_Plays Available for Production and/or Development
The following is a partial listing of plays available for production and/or development. Development histories are listed for some of the plays. Licensing information is available at links where applicable.
Production histories are available upon request. Some of the plays listed below are available for premieres.
FULL-LENGTHS
The Devil's Own Game (Drama, 2f, 1m)
Developed at: Lark Play Development Center, New Repertory Theatre, Holland Productions, Yellow Taxi Productions, and Bare Bodkin at Tufts University.
Currently undergoing further development through Whistler in the Dark Theatre's 2012/2013 Playwright Incubator Program
"Not to get personal, but... are you the Devil?"
"Not The Devil, A Devil."
SYNOPSIS: The damned soul of Doctor Faustus, whose punishment is to inspire discoveries only to see them perverted, finds himself in the lab of a young physicist. Through the machinations of Faustus and Mephistophilis, she will either redeem the world or damn it to a new level of suffering.
From the Holland Productions blog: "When a young scientist inadvertently summons the soul of Dr. Faustus, she finds herself in the middle of an elaborate game of life, death, and eternal damnation. A fascinating modern twist on the classic tale."
Burning Up The Dictionary (Drama, 1f, 1m)
Developed at the Lark Play Development Center, Playwrights Commons, the Small Theatre Alliance of Boston, Vagabond Theatre Group, Bostonia Bohemia: Summer Scenes, and Interim Writers.
Nominated for a 2013 IRNE (Independent Reviewer of New England) Award for Best New Play!
Click Here for Photos from the 2012 Vagabond Theatre Group Production
" Don’t you think it’s a little weird. To be starting to date someone new. And have a silk rope on your night stand? Shouldn’t something like that be put away?"
"...It was."
SYNOPSIS: A story of Language, Love, Lust, and Loss. From the Vagabond Theatre Group blog: "Burning up the Dictionary, as described by Meron, feels like When Harry Met Sally but possessed by the demonic spirit of Neil LaBute. It journeys into the tenaciously crumbling relationship of two people who love and need each other but can’t find any room for trust. The play explores the personal language of every relationship and how a common language that once kept people extremely close can also wound and drive them further apart."
For Art's Sake (Comedy, 2f, 3m)
Developed at Polaris North (NYC), North Shore Reader's Theatre Collaborative (MA), Northport Reader's Theatre (NY), Brandeis University, and Bare Bodkin @ Tufts University
An excerpt from this play is included in InterJACtions Volume II: Monologues at the Heart of Human Nature
"A little excitement is good for you. You can go off and paint about it. Like Hemingway."
"Hemingway was a writer."
"Close enough."
SYNOPSIS: A romantic comedy in the big city with art, intrigue, and possibly gangsters.
The Marquis De Sade's JUSTINE (Opera Libretto/Verse Play, Large Cast)
Co-Author w Silvia Graziano
Developed at Fort Point Theatre Channel
"On the questions of ethics
We tend to dwell
Though these questions alarm us
And their answers as well..."
SYNOPSIS: Taking the Marquis De Sade's infamous novel as a launching point, the opera takes us on a journey through the rewards of vice and the perils of virtue. The Marquis himself is our guide through a corrupt world that mirrors our own, as we watch two sisters go through life with two opposing moral philosophies. Justine, who chooses the way of virtue and finds that no good deed goes unpunished, and Juliette, who conquers her world by embracing vice. More than just a titillating tale, this opera is a serious exploration of philosophy and morality in dominatrix's clothing.
Bystander 9/11: A Theatre Piece Concerning the Events of September 11, 2001 (Docu-Drama/Long One-Act, flexible cast: 3 or more)
Licensed for Performance & Published by JAC
Soon to be included in The Methuen Drama Anthology of Testimonial Plays - Release Date: August 2013
Developed at Polaris North, NYC and "Playreadings & Such" at the New Phoenix Theatre On the Park, Buffalo, NY
"This thing happened to me on the way to work. The story starts there anyway..."
SYNOPSIS: A documentary drama drawn from the experiences of New Yorkers during the September 11th attacks and their immediate aftermath. The story begins in the subways underneath the towers and continues in a changed world.
Trajectories - Part I: Transformations (Movement/Multimedia)
Co-writer with Chris Mandia with Evet Arts.
"Adapt and Overcome. Don't you ever forget it."
Created with Evet Arts and various collaborators, this piece concerning the lives of soldiers who fought in the wars following 9/11 and is based on interviews with American servicemen who saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Transformations is first piece in a projected trilogy. My co-writer, Chris Mandia, is a former Marine and Iraq vet.
Click here for the video of the November 2012 Chicago production on Vimeo.
ONE-ACTS
B'Shalom (Drama, 3m)
Developed at New Repertory Theatre, Last Frontier Theatre Conference (Voted an Audience Favorite), Region I Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival
Awards/Grants from KC/ACTF, ATHE, LFTC, Center for Jewish Culture & Creativity
Selection Published in DUO!: Best Scenes for Two for the 21st Century by Applause Theatre Books
Plans are underway for an expanded/full-length version entitled Over Here
"Issam. If we cannot joke about deep rooted ethnic hatred, what can we joke about?"
SYNOPSIS: Set in New York City in the Summer of 2002, the growing friendship between an Israeli immigrant and a Palestinian-American is put into crisis by both local prejudices and events overseas.
A Rain of Seagulls (Comedy/Parody, 3f, 4m)
Developed at Brandeis University
Masha produces a pistol, and without looking points it into the air and shoots.
Beat.
A seagull falls to the ground.
SYNOPSIS: A condensed version of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull
Also available in a 10-minute play version.
Seeing the Devil's Face (Historical Drama, 1f, 4m)
Developed at New Repertory Theatre and the Comparative Drama Conference
"Mathematically, the Bottle Parry cannot exist. That is, not if there can be a such thing as the Unstoppable Thrust."
"Mathematics is not grounds for murder."
SYNOPSIS: Set in the Italian Renaissance, a story about fencing, philosophy, and the responsibility that comes with lethal knowledge.
NUMEROUS SWORDPLAY SCENES
Legacy - working title (1m, Drama)
Developed at Playwrights' Commons and New Repertory Theatre
"What we do is not for everybody..."
SYNOPSIS: An exploration of the personal and cultural struggles of an American man inheriting the stewardship of a school of Japanese swordsmanship.
Legacies - working title (1f, 3m, drama)
Developed at The Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts at Brandeis University
Scheduled for a workshop in April 2013 with Open Theatre Project.
"He’s a very important man."
"I know. He’s my father."
"He’s more than your father."
SYNOPSIS: Conflicting loyalties between family and tradition in three generations of American instructors in a Japanese martial art.
EXTENSIVE FIGHT SCENES
TEN MINUTE PLAYS
The Godot Variations: Whining for Godot, Waiters for Godot, Call Waiting for Godot (Comedy/Parody, 3-5 actors)
Published by Smith & Kraus
Included in The Best 10-Minute Plays 2010
"He never comes. Sometimes I think that's the point."
SYNOPSIS: Comic variations on Samuel Beckett's classic.
After the Hill (Comedy/TYA, 2f, 1m)
Licensed for Performance & Published by YouthPLAYS.com
Also included in the anthology, Follow That Funny: Fifteen Short Comedies for Teen Actors
"It’s just that... We’ve never actually gotten any water from up there."
SYNOPSIS: Having found themselves once more at the bottom of a steep and seemingly endless hill, Jack and Jill begin to ask themselves how they got there, and what their alternatives might be. The stakes rise when Mother Goose arrives and attempts to reassert the status quo. Their next choices will decide their fate forever.
Masquerade (Drama/Movement 1f, 1m)
Developed at Brandeis University
"It’s not really you."
"Who else would it be? "
SYNOPSIS: A movement piece with masks. An exploration of what happens when the mask becomes the face.
They're Playing Your Song (Comedy, 3m)
"You float like the Butterfly! You sting like the Bee! You are immortal like the Cockroach!"
SYNOPSIS: Theme music is commissioned for a boxer, therefore making him invincible. Perhaps.
EXTENSIVE FIGHT SCENE
Also available as a short (2m)
An Open Book (Drama 1f, 1m)
First developed at the Traverse Theatre's "Monday Lizard" in Edinburgh, Scotland.
"I wake up freezing and alone on a bare mattress in the hallway of a stranger's apartment in someone else's country."
SYNOPSIS: Who is the diary really written for? A travel journal reveals the secrets of the woman who searches for it.
Jimmy Jim Jim & The M.F.M. (Seriocomic, monologue, 1m)
Published in One On One: The Best Men's Monologues for the 21st Century by Applause Theatre Books
"We call my boy here the M.F.M.. That's short for the Motha F*ckn' MACHINE. We used to call him just 'The Machine,' but it did not do him justice."
SYNOPSIS: A man visits his friend in the county jail, and fills in the gaps in his memory as to how he got there.
Partisans (Historical Drama, 1f, 1m)
"They said they would hang my body up on a post with the sign still on me as a warning to others."
SYNOPSIS: Set on the Russian Front in WWII, a young widow who lost everything to the Nazis fights for the right to keep fighting.
Last Lessons (Drama, 1f, 1m)
Developed at the Small Theatre Alliance of Boston and Polaris North, NYC
"All those fancy trophies and you can’t hit an old man. Some pretty ballet kicks though. You almost tagged me once."
"More than once. More than almost."
SYNOPSIS: A young martial arts champion pays a long overdue visit to her old teacher.
EXTENSIVE FIGHT SCENES
Cell Block (Drama, 4m)
"They'll be crying. They always cry. That’s how you know you were good."
SYNOPSIS: An anatomy of events leading up to and following a prison rape.
SHORTS
Most of the following pieces have been performed at the Gi60 International One-Minute Play Festival and other venues. Some have been published. Cast sizes vary. Several more are available beyond those listed. Click here for a selection of videos.
Stating the Obvious (drama)
A young man and his dying father resolve an old issue.
Lying Makes Me Feel Like a God (drama)
Inside the mind and motivations of a pathological liar. A monologue.
Culty-Mates of Frisbee: A Ritual (comedy/verse play)
Published in of NorthNorthwest 2010 by the Northwest Playwrights' Alliance & Western Washington University.
Group dynamics and shifting relationships in a group that takes it's hobby a bit too seriously...
The Name of the Horse (comedy)
Answering the unasked question implicit in an American classic. Published in Lamia Ink.
The Case Against Vampirism (comedy)
Career choices among the supernatural
The Hotel Huis Clos (parody/comedy)
A parody of Sartre's No Exit.
The One-Minute, Non-Musical LA BOHEME for One or More Actors (parody/comedy)
Published on McSweeney's Internet Tendency
La Boheme in one minute. With no music.
White Man's Burden (Dark Comedy)
A not-so-enlightened discussion of the ills of the world...
The Best Intentions (historical drama)
A political prisoner is reunited with his wife. A Lamia Ink semi-finalist.
Shoes (dark comedy)
What your shoes may be thinking...
Suitable for puppets. A Lamia Ink semi-finalist.
Schrodinger's Curiosity (seriocomic)
The ghost of Schrodinger may or may not be haunting the physics lab...
OTHER PROJECTS
Hamlet's Ghosts (Movement Based Devised Theatre Piece)
Originally created and performed for Whistler in the Dark's Something Rotten: Hamlet Remixed
Created with: Amanda Coffin, Ashley Korolewski, Joelle Kross, Mary-Liz Murray, and Rachel Coffin.
"I will fight him"
"Upon this theme"
"I loved"
"I loved"
"Ophelia..."
Lights Up
Using Edward Gordon Craig's seminal essay, "On Ghosts in Shakespeare" as a starting point to investigate Act V, this piece plays with the idea that perhaps the ghosts never leave the stage but in fact are manipulating the living the entire time. It is an investigation of the intersections of words and non-standard movement to communicate multiple levels of reality that might be at play on the stage at any given moment. Photos available on the Directing page.
Poetry In Performance Projects
Various poems adapted to theatrical performance.
Includes an adaptation on Tomlinson by Rudyard Kipling intended as a puppet piece.
The Devil's Own Game (Drama, 2f, 1m)
Developed at: Lark Play Development Center, New Repertory Theatre, Holland Productions, Yellow Taxi Productions, and Bare Bodkin at Tufts University.
Currently undergoing further development through Whistler in the Dark Theatre's 2012/2013 Playwright Incubator Program
"Not to get personal, but... are you the Devil?"
"Not The Devil, A Devil."
SYNOPSIS: The damned soul of Doctor Faustus, whose punishment is to inspire discoveries only to see them perverted, finds himself in the lab of a young physicist. Through the machinations of Faustus and Mephistophilis, she will either redeem the world or damn it to a new level of suffering.
From the Holland Productions blog: "When a young scientist inadvertently summons the soul of Dr. Faustus, she finds herself in the middle of an elaborate game of life, death, and eternal damnation. A fascinating modern twist on the classic tale."
Burning Up The Dictionary (Drama, 1f, 1m)
Developed at the Lark Play Development Center, Playwrights Commons, the Small Theatre Alliance of Boston, Vagabond Theatre Group, Bostonia Bohemia: Summer Scenes, and Interim Writers.
Nominated for a 2013 IRNE (Independent Reviewer of New England) Award for Best New Play!
Click Here for Photos from the 2012 Vagabond Theatre Group Production
" Don’t you think it’s a little weird. To be starting to date someone new. And have a silk rope on your night stand? Shouldn’t something like that be put away?"
"...It was."
SYNOPSIS: A story of Language, Love, Lust, and Loss. From the Vagabond Theatre Group blog: "Burning up the Dictionary, as described by Meron, feels like When Harry Met Sally but possessed by the demonic spirit of Neil LaBute. It journeys into the tenaciously crumbling relationship of two people who love and need each other but can’t find any room for trust. The play explores the personal language of every relationship and how a common language that once kept people extremely close can also wound and drive them further apart."
For Art's Sake (Comedy, 2f, 3m)
Developed at Polaris North (NYC), North Shore Reader's Theatre Collaborative (MA), Northport Reader's Theatre (NY), Brandeis University, and Bare Bodkin @ Tufts University
An excerpt from this play is included in InterJACtions Volume II: Monologues at the Heart of Human Nature
"A little excitement is good for you. You can go off and paint about it. Like Hemingway."
"Hemingway was a writer."
"Close enough."
SYNOPSIS: A romantic comedy in the big city with art, intrigue, and possibly gangsters.
The Marquis De Sade's JUSTINE (Opera Libretto/Verse Play, Large Cast)
Co-Author w Silvia Graziano
Developed at Fort Point Theatre Channel
"On the questions of ethics
We tend to dwell
Though these questions alarm us
And their answers as well..."
SYNOPSIS: Taking the Marquis De Sade's infamous novel as a launching point, the opera takes us on a journey through the rewards of vice and the perils of virtue. The Marquis himself is our guide through a corrupt world that mirrors our own, as we watch two sisters go through life with two opposing moral philosophies. Justine, who chooses the way of virtue and finds that no good deed goes unpunished, and Juliette, who conquers her world by embracing vice. More than just a titillating tale, this opera is a serious exploration of philosophy and morality in dominatrix's clothing.
Bystander 9/11: A Theatre Piece Concerning the Events of September 11, 2001 (Docu-Drama/Long One-Act, flexible cast: 3 or more)
Licensed for Performance & Published by JAC
Soon to be included in The Methuen Drama Anthology of Testimonial Plays - Release Date: August 2013
Developed at Polaris North, NYC and "Playreadings & Such" at the New Phoenix Theatre On the Park, Buffalo, NY
"This thing happened to me on the way to work. The story starts there anyway..."
SYNOPSIS: A documentary drama drawn from the experiences of New Yorkers during the September 11th attacks and their immediate aftermath. The story begins in the subways underneath the towers and continues in a changed world.
Trajectories - Part I: Transformations (Movement/Multimedia)
Co-writer with Chris Mandia with Evet Arts.
"Adapt and Overcome. Don't you ever forget it."
Created with Evet Arts and various collaborators, this piece concerning the lives of soldiers who fought in the wars following 9/11 and is based on interviews with American servicemen who saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Transformations is first piece in a projected trilogy. My co-writer, Chris Mandia, is a former Marine and Iraq vet.
Click here for the video of the November 2012 Chicago production on Vimeo.
ONE-ACTS
B'Shalom (Drama, 3m)
Developed at New Repertory Theatre, Last Frontier Theatre Conference (Voted an Audience Favorite), Region I Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival
Awards/Grants from KC/ACTF, ATHE, LFTC, Center for Jewish Culture & Creativity
Selection Published in DUO!: Best Scenes for Two for the 21st Century by Applause Theatre Books
Plans are underway for an expanded/full-length version entitled Over Here
"Issam. If we cannot joke about deep rooted ethnic hatred, what can we joke about?"
SYNOPSIS: Set in New York City in the Summer of 2002, the growing friendship between an Israeli immigrant and a Palestinian-American is put into crisis by both local prejudices and events overseas.
A Rain of Seagulls (Comedy/Parody, 3f, 4m)
Developed at Brandeis University
Masha produces a pistol, and without looking points it into the air and shoots.
Beat.
A seagull falls to the ground.
SYNOPSIS: A condensed version of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull
Also available in a 10-minute play version.
Seeing the Devil's Face (Historical Drama, 1f, 4m)
Developed at New Repertory Theatre and the Comparative Drama Conference
"Mathematically, the Bottle Parry cannot exist. That is, not if there can be a such thing as the Unstoppable Thrust."
"Mathematics is not grounds for murder."
SYNOPSIS: Set in the Italian Renaissance, a story about fencing, philosophy, and the responsibility that comes with lethal knowledge.
NUMEROUS SWORDPLAY SCENES
Legacy - working title (1m, Drama)
Developed at Playwrights' Commons and New Repertory Theatre
"What we do is not for everybody..."
SYNOPSIS: An exploration of the personal and cultural struggles of an American man inheriting the stewardship of a school of Japanese swordsmanship.
Legacies - working title (1f, 3m, drama)
Developed at The Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts at Brandeis University
Scheduled for a workshop in April 2013 with Open Theatre Project.
"He’s a very important man."
"I know. He’s my father."
"He’s more than your father."
SYNOPSIS: Conflicting loyalties between family and tradition in three generations of American instructors in a Japanese martial art.
EXTENSIVE FIGHT SCENES
TEN MINUTE PLAYS
The Godot Variations: Whining for Godot, Waiters for Godot, Call Waiting for Godot (Comedy/Parody, 3-5 actors)
Published by Smith & Kraus
Included in The Best 10-Minute Plays 2010
"He never comes. Sometimes I think that's the point."
SYNOPSIS: Comic variations on Samuel Beckett's classic.
After the Hill (Comedy/TYA, 2f, 1m)
Licensed for Performance & Published by YouthPLAYS.com
Also included in the anthology, Follow That Funny: Fifteen Short Comedies for Teen Actors
"It’s just that... We’ve never actually gotten any water from up there."
SYNOPSIS: Having found themselves once more at the bottom of a steep and seemingly endless hill, Jack and Jill begin to ask themselves how they got there, and what their alternatives might be. The stakes rise when Mother Goose arrives and attempts to reassert the status quo. Their next choices will decide their fate forever.
Masquerade (Drama/Movement 1f, 1m)
Developed at Brandeis University
"It’s not really you."
"Who else would it be? "
SYNOPSIS: A movement piece with masks. An exploration of what happens when the mask becomes the face.
They're Playing Your Song (Comedy, 3m)
"You float like the Butterfly! You sting like the Bee! You are immortal like the Cockroach!"
SYNOPSIS: Theme music is commissioned for a boxer, therefore making him invincible. Perhaps.
EXTENSIVE FIGHT SCENE
Also available as a short (2m)
An Open Book (Drama 1f, 1m)
First developed at the Traverse Theatre's "Monday Lizard" in Edinburgh, Scotland.
"I wake up freezing and alone on a bare mattress in the hallway of a stranger's apartment in someone else's country."
SYNOPSIS: Who is the diary really written for? A travel journal reveals the secrets of the woman who searches for it.
Jimmy Jim Jim & The M.F.M. (Seriocomic, monologue, 1m)
Published in One On One: The Best Men's Monologues for the 21st Century by Applause Theatre Books
"We call my boy here the M.F.M.. That's short for the Motha F*ckn' MACHINE. We used to call him just 'The Machine,' but it did not do him justice."
SYNOPSIS: A man visits his friend in the county jail, and fills in the gaps in his memory as to how he got there.
Partisans (Historical Drama, 1f, 1m)
"They said they would hang my body up on a post with the sign still on me as a warning to others."
SYNOPSIS: Set on the Russian Front in WWII, a young widow who lost everything to the Nazis fights for the right to keep fighting.
Last Lessons (Drama, 1f, 1m)
Developed at the Small Theatre Alliance of Boston and Polaris North, NYC
"All those fancy trophies and you can’t hit an old man. Some pretty ballet kicks though. You almost tagged me once."
"More than once. More than almost."
SYNOPSIS: A young martial arts champion pays a long overdue visit to her old teacher.
EXTENSIVE FIGHT SCENES
Cell Block (Drama, 4m)
"They'll be crying. They always cry. That’s how you know you were good."
SYNOPSIS: An anatomy of events leading up to and following a prison rape.
SHORTS
Most of the following pieces have been performed at the Gi60 International One-Minute Play Festival and other venues. Some have been published. Cast sizes vary. Several more are available beyond those listed. Click here for a selection of videos.
Stating the Obvious (drama)
A young man and his dying father resolve an old issue.
Lying Makes Me Feel Like a God (drama)
Inside the mind and motivations of a pathological liar. A monologue.
Culty-Mates of Frisbee: A Ritual (comedy/verse play)
Published in of NorthNorthwest 2010 by the Northwest Playwrights' Alliance & Western Washington University.
Group dynamics and shifting relationships in a group that takes it's hobby a bit too seriously...
The Name of the Horse (comedy)
Answering the unasked question implicit in an American classic. Published in Lamia Ink.
The Case Against Vampirism (comedy)
Career choices among the supernatural
The Hotel Huis Clos (parody/comedy)
A parody of Sartre's No Exit.
The One-Minute, Non-Musical LA BOHEME for One or More Actors (parody/comedy)
Published on McSweeney's Internet Tendency
La Boheme in one minute. With no music.
White Man's Burden (Dark Comedy)
A not-so-enlightened discussion of the ills of the world...
The Best Intentions (historical drama)
A political prisoner is reunited with his wife. A Lamia Ink semi-finalist.
Shoes (dark comedy)
What your shoes may be thinking...
Suitable for puppets. A Lamia Ink semi-finalist.
Schrodinger's Curiosity (seriocomic)
The ghost of Schrodinger may or may not be haunting the physics lab...
OTHER PROJECTS
Hamlet's Ghosts (Movement Based Devised Theatre Piece)
Originally created and performed for Whistler in the Dark's Something Rotten: Hamlet Remixed
Created with: Amanda Coffin, Ashley Korolewski, Joelle Kross, Mary-Liz Murray, and Rachel Coffin.
"I will fight him"
"Upon this theme"
"I loved"
"I loved"
"Ophelia..."
Lights Up
Using Edward Gordon Craig's seminal essay, "On Ghosts in Shakespeare" as a starting point to investigate Act V, this piece plays with the idea that perhaps the ghosts never leave the stage but in fact are manipulating the living the entire time. It is an investigation of the intersections of words and non-standard movement to communicate multiple levels of reality that might be at play on the stage at any given moment. Photos available on the Directing page.
Poetry In Performance Projects
Various poems adapted to theatrical performance.
Includes an adaptation on Tomlinson by Rudyard Kipling intended as a puppet piece.
