Full Length Plays (1990 – 2012)
Avenging Grace – a modern-day Christmas Carol.
After a violent assault on a NYC street, a young writer loses the will to live and has an existential crisis. Dramedy. Inspired by an event in the playwright’s life. Developed in workshop with “PlayMarket,” NYC. 4 women; 2 men
Monologue published with Smith&Kraus – Audition Arsenal for Women in their 30s.
Phoebe Makes the News – RomCom
A cartoon artist/phone-sex worker’s search for love opens her life into the physical
world. Production with “The Watefront Ensemble,” NYC. 2 women; 2 men
Monologue published with Smith&Kraus – Audition Arsenal for Women in their 20’s.
The Dirge – Tragicomedy
Following the death of her father, a daughter seeks to strengthen the bond with her mother. Developed in workshop with “Polaris North,” with the late veteran actress, Irma St. Paule and Diane Martella. 2 women
October Rose – Physcho-sexual/crime
In investigating the murder of a masseuse, a detective interrogates her clients and revisits his own encounters with her. Developed in workshop with “American Renaissance Theater,” NYC. 2 women; 4 men.
Monologue published with Smith&Kraus – Audition Arsenal for Men in their 20’s.
The Pyre – Tragicomedy
Synopsis
Georgia Connelly has had a history of fire starting since the age of twelve. After setting fire to her family home in an act of revenge, she disappears for twenty years and creates a new identity. At the top of the play, we learn that her father Robert has been diagnosed with a terminal case of Mesothelioma. When the family calls in a hospice nurse to assist in his care, Georgia arrives under the guise of Lucy Lambert, R.N. At the outset, it appears that she is unrecognizable to her family, having had facial reconstruction after a failed suicide attempt in a fire five years prior. However, there are some traits that are impossible to conceal, especially from family. As the play unfolds, Georgia’s identity slowly unveils with each member. Each in turn, has their own response to this bizarre homecoming. She is easily recognized by her father who is overjoyed to have her at his bedside. Jeffrey her twin brother and stand-up comedian is tormented by Georgia’s return. He was the one and only witness to the event that inspired her fire starting. His girl-friend Vicki, a school teacher, sees her arrival as an opportunity to unite the family. Her younger sister Jennifer, a gay fire- fighter, falls in love with “Lucy”. Her mother is the most challenging and heart breaking of reveals. Margaret Crawford is stoic and a devout Catholic with a profound inability to
embrace motherhood.
A few of the many questions this play solicits are: Where do our familial
responsibilities to one another begin and end? Can we truly and fully reinvent
ourselves? How powerful is the power of suggestion as it relates to perception?
The story unfolds in both a realistic and impressionistic manner, with plenty of
comic relief. A minimal conceptual set, projections, lighting gobos, sound effects and voice-overs can provide the full visual and sensorial effect.
The cast consists of two men and four women ages 25-70.
The Pyre was developed in workshops with the American Renaissance Theater Company and staged readings at The Neighborhood Playhouse & Dramatists Guild, 2001-2005. Two of the monologues from the play have been published with Smith&Kraus’s Audtion Arsenals – Men in their 30s and Women in their 20s. You can also find Vicki’s monologue in Meriwether’s Young Women’s Monologues from Contemporary Plays #2.
War Wounds – Dramedy
An Iraq war veteran arrives home a day early to discover his mother has taken a live-in-lover. Developed in workshop with “American Renaissance Theater Company,” withstaged readings at The Neighborhood Playhouse. 2 Women; 2 Men
Following the Yellow Brick Road Down the Rabbit Hole – Solo Show
Is there a way to have a fun and happy life and still get into heaven when we die? “ Following the Yellow Brick Road Down the Rabbit Hole”, traces the heated struggles of Cissy, a young Catholic girl, through adolescence as she searches for a solution to this quandary by challenging the restraints of the Catholic Church. Among the sixteen characters we meet on Cissy’s journey are her older siblings, Patty and George, who expose her to reading material that takes her to unforeseen places; her mother, who “should never had had girls”; friends who reinforce her insecurities about being a late bloomer; and teachers & nuns who use the classroom as a forum to express their repressed anger, loneliness and sexuality. Each perplexing encounter strengthens Cissy’s resolve to crack the mystery of religion and sexuality. Along the way she loses her closest friend, Shelly Evans, and is pushed into a dark, surreal realm when she comes face to face with an older, broken Mrs. Evans.
The play is executed through two-three-character scenes – both comic and
moving, realized with strong characterizations. Transitions are carried out with lighting, music and movement. The only set pieces needed are a chair and small table to hold a few hand props. The complete show’s running time is 75 minutes. One section can be eliminated, changing the running time to 60 minutes.
The play was developed with American Renaissance Company with productions at Neighborhood Playhouse; Other venues include, Women Center Stage; EAT; HERE,
Off the Leash Productions.
One Acts
Christine & Joanna – Dramedy
A car service ride to a kidney dialysis center gets personal. 2 Women
Stagings– American Renaissance Theater; Westchester Collaborative Theater.
Stilling the Waters – Comedy
On a Staten Island Ferry ride, an unhappy/rebellious high school student with writing aspirations, has an unexpected encounter with a man who gives her a pen.
2 Women; 1Man
Staged Reading – American Renaissance Theater at Neighborhood Playhouse
The Rapture – Physcho-sexual/Drama
A woman grieving the loss of her father, sets up a rendezvous with her first love to even the score. 1 Woman; 1 Man
Developed with Waterfront Ensemble; Staged at Stevens University Theater
The Viewing – Drama
The death of a nineteen-year-old girl brings two estranged sisters together. 2 Women
Developed and staged at Polaris North.
Sexual Difficulties – 3 Comedies
Technical Difficulties
A lonely amateur actor reaches out to an old friend who directs “Adult Dramas”.
2 women; 3 men
Production – Waterfront Ensemble
The Blind Date
When you think things couldn’t get any better, this blind date proves otherwise as it soars to ecstatic heights.
1 man;1 woman
Production – Waterfront Ensemble; Polaris North
Taking Off
A couple’s romantic interlude is interrupted when the woman catches a glimpse of her scantily clad figure in the mirror. (inspired by events in the playwright’s life – lol)
1 Woman; 1 Man
Performances: Women Center