Plays
gUnTOPIA (Full-Length dark comedy)
gUnTOPIA, a dark comedy, is an absurdist portrayal of the extreme qualities of America’s gun culture. Harry Nelson has a model family, his loving wife Mary and their children Bobby and June, all of them excellent shots. They faithfully attend range every Sunday. Yes, it’s a wonderful world they live in. Dogs, friendly neighbors, and neatly trimmed lawns. All’s as well as it can be—or is it? Events that occur one day will push the family toward a surprising, convulsive climax.
San Diego Production of gUnTOPIA
Margin of Error (Full-Length Drama)
Margin of Error tells the story of a highly respected senior scientist on the verge of receiving the Nobel Prize whose youthful breach of science ethics gets discovered years later by a graduate student to whom he’s promised his recommendation for a coveted post-doc fellowship. Unbeknownst to the student, the professor has been having an affair with his girlfriend, another of the scientist’s graduate students, and has given her his word that he will recommend her for the fellowship. The professor’s wife, a world-renowned East Indian feminist activist, has just returned home from a long stay in her native country and is unaware of what’s been going on in her absence. The play takes place over the course of a single evening at the professor’s home as revelations tumble out and fireworks fly. The characters must make hard choices concerning who they are and what they’re willing to sacrifice to get what they want.
Reviews
Jade Heart (Full–Length Drama)
JADE HEART tells the story of Jade McCullough, a woman abandoned as an infant in China and adopted to America by a single Caucasian mother. Moving backward and forward in time from Jade’s childhood until her mid-twenties, the play explores themes of identity, race, parent/child interdependency, and coming of age. While it touches on the issue of the Chinese Communist Party’s imposition of its one-child rule in 1979, the heart of the play is Jade’s journey toward understanding and forgiveness. It’s an emotional portrayal of the relationship between a mother and her daughter and the daughter’s struggle to answer questions about who she is and what she wants.
Reviews
‘Jade Heart’ explores connection | San Diego Union-Tribune
‘Jade Heart’ tackles questions of family, identity | Chicago Sun-Times
Jade Heart Shines at Chicago Dramatists | Broadway in Chicago
Jade Heart Chicago Dramatists | Steady Style Chicago
Jade Heart at Chicago Dramatists | Time Out Chicago
San Diego Production of Jade Heart
Chicago Production of Jade Heart
Book of Leaves (Full–Length Drama)
Walter’s grown children don’t know he’s dying of cancer, and they have secrets of their own. Over the course of a long weekend at his tree–shrouded home, many truths come to light, including what happened to his wife, their mother, who died seventeen years earlier.Conflicting desires and hidden ambitions converge in a suspenseful, emotionally charged story that will surprise, and move, mature audiences.
Review of Book of Leaves from Oak-Park-Journal.com (see pdf in photos folder)
Movement Man (Full–Length Comedy)
Movement Man, a full–length comedy, is set in Chicago in 1979. John has been groomed for his entire life to take over his father’s business, Al’s Discount City, a small chain of discount stores. But that is not what he wants. An idealist, he wants to work for progressive social change. When he starts dating a young protester he meets at an ERA rally, he decides to make his move. However, his sister’s new husband has been promoted to general manager and wants to implement the ruthless management tactics of Rank’s Savings Emporium, a powerful nation–wide discounter. He’s convinced John’s father to go along with it. John realizes that if he quits, no one will be left to defend the rights of hundreds of Al’s employees, so he reluctantly decides to stay. Believing he could never be happy with his girl if he stays stuck in a job he hates, he stops seeing her.The play follows the ups and downs of John’s struggle to protect the workers, get the girl he loves, and fulfill his ambitions.
Movement Man can be staged with a fixed set, using scrims, flats. Short videos must be shown. Movement Man has received a private reading with professional actors and a professional table reading at Chicago Dramatists. Photo by lauramusikanski at Morguefile.com
Shadows of Athens (Full–Length Drama)
The young philosopher Plato wants to impress his former lover Alcibiades and concocts a plot to embarrass the corrupt and tyrannical leader of the democracy installed by Sparta after the city–state’s defeat in the Peloponnesian War. But when he seeks the help of a powerful, mysterious priestess, he falls in love with her. Will his reckless passions end up destroying him and the people he loves? Or will reason conquer? Shadows of Athens tells a rich, complex story of ancient intrigue and romance. Photo by Sting