Adult siblings Mordy and Jane have a problem. Their dreadful, centenarian grandfather is an emotional and financial tax on the family, and he just won’t die. Scheming almost entirely via text messages, the siblings hatch an outrageous plan to relieve themselves of their family’s burdens and their own.
Length: Full-Length
A full-length play or musical, in one act or two, that is 75 minutes or longer.
Buddy Bro Bubba Dude
Men in twisted shorts! This roller-coaster ride of hilarious short plays is all about, and starring only, men! In these absurdly funny tales, you’ll meet men who are confident, men who are brave, and men who are as useless as the “g” in “lasagna.” There’s Wade, who, after badgering his widowed father to start dating again, scrambles to stop his dad from a rendezvous with the last woman he should ever romance. Bubba is a radio show personality who spills a small town’s juiciest secrets during an on-air meltdown. And then, you’ll meet two good ol’ Texas boys struggling to achieve the impossible—an honest conversation about the meaning of life…and sports. And these are just a few of the colorful eccentrics in these rowdy and rollicking short plays.
By The Numbers
BY THE NUMBERS is a fun and inventive collection of eight short plays inspired by mathematical theorems. But no math is required to enjoy them!
Born With Teeth
An aging ruler, an oppressive police state, a restless polarized people seething with paranoia: it’s a dangerous time for poets. Two of them—the great Kit Marlowe and up-and-comer Will Shakespeare—meet in the back room of a pub to collaborate on a history play cycle, navigate the perils of art under a totalitarian regime, and flirt like young men with everything to lose. One of them may well be the death of the other.
“Oh Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!
And so I was, which plainly signified
That I should snarl and bite, play the dog.”
—Henry VI, Part 3,
Shakespeare & Marlowe
The Brightest Thing
An American Fable that’s tinged with sadness about a girl’s imaginary journey in a hot air balloon to rescue her mother.
Black Super Hero Magic Mama
Sabrina Jackson cannot cope with the death of her son by a White cop. Rather than herald the Black Lives Matter movement, Sabrina retreats inward, living out a comic book superhero fantasy. Will Sabrina stay in this dream world or return to reality and mourn her loss?
The Binding
Set in the Midwest, THE BINDING tells the story of Isaac, a deeply closeted, religious teen whose childhood imaginary friend, Poppy, returns on the eve of his sixteenth birthday. As Poppy begins to unravel Isaac’s tightly wound secrets, both must learn to escape the smothering identities they have chosen. THE BINDING is a play about the ecstasy and pain of believing in something that can’t be seen.
The Ballad of Emmett Till
THE BALLAD OF EMMETT TILL dramatizes the final days of Emmett Till, a Chicago teenager who takes a fateful trip to Mississippi in the summer of 1955. It is the story of a quest, Emmett’s pursuit of happiness, of liberty and ultimately of life.
This is the first play in The Till Trilogy, a three-play cycle which includes BENEVOLENCE and THAT SUMMER IN SUMNER, exploring the epic saga of Emmett Till and the birth of the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Babel
Renee and Dani are expecting. Ann and Jamie are also expecting. And a Giant Stork suddenly starts talking. Set in the near future, Babel paints the picture of a society where embryos must be pre-certified. When each couple faces the test results, things take a complicated turn. This dark comedy begs the question, “How far will we go to create the ‘perfect’ world?”
That Summer in Sumner
THAT SUMMER IN SUMNER is the middle drama in The Till Trilogy, a three-play cycle exploring the epic saga of Emmett Till. While the first play, The Ballad of Emmett Till, is the story of the boy, That Summer in Sumner explores the 1955 trial of his killers. While drawing upon trial transcripts, contemporaneous news accounts, and the abundant photographic and media imaging, the play is not a docudrama, but my imagined interpretation of behind the scenes events from the perspective of three African American journalists covering the trial and from Emmett, himself, his ghost, his cipher, his Kah, coming to grips with what has happened to him.
This is the second play in The Till Trilogy, a three-play cycle which includes BENEVOLENCE and THE BALLAD OF EMMETT TILL, exploring the epic saga of Emmett Till and the birth of the modern Civil Rights Movement.