Andrew Ade

In this one-act legal thriller, a routine witness preparation session, conducted by a pair of attorneys and a hired trial consultant, goes into panic once their defense witness unwittingly reveals suspicious information about the defendant in their imminent vehicular manslaughter case.

A young woman, whose life has already stalled, struggles to keep her temper, humor, dignity, and sanity at a family Christmas Eve gathering that includes her successful twin brother and his Born Again pregnant wife, each of whom has a very distinct idea of the true meaning of Christmas.

A true-to-life horror story. When police respond to a report of a home invasion by an intruder at the isolated farm house of a married couple, the investigation takes a strange turn after the traumatized husband and wife give varying accounts as to what occurred. As the opposing versions of events play out, the audience, if not the police officers, ultimately grasp the couple’s real endangerment story.

During a visit to an art gallery, an elderly widower takes up the cause of a disruptive teenage boy, while the boy is held for questioning for minor theft. Their contentious encounter ends in their negotiated understanding of art, men and women, and the injustices of life.

In this seriocomic one-act play, two young, ambitious women graduate students discover they are more different than they knew when one of their female students reveals a secret crisis during an office hours visit. The subsequent fallout destroys the women’s budding friendship.

Niara Ikombe, a proud and fiercely determined Tanzanian woman and mother of three, has been sent abroad by the microfinance agency she works for as a publicity measure to draw attention to their enterprise and to appeal for public investment in their worthy work. While waiting to appear on a morning news show in New York City, she grows increasingly anxious as she learns how the producers are negatively “packaging” her story, as well as distracted by sorrowful memories of her personal failure to protect her willful daughter from manipulative men (seen in flashback). Before the morning is out, Niara comes near to despair but has her faith in humanity renewed after interacting with a hopeful, young, African American production intern. [This all-female play "Daughters of Africa" can be paired with the all-male play "A Question of Taste" to create a full 2-act evening of modern Africa stories.]

Set in an unnamed sub-Saharan African nation, run by a kleptocratic dictator, the play is a modern fable about conflicting politics, thwarted humanitarianism, and heartbreaking disillusion. A young Rebel (a former Lost Boy who worked his way up quickly to young commander) is captured, tortured, and left in a cell below the President's palace to await his execution at dawn. The old, fat man already occupying the cell turns out to be a political star--presumed dead--from an earlier generation, who does his best in the remaining hours to rehabilitate the youth to renounce violence and embrace the nobility of his ancient culture. In the twists and turns that follow, the play action tests the limits of human compassion in the face of stubborn male aggression as it steers the men toward tragedy. [This all-male play "A Question of Taste" can be paired with the all-female play "Daughters of Africa" to create a full 2-act evening of modern Africa stories.]