible, including 2 women, 1 man
Set Requirements: Home interior

Production History:  Gavin Middle School, Ingleside IL, Hoffman EstatesH.S., Hoffman Estates, IL, Illinois High School Theatre Festival


THE SALE
Mistaking him for a student, an elderly tutor introduces a young knife salesman to the beauty and balance of mathematics. A ten-minute play.
Published by Dramatic Publishing.

Cast Requirements: 1 man, 1 woman
Set Requirements: Home interior
Production History:  Theatre Building, Chicago.;API Theatre, Kalamazoo, IL


THE VISITORS
is a 45-minute a one-act play that focuses on an afternoon in the apartment of a young widower who is still living in the past. He has not accepted the fact that his wife and son have died and acts as though there are still living with him. When a friend visits, he is forced to confront himself and the relationship he had with his family. The audience doesn’t realize at first that the son and wife are dead. As it senses what
the father is “experiencing,” the audience’s involvement with the play grows.

THE VISITORS was a semi-finalist in two National Competitions; the Drury College One- Act Competition, and the Dogwood National One-Act Playwriting Competition.

Cast Requirements: 3 men, 1 woman
Set Requirements: Home interior
Production History:  Love Creek Productions, NY, NY;  Hoffman Estates High School. (IL)  Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, Chicago, Steel Beam Theatre, 
St.  Charles, IL

WHAT IF?
A father takes his daughter shopping for a pair of shoes for her first dance. A ten-minute play.

Cast Requirements: 1 man, 1 woman
Set Requirements: Non-realistic set

Production History:  Boca Raton Theatre Guild, Boca Raton, FL; New World Arts, Goshen, IN;  Circle Theatre, Forest Park, IL; Theatre of Western Springs, IL, Sandhill Theatre Company, Chicago, IL