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| Photo: Mike Trueblood |
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Sean Abley is one of the founding members of the Factory Theater in Chicago. While there, he adapted the films Corpse Grinders, Reefer Madness, and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians for the stage, and wrote the original plays Bitches, Attack of the Killer Bs, and Nuclear Family. He also contributed to the ensemble-created works Hooray!, Second City Didn't Want Us..., and P, a comedy adaptation of the "P" volume of the encyclopedia.
Commissioned and published works include the new musicals Welcome to the Afterlife! and Horror High: The Musical, and The Adventures of Rose Red (Snow White's Less-Famous Sister), Dr. Frankincense and the Christmas Monster, Bad Substitute, We Wish You a Marry Spendmas!, Historically Bad First Dates, Two-Faced: a Tragedy...Sort Of, Camp Killspree, Confessions of a Male Pin-up, The RISE of the House of Usher, Dracula's Daughters: A Family Comedy, Horror High, Elevator Games, and Double Trouble on the Prairie. He contributed to the collections Exposed! Eight 10-Minute Tales About What Really Happened! and What Would Happen If...? Six 10-Minute Tales of Improbability. His scripts are available through Playscripts, Brooklyn Publishers, Eldridge Plays and Musicals, and Next Stage Press. He recently launched Plays To Order (www.playstoorder.com), a service to create new plays for high school and community groups based on their specific needs -- cast size, themes, length, etc.
As a screenwriter for both TV and film, Mr. Abley has written for the shows So Weird (Disney Channel), Sabrina the Animated Series (ABC), Digimon and Mega Babies (both Fox Family) as well as several pilots including Bench Pressly, the World's Strongest Private Dick starring Bruce Campbell and Tim Curry. His produced screenplays include Rope Burn, Socket, and all the video material for Rip Torn in the Men In Black: Alien Attack park attraction at Universal Studios, Florida.
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Comedy
Short, 45-50 minutes
10 females, 9 males, 4 either
(9-31 actors possible: 5-21 females, 4-21 males)
$40.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Rose Red has just turned thirteen, and the pressure is on -- what will she do to get famous like her sister, Snow White? Everyone in the kingdom, from her parents to her close friend Miss Muffet, is pressuring her to get discovered. But Rose Red doesn't want to constantly be on the front page of the Grimm Times, even if Bo Peep, Cinderella, and Goldilocks eat up the attention. In her struggle to choose between doing what everyone else wants and forging her own path, Rose Red can't help wondering if a girl who wants to be "just normal" can live happily ever after.
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Comedy
Short, 35-45 minutes
2 females, 3 males, 11 either
(10-36 actors possible: 2-28 females, 3-28 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Ms. Rabbitoff, an insane Francis Bacon enthusiast, poses as a substitute teacher and takes an AP English class hostage in an attempt to convince them that Bacon was the real genius behind Shakespeare's plays. By acting out imagined versions of Shakespearean plays (sometimes hilariously blended with other great works of literature), Rabbitoff and the students battle it out to prove who knows more about the literary canon. Only the students can defend Shakespeare's great name, and fight for their right to attend their next class.
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Christmas Comedy
Short, 45-50 minutes
5 females, 8 males, 4 either
(17-19 actors possible: 5-10 females, 9-14 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
In Christmas Village, there is only one holiday and only one outsider, Dr. Frankincense. The villagers are convinced the Doctor is an evil, mad scientist and are constantly storming his castle and having after-mob potlucks. But Dr. Frankincense isn't evil at all, and he's created the ultimate proof of his good-hearted inventiveness: The Christmas Monster! But when Jack Frost, the Ghost of Christmas Past, Frosty and other suspicious locals put Dr. Frankincense on trial for crimes against the holiday, will his invention be enough to save him from jail?
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| "...Hugely inventive with high-energy and colorful characters." |
| --Beth Temkin, The Tolucan Times |
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Comedy
Short, 50 minutes
4 females, 6 males (8-18 actors possible: 4-5 females, 4-13 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
When a production of Dracula is taken over by an audience member who demands more romance, Dracula marries Mina and moves to the suburbs of Transylvania to raise their two daughters. The Count of Darkness has all the problems you might expect of the father of two half-vampire daughters, from garlic experimentation to rebellious blood drinking.
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Drama/Comedy
Full-length, 90-100 minutes
4 females, 3 males, 39 either
(35-100 actors possible: 4-43 females, 3-42 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
No parents, no siblings, no teachers. It might sound like a dream to some high schoolers, but for the teenagers of Great Falls, Montana, it is the stuff of reality. They awake one morning to find a Wall of Light encircling their town, and everyone but the student body has vanished. On top of that, the light is moving inward and their town is steadily disappearing. In the face of this mystery, the students band together...and splinter apart. What can they do to stop it? What′s on the other side? Will there still be time for one last dance? An exciting drama/comedy for a large student cast, this play explores mortality, friendship, and the survival of ethics when survival itself is at stake.
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Comedy
Full-length, 60-75 minutes
6 females, 8 males (11-30 actors possible: 5-10 females, 6-22 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Bill, Mary, Gwen, and Jimmy are all swell kids. They listen to their parents, do well in school, and help out around the community -- that is, until they get caught up in the marijuana subculture. With "Mary Jane" filling their lungs, these kids resort to theft, prostitution, and murder to satisfy their cravings, which leads to suicide and death sentences. Is one puff really too much? A hilarious send-up of the 1936 exploitation film, now a cult classic.
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| "Today Reefer Madness has reached cult status...Sean Abley's adaptation faithfully -- and hilariously -- reproduces the film's spirit and much of its dialogue." |
| --Lawrence Bommer, Chicago Tribune |
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