Play Suggestions: New Drama ?

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New Drama ?

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Play Suggestions
Forum Discription: Need help finding a show that's right for your theater? Ask here.
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4232
Printed Date: 11/26/24 at 3:39am
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Topic: New Drama ?

Posted By: ReACT01
Subject: New Drama ?
Date Posted: 9/06/09 at 12:57am

We try to do new stuff that will push our actors and Directors....Any ideas?

Thank you

Chris

http://www.reactatnoc.com - www.reactatnoc.com

Replies:

Posted By: donzolidis
Date Posted: 9/07/09 at 1:20am

For a drama/comedy, please check out A Tiny Miracle With a Fiberoptic Unicorn (5 F 3 M), winner of 2008's Texas Playwriting competition.

Here's the description from the publisher:

"In the winter of 1986, thirteen-year-old Louis vows to kiss the love of his life, the quirky theater queen Carolyn, before Christmas. Standing in his way are the forces of puberty, his big-haired vitriolic older sister, his anal-retentive mother, and his eternally amused father. The surprise arrival of both grandmothers, each crazy in their own way, throws the family into turmoil and cracks Louis' world wide open."

(think Brighton Beach Memoirs for the 80s)

You can read it online by clicking on read sample here:

http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=1426 - http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=1426

And for something far sillier, you could try The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon which is being done at half a dozen community theatres this year. Here's the link:

http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=1162 - http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=1162

Hope you like them!

Don

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www.donzolidis.com

Posted By: Jo Norland
Date Posted: 9/07/09 at 10:21am

My script, 'Lizzy, Darcy and Jane', published by Samuel French Ltd has had several UK productions, but is as yet unproduced in the US -- Jane Austen pits her wits & wills against her feistiest heroine, Elizabeth Bennet from 'Pride and Prejudice' when young Jane is crossed in love and sentences her heroine to marry the odious Mr. Collins. 7F, 5M roles. I also have an unproduced full length version of 'Pride and Prejudice' drawn almost entirely from the original text, which should be great fun. For a copy of either or both, email me at mailto:joanna.norland@gmail.com - joanna.norland@gmail.com . Good luck! Joanna

Posted By: ReACT01
Date Posted: 9/09/09 at 2:40am

I know The Brothers Grimm show and it is WILD ! So muh fun ! I am looking for more serious drama... Death of a Salesman...?

Posted By: donzolidis
Date Posted: 9/09/09 at 12:37pm

I don't know that Death of a Salesman qualifies as new.

For small-cast shows, check out Doubt by John Patrick Shanley

http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=3852 - http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=3852

and Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire.

http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=3757 - http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=3757

Rabbit Hole, in particular, is an outstanding play if you really want to make everyone cry a whole lot.

Also (cough cough) my other show (I have lots) White Buffalo.

http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/6050 - http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/6050

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www.donzolidis.com

Posted By: ReACT01
Date Posted: 9/10/09 at 12:00am

LOL I know that Death of a Salesman is not new ....That is the kind of play I like......Thanks for the ideas! I will read them...Please keep them coming

Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 9/10/09 at 10:00am

Check out the play "Autistic License." It is about a family raising a child with autism and was named one of the Best New Plays of 1997.

http://autisticlicenseplay.com/

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"None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone

Posted By: ReACT01
Date Posted: 9/17/09 at 2:33am

Any others? Come on I know you have something in mind....

Posted By: DWolfman
Date Posted: 9/17/09 at 9:54am

http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=930 - EARTH AND SKY by Douglas Post

…a genuine cop thriller, with devious plot turns, tough, corner-of-the-mouth, Chandler/Hammett-style dialogue, and enough surprises to startle rabbits out of holes let alone hats." — NY Post.

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Even a man who is pure of heart...

Posted By: teridtiger
Date Posted: 9/17/09 at 12:36pm

Anything by Lee Blessing! A couple of favorites:

"Two Rooms" - 4 person memory play about the Beirut Hostage Situation

"Patient A" - 3 person commissioned work by the Beralis family about Kimberly Bergalis

"Indepencence" - 4 women from one family trying to resolve past issues and confront the present

"Eleemosynary" - a relationship drama about 3 women from three different generations

And two from Bruce Graham.

"Burkie" - 4 person family drama dealing with the patriarch's battle with a terminal illness

"Coyote on a Fence" - 4 person prison drama about predjudice and death row inmates

Posted By: bnk01
Date Posted: 9/17/09 at 4:41pm

Past Curfew (2008 AOPW Fellowship winner) is being published by Next Stage Press in the next couple of months - a dark drama about a relationship between a 17 year old girl and her 34 year old mother (Do the math!) Similar feel to a modern "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?".

Posted By: Lazy Bee
Date Posted: 9/18/09 at 5:30am

Click on the following links to see synopses of...

http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/cgi-bin/Search_Results.asp?iSc=774 - A Killing Frost by Dixie Atkins

http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/cgi-bin/Search_Results.asp?iSc=828 - For the Good of the Family by George Douglas Lee

http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/cgi-bin/Search_Results.asp?iSc=516 - Sammy by Hilary Mackelden

http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/cgi-bin/Search_Results.asp?iSc=661 - The Loft by James Brosnahan

(From the synopses, clicking on the title will take you to the full text on-line)

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Stuart
Lazy Bee Scripts
http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk - http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk read complete play scripts on-line

Posted By: thehardartist
Date Posted: 9/18/09 at 6:33pm

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Pillowman are both new plays I can't seem to get out of my mind. Definatley worth a read. Just depends how avant garde your theater is, I suppose...

Posted By: ReACT01
Date Posted: 12/03/09 at 4:35am

Thank you all! We are now looking into a drama for tweens. Ideas?

I wanted to share this wonderful play by Woody Eney "Call me Henry" If you don't know it you should ASAP!

Posted By: teridtiger
Date Posted: 12/03/09 at 3:33pm

For 'tweens:

"the distance from here" by Neil La Bute. Very rough, very dark, very tough

"Bang, Bang, You're Dead" by William Mastrosimone. Gets tweens involved in discussions about violence against other teens.

Posted By: donzolidis
Date Posted: 12/03/09 at 4:28pm

When you say `tweens you mean about 10-12, right? Neil Labute might not be the best choice. Just sayin'.

I have an adaptation of A Chorus Line (seriously) without singing for middle-school kids, you can read it here.

http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=1427 - http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=1427

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www.donzolidis.com

Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 12/09/09 at 3:28pm

" The Pillowman" - amazing play

Katurian, a writer of grisly short stories often showing violence against children, has been arrested by two detectives, Ariel and Tupolski, because some of his stories resemble recent child murders. When he hears that his brother Michal has confessed to the murders and implicated Katurian, he resigns himself to his execution but attempts to save his stories from destruction. The play includes both narrations and reenactments of several of Katurian's stories, most notably the autobiographical "The Writer and the Writer's Brother," which tells how Katurian developed his disturbed imagination by hearing the sounds of Michal being tortured by their parents.

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http://tristanrobin.blogspot.com

Posted By: gaftpres
Date Posted: 1/19/10 at 10:23am

PROOF.......a current and very good drama.

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Old volunteers never die, they just get recycled!