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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 150 minutes
3 females, 4 males
$100.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
In that most idealized period of 20th-century America, the Eisenhower years of the 1950s, the Pazinski family has a lot going on in their cramped Buffalo apartment. The youngest of the bunch, 12-year-old Rudy, is a smart, wise-cracking kid who's starting to question family values and the Roman Catholic Church. When Rudy goes up against the ruler-wielding Sister Clarissa and announces that instead of being confirmed he'd rather shop around for a more "fun" religion, all hell breaks loose. A warm and hilarious look at family, growing up, and God.
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| "A hilarious and touching depiction of 1959 Americana. Absolutely enchanting...a little bit of heaven!" |
| --Richard Christiansen, Chicago Tribune |
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Drama
Full-length, 80-90 minutes
20 either (5-76 actors possible: 0-76 females, 0-76 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
If you could say anything you wanted, without any consequences or judgment, just what would you say? Based on student responses from around the country, What I Want to Say But Never Will explores this simple but intimate question, offering a glimpse into teenagers' most private thoughts. Told through monologues and anecdotes from the playwright himself, these confessions range from a hilarious rant on an art teacher's bad breath to a touching piece of advice from a brother leaving for the Navy.
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Drama
Full-length, 70-90 minutes
7 females, 5 males (11-30 actors possible: 6-17 females, 5-19 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Past and present collide in Ellen McLaughlin's mash-up of Sophocles' classic tragedy Ajax with the modern-day war in Iraq. The play follows the parallel narratives of Ajax, an ancient Greek military hero, and A.J., a modern female American soldier, both undone by the betrayal of a commanding officer. Athena, goddess of war, coolly presides over the whole. Inspired by material collected from interviews with Iraq war veterans and their families, Ajax in Iraq explores the timeless struggle soldiers face in trying to make sense of war.
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| "Ms. McLaughlin has carved out a career as a playwright of fierce moral conviction." |
| --Anita Gates, The New York Times |
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Revenge Comedy
Full-length, 75-80 minutes
2 females, 2 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Nan has decided to teach her abusive husband Kyle a lesson. With the help of her friend Simon (acting as her emotional -- and actual -- cheerleader) and a stripper named Sweetheart, she tapes Kyle to a chair and forces him to watch as they reenacts scenes from their painful past. In the piece de resistance, they plan to cover the room in meat and honey so Kyle will be mauled by a bear. Through this night of emotional trials and ridiculous theatrics, Nan and Kyle are both freed from their past in this smart, dark revenge comedy.
website: sites.google.com/site/exitbearplayresearch
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| "If the Coen Brothers decided to set a feminist revenge tale in Atlanta and sprinkle it with Dixie Chicks pixie dust, it might look something like Exit, Pursued by a Bear, a raucous comedy of friendship, domestic abuse, and performance-as-catharsis." |
| --ArtsCritic Atlanta |
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| ReEntry by Emily Ackerman and KJ Sanchez |
 
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Drama
Full-length, 75-90 minutes
2 females, 3 males (5-11 actors possible: 2-6 females, 3-5 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
An unflinching look at the lives of Marines getting ready for and returning from combat, ReEntry is a docudrama exploration of the relationships between Marines and the civilians they fight for overseas and must contend with when they return home. Honest, moving, and surprisingly funny, this play is based entirely on interviews with Marines and their families.
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| "Provocative and Powerful!" |
| --New York Times |
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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 75-90 minutes
4 females, 3 males (6-48 actors possible: 3-25 females, 3-23 males)
$75.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
NOTE: Each piece in this anthology can be licensed and performed separately.
An exceptional and eclectic collection of twenty short plays that wends its way through various scenes of urban life. Along the way there are unlikely weirdos accosting people on subways in The Subway, a militant store clerk pushing environmental reform in Pamper Island, a man grappling with his own racism in The Three Roses, and a woman who wears a wedding dress to a wedding that isn't hers in Temporary People, Part Two: Rebecca Ruth. With wit and sensitivity, Augustine's Confessions explores the terminally vague and toxically vogue members of society.
To purchase this book of 20 plays, click "Order this play" above. To perform an individual play, click on its title below:
The Opening
Gen - X
The Subway
Temporary People, Part I: Siobhan
Nicole and Jane
Ghost
Pamper Island: A Grocery Store Comedy
The Three Roses
Window of Opportunity
Kept Boy
Megaphone Man
The Censorship Play
Temporary People, Part II: Rebecca Ruth
The Closing
Scab Writes a Song!
Promesa
Innocent Victims
Maurice
Sarabande
Mrs. Smith Plays the Piano
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| "John Augustine's characters cling to language like alcoholics to a martini glass. Insecure, endless verbalizing and very funny, they hope to assuage ambivalence with words; their dialogue tends less to the absurd than to a brittle epigrammatic gleam." |
| --The Village Voice |
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In Conflict adapted by Douglas C. Wager
based on the book In Conflict: Iraq War Veterans Speak Out on Duty, Loss, and the Fight to Stay Alive by Yvonne Latty |
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Docudrama
Full-length, 130-150 minutes
4 females, 6 males (6-17 actors possible: 2-4 females, 4-13 males)
$75.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
Individual stories of mostly college-age Iraq War veterans are presented in their own words, taken from audio transcripts of actual interviews. Already having faced brutal combat conditions in a hostile land, these soldiers have come home to the daunting challenges of returning to civilian life. Their remarkable accounts are as diverse as their backgrounds, representing America in all its complexity and humanity. Honoring the courage and desire of the individuals who serve their country, In Conflict illuminates the traumatic human cost of war, as well as the physical, moral, and spiritual conundrum that each returning veteran of the war now faces.
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| "Whenever a performer takes the stage to deliver a monologue, you feel inescapably invested in what is said. The tight bond between actors and characters here enfolds the audience too. The suggestion -- and it is not necessarily a comfortable one -- is that we're all in this together." |
| --Ben Brantley, The New York Times |
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Comedy/Drama
Short, 35-45 minutes
5 females
$40.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
For five girls living in gritty east L.A., growing up takes place in a world where parents refuse to speak ingles, girls in magazines never resemble the girl in the mirror, and boys only want to get some other girl's number. Told through monologues, vignettes, and poetic interludes, Black Butterfly, Jaguar Girl, Pinata Woman and Other Superhero Girls, Like Me gives an honest and compelling voice to the painful, wistful, and amusing experiences of their urban adolescence.
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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 75-90 minutes
1 female, 3 males, 2 either (4-6 actors possible: 1-3 females, 3-5 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
A history of America in the 1980s, an idiosyncratic genealogy of punk rock music, and a personal narrative of growing up as an outsider, punkplay is a mix tape tribute to the excesses and energy of adolescence. Mickey, a thirteen-year-old suburban misfit, is befriended by an angry runaway named Duck. Together, the boys attempt to reinvent themselves using punk rock, but as reality threatens to crash in on them, their fabricated world of amped-up music and shocking band names becomes just as oppressive as the society they're desperate to reject.
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| "In staccato scenes inspired by punk anthems, Moss captures the clammy intensity of adolescent bonding: arousal by contraband porn; battles over band names; preening in search of authenticity... [It's] political satire meets Pee-wee's Playhouse." |
| --Jacob Gallagher-Ross, Village Voice |
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Drama
Short, 20-30 minutes
2 females, 1 male
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
A young woman, Annie, reveals the story of her confinement in a mental institution. Her past is confusing and mysterious even to herself, and Annie is tortured by memories and doubts concerning a collapsed love.
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Spring by Tanya Palmer
a free adaptation of Spring's Awakening by Frank Wedekind |
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Dark comedy
Full-length, 75-90 minutes
5 females, 5 males (10-22 actors possible: 5-11 females, 5-11 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Set in the contemporary American South, Spring tells the story of Michael and Wendy, two popular kids whose growing fascination with suffering radically transforms their lives and forces them to see the world in an honest and dangerous new way. Part satire, part fantasy, Spring is an imaginative journey into the dark heart of high school, inspired by Spring's Awakening, Frank Wedekind's classic tale of adolescent desire and rebellion.
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Drama
Full-length, 90-100 minutes
3 females, 2 males (5-9 actors possible: 3-5 females, 2-4 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Expulsion, a drunken mother, drug abuse, and an affair with her mom's boyfriend: these are the elements that make up fifteen-year-old Minnie's life as she grows up in the chaos of the 70s. But Minnie is incredibly bright and self-reflective, and narrates her story in her diary with brutally honest words and drawings. This acclaimed adaptation of Phoebe Gloeckner's graphic novel sparkles with wit, curiosity, and optimism despite the loneliness and abuse that Minnie encounters. A poignant look into an ugly adolescence.
Please note that the script of this play contains selected illustrations by Phoebe Gloeckner. Some of these illustrations depict adult imagery and content.
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| "The great achievement of The Diary of a Teenage Girl, adapted from Phoebe Gloeckner's graphic novel, is to take the girl's point of view seriously. Neither sentimental nor judgmental, Diary presents Minnie Goetze as a smart, creative, passionate young woman, and the production's only agenda is to be true to her experience." |
| --Backstage (Critic's Pick) |
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Tragicomedy
Full-length, 85-100 minutes
12 females, 2 males, 3 either
(15-29 actors possible: 10-19 females, 2-10 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Do "once upon a time" and "happily ever after" co-exist in today's society? To find out, three narrators focus on an all-girls' school, where some familiar characters are attempting to overcome abusive parents, rude classmates, and an upcoming Hamlet test. Moved by their stories, one narrator tries to unsuccessfully alter the course of events by appealing to the Fairy Tales Union, but no one can argue with fate. In this touching play, it is bravery, pain, and love that result in unexpected endings for all.
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Hedda Gabler adapted by Christopher Shinn
from the play by Henrik Ibsen |
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Drama
Full-length, 130-140 minutes
4 females, 3 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
This Broadway adaptation of Ibsen's timeless drama presents a sympathetic, yet striking and powerful, Hedda in the classic tale of her struggle to find a means of escape from a loveless, ordinary existence. Beginning with the return from her honeymoon, Hedda finds herself bored of her husband, and longing for the days when she was free to exercise her wild and independent whims. With the return of an old flame and a proposition from an amorous judge, she begins a dangerous game, amusing herself by manipulating and destroying everyone around her in an attempt to regain control of her life.
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| "Playwright Christopher Shinn's clear-headed, economical and modern-sounding adaptation moves with surprising swiftness." |
| --Associated Press |
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Comedy
Short, 25-35 minutes
2 females, 2 males
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
As Peter waits downstairs for his prom date, Julia, he strives to make a good impression on her parents -- even as they proceed to get drunk, vent their existential frustrations, cajole Peter, attempt to seduce him, and ultimately attack him. It's not a pretty sight, but it ends well.
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Black Comedy
Full-length, 75-100 minutes
2 females, 2 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
An unlikely and uncomfortable friendship exists between old-man alcoholic Jasper and socially awkward 17-year-old Oliver Parker. Living in squalor in a decrepit New York apartment owned by Oliver, Jasper just wants to be left alone -- but Oliver, determined to use the apartment in his quest to get laid, loses patience with his pathetic existence very quickly. Shady dealings involving a grieving politician and her ambitious assistant Agnes only increase the tension between them, and soon buried shame and secrets bubble to the surface. Sharply funny and keenly tragic, Oliver Parker! is anything but a typical coming-of-age story.
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Black Comedy
Full-length, 90-100 minutes
1 female, 3 males, 1 either (5 actors possible: 1-2 females, 3-4 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
A video of Iraqi insurgents beheading Jack Lewis has just been released over the Internet. Back home in Idaho, his fundamentalist Christian family is trying to grieve while fending off the media. Jack's widow Karen decides to seek answers at the holiest place she knows: the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri. Along for the ride are Jack's father and his brother Bib, dealing with his own mounting spiritual crisis. With the help of a teardrop-eyed angel and a carnie named Chuck, the Lewis family struggles to understand what exactly they've lost.
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| "[Hunter] probes the very roots of American identity by way of its latest national crisis, engaging a foreign war from the home front, and questioning the value and role of religious belief in the most fundamental and relatable ways." |
| --Benjamin Sutton, The L Magazine |
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Play with music
Full-length, 115-125 minutes
5 females, 1 male
$8.99 per book
NOTE: This play can also be found in an anthology called Humana Festival 2010: The Complete Plays.
Other prices can be calculated by clicking "More Info"
How far can you go with ambition, gumption, a good heart -- and no talent? The Cherry Sisters' dreams of Vaudeville took them from their Iowa barn to Broadway, where their inept acrobatics and tone-deaf caterwauling continually sold out, bringing them fame -- and a barrage of rotten cabbages. Based on a true story and with music by Michael Friedman, Dan O'Brien's thought-provoking comedy takes a look at the insatiable urge to perform, and the audience's inability to look away.
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| "It's Gypsy by way of Waiting for Guffman, a frothy mix of gallows humor and naivete set to composer Michael Friedman's jaunty vaudeville tunes." |
| --Erin Keane, Humana Courier-Journal |
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Comedy/Drama
Full-length, 85 minutes
2 females, 1 male
$75.00 per performance; $19.95 per book
NOTE: This play is part of an anthology called Funny, Strange, Provocative: Seven Plays from Clubbed Thumb.
A typographer, geographer, and stenographer strive to explain their work in this examination of art and business, boundaries and learning to tell your own story. Most importantly, if you are what you do -- what happens when you hate your job? A funny, honest look at how we define ourselves.
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Comedy
Full-length, 110-130 minutes
5 females, 13 males (18-30 actors possible: 4-10 females, 13-20 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Hollywood, 1929. Sly-as-a-fox talent agent Manny Weisenberg has got a problem. Several. His biggest client, Bob "Whiplash" McCord -- a British classical actor trapped playing a silent cowboy hero -- wants out of his contract. Manny's girlfriend Cherie, an aspiring actress, wants out of LA. And local gangster Joey Bananas wants to break Manny's legs for default of certain debts. Manny's solution is to create the greatest seaside pageant ever seen: "The Marriage of Miss Hollywood and King Neptune." A screwball comedy a la Kaufman and Hart, set against the backdrop of early Hollywood and classic LA political corruption.
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| "[The Marriage of Miss Hollywood and King Neptune] mixes Jersey mobsters with beauty pageant glamour for laughs galore." |
| --The Washington Post |
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