Jerry Slaff

Fourth of July fireworks on a Brooklyn rooftop.

A divorced father teaches his son baseball and other lessons.

After Nazis beat up Jews on the streets of New York before World War Two, a judge
and a rabbi ask the leading Jewish mobster to teach them a lesson. How far can good
go to challenge evil? When does justice become revenge? And is it a good deed to
punch a Nazi? Based on true events.

Fresh out of law school, Benny, an inexperienced public defender, is facing the case of his life - trying to win the parole of a notorious German World War II radio propagandist who has a hard time telling the truth. Or does she? Are her truths all lies, or are her lies really the truth? And what happens when you can no longer tell the two apart?
Set in 1950 but as timely as today’s Washington tweets, the 90-minute, one-set, 2-character play (1f, early 40s; 1m, 25-28) is an allegory about lying in government, and a meditation on what truth actually is.

What does it mean to be alive in America today, and Jewish to boot? Website writer Josh attempts to answer that question by snagging the last interview of the leading Jewish writer of her time, while his girlfriend Cleo, a Jew of color, tries to find a place that will accept her as herself. The specters of an immigrant couple who lived in their Lower East Side apartment 100 years ago haunt them, as does a mysterious baby caught between all of them.

What happens when the small town you grew up in slowly changes right before your eyes? When the trains no longer stop, when the downtown stores shutter, and when the people you never really noticed now want respect?

Darlene, the Birnbaum family’s longtime African-American housekeeper, has been invited to one last lunch by the son and daughter of Ben, the leader of the town’s small Jewish community, to give her a few mementos as they clean out his house, the largest in town, after his recent death. Darlene’s husband, Sam, had worked in Ben’s downtown clothing store for years, and bought it when Ben retired, just as times were getting rough. When their bookish and sheltered son, Dwayne, returns to town, his bright athletic future at Penn State dashed by gunfire, anger finally flashes and old debts are repaid, as the play comes to a startling conclusion.

A drama with generous humor, Grand Union traces 40 years in a small central Pennsylvania railroad town, going back and forth in time, from the town’s heyday to its hardscrabble present.

A scientist on the lam meets a disgraced journalist to ghost write his memoirs in a claustrophobic motel room outside Washington. And a priceless statue. Pinter meets the Maltese Falcon. Two characters, no intermission, no break. 2m, but easily gender-neutral with a few minor tweaks.

The grumpy relationship of a down-on-their-luck mother and daughter is upset by a young woman with a promise of three million dollars – if they accept her into their family. What is a family anyway, and can a family include people who aren't related?

Stanislavski’s Methods (3m, 3f) takes place in a rundown Russian classical theater. The theater’s producer, Evgeny Stanislavski, is the great grand nephew (he thinks) of the famous director, and like his theater, has fallen into a state of disrepair. He has no paying subscribers, little audience, and is hounded by creditors. He owes so much back pay to his company of actors, and “fees” to various bagmen that he is in danger of losing the theater.
Grusha, his leading actress--both on stage and, formerly, off--and Elena, his bookkeeper and a would-be actress, try to console him, to no avail. But a proposal from a shady friend of his to bring a notorious American action film actor and his assistant to the theater for a one-night fundraising performance could fill his coffers--and bring Evgeny and Grusha back together.
The play blends elements of classical farce, with modern fast-paced comedy, a strong story, and good comedic roles for women.

While the play (4m, 1f) takes place in 1933 Berlin and later 1947 New York, it deals with many of the themes we're dealing with today--how to resist an rising tide of fascism, artistic freedom, the treatment of LGBT writers and entertainers, anti-Semitism, and whether can we separate an artist's brilliant work from his despicable behavior.

The play takes an arrogant but talented leading German radio comedian from the cusp of World War II and his changing society, to the blacklist in American in 1947 where we can make amends for his past. It's a thoughtful comedy with a strong female part and a very theatrical lead role that includes a section of mime.

The relationship of a young third baseman for the New York Yankees and his older manager, through a baseball season.

A cold winter’s night brings Frank, a former lawyer and now a third-year rabbinic student, to a Spanish Harlem apartment about to go co-op, there to help the long-time residents stave off eviction. But when he’s invited for a Friday night dinner of arroz con pollo, the centuries-old secrets he discovers will change their life, and his. Meanwhile, his roommate, another rabbinic student, is asked to prove, conclusively and once and for all, Is he really Jewish?

An interviewer speaks with a playwright about his new play.

Jack, a moderately successful Bronx-born TV and radio broadcaster with too many jobs, yearns for a bigger stage. His estranged father, Max, is dying and wants to spend his remaining days with him at his suburban New Jersey home. But on the way, Max has a mysterious episode and once he sees Jack's house says he's at peace--he's in heaven, and he's dead.

A woman who hasn't slept in three months sees her therapist. (Note--I'm working on an expanded version, but this scene can stand alone.)

Two baseball announcers have to fill time and ad-lib on the radio during the rain delay of a game. They talk about lightning, bad suits, and the silence between the pitches--anything else baseball. A 10-minute comedy.