Play Synopsis

Meadowland (2008)

A small town sheriff, the ghost of a brother who died under shadowed circumstances, a forbidden love, and a missing woman weave a tapestry of mystery and deceit.  Meadowland deals with in two brothers, one who chose a more righteous path that led him to become sheriff of their small town, the younger-more rebellious and competitive, who married his brother's childhood love and then joined the army to find bigger adventures.  At the start of the play, the younger brother has already been dead for two years; the exact nature of his death (accident or suicide) remains a mystery.  Unwilling to move on from this world, he has proven to be something of a pesky spirit until he brings his brother an unsolved murder:  a body in the woods, a missing woman, and a secret that my hold the key to his own unsolved death.  But as the inquiry deepens it becomes clear that the Sheriff is actually the un-named Investigator of Rashomon, and the message the brother is trying to communicate lies closer to heart.  It utilizes nine actors (7m, 2f) and a single, multi-use set.  

Sample pages for Meadowland can be found here.

 

The Gravedigger's Tango (2006) 

 

Winner of the 2006 Larry Corse Prize, The Gravedigger’s Tango explores three relationships whose nexus is a graveyard.  The first is between the Patrick “Trick” Bulifant, a scrappy young trailer-trash boy who has been hired to exhume a handful of graves and Laszlo, the cemetary’s caretaker who has been threatening to club anyone who does so with a shovel.  The second relationship is between Trick—who in reality is a scrappy young trailer trash girl—and her boyfriend, the real Trick Bulifant who had been hired to dig up the graves, but broke his arm.  Desperately in need of cash, Claire dons her boyfriend’s clothes, picks up a shovel, and trudges out to do battle with Laszlo.  Their role-reversal places them on divergent paths—Claire’s world is expanding as she interacts with the world of the dead, and his shrinking.  Her expansion happens largely at the telling of the third “story” in the play—that of the woman who’s grave is scheduled to be exhumed.  Isabella’s tale  is a love story between an idealistic young doctor and a young woman trapped in an impossible relationship.  It begins on the English Moors and ends beneath a cemetery tree.  Through her story, Claire’s world begins to grow.

 

In truth, The Gravedigger's Tango can be very simply distilled:  a young, wayward person meets an older hermit who spins a tale that inspires and enlightens.  But that simplification misses the mark in so many ways.  Gravedigger confronts our tendency to view death as not just undesireable but unnatural.  As medical science eradicates disease and lengthens life expectancy, how can we find meaning in a world without death.  Can we understand water without thirst? peace without conflict? love without emptiness?  If we live to be 150 years old, will our lives lose or gain meaning?  The Gravedigger's Tango explores two topical issues:  how the advancing technology of medicine is extending life, and reversely, the morality of physician-assisted suicide.  It utilizes nine actors (6M, 3F) and a single, multi-use set.

 

World Premiere:  Columbus State University, Columbus Georgia (2007)

 

Sample Pages for Gravedigger's Tango can be found here.

 

 

 

A Beautiful Home for the Incurable (2004)

 

Start with an agoraphobe, a narcoleptic, a temporary amnesiac, and an apraxic who cannot perform physical actions upon request, add in a ruthless identity thief with a taste for fine food and you get a raucous comedy that explores not just the idiosyncrasies of human nature, but the power of love.  Bunny Temple is an agoraphobe living in New York.  Once a week he organizes a get-together of his friends, each of whom has been relegated to the sidelines of society.  What makes this gathering different is that Bunny has become the victim of an identity theft that has left him penniless and on the verge of expulsion from the safe harbor of his apartment.  When the four decide to find the thief themselves, the amateur sleuths end up with more than they had bargained for. 

A Beautiful Home is an exploration of personal identity.  Where does our sense of self come from?  How is it limited and shaped by the physical world around us?  Despite the seriousness of the topic, A Beautiful Home for the Incurable is a comedy of both manners and errors.  Its deft exploration of the self touches upon all strata of society, and addresses contemporary themes of identity theft, co-dependency, binge-buying, and throwaway lifestyles.  Three male actors (age 28-40) and two women (28-40); single setting.
  

World Premiere:  The Pear Avenue Theatre (2004)

Professional World Premiere:  Luna Stage (2005)

Sample pages for A Beautiful Home can be found here.

 

 

 		 

The Stone Trilogy (2002)

Kaleidoscopic and darkly funny, THE STONE TRILOGY presents three interrelated one-acts that portray the face of love, forgiveness, and oppression in three countries:  Ireland, South Africa, and the United States.  In Erin's Hope, a dark stranger approaches the True IRA with an offer to media spin their cause to the American public.  The risks involved pit father against daughter, brother against brother, and young love against the forces of history.  Set after the fall of Apartheid, a young black South African and a young female archeologist discover a cave filled with ancient African paintings in The History of Stone, the second play in the trilogy.  The appearance of a white South African at their site creates an explosive atmosphere reminiscent of Sartre's No Exit.   And finally, An Accident of Identity examines the accessibility of medicine in the United States, and the subtle dynamics of economics, race, and sexual orientation.  Together, the plays present an emotional journey through the difficult landscape of forgiveness.  "A riveting, emotional journey... stunning" writes The San Francisco Bay View.  Three male actors (25-50), two women (25-40); multiple related sets.

 

World Premiere:  Second Wind Productions (2002)

 

 

 

Ghost in the Light (2000)

Ghost in the Light is based on the life of Han Van Meegeren, considered to be one of the greatest art forgers in history.  In the 1920s, Han was a successful young artist in Holland.  He patterned his style on the Old Masters, conservative, precise, and romantic.  But in the latter part of the decade, advances in photography threatened the validity of Realism and critics turned their backs on painters like Han. Happily married but tormented by his lack of success, Han decided to revenge his failures by painting a newly "discovered" Vermeer, and then tearing it to shreds after it is declared a masterpiece.  For three years he struggled to create a painting that would not only be mistaken for a Vermeer, but would pass any scientific test of its age.  The painting was eventually declared "not just a Vermeer, but Vermeer's finest work"; but before he could destroy it, the painting was sold for half a million dollars.  Torn between revenge and wealth, Han accepted the money in silence.  During the next five years, he proceeded to paint four more "newly discovered masterpieces" by Vermeer, becoming wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.  At the same time, his secret carried a price:  madness, the destruction of his marriage, and morphine addiction.  The end of World War II dragged Han's secret into the open.  One of his paintings was discovered in an Austrian salt mine owned by Herman Goering, Hitler's second man.  Its origin was traced back to Han, who was accused of treason for selling a Dutch masterpiece to the Nazi's. 

 

At its heart, Ghost in the Light deals with the love story of Han and his wife, and the conflict between obsession and love.  In its journey, questions of art, fashion, truth, friendship, and the responsibility of artists in wartime all become underlying currents in the play.  Spanning almost two decades, Ghost is both epic and intimate story-telling.  "An unheralded little gem... terrific," writes The Slant Magazine.  Nine actors play seventeen roles:  Seven men (ages 25-50); two women ( ages 25-35); multiple sets.

World Premiere:  (2001)


 

Vigilance (1999)

Virgil, Dick, and Bert have gotten together under the guise of  "poker night" to discuss what to do about their new neighbor, a man who trashes out his yard, drives down the wrong side of the street, and becomes belligerent when confronted.  After much arguing, re-living the past, and grappling with the future, a plan is presented:  they will go to Duncan's house at midnight and threaten to burn it down if he doesn't conform.  The plan, however, doesn't go as expected. Duncan uses the confrontation as a forum to taunt and ridicule them.  One of them, after the aborted confrontation, returns to shoot Duncan in his yard.  Before the murder is solved, all of their lives are changed by the revelations.

 

Vigilance deals with what people do in the face of society's quiet decay.  Structurally, the first half of the play is a train wreck in slow motion.  Violence is the inevitable outcome.  The second half is a psychological "who dunnit", exploring the question of not just who killed Duncan, but from why.  Vigilance is the winner of the 2000 John Golden Prize, conducted by Theatrefest in New Jersey.  Five males (age 32-40) and two women (age 32-36); single set.

 

World Premiere:  The Actor's Collective (1999)

 

 

 

Black Lies (1998)

 

Bobbie has returned to his impoverished home with the hopes of getting his half of his inheritance before his father dies.  He is certain, in fact, that the money is actually in their apartment, that his father has been sleeping with it under his mattress.  What his sister, Edie, doesn't tell him, is that their father has died just two days before.  Instead, she sets up a charade whereby she brings him boxes to open, and they search for the money together.  As Edie uses the memories found in each box to bring them closer together, to re-establish her family, her efforts to romanticize the past pushes Bobby towards a violent realization of the betrayals that brought him to adulthood.  Two African-American males (early twenties and mid fifties) and one African-American woman (mid twenties); single set.

 

 

 

Killing Time (1997)

 

Truth and race relations are played out on death row in this heartfelt examination of the death penalty.  Three males; single set.

World Premiere:  The Actor's Collective (1997)

 

A Beautiful Home for the Incurable, The Stone Trilogy, Ghost in the Light, and Vigilance are all available at BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com, and other booksellers.