2017 ARCHIVE
MAIN STAGE
written by Scott C. Sickles
directed by Fritz Brekeller
When Fletcher Driscoll returned to his hometown to direct Romed and Juliet, he never expected to end up in his own star-crossed romance with Jeff, a recently out divorcé with a complicated past. Nor was he prepared to confront Tommy, his high school best friend who broke his heart.... repeatedly and on purpose. Fortunately Fletcher and Jeff are keeping it simple, so what could possibly go wrong?
by Alan C. Breindel
directed by Leslie Kincaid Burby
Through the Darkness recounts the unimaginable journeys and true stories of four courageous men and women who left everything behind, including their loved ones, so that they might stay one step ahead of the Holocaust.
3 DAY READINGS
by Allan Knee
Music by Robert Wolf
Directed by Thomas Coté†
Think Mount Rushmore. -- Now think 75 years later.
Leonard Fisher - a naive 26-year-old street artist - a competitor of the Naked Cowboy - is commissioned by the Arts Council of South Beach, Florida, to create - to sculpt - Mt. Rushmore - to transform South Beach into the cultural capital it longs to be. Rather than sculpt four presidents - as the original Rushmore had - Leonard creates - sculpts - who he is passionate about. His four heads consist of the whistle blower Ed Snowden, the songbird Nicki Minaj, the iconic spaceman Ziggy Stardust and the bumbling Homer Simpson. This leads to controversy among various groups - and even one of the heads rebels. But Leonard - inspired by a growing interest from Disney - and one of the attractive members of the Arts Council - grows up and fights for what he believes in.
by Mark Loewenstern
Nellie Bly, aspiring daredevil reporter, went undercover in an insane asylum on Blackwell's Island (now Roosevelt Island) in New York City, 1887. There she befriended a patient named Anne Neville. After 10 days, Nellie was sprung from the asylum to write her story. Anne stayed.
book and music by Robert Koutras
directed by Emma Berry
Finding himself in an impossible situation, a man is forced to confront his decisions, mistakes, successes and resentments. This takes a village. All the important people from his past surround him, some with their own lessons to learn, as we travel down this path of love, loss, forgiveness, and the beyond.
by Jack Feldstein
directed by Robert Kalfin
ROBERT MOSES, New York's master builder of the 20th century was both adored and despised during his lifetime. More than any other individual, Moses left an enormous legacy shaping our city.
SUNDAYS@SIX
by Ben Goldstein
On November 22, 1916, Jack London, then the most famous, highest paid and most controversial author of his day, died under questionable circumstances. Jack London and his wife, Charmian, were charismatic figures whose life and exploits were followed by a fascinated public around the world. This is the story of their life, as it was played out in reality and in Jack's fictional work about a love triangle with deadly consequences.
by Philip W. Hall
Marshall Evans is finally back in his Florida home after the police are done with the investigation. There, two days ago, his partner Judge Dashiell Kane was found shot to death. Today in the very same house, Marsh is being questioned by a young female detective who goes by the name of Charley. It seems that there are serious questions about the Judge’s death. The wealthy Mr. Evans finds the interview insulting, but he plays along. Besides, his bar is well-stocked. Throughout the evening, Marshall expounds hilariously on such topics as Health, Infidelity, and yes, even Death. But eventually, he is forced to face the truth.
by Vincent Marano
Harry "The Mule" Berg was once a big deal in the Bronx mob. Now he's out of jail, living in subsidized housing, working a minimum wage job and trying to reconnect with his daughter and grand-daughter. Still The Mule has some kick left in him, and it won't be long before old habits, enemies and new associates pull Harry back into a world that almost killed him. So which is it? Dangerous criminal or a worn out old man?
by Peter Hempstead
The Stranges have kept their dark secrets hidden from the world for many years, but when another family arrives during a cataclysmic storm on Easter weekend, long-buried sins come to light once again as a ghostly presence rises to demand a reckoning.
by Mary Sue Price
Fantasy, fear, ambition and love, not to mention shake and bake meth and the constant threat of violence, all collide in a messy rent house in small town Oklahoma when three people plus one fantasy championship wrestler — all vulnerable, all trapped in different ways — go after their own versions of the American dream.
by Gary Giovannetti
The general manager of a baseball team is confronted with a slew of crises over the course of two days in Vegas.
by Jack Feldstein
Proving that the clash between old folks’ comedy and young folks’ comedy is very funny, NEIL SIMON’S LAST HIT imagines playwright Neil Simon on the eve of his 90th birthday. Determined to write his last hit.
When Neil Simon meets 20-something Mike Green, Mr Simon believes he has found the right collaborator to do just that.
A fantasy comedic romp through the work and life of Neil Simon, America's funniest and most successful playwright ever while examining the history of American comedy itself.
by Robert Strozier
While researching a book she’s doing on a well-known psychotherapist, now deceased, the writer makes a disturbing discovery about his relationship with a former patient. In digging deeper, she finds herself drawn into the lives of the therapist’s wife and son—and also begins to confront her own shortcomings, as a writer and a person.
A Science Faction Play by Richard Kent Green
Four people participate in an experiment to perfect and enhance the human body with microscopic, robotic technology.
by Walter Brandes
Suspense and paranoia surround an archaeological dig that uncovers an unknown foreign object in the Akuhma Desert. It is up to an unlikely team of a chemist, a geologist, and two cooks to reveal the secrets of the mysterious find. In this sci-fi thriller with smatterings of comedy, the group of four begin to unravel the truth of what is in the desert and, in doing so, destroy the reality they once knew.
by Rich Orloff
When you're fighting for a child's soul, what rules apply? A New York Bar Mitzvah brings together three Jewish brothers (a politician, a therapist, and a Buddhist monk), their fading but forceful father, the politician’s 13-year-old son (who doubts he’s ready to become a man), and the boy’s Bar Mitzvah tutor (a woman who loves the boy and possibly one of his uncles). MEN OVERBOARD is Rich Orloff’s boldest mix of comedy and drama as it asks, “What makes a man?”
by Tony Sportiello
One night in the San Fernando Valley three stories emerge, connected but separate, as events unfold which will change lives forever.
by Jason Howard
They say Helios carries the sun across the sky in a golden chariot from east to west every day. He may have done it over Providence this morning. Sarah is watching Dawn slowly open her eyes. Amy watches Ryan as he sleeps, their unspoken promises dangerous and unexpected. Some of us inspire and others destroy, twisting around each other as we try to find our balance, moving into the divine.
by Sarah Elisabeth Brown
When a pizza junkie falls for a raw food vegan, she defies her habitual "chubby best friend" role in life and discovers just how far she's willing to go for love.
by Maria Micheles
Is it self-destructiveness or freedom, everyone falling for the same person until having offset their life, or a sign of socio-political disconnect? Years later, still contemplating what could’ve been as she’s about to get married, Semele casts actors resembling people from her past to relive it once more, relishing the pre-September 11th times, but when some of them arrive to play in a band nearby, things take another turn...
by Richard McElvain
A one-person drama inspired by Stefan Zweig's classic novella
Imprisoned by Gestapo. Solitary confinement. Mind disintegrating. A stolen book on chess sets your imagination ablaze. Your conscious self divides into two feuding master players. Eventual escape. And finally you teeter at the edge of madness as you dare to challenge the greatest chess player in the world.
by Allan Knee
Music by Robert Wolf and Ricardo Grilli
Think Mount Rushmore.
Now think 75 years later.
Leonard Fisher - a naive 26-year-old street artist - a competitor of the Naked Cowboy - is commissioned by the Arts Council of South Beach, Florida, to create - to sculpt - Mt. Rushmore - to transform South Beach into the cultural capital it longs to be. Rather than sculpt four presidents - as the original Rushmore had - Leonard creates - sculpts - who he is passionate about. His four heads consist of the whistle blower Ed Snowden, the songbird Nicki Minaj, the iconic spaceman Ziggy Stardust and the bumbling Homer Simpson. This leads to controversy among various groups - and even one of the heads rebels. But Leonard - inspired by a growing interest from Disney - and one of the attractive members of the Arts Council - grows up and fights for what he believes in.
by Sharbari Zohra Ahmed
Set on a women's only beach in the modern day UAE, Girlistan is an allegory for geo politics, the fight for natural resources, and social hierarchy.
by Mark Loewenstern
Nellie Bly, aspiring daredevil reporter, went undercover in an insane asylum on Blackwell's Island (now Roosevelt Island) in New York City, 1887. There she befriended a patient named Anne Neville. After 10 days, Nellie was sprung from the asylum to write her story. Anne stayed.
This expressionistic play tells the above story from Anne Neville's perspective.
BOOK: Laurie Graff
COMPOSER/LYRICIST: Nancy Shayne
On the coldest night of the year a handful of New Yorkers brave the elements to attend a pet bereavement meeting, each reeling from the recent loss of their BFF, best furry friend. But grief gets derailed when the group’s animal instincts sniff out the truth about their leader. A musical tribute to love, loss and treats.
by Liz Amberly
When a fire destroys a couple’s home and sends the wife into a coma, the husband must face his fears and fight for his marriage, his sanity, and his future. This drama has elements of fantasy and explores how lost a man can get searching for a way back home.
by Natalie Bates
These Things Happen is a play about the costs of keeping, and of revealing, a painful family secret. Joanne, a 40-ish painter living in suburban New York, is stunned to learn that her daughter, Jesse, was molested as an adolescent by her uncle—the same uncle who, we discover, abused Joanne at the same age. Jesse intends to confront and expose him on the occasion of his granddaughter’s bat mitzvah, a plan that meets with denial and resistance from both her mother and grandmother. An intensifying series of confrontations between Jesse, Joanne and her father and mother uncover patterns of betrayal that span generations—and threaten to extend into the future. It’s up to Jesse to lead the battle to break the chain of lies told in the name of a family's 'survival'.
Written and directed by Jack Feldstein
Today, the West faces a crisis of refugees and immigration. And the families who emigrate? How do they cope with displacement and reconciling the old with the new? In THE SPARKLING CITY OF OMAR MAZEN, the son in an immigrant Muslim family struggles to find his own path in small town Australia and follow his own dreams.
by Margo Hammond
Walter’s promise to his wife becomes a conflict within the city of Tinder Hill. One side is for and the other against. He attempts many screwball maneuvers but can Walter keep his pledge to Patsy? Will love prevail?
by Linda Segal Crawley
With help from her brilliant Irish-American husband, Jewish New Yorker from Iowa searches for meaning, mojo and the advancement of civilization on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
by Dana Leslie Goldstein
Go Down, Moses tackles the aftermath of a racially charged incident that takes place on a liberal college campus, at a time when students were rallying for divestment from South Africa but weren’t focused on the racism around them.
by Sam Graber
On a sunny weekday afternoon, Jim Bender sees a teenage boy lurch towards the entrance of the local high school, two shotguns beneath a trench coat. In a moment's decision Jim brandishes his own firearm, stopping a shooter-massacre before it happens. Jim Bender is a hero. But as more of the story comes to light, this truth becomes a lot less clear—and that is not what people need it to be.
Are today's shooter-massacres the result of a destabilized male identity? What does it mean to "be a man" today?
NOTE: This reading will take place on the WorkShop Theater Main Stage.
OTHER EVENTS
The 4th Annual unGALA honoring Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award
Tony and Olivier Award-winning playwright
JOHN GUARE
THE WORKSHOP THEATER
Presents: A SPECIAL EVENT:
THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL WILL-A-THON
A 453RD ANNIVERSARY of his Birth-Bard-Stravaganza!
Conceived and Directed by CHARLES E.GERBER
written by Leegrid Stevens
directed by Thomas Coté
The mayoral campaign in the retirement community of Mesquite, Nevada turns nasty as accusations of illegal activity surrounding a $90 travel voucher are leaked to the local press. The accusations quickly divide the town and lead to a complete political upheaval in this dark comedy about power and politics in the USA.