Liar by Trade

Category: Two-act Drama

Audience:  Family, all ages

Cast Breakdown: 4m, 3f

Set:  Unit set

Run time: 90 minutes

Synopsis :  Agnes is recovering from cancer and is about to get evicted from her home. Troubled with all these distractions, she finds it difficult to write her next play, but her agent is screaming and Agnes needs a check. She begins working on a story of a seventeen-year old farm girl, Tessa Marie, who is lame and who has grown up with ridicule and shame. Tessa Marie’s parents are forcing her into a loveless marriage, even though Tessa is in love with someone else. In fact, she is carrying his child. But her true love is unjustly imprisoned and Tessa Marie needs a father for her child. The arranged marriage takes place, and Tessa’s is left with a loveless marriage. When Agnes is asked whether the story is true, she replies that she is a liar by trade, because that’s what writers do for a living. But is this story really a lie, or is Agnes telling a tale of her own past? 

No Time for Madness

Category: Two-act Drama

Audience:  Family, 13 or older

Cast Breakdown: 1m, 4f

Set:  Unit set

Run time: 90 minutes

Synopsis :  There was something wrong with Harry.  He was once a brilliant surgeon, but now his mind was slipping away. With so little time left, Harry is desperate to piece his broken family back together. Harry’s daughter, Jordan, has tried to take care of him while running her dental practice from home, Harry's behavior is becoming more bizarre by the day. Jordan begs her sister, Paige, for help, but Paige wants nothing to do with their father who was always too busy to spend any time with his daughters. Paige remembers too well that Harry had a second family, and that his wife, their mother, left them all because of it. Now, after ten years of refusing to acknowledge their half-sister, Alice, the two sisters decide it’s time to call her and ask for help with Harry. But when Alice shows up, the sisters learn that their half-sister has special needs of her own.

Katrina, Rita, and Other Bitches

Category: Two-act Drama

Audience:  Family, all ages

Cast Breakdown: 2m, 3f 

Set:  Unit set

Run time: 90 minutes

Synopsis : Nick and Sarah had weathered hurricanes in the past, but this time, Katrina was headed straight for New Orleans and a mandatory evacuation had been issued.  They turn to Nick’s brother, Frank, for refuge, and bring along their three beautiful dogs.  But there is a problem.  Frank can’t stand dogs.  He doesn’t much like people either.  OK, just for a day or two, he’ll try to make it work.  But what Frank considers his castle is nothing more than a construction site.  His den has no floor.  There are wood planks everywhere and the den furniture is stacked to the ceiling in the kitchen.  And in the center of the room, he proudly displays his magnificent Harley Davidson.  Nick and Sarah are appalled.  Frank is put out.  And when the brief evacuation becomes an extended stay, a war breaks out among them all. 

Chronicles of Deceit

Category: One-act Drama

Audience:  Family, all ages

Cast Breakdown: 2f

Set:  Unit set

Run time: 60 minutes

Synopsis : Five independent shorts featuring two women whose talent for deceit rivals the other.
Scene 1, The Intervention - Dawn is ready to participate in the intervention that she’s certain will save her Aunt Ethel’s life.  The entire family is to congregate at Dawn’s house to launch the deed.  Aunt Ethel will expect that she is attending a dinner party, although this will be a party of a different sort.  But the surprise is more Dawn’s than her aunts.  None of the participants show up and Dawn is left to wrestle with her Aunt Ethel’s alcoholic behavior on her own.
Scene 2, Snoring, Not Me - All Martha wants to do is watch a simple television show.  But Ma is snoring so loudly that the television could not be heard if you crawled into the speaker.  A simple nudge should wake her up and solve the problem.  But that turns out to be a mistake.  Ma is not about to sit peacefully while Martha enjoys her entertainment.  Not when Ma has so much on her mind.
Scene 3, Where Time Is Money - Kimberly is on her way to a business meeting when her car breaks down leaving her stranded in a deserted town in the middle of nowhere.  Well, the town is not exactly deserted.  One lone resident, Bernice, runs the deli and the gas station/mechanic shop.  Perfect!  Get something to eat while the car is undergoing repairs.  Except the legal tender in this abandoned town is time, that is time subtracted from your life span.  A roast beef sandwich and a diet coke will cost her forty-five minutes.  The car will be forty years.  Of course, Kimberly believes Bernice to be suffering from some sort of dementia, so she agrees to humor her.  Kimberly quickly learns that the true cost of time may be her life.
Scene 4, The Mother of Invention - Sister Margaret has a secret.  A visit from a stranger threatens to unveil her hidden past.  Brook is looking for her birth mother, and she approaches Sister Margaret with one question, “Are you my mother?”  Will the sister embrace her daughter that she surrendered many years ago?  Will she confront the demons of her past?  And if Sister Margaret can’t do that, how will Brook handle the rejection?
Scene 5, To Life after Death - Janet Branson knows that her husband is cheating on her.  She has always known it.  There have been many women, but her husband has in the past moved on after a short time.  But this time, Janet fears the worst.  This time he may not come back.  So it’s time for a plan, and Janet has a good one.  She’ll pose as an FBI agent to get into Miranda’s house.  From there, the murder should be a simple task to accomplish.

Hearts

Category: Two-act Musical Drama

Audience:  Family, all ages

Cast Breakdown: 3m, 4f with double/triple casting; optional chorus

Set:  Unit set

Run time: 120 minutes

Synopsis : Three women meet in a convenience store.  One robbery and a few gunshots later, they all meet up somewhere else.  The Holding Area is a place where people go before moving on to the next level of life.  Now, these three women from different backgrounds, of different ages, and with completely different cultures must decide which one will be chosen to cross over to the other side.  Will it be Margaret, a middle-aged wealthy home maker who is used to the finer things in life, and who has little patience for those who are different?  Will it be Carla, a young immigrant mother who has struggled with deep secrets since her teens?  Or will it be Sam, a runaway who has faced tragedy beyond her years?  Two will return to the life they knew, and one will remain to move on, but only under special conditions.  They must all agree on who goes back and who doesn’t.  Otherwise, none of them will return to the life and loves left behind.  This play deals with reconciliation and heartbreak, love and hate, acceptance and rejection.  This play delves into the mystery of the human heart.

Not Without Grandma

Category: Two-act Drama or Musical Drama (two versions)

Audience:  Family, all ages

Cast Breakdown: 3m, 4f with double casting

Set:  Unit set

Run time: 90 minutes non-musical; 120 minutes musical

Synopsis : April is a young college graduate headed for medical school.  She has everything to look forward to, a wonderful career, a mother (Lizzy) who takes care of every possible need, and an attentive boyfriend (George).  But now, April has learned that her mother is dying, the mother who cooked every meal, washed every piece of clothing, paid for tuition and books, the mother who has been her best friend all of her life, who took care of her after her father died, and who made her bed when she got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  April must not only nurse her terminally ill mother, but is also left with the care of her elderly, crotchety, sour-dispositioned grandmother (Grandma Flo).  How will April manage to stay in school, to run the household, to fix her growling grandmother martinis, and to watch Lizzy die? 

The Coach's Dream

Category: Two-act Musical Drama

Audience:  Family, all ages

Cast Breakdown: 8m, 8f with double/triple casting

Set:  Multiple scenes

Run time: 120 minutes

Synopsis : Coach Simon Rockman has been a dedicated teacher for most of his life. Having no children of his own, his students are his life, and he has poured himself into helping them develop great futures. But a student like Bobby Lee Saulson comes along only once in a lifetime. Simon and his wife feel as if Bobby Lee were their own son, and the feeling is mutual. So when Bobby Lee makes it big, Simon knows that his life has had purpose. His boy makes it to the big leagues and has the life everyone dreams about. Fame and fortune, married to a beautiful girl, father of beautiful kids, and living in a home built for royalty. Yes, Bobby has everything, until that terrible day, and the unfortunate accident that puts him in a wheelchair and robs him of everything good.