Steven G. Martin

TEN-MINUTE DIVINE COMEDY Angel has prepared a report detailing everything currently and previously existing during the current epoch of Earth in hopes of encouraging GOD to create again. But God doesn't want to create anymore and there's only one other option remaining. AWESOME LIKE CRINKLE CUT FRIES: A DIVINE COMEDY is about graciously accepting some things need to end and moving in a different direction.

TEN-MINUTE PREMIIUM (18% MILKFAT) DARK COMEDY/SPOOF. A bowl of vanilla ice cream, the linchpin to an international, multibillion-dollar racket, has been arrested and sits in the interrogation room at Metro Central Command – North Gate Precinct. But police officers Beck and Bull have only mere minutes to get information out of him and take down the whole crooked operation before defense lawyers come to get him. What length will the officers go to show that they're lactose intolerant ... to crime? "Ice Cream Stool Pigeon" is a silly, high-premium (18% milkfat) farcical dark comedy.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Hugh has a strong relationship with God. But when loud voices suggest that God doesn't love him, Hugh questions everything.

(ONE-MINUTE PLAY) Coworkers Archie and Benjy clash early morning before the workday begins, and a universal truth finally sinks in.

ONE-MINUTE GOOD SAMARITAN PLAY. Trystan is in a dark play. He needs help, but can he accept it?

ONE-MINUTE TURN THE OTHER CHEEK PLAY. An over-opinionated, loud, bossy person cannot stand three people are quietly minding their own business, enjoying their leisure time in a way that makes them happy. So, the antagonist takes action.

ONE-MINUTE 1950'S HOUSEWIFE REVENGE PLAY. There's time for a drink before dinner.

TEN-MINUTE EXISTENCE IS BEAUTIFUL PLAY. Jaded, conniving, bored spectators have little interest in discussing art prior to the unveiling of a new work. When they see the new piece, however, they are stunned by the beauty before them.

TEN-MINUTE NEVER MEET YOUR HEROES HORROR PLAY. Teenage siblings Vince and Violet are excited to finally meet neighborhood legend Keith Liddell -- the toughest, meanest, baddest kid in the history of Emerson Avenue. The meeting takes a turn for the worse when their image of the childhood legend doesn't mesh with the reality of the adult version.

ONE-MINUTE CULTURAL CONSCIENCE SCIENCE FICTION PLAY. The inquisitive students in Mrs. Budde's education pod at the Neil Armstrong Memorial Multipurpose Structure for Multimodal Education have a lot of questions about things outside their everyday experience.

ONE-ACT REFLECTION ON REVENGE HORROR PLAY. Lying on his deathbed, Montresor confesses to God how and why he killed Fortunato.

ONE-MINUTE FINDING YOUR LIFE'S PASSION PLAY. Discovering your life's passion can happen any time, anywhere. Even an Orson Welles retrospective festival at a Waterloo, Iowa, movie theater.

FIVE MINUTE FIRING YOUR CLIENT FANTASY MONOLOGUE. Publicist Norah lets loose when her client sends problematic edits to a news release.

ONE-MINUTE BITTERSWEET WANTING MORE PLAY. In 1955, Helen and Margaret, two married women, find solace in the brief amount of time they spend together. But they disagree on wanting more from one another.

THREE-MINUTE FELINE-FLAVORED COMEDY. When his neighbor Mrs. Trelawney Justice asks if he would be willing to care for a kitten, Daniel Prillaman agrees to take on the task.

TEN-MINUTE ESCAPE THE HARSH REALITY OF THE WORLD DRAMA. Doug has spent a long time digging a tunnel large enough to move around inside, for obvious reasons. His boyfriend Lynn doesn't get it.

FIVE-MINUTE MARRIED GUY CRAVES QUEER LOVE SEX FARCE. Dick Overtron, a married man, just wants to have sex with another guy. So he appears as a contestant on the hottest show in the world, The Down-Low Dating Show, in hopes of finding the sort of hot, masculine buddy he wants and deserves while his wife travels on a tour bus. It's a shame things go wrong.

TWO-MINUTE SELF-HATRED AND ABUSE MONOLOGUE. Before he attends a meeting with colleagues, Nathan goes on the attack, tearing down a key member of his team.

TWO-MINUTE GRAMMAR FARCE. Playwright Emily McClain needs to tell you something. She yearns to speak the truth. She is ready to talk about the reality of things.

ONE-ACT FEAR AND REGRET DRAMA. In this monologue, Garrett mentors a new volunteer who will take over his role at the weekly community dinner organized by the local church in their small Indiana hamlet. He guides her through the processes of placing meals into bags, tracking progress, understanding when it’s time to end, and acting with intention. Erstwhile is about recognizing who we were in the past, who we are in the present, and that we can impact who we will be in the future.

TWO-MINUTE NONTOXIC MALE DRAMA. As a group of men expresses frustration, loneliness and anger, Vince leads them to a solution.

ONE-MINUTE 21-GUN-SALUTE SATIRE. It's all fun and games when the Emcee welcomes the new administration into power. But amidst the winks and nods and patriotic decorations, there are dangerous stakes in play.

ONE-MINUTE LAUNDRY-AND-LOSS PLAY. Aunt Maxine and Kendra, her niece, are folding men's dress shirts as part of a larger plan. Maxine, though, has second thoughts.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Eddie is having a difficult day. Neither sublime affirmations from https://www.louisehay.com nor the perfect lemon sponge cake with raspberry filling can help. Sure he's getting married to the man he loves -- a Baptist, bisexual, vegetarian accordion player -- but he realizes that he himself isn't interesting or layered enough to make the marriage last 'til death do they part.

LESS THAN TEN MINUTES. Patrick and Aster contemplate how life will change when their baby arrives.

A short play about no one knowing for sure.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Joy spreads joy.

FULL-LENGTH PLAY. Ralph travels to the Underworld of Greek mythology after his husband's death in order to say goodbye.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Jessica's perfect day isn't perfect enough for her, but it's exactly what Emily wants.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. When his high-school classmate Shelly asks why he's obsessed with Earth, Hanley tells her about the many words used to describe different kinds of green before The Big Em.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Cheer can bubble up in the most unlikely of places. (A bit of music helps.)

After an absence of several years, Sean has returned to his favorite bar, Thumper's, where he watches guys on the dance floor while dancing timidly by himself. His glass may be out of ice and he may be overheating, but he'll be damned if he takes off the pullover he's wearing. Hot & Sweaty is a monologue about being comfortable in your own skin, literally and figuratively.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Abe, a sheepish man in his late 30s to early 40s, puts himself through a test to better understand his true nature. He understands his true nature and rejects it.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. What was Don's daughter thinking when she bought him season tickets? Don doesn't like the shows, he doesn't like the stories. He doesn't have high expectations for tonight. There was an actor, once, though ...

FIVE MINUTE PLAY. God creates Adam. Adam creates destruction.

[TEN-MINUTE PLAY] Voyager 1, launched in 1977 to explore Jupiter and Saturn, is billions of miles from home in dark, silent, and cold interstellar space with only a few years of operation left. "I, Voyager 1" explores fear, loneliness, regret, and doubt at the end of life, but how a sense of purpose can make that life worth living.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. A violinist loses everything, except he hasn't.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Third-grade student Inez Cupcakes is good at math. She is especially good at multiplying numbers in her head very quickly, to the amusement of her friends and delight of her teacher. But Inez's friends talk with her only about math, she may become the teacher's pet, and a jealous student asks her to answer incorrectly once in a while. Inez has math problems, and not the fun kind she likes to solve; but with gentle coaxing from her teacher Miss Ella Louella Santa Rose Plum, Inez knows the best answer to all of them.

TWO-MINUTE PLAY. Stella and Stellan spend the last two minutes of Earth's existence complaining about how terrible Tuesdays are, discussing out-of-production lip balm and sipping macchiatos.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Anson chooses this moment to tell Daisy something important in this romantic drama.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Third-grader KiKi Pineapple uses her imagination to defeat enemies of Earth during recess, but her empathy and kindness are what saves the day when a bossy classmate makes fun of her.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. 9-year-old Dylan receives a lesson in becoming a man from his older brother Connor.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Sixty-four-year-old Melinda stands in her living room during the Winter Solstice, evaluating how she looks in a swimsuit and pondering travel to the southern hemisphere. Robin, her older sister, reminds her that's not how things are done.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Enid wants to be part of a pie fight. Dinah does not.

Vince is engrossed in taking photographs. It's selfish, but necessary.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. There are a lot of problems out there. Nadine bemoans the lack of people who care about the world, who will do their best to improve the lives of others with compassion, care, and humanitarianism. Isobel then points out the obvious. Hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Morgan has a secret admirer but she isn't thrilled with them at the moment. Cold, tired, and probably a little wet, she vents to her friend Robin at the site of a supposed rendezvous.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Simone wonders what all the fuss is about while her husband runs around naked off the Extraterrestrial Highway in Nevada's High Basin Desert just after 6 in the morning. Gale then points out the obvious.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Jesús has a perfect meal prepared for Maddie, Marco, Lucas, and Johanna. Their tastes and preferences may frustrate him so much, though, that this could be the last supper for this group of friends.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Cam's and Lloyd's enjoyment of the hockey game is interrupted when the Kiss Cam shows them on the Jumbotron.

ONE MINUTE PLAY. Justin, Ailene, Peri, and Gilly are devastated. Detritus and rubble are everywhere, physically. A heavy sense of loss is everywhere, emotionally. Vance takes action.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Maria, the Workplace Lemon Face, is ready to give Ginny a piece of her mind. Because sometimes things like that need to happen.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Cassie, a 30-year-old woman who has been subjected to her parents' brutality for years, recounts her revenge at their graves and enacts the final part.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. La Maestra prepares to conduct an unusual orchestra.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Five friends are desperate to exit a 2020-themed escape room before time runs out. Too bad the spirit of 2020 doesn't want the fun to end.

Perhaps for the first time, HERO must make a major decision that permanently affects where life will lead. Many OPTIONS beckon, not all of them good, but the choices must be made, the journey continued.

"The Paths" is an experimental, near-silent, multi-scene, movement-dominated play about choices made, paths chosen and disregarded, and the first and final moments that bookend life.

6 pages. Perseus is on a quest for Mommy! She needs a jar of pretty purple pickles, and Perseus meets lots of friends along the way! An adventure in manners for young audiences!

This script is also available on DC Cathro's NPX page: https://newplayexchange.org/plays/1669351/perseus-and-pretty-purple-pic…

TEN MINUTE PLAY. Owen, a young newcomer, is excited to help in preparation for the ritual. He is frustrated by the stoicism of the older Isaac, but refuses to let it extinguish his passion.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Claudette is upset and tries to soothe herself by making instant vanilla pudding and binge eating. Her sister Marianne ruins everything.

THREE-MINUTE PLAY. Upon awakening, Puppers is off and running. This puppy is full of vim, vigor, playful exuberance, and perhaps a wandering mind that is instantly transfixed by whatever crosses it.

"Puppers" is a monologue about enthusiasm, joy, exploration, energy, and good cheer as shown through the comic antics of an eight-month-old puppy.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. 18-year-old Jaske and 17-year-old Court are out in the countryside, celebrating their high school graduation.

LESS THAN 5 MINUTES. Some times are better than others to discuss the future. For Ulysses, Sunday, November 3, 2024, isn't one of them.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Wanda is being recognized for her collective oeuvre of poetry this evening. Unfortunately, she is aware that her mastery of words, images and poetic devices is slipping away.

"Recognition" is a monologue for a middle-aged female actor that explores no longer being able to do what one was meant to do.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. 70-something-year-old Rae has a request for visitors as she recovers from a stroke.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY: It's the first few moments of the new year. Gibb has made a decision.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY The group has assembled in a safe space, but the enemy approaches. The rules for surviving are laid out.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Gabriel Salvatore III's life was ruined by a dead six-year-old boy. He's ready to reclaim it.

TEN-MINUTE HELICOPTER PARENT SEX FARCE. Two newlywed husbands finally get a moment alone on their wedding night. Until Aiden’s wildly overinvolved parents burst into the honeymoon suite armed with snacks, sex advice, and a suspiciously comprehensive binder. What follows is an escalating, mortifying showdown of boundaries, love, and parental overshare. A farcical, heartfelt queer comedy about starting a marriage with the in-laws way too close.

Trigger warnings: Irredeemable content including gay sex practices, pornography, Viagra, and references to Days Inn, Saturday Night Live and the Food Network. Nasty, vile stuff.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. A playwright plagued by the vocal few receives an affirmation about what theatrical plays can be, and how they can reach people thanks to the support and artistry of Matthew Weaver of Spokane, Washington.

FULL-LENGTH PLAY The highlight of forty-year-old Benny V.'s day is eating his microwaved dinner and falling asleep at 8 p.m. in his apartment decorated with old college dormitory furniture. Then a mysterious invitation leads Benny V. on a journey that connects him with new people, places, and experiences. "The Subtle, Sublime Transformation of Benny V." looks at how we engage the world and how going outside our comfort zone affects our lives.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Dad soothes Teddy, his eight-year-old son, and assuages his bedtime fears of dying. But Teddy's fears shine a light on Dad's dark emotions.

TWO-TO-FIVE-MINUTE PLAY. Ty is preparing to shoot free throws. He knows you're out there, screaming and yelling, attacking him, his family, and his life. But you have no power. He is in control. And he'll let you know.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Third-Year Scholar Novotny and Distinguished Professor Andraslev survey a park covered with several growths of lichen. The future plans for the area depend on what the pair learn about the past while in the present.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. Karl and Jerz, two men in their 30s, watch as nine-year-old Petey examines and is completely enthralled by flowers. They just don't understand Petey's interest and consider what that kind of boy he will grow up to become.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. College-aged students Paul and Con notice one another for the first time. The pulse quickens, breathing turns shallow, gazes linger, but neither can bring himself to say anything to the other.

FIVE-MINUTE GAYS DON'T SEDUCE STRAIGHT FRIENDS COMEDY. James tries to figure out why his gay buddy Bill is trying so hard to help him.

TEN-MINUTE ODE TO SILENCE NOT BEING SILENT NON-FICTION PLAY. A conductor and orchestra perform John Cage's 4'33" (or "four minutes, thirty-three seconds") in a large, outdoor location teeming with people.

TEN-MINUTE LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE EVEN IN THE COUNTRY COMEDY. Suzie is a dairy cow who wants more out of life than giving milk and, eventually, becoming a fast-food sandwich. But she is warned that "more" isn't part of a cow's life. Everything changes when she and her friend Effie come across a trombone in a pasture on the farm.

TEN-MINUTE MORSE CODE VIA FLASHLIGHT DRAMA. Hollis prepares herself with lists of facts so she can succeed in her mission to say goodbye.

TEN-MINUTE COLLEGE FINALS ROMANTIC COMEDY. College-aged Chuck doesn't understand how his fiancée Ginny fails to realize that everything depends on finishing her project on time: her class grade, her graduation schedule, their future together. And why is she surfing the Cleveland Clinic website instead?

Relax. Ginny's got this.

ONE-MINUTE LOST IN AN URBAL SPRAWL DRAMA. On a busy street during a hot summer day in Indianapolis, William asks for help. No one chooses to see him. No one chooses to hear him.

FIVE-MINUTE PLAY. An ever-growing chorus of diverse voices speaks against the rise of hatred, bias and inequality due to religious and ethnic or racial differences. More of the disenfranchised seek to share their story, seek to be understood by white, Christian Americans, which could lead to uncomfortable conversations and soul searching. What can white Americans do as internal strife grows?

The perfect remedy: a 2-CD compilation called "White Noise," which plays over the complexity of today's world with soothing, easy-to-appreciate babble of little consequence. Available at several convenient locations, including most broadcast and print media.

ONE MINUTE QUEER DOMESTIC LOVE STORY. TIM has prepared dinner once again, and he and WIN are enjoying it outdoors on the first sunny and warm day in April. WIN wonders why their meals are different.

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. August is almost over. It prompts Tim to ask Win a question.

ONE-ACT PLAY. Welcome to 1960! Welcome to the Joneses' home in the village of Fishkill, New York! Teenager Janie feels like an outcast in school and preteen Buddy has brought home a stray. Father has got a lot to sort through when he returns home from the daily ritualistic virgin sacrifice. Luckily, Mother has a tray of snacks.

Trigger Warnings: tasteless, crude, deviant, violent, and unproduceable content.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. There are a lot of reasons Terry will eat a family-size package of chocolate sandwich cookies tonight. Some are reasons the audience wants to hear, some aren't: bland, apologetic, comic, derisive, and defiant. Do you want milk with that?

ONE-MINUTE PLAY. A theater stage fills as Rose and Steve reminisce about the 20 years they have directed a one-minute play festival. It's time to begin.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. A middle-aged man and a young man stop in a barren, desolate space. They fold clothes and place them into suitcases for their next journey. But arguments arise about leadership and bad life choices.

TEN-MINUTE PLAY. Emotions run high in the judges room during an art competition. Two judges implore the third judge to vote for their favorites, and when the artists are invited for interviews chaos erupts.