James DeMarse

An executive, David Kelly, of the Gibson Advertising Agency, casts a homeless woman, Carolyn, as the spokesperson for "Rick's Natural Soda Pop". This transforms Carolyn into a national celebrity. In the process of Davids manipulation of Carolyn, he sees a true image of himself and it isn't pretty. "Breaking Through The Clutter" is a search for the truth in the questionable world of exploiting a human being to make money.

Snappy, a comedian who hasn't hit it yet, searches for the all cosmic laugh, but instead of laughter finds trouble in a half empty nightclub where his boss has been shot by an eighty year old hit man who is a master of disguise. Snappy gets in trouble with a cop, Detective Lamanamana, who loves pie and who has eyes for Snappy's girlfriend. Love prevails for Snappy. The cop settles for his pie but still engages in the endless pursuit of the hit man. Snappy and his girl take a train to nowhere.

A reclusive poet, Jake Sharp, has extreme writers block and cannot work because of a barking dog on the terrace below of the building next door. He calls 311. The city sends Dr. Hazel Wuntz who tries to calm him by some kind of psychoanalysis pertinent to the relationship between man and dog. No help. So, he decides to go to the neighbor who owns the dog. The neighbor turns out to be a young actress, Candy, in the throws of crises herself which include waiting for a callback for a road tour of the hit musical, All the Good Berries, also, a clogged sink, a broken phone, and breaking up with her boyfriend. But in spite of their personal troubles Jake and Candy have a heart to heart about her dog, Banjo, and their own lives. As fate would have it Jake falls for Candy and maybe vice-versa. Banjo turns out to be a lovable mutt and the solution they both find is for Jake to “dog sit” when she is not at home. All seems peaceful at last but is it? A blank page still stares him in the face.

"What Light Breaks" takes a modern day spin on the classic tale of "Romeo and Juliet". The play centers around an actor "Fitz", whose career is slowing, and his partner Jen, who's in the process of claiming her independence. In order to advance Fitz's career, he sells his soul for fame and fortune to the ghost of his dead friend, Paul. In the process, he loses sight of who he truly is and what love really means.

It is June 1968. The play begins when an old girlfriend visits her ex boyfriend, Andy, and brings him her aunt’s old furniture to decorate his new apartment. Soon they are interrupted by Andy’s friend from his home town, Bruce, who is a Marine on leave from the Vietnam War. Bruce’s arrival portends a rocky road ahead for the two old friends who have a hatchet to bury. In the process of unraveling an event that has left them both psychologically bruised Andy’s girlfriend, Kathy, arrives who is radically anti-war. Her mettle is soon tested by Bruce as she hammers away at insisting justice be served not only in Vietnam but here in the USA; this also tests her relationship with Andy. Tragedy is revealed not only with Bobby Kennedy's death but also with a confession of horrors from Bruce which lays bare the depth of his own personal violence.

Cherry Beck, 23, is a young girl desperate for love and happiness living as she does in her household with an abusive, raging father, and a mother so depressed she's unable to function. Her neighbor Roger, 80, a furniture maker turned sculptor becomes her only friend. When Roger's home is threatened with foreclosure, Cherry tries to save the day but saving the day is not as easy as she thinks...

The play takes place in New York and Africa. The time is the present. Sam Hollings is an esteemed diplomat and special envoy. His reputation precedes him wherever he goes. He is beyond reproach --- an icon of peace in an age of war. His wife, Dora, carries on an affair. He finds out about it through an agent for the CIA. She is bugged and Hollings hears her intimate secrets revealed on numerous recordings. With every tape he goes deeper into his pain. Emotions erupt that have been hidden for years. His passion is inflamed by his negotiations for a ceasefire in Sango in Central Africa. What also comes to the surface is the discovery of a deep love for Dora and his profound fear that he might someday lose her. His domain has been invaded and he must do everything in his power to protect it.

This is a play about a broken family that tries to put the pieces back together in order to comfort their mother, Adeline, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

The daughter, Cathy, has sold her mother’s house and has invited her brothers to spend a final weekend there before she and her husband take Adeline to live with them. This reunion is made more difficult as the shadow of an abusive father hangs over everything.

Despite good intentions the brothers, Bob and Eddie, end up fighting over possession of an antique print, George Washington’s Farewell to his Mother. Kathy, struggles to placate not only her brothers but also her husband who is worried about the future and how he is going to pay for all the medical expenses. Eddie aggressively confronts Adeline over the dark, painful past.

Adeline struggles to remember the good times and impart her deepest thoughts and feelings but she is frustrated by her growing confusion; she forgets more and more except for the painful questions: “Did I love my husband? Did he hurt my children? What is to happen to me?” She fades over the course of the play but still fights to hold on to the love of her children and, at last, pushes away the specter of an abusive husband.

This is a play not only about a family searching for an identity but also a play about memory. This disease approaches too early before family history can be realized and put in proper perspective, but eventually, through experiencing the mother’s heroic battle to stay focused and alive the siblings begin to better understand each other and the world around them.

Synopsis: VIOLENT CHILD

Violent Child is about a family living in a violent world. Charles is a fortune five hundred and Anne is a celebrity newscaster similar to Rachel Maddow; their son, Chris, has problems and pushes a classmate down the stairs seriously injuring him. Anne brings this tragedy onto the public stage, appeals to her audience to understand her son, a victim himself of a violent world; Charles battles in court to have his son's name cleared by any means possible. Their marriage teeters. Their world has turned upside down. Through the struggles they find what it means to be together as a family.