James McManus

RADIOMAN is based on interviews with actual veterans, mostly Vietnam vets from Humboldt County, who came together to build an exact replica of Abraham Lincoln’s funeral hearse for a celebration in Springfield, MO commemorating the 150th anniversary of his death. With only a single faded, blurry photo of the hearse as a guide, their task seemed insurmountable. But in the Blue Ox Mill in the middle of the Redwoods, a hodgepodge group of volunteer vets decided to tackle the impossible head on. In the process they found healing and faith in themselves and each other. And in 2015 in Springfield, this group of Vietnam Vets finally received the hero’s welcome they always deserved.

Four childhood friends fight to get by in a dying town, but when the last factory closes, the bonds of friendship and love are put to the test as they struggle with their own demons and the price of living in an America where the jobs leave but the people remain.

Winner! 2006 Princess Grace Award for Playwriting
In Cherry Smoke, Fish, a club fighter who has spent most of his life in and out of jail, is a ticking time bomb. Despite his constant struggle to change and lead a decent life, his violent outbursts and hair trigger temper result in countless confrontations with the law. His girlfriend, Cherry, a runaway fortune teller who has been on her own since the age of ten, longs for a more simple life like the one Fish's brother, Duffy, and Duffy's wife, Bug, lead. When Cherry becomes pregnant, Fish fears he will become the type of father that his dad was to him...unavailable and violent. The all consuming love Fish and Cherry have for each other is put to the test in this poetic and visceral drama.

Time moves differently in Skid Row, Los Angeles, where artists rub shoulders with lawyers, pastors, social workers and b-ball players. From the benches of San Julian Park to the walls of an intimate apartment and a raucous karaoke hall, Love On San Pedro, weaves an unlikely love story. Shunned by her community, Marjorie’s weariness drags time to a near standstill. But when she’s wooed by a man whose hope and hoop-shots know no bounds, her world speeds up fast. Meet Skid Row’s intricate and vibrant community, a mere one square mile of downtown streets where the moon shines brightest in the darkest corners.

In the impoverished world of ex-Steel town Donora, PA, three brothers make a blood oath to escape by any means necessary. But each brother and the girls they love are caught up in the meth world and struggling to get out. Will love and family be enough to save them?

It is 1984 Pittsburgh and Reagan is rolling toward a landslide victory. Three generations of laid off steelworkers struggle to find their Morning in America and break the cycles of poverty and abuse.

In a dying factory town outside of Pittsburgh, the local patrons of The Friendly Tavern risk their lives in an attempt to hold on to what little they have as a fracking company tries to take it all away.

It is 1984 Pittsburgh and a family of steelworkers struggles to hold on to their livelihood and their way of life as the blast furnace affectionately named Dorothy 6 is closed.

Bones, an aspiring country singer, lives in a small mining community in West Virginia where coal is king. When a mine collapse leaves him and his crew trapped, Bones struggles to survive his own guilt and impenetrable darkness as the clock ticks away on their oxygen and their lives.