Is He Dead? adapted by David Ives
based on the play by Mark Twain |
 
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Comedy
Full-length, 105-120 minutes
4 females, 7 males (11-16 actors possible: 4-6 females, 7-12 males)
$100.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
Jean-Francois Millet, a young painter of genius, is in love with Marie Leroux but in debt to a villainous picture-dealer, Bastien Andre. Andre forecloses on Millet, threatening debtor's prison unless Marie marries him. Millet realizes that the only way he can pay his debts and keep Marie from marrying Andre is to die, as it is only dead painters who achieve fame and fortune. Millet fakes his death and prospers, all while passing himself off as his own sister, the Widow Tillou. Now a rich "widow," he must find a way to get out of a dress, return to life, and marry Marie.
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| "A ripely enjoyable confection! An elaborate madcap comedy that registers high on the mirth meter and reaches especially giddy comic heights!" |
| --David Rooney, Variety |
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Comedy
Short, 20-30 minutes
7 females, 10 males (5-17 actors possible: 2-8 females, 3-9 males)
$40.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
A parade of characters whirls through a museum gallery, in a rapid-fire series of hilarious scenelets. A single painting transfixes each of the viewers, who react from their own unique perspectives. In doing so, they become humorous sketches themselves, exploring the nature of art and how it enriches life from a variety of angles.
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| "Sophisticated writing and exuberant characters that are instantly funny and absolutely real -- the showpiece of the entire evening." |
| --Opelika-Auburn News |
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Drama
Full-length, 115-125 minutes
3 females, 3 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Soon after African-American businessman Sterling North becomes the new director of the Morris Foundation, he discovers that this world-famous art collection includes several significant African sculptures tucked away in storage. His proposal to add them to the public galleries is opposed by the foundation's long-time education director, who is loyal to the idiosyncratic wishes of the late Dr. Morris. Spurred on by a zealous local journalist, this clash quickly escalates to public accusations of racism and a bitter struggle for control of the collection. Permanent Collection is a searing examination of racial politics that ultimately asks how much space -- literally and figuratively -- the white world gives to African-Americans. What is the cost of failing to view the world through another's eyes?
(This is the second part of a trilogy. See also Bee-luther-hatchee and A House With No Walls.)
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| "Gibbons' intellectually charged drama is a beautifully balanced dialectic that treats a complicated and emotional issue without cheap conclusions... Sophisticated and deft, it is a provocative treatment of the unanswerable." |
| --F. Kathleen Foley, Los Angeles Times |
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Drama
Full-length, 115-125 minutes
3 females, 2 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Waving Goodbye is the story of Lily Blue, a 17-year-old photographer who loses her father in a mountain climbing accident, and must spend her 17th year with the mother who abandoned her. It's also a story of loss, grief, change, making art, wishing things were different, being stalled, finding love, not turning into your mother, and those irrevocable moments after which nothing is ever the same.
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| "Jamie Pachino's new work is a beautifully written portrait of loss, rage, change, and the terror -- and joy -- of trusting another person in the wake of personal cataclysm... Pachino writes from the gut and heart in a way that's utterly refreshing...an intriguing work that deserves to be heard." |
| --Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader |
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Little Women adapted by Jacqueline Goldfinger
from the novel by Louisa May Alcott |
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Comedy/Drama with music
Full-length, 100-120 minutes
5 females, 2 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
In this affecting, delightful adaptation of Alcott's classic novel, the four spirited March sisters -- Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy -- endeavor to sustain their family in the absence of their father, who is away fighting the Civil War. Led by their devoted Marmee and accompanied by music from the period, each girl struggles to overcome her own limitations to become the best version of herself, even in the midst of disease, jealousy, and poverty.
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| "Best Bet! Delightful new adaptation... Enchanting... Timeless, touching and sweetly sentimental testament to family, loyalty, love and the power of the imagination." |
| --San Diego News Network |
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Drama
Short, 30-35 minutes
1 female
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Over the course of a portrait sitting, an artist is reminded of a terrible incident that has unhinged her life. Slowly, she reveals the sad and shocking details of her self-induced abortion, turning the act of painting into a plea for compassion.
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Drama/Comedy
Short, 40-50 minutes
1 female, 2 males (3 actors possible: 0-3 females, 0-3 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Painted Rain explores the relationship between two boys in an orphanage, on the verge of being separated by adoption. The younger boy, an energetic non-conformist, tries desperately to draw out his older roommate, who is an aspiring painter confined to a wheelchair that he refuses to relinquish for leg braces. Both boys strive to live life the way they want to live it and make their own choices, despite the external pressures and expectations of a well-meaning social worker. As the impending separation nears, these two "almost brothers" struggle to break through their alienation and isolation to find companionship and connection.
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| "This is a sweet, sad vignette about two lonely boys growing up in an orphanage, one of whom dreams about being a painter. There is a gentle poetic quality in the writing and the imagery." |
| --Mel Gussow, The New York Times |
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Drama
Short, 25-35 minutes
5 females, 3 males, 3 either (7-14 actors possible: 4-8 females, 3-6 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
One hundred years from now humans are living in sealed domes, where everything from the climate to the clothes they wear is genetically engineered. Along with other youths in this society, a girl named Kim faces a fateful day: the reading of her genome. The results will decide her career, friendship, and even who she will marry. Those who show flaws are kicked out of the system, and on Kim's big day, the unthinkable happens. Are her "flaws" a curse, or a blessing?
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Drama
Full-length, 90-100 minutes
1 female
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Artist Georgia O'Keeffe struggles to answer the question "Was it me or was it Stieglitz?" as she journeys through the major events of her life. Her husband Alfred Stieglitz played a major role in her life and career, and she now wonders if she would have achieved the same successes without him. An engrossing drama about the beloved American icon.
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Drama
Full-length, 80-100 minutes
5 females, 6 males, 1 either
(1-12 actors possible: 0-12 females, 0-12 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
The Mona Lisa has always captivated the world. But for Vincenzo Perugia, the painting holds a special power, one that compels him to steal it from the Louvre and return it to Italy. Before he returns it, however, he lives under the watchful smile of La Gioconda for over two years. Based on a true story, this cast-flexible play imagines the thief's life through a series of monologues. A clever and poignant exploration of the world's most famous painting that takes us beyond the smile, into a keen examination of the mysteries and magnetism of great art.
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| "Paints a beautiful picture of a man who loved the 'Mona Lisa' -- perhaps a bit too much... simply unforgettable." |
| --Roanoke Times |
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Comedy
Full-length, 85-95 minutes
1 female, 3 males
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Alice Horowitz, coffee-bearing secretary, wants life to be interesting. John Finch, an animator at work on Disney's Alice in Wonderland, wants Alice. When the great and outrageous Salvador Dali arrives at the studio to work on a short animated film, life becomes curiouser and curiouser. Dali scanDALIzes the conservative Finch; Alice, coffee-bearing secretary, becomes Alice, girl in a rabbit hole; and Finch and Alice both experience the surreal vagaries of the human heart.
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| "Fresh, bright, and irresistible!" |
| --Christian Science Monitor |
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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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Drama
Full-length, 110-120 minutes
2 females, 5 males (6-8 actors possible: 2-3 females, 4-5 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Never Tell centers around two enigmatic creations: a controversial video installation that includes documentary-style footage of a rape, and a ground-breaking computer program with vast business potential. The creations tear apart a lifelong friendship between slacker computer programmer Manny and ambitious gallery-owner Will, transforming the lives of those closest to them. Will becomes a media celebrity as a result of the installation, while Manny's computer program is stolen in a surreal corporate power play. In a vivid series of ironically comic and emotionally explosive scenes, Never Tell presents a contemporary story of friendship and betrayal.
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| "Mr. Christy has a real gift for contemporary, insightful, sometimes darkly funny dialogue that reflects believable human interaction." |
| --Anita Gates, The New York Times |
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Comedy
Short, 25-35 minutes
10 females, 6 males (11-16 actors possible: 6-13 females, 5-9 males)
$40.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Sisters Andrea and Barb are spending their day at the beach when they encounter several wildly unique characters. There's Cal, a man left heartbroken after his girlfriend left him for a zebra, a pair of identical twin sisters who both got plastic surgery to look less like one another, a bee keeper with dreams of dancing on the sand, and a collection of other fantastic, crazy personalities. But with a surprise visit from a familiar artist (or perhaps an imposter), reality and art are called into question in this absurdly hilarious tale of an ordinary extraordinary day at the beach.
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Drama
Short, 15-20 minutes
1 female, 1 male
$30.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
NOTE: This play is part of an anthology called Great Short Plays: Volume 4.
Two photos come to life in an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City. They are a young Cambodian woman and man whose photos were taken by the Khmer Rouge right after removing their blindfolds, moments before their execution.
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| "The play subtly challenges the audience to question its own role as consumers, and curators, of tragedy." |
| --Maura Nguyen Donohue, Flash Review Dispatch |
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Drama
Full-length, 115-125 minutes
4 females, 6 males (10-40 actors possible: 4-20 females, 6-20 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Based on actual events, A Bright Swarm of Beetles follows the breathtaking career of the greatest writer of the Soviet Union: Mikhail Bulgakov. From his beginnings in the Red revolution as a nearly homeless opium addict to the dizzying heights of literary stardom, Bulgakov struggles to write in a world fraught with madness and betrayal. After his work is denounced and banned, Bulgakov is offered a chance at redemption by the sinister dictator Joseph Stalin -- but he must choose between his art and his survival. A wild, fast-paced journey through fifteen years of one of the darkest periods of modern history.
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Drama
Full-length, 90-95 minutes
4 females, 4 males (7-8 actors possible: exactly 4 females, 3-4 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Based on the tumultuous life of Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, Lapis Blue Blood Red dramatizes an extraordinary woman's struggle to define herself in the face of overwhelming personal and social odds. The play samples from Gentileschi's letters and the official text of the trial of the man accused of raping her and stealing one of her paintings, unveiling the passion and complexity of a true 17th century story.
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| "Lapis Blue Blood Red is a near-perfect blend of form and content... A powerful work." |
| --J. Wynn Rousuck, Baltimore Sun |
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Comedy
Short, 45-55 minutes
3 females, 2 males (5 actors possible: 0-5 females, 0-5 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
Four late nights, five lost souls, one poodle gone Elvis. Above an after-hours club in an urban art slum, a painter loses control of her brush, a romance writer loses control of her heroine, an ESL teacher loses control of the to-be verb, a neighborhood activist turns into a migratory sea bird -- and a photographer called Jerry is not what he seems. A dark rhapsodic comedy about the perils of living by formula.
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Drama
Short, 15-17 minutes
1 female, 1 male (2 actors possible: 0-2 females, 0-2 males)
$35.00 per performance; $9.99 per book
NOTE: This play is part of an anthology called Special Days.
What do you do when your purpose in life has been stolen from you? One year after Michelle lost all her artwork and the use of her hands in an apartment fire, David must help the former artist find an answer to this question. (This play can also be performed as part of the full-length collection Special Days.)
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Comedy
Full-length, 115-125 minutes
9 females, 12 males, 8 either
(12-29 actors possible: 7-17 females, 5-20 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Four women who produce an obscure comic book called "The Blue Staircase" achieve sudden, unexpected popularity at a comic book convention when a major website runs a glowing article about them. Thrilled by the sudden increase in demand, they encounter a variety of eccentric convention attendants, from pretentious movie executives to quirky comic book junkies. But the women soon realize people may be paying attention for the wrong reasons...
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