Romantic comedy: Samuel Taylor:
7 men, 7 women. Exterior.
The story is a modern version of the Cinderella fable. It is set
on Long Island in the 1950s, and deals with the involvement of a
very rich family named Larrabee with Sabrina Fairchild, the daughter
of their family chauffeur. She is bright, well-educated and has just
returned from five years in Paris, where she has done a brilliant
job as an executive in a US government overseas office. She has come
home to find out if she is still in love with the younger Larrabee
son, David. The elder son, Linus, a cynical, good-humoured tycoon
who has taken control of the family fortune, detects Sabrina's feeling
for his brother and, for his own amusement, lays a trap to bring
them together. It works: David falls in love with Sabrina and wants
to marry her. At the same time, a rich young Frenchman who has known
Sabrina in Paris turns up and asks her to marry him. Faced with this
dilemma, Sabrina discovers it is really Linus she wants. After an
amusing scene in which Sabrina's father, the chauffeur, makes a rather
amazing revelation, Sabrina breaks down Linus' resistance and gets
her man. An unusual number of fine character parts for actors: the
beautiful mother of wit and perception; the father, whose one passion
is attending funerals; the chauffeur who has been dabbling in the
stock market and likes his job because it gives him time to read;
the smart magazine editor who, as a house guest, is the interested
observer.
ISBN:, 0-8222-0979-9
Play. W. Somerset Maugham
M4 (young, 30s, middle-age) F4 (20s, elderly). A drawing-room.
Maurice Tabret, paralysed from the waist down, has only love and
pity for his wife Stella, who is thus denied a normal life and children.
Maurice's mother lives with them. Stella falls in love with Maurice's
brother, Colin, and soon she is pregnant by him. When Maurice dies
in his sleep Stella is accused of murder, but Mrs Tabret confesses
that she killed her son out of love for Maurice, no less than for
Stella and Colin.
ISBN 0 573 01394 2
Play. David Foley
M3 (40s, 50s) F3 (40s). A kitchen and sitting-area.
Set in a house on the Florida coast in the early sixties, Sad Hotel is a fictionalised account of a famous playwright's relationship with his male lover. The play traces the dissolution of a fifteen year relationship under pressures of fame, failure and addiction. Trapped between a choice of love or loneliness, and the extremes of desire and betrayal, the characters in Sad Hotel test the limitations of human contact. Yet in the face of final loss, they struggle towards reconciliation, forgiveness and a kind of peace. Period 1961-1963
Comedy. Philip King and Falkland Cary
M4 (20s, 40s, 50s) F5 (20s, 40s). A living-room.
Beware of mothers-in-law, especially of one like Emma Hornett. Albert
Tufnell, AB, is anxious that his fiancee, Shirley, should not take
after her mother, Emma. Albert is also disturbed to find that Shirley
has weakly acquiesced to living only three doors away from her mother.
Albert's only defence is not to turn up at the church. Later he makes
peace with Shirley and the wedding is 'on' again.
ISBN 0 573 01395 0
(in an edition with The Weir) - Conor McPherson
1m. Full length monologue. Minimal set.
A cynical and jaded drama critic falls for a beautiful young actress.
In pursuing her he meets a group of modern day vampires, who offer
him eternal life. His part of the bargain is to feed their bloodlust
... McPherson, the author of The Weir, is 'already heir to
the great Irish tradition of absorbing tale-telling ... [he] has
a priceless narrative gift' Michael Billington, Guardian.
ISBN 1 85459 347 1
Play: Sybille Pearson
2 women. Interior
Sally, a waif-like young wife and mother originally from South Dakota,
has settled into a rather cramped New York City apartment with her
two young (and unseen) children, while her husband is on the road
selling detergents. Desperate for a friend, Sally strikes up a conversation
with her next door neighbor, Marsha, a cynical, wise-cracking native
New Yorker who is impatiently waiting for her own husband to complete
his residency in orthopedics. Although complete opposites the country
mouse and the city mouse the two women gradually warm to each other
as they exchange ever more personal (and amusing) confidences about
their hopes and fears, their likes and dislikes, and their relationships
with their two very different husbands. In time, despite occasional
misunderstandings, they become each other's main moral supports,
as the homespun Sally grows more worldly and the neurotic Marsha
regains her self-esteem with both benefiting more than they might
realize from the growing closeness and mutual admiration which, inevitably,
makes their eventual parting all the more poignant.
ISBN: 0-8222-0980-2
Short Plays. Sally Nemeth. A collection of short plays and monologues for women. 7 women (flexible casting). Unit Set
ISBN: 0-8222-1454-7
Play: Thomas Babe.
13 men, 2 women. Interior
A striking and brilliantly theatrical retelling of the trial of Joe Hill, the famous labour organiser and political radical, to whom time has granted the status of American folk hero.
The time is 1915, the place the Salt Lake City courtroom where Joe
Hill, the celebrated local radical, is on trial for murder. Obviously
mistrusted by the conservative folk of his day, Hill senses that
his cause is lost, even though the evidence presented against him
is less than decisive. This, he knows, is his last forum, and he
uses it to expose the complacency and small-mindedness of his attackers,
even refusing to use the one alibi which could save him, because
doing so would compromise a lady whom he loves and respects. Taking
over his own defence, and punctuating his telling, irreverent interrogations
with songs and fantasy sequences, Hill angers, dismays and ultimately
shames his tormentors - bringing the play to a powerful, poignant
conclusion and establishing the martyrdom which, he knows, will be
his greatest contribution to the ideals which have motivated his
short and turbulent life.
ISBN: 0-8222-0982-9
Play. John Godber
M5 F6 or M3 F3. Various simple settings.
Hull Truck Company's production of this richly humorous, affectionate
and touching portrait of life in the West Yorkshire coalfields won
a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival and was presented in London
at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre. Spanning three generations, from
1947 to the present, this compelling saga vividly captures the dreams,
ambitions, joys, fears, heartaches and disappointments of the Parker
sisters, Annie and May, whose hopes centre on May's son, Paul, and
his academic success.
ISBN 0 573 01689 5
Play: David French
1 man, 1 woman. Exterior
The time is 1926, the place the front porch of a summer home in
the tiny coastal town of Coley's Point, Newfoundland. Mary Snow,
a lovely young girl of 17, studies the evening sky through a telescope.
Her reverie is interrupted by the unexpected appearance of Jacob
Mercer, the boy with whom she had once fallen in love, and who, a
year ago suddenly departed for Toronto without so much as a goodbye.
Now Jacob has returned to Coley's Point, wanting to win back the
affection which Mary once felt for him. In his absence, however,
Mary has decided to accept the marriage proposal of Jerome McKenzie,
the local schoolmaster, who may be on the dull side but is certainly
reliable and more than willing to provide for her younger sister,
Dot. But when memories of Jacob are revived, and when he feigns leaving
for good, she suddenly realizes that he just may be the man for her.
ISBN: 0-8222-1388-5
Play. Geraldine Aron
M 10 F11, may be played by M3 F5 (minimum). Various simple settings.
Chosen to reopen the Oxford Playhouse in 1991, and then seen in
London's West End, Same Old Moon shows us scenes in the life
of Brenda Barnes, the aspiring writer. We follow her from age nine
to fortyish, and see through her eyes her eccentric and sometimes
fiery Irish family; her wilful and self-destructive Dad, her put-upon,
sometimes hot-tempered Mum and many others. A charming, but not uncritical,
look at family life with some wonderful acting roles.
ISBN 0 573 01892 8
Comedy. Bernard Slade
M 1 F 1. A bedsitting-room.
This long-running Broadway hit is about an adulterous love affair
taking place only once a year - and also a reflection of twenty-five
years of American attitudes. George picks up Doris in a California
inn in 1951 and they agree to meet there once a year. Before each
scene, tapes portray America of the time in speeches, sports and
news broadcasts. The New York Times described it as the 'funniest
comedy about love and adultery to come Broadway's way in years'.
ISBN 0 573 61604 3
Comedy. Preston Jones.
6 men, 3 women. Interior.
The place is Santa Fé, New Mexico; the time the late 1950s
and the scene is the adobe house of Gino Bruno, a genial but largely
untalented sculptor who believes that, at long last, he has created
a masterpiece. His long-time friend, an equally bumbling painter
named Claude Nordley, refuses to look at Bruno's sculpture, and professes
to hate everybody and everything - except himself and the cheap local
wine known as Santa Fé Sunshine. In fact, no one gets a peek
at Bruno's creation until it is unveiled at a disastrous party arranged
by a scheming gallery owner and attended by a rich hillbilly art
patron and an assortment of resident oddballs: a homosexual poet;
a wood carver skilled at faking local artifacts; a college-girl folk
singer and her over-intense boyfriend, a would-be writer. As the
wine flows, and personalities clash, the play reaches its very funny
climax in which all present learn something about life, themselves,
and the vagrant nature of the muses they would serve.
ISBN: 0-8222-0986-1
The Santaland Diaries and Season's Greetings
Comic Monologues. David Sedaris, adapted by Joe Mantello.
1 man, 1 woman. Unit Set
The Santaland Diaries (1M) is a brilliant evocation of what a slacker's Christmas must feel like. Out of work, our slacker decides to become a Macy's elf during the holiday crunch. At first the job is simply humiliating, but once the thousands of visitors start pouring through Santa's workshop, he becomes battle weary and bitter. Taking consolation in the fact that some of the other elves were television extras on One Life to Live, he grins and bears it, occasionally taking out his frustrations on the children and parents alike. The piece ends with yet another Santa being ushered into the workshop, but this one is different from the lecherous or drunken ones with whom he has had to work. This Santa actually seems to care about and love the children who come to see him, startling our hero into an uncharacteristic moment of goodwill just before his employment runs out.
(1W) Another funny, touching and twisted monologue about the season.
ISBN. 0-8222-1631-0
Play. Vladimir Gubaryev. Translated by Michael Glenny M 12 (20s, 50s) F6 (20s, 40s, 70s). Extras. A clinic ward.
In this moving play by the science editor of Pravda, victims of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station embark on a non-return journey in a terminal radiation clinic. The arrival of nine survivors from the disaster starts a string of confessions and recriminations which ends in a powerful condemnation of the bureaucratic muddle and official cover-up.
Play Ron Cowen.
3 men, 2 women, 1 boy. Unit Set.
Overflowing with good intentions, Rich Meridan becomes a
"Big Brother" to Macy Stander, the teenage boy of an ambitious, AfricanAmerican
mother. Rich hopes to inspire Mary to overcome racial prejudice and
achieve success in spite of the world being against him. While Macy
is initially resentful towards his "Big Brother," it's Macy's actual
brother, Paul, who is openly antagonistic towards Rich and what he
considers his patronizing generosity. Paul suspects that the "Big
Brother" will be unable to deliver on his promises to send Mary through
college and law school. Ultimately Rich's grand idea for Macy's education
falls through, leaving Mary embittered and Rich disillusioned, feeling
as if he is just another fervent idealist who has been defeated.
ISBN: 0-8222-0987-X
Play. Jerome Kass.
4 men, 2 women. Interior.
On the Saturday night on which the play occurs, Rochelle Harris
is as usual expecting her friend Ellie. As soon as her father leaves
she excitedly changes into a splashy hostess gown and covers the
drab furniture with bright-colored spreads, much as she has covered
her life. Then she proceeds to share cultural and sexual fantasies
with her friend while damning the world, her own in particular, for
its crudeness, its insensitivity, its dreariness ... and soon, very
soon, we realize just how troubled Rochelle really is ... Rochelle's
mother was mad and she fears the same fate. Rochelle is is not really
a martyr to her father's needs. He needs her and does fear abandonment,
but she is also using him as an excuse for self-seclusion. A family
friend brings his buddy around to cheer up the girls and for a moment
she leaves her self-made tragedy in a cathartic gale of laughter
(the buddy, a wonderful character, is a would-be comedian, short
on education but long on reflexive understanding). Finally the father
returns with a revelation about himself that ultimately shatters
the glass lid that this poor girl has, in fright, placed over her
life.
ISBN: 0-8222-0988-8
Play. Eduardo de Filippo, adapted by Keith Waterhouse and Willis
Hall
M 11 F6. An apartment in Naples.
At first sight a typical picture of Italian family life with characteristic displays of Mediterranean temper, the play concerns the essence of any relationship between a man and a woman after years of married life. A monumental family row begins to brew on Saturday night while the Sunday ragu is being prepared in the kitchen. The row breaks on Sunday, the traditional day for family quarrels, and is finally and touchingly resolved on Monday.
Comedy. John Patrick. Sequel to The Curious Savage.
4 men, 6 women (plus one very brief part for a boy). Interior.
Depressed and world-weary, after extensive travels, the reputedly
wealthy Mrs. Ethel Savage returns to the sheltered precincts of The
Cloisters, seeking refuge among her former fellow patients. But The
Cloisters is on the verge of closing due to lack of funds. As Mrs.
Savage's fortune is now in the control of her greedy stepchildren
she is powerless to help. Until, that is, a "hippy" couple storm
in bent on robbery - and Mrs. Savage persuades them to "kidnap"
her, with her share of the ransom going to the sanitorium. From then
on the plot twists and turns delightfully, as one hilarious event
follows another, leading in the end to a heart-warming lesson in
the essential goodness which lurks somewhere even in the worst (and
sanest) of us.
ISBN: 0-8222-0989-6
Drama. John Patrick Shanley.
2 men, 3 women. Interior.
The setting is a slightly seedy neighborhood bar in the Bronx, where
a group of regulars (who all happen to be the same age - 32) seek
relief from the disappointments and tedium of the outside world.
The first to arrive is Denise Savage, a perennial loner who announces
that she is still a virgin, but would like to remedy the situation.
She is joined by an old school friend, Linda Rotunda, whose problem
has been the opposite - too many lovers (and illegitimate children)
but who is now fearful that her current boyfriend, Tony Aronica,
is losing interest in her. And when the macho Tony comes bursting
in shortly thereafter and announces that he is leaving her to pursue "ugly
girls," girls who have read books and can teach him something, Linda
is desolate. Denise, sensing an advantage, makes a play for Tony,
and the action quickens, moving swiftly from zany comedy to tense
confrontation which requires the muscle and mediating skills of the
taciturn bartender, Murk, who, heretofore, had been content to keep
the glasses filled, including that of his mixed-up girlfriend, April,
a failed nun who is also a classmate of the others. In the end tensions
.subside, Linda recaptures Tony, Murk proposes to April, and only
Denise remains as she was - still in the limbo of loneliness from
which she so desperately wants to escape.
ISBN: 0-8222-0990-X
Play. Christopher Hampton
M10 (3 Brazilian Indians) F1. Extras M. Multiple set.
In a passionately angry, bitterly cynical and yet wholly workable play which veers from the soapbox to high comedy we are shown the contrasting publicity surrounding the murder of one diplomat and the anonymity surrounding the slaughter of a hundred Brazilian Indians. Period 1963 to 1970
Play. Tom Mardirosian.
3 men, 1 woman. Unit set
An actor (in this case the author himself) faces an audience and,
with unfailing wit and humor, tells all about what it is like to
pursue an acting career in the challenging and often discouraging
environs of New York and Hollywood. From the first school play to
auditioning for Joseph Papp at New York's famed Pubfic Theater; from
doing bit parts on television soap operas and commercials to getting
his first minor role in a Hollywood film; and on to becoming an understudy
for a star in a Broadway play, the author pulls no punches - or laughs
- in providing an insider's view of the whole zany, illogical, but
so often stimulating process. Interspersed with his own colorfully
recounted memories are brief scenes in which the other actors (each
taking a variety of roles) join him in recreating actual events and
experiences. And along the way; a number of famous theatrical personages
come under his scrutiny, with sometimes unflattering but invariably
hilarious results. But, throughout, in both the vignettes and the
solo pieces, the author is able to find the funny side of everything
- even rejection - and with an unquenchable spirit and resilience
which will be readily understood and delighted in by all who love,
participate in, or even just follow the fortunes of, the wonderful
world of the theatre.
ISBN: 0-8222-0991-8