Ken Love

FIVE MINUTE PLAY/MONOLOGUE: An assassin writes poetry to relax. Yet as he prepares to take out his next mark, does the writing of verse in fact serve that purpose?

Written for The Erstwhile Reading Party

FULL LENGTH: A noir play set in Los Angeles in 1972 - inspired by the quintessential noir film "Detour" (1945). Joe Barnes is the noir hero in this story of obsession and a murdered lover, the loneliness of city life, seduction and crime. Part 1 of a Noir Trilogy.

FULL LENGTH: Yuma, AZ, 1992. Jess' older brother, Manny, has been released from prison. But he's a "hardhead" who already has plans for his next criminal exploit. Jess' ladyfriend, Rita, tries to be understanding. However, she and her girlfriend, Bobbie - who lives just across the street - happen to have an underworld history unbeknownst to Jess. Yes, everyone has something to hide in this noir tale set in a desert town. Part 2 of a Noir Trilogy.

FULL LENGTH w/ MUSIC: Adapted from the short story by Ernest Hemingway and inspired by the 1946 and 1964 films of the same title. Set in Manhattan during the early 1970's, then early 1980's. Johnny "Suede" Burke and his lover, Lavonia, are R&B singers in this noir tale of obsession, crime, betrayal, R&B music and tortured love. Part 3 of a Noir Trilogy.

FIVE MINUTE PLAY/MONOLOGUE: The sole survivor of the Great Deluge sits atop Mount Ararat and recounts as to how she got there.

Playwrights Thriving Spring Monologue Challenge, 2026

SHORT PLAY: A lonely night on an Arizona highway on Christmas Eve. A man has picked up a rider. They converse. And the driver soon realizes there's more to this newfound passenger than he may be willing to deal with.

Written for the Secret Santa Title Exchange Plays

FULL LENGTH: A woman who is the victim of domestic abuse is having an illicit affair with the Devil. Her husband, the towns only African American deputy, also happens to be involved in an illicit affair. Magic realism, mythology, drama, the blues and Robert Johnson. All set in Mississippi in 1955.

FIVE MINUTE PLAY/MONOLOGUE: A man served as caretaker for his mother until, one day, she died. And that is when the real torment, the unrelenting dilemma, began.

Written for the 2025 Playwrights Thriving "Frightfully Inspired" Script Readings

ONE MINUTE PLAY: The city. A nightclub. A dance floor. And 2 beautiful women in a stand-off. What in the world could have brought them to this?

FULL LENGTH: Set in Inglewood, CA in the 1970's, a tragedy dealing with an aging African American Pentecostal minister and patriarch who, from an impending and ultimately suffocating madness, slowly destroys the family whose love can bring no comfort.

MONOLOGUES: "Degringolade" is a French noun, and is defined as a rapid decline or deterioration, or downfall, and is exemplified in the confessions of the six individual characters in the play. This is a suite of monologues that speaks to the previous century and our contemporary dilemma.

TEN MINUTE PLAY: Under the gun of a tortured, unfulfilling marriage, a man rents a hotel room, then solicits the company of a woman of the night. What should be a night of illicit pleasure becomes something that is quite chilling and nearly self destructive.

Playwrights Thriving Facing February 28 Play Extravaganza, 2026

ONE-MINUTE PLAY: After a night of hard partying, Samson brings a girl to his apartment who turns out to be a little too much for one guy to handle.

TEN MINUTE PLAY: Sometimes, for protection or even peace of mind, it is necessary to make a deal with the Devil.

SHORT ONE ACT: A father, his son-in-law and their relationship which spans three decades. All while recounting a savage tale from the old American West.

SHORT ONE ACT: Bethany meets Harris at the jazz night club he owns in New York. And from there . . . they turn the page. This is a short one-act play inspired by the R&B music sub-genre known as Quiet Storm.

FULL LENGTH: Dolores is a successful African American call-girl in Atlanta who happens to be engaged in an illicit affair with a married white lady. Unbeknownst to either of them is the fact that her husband happens to be one of Dolores' clients. Everything comes to a head in a bloody climax in a downtown Atlanta penthouse.

FULL LENGTH/MONOLOGUES: Eight women meet at a funeral to pay respects to Jimmy Redd - lover, husband, brother, friend. A story of loss, hope, and the lingering pain of love.

ONE ACT: Serena - a white woman - is an aspiring jazz singer in Los Angeles during the early 1960's. She's searching for her estranged lover, a black woman from the South named Mertie. The search ends with a painful discovery which changes both women indelibly.

FULL LENGTH: Martha is an aspiring actress in Los Angeles during the early 1980's. To supplement her income, she sells cocaine - nothing grandiose. Just a little here and there to a small network of friends. Soon, her drug dealing operation grows. And the money comes in. Along with everything else!

SHORT ONE ACT: A 1970's fashion photographer is mad with jealousy over his wife. She's having an affair with another man. And he's convinced that the two of them are plotting his murder. Or, are they?

ONE ACT: Ramsey is a corrupt white cop in a mid-sized city in the South. He's a married man, engaged in an illicit affair with an African American woman whom he claims to have "saved". To complicate matters, the woman has a son. Set in 2022, two years after the murder of George Floyd.

MONOLOGUE/SHORT ONE ACT: Set in the "sinful" 1970's, Claire is a beautiful African American woman who just happens to be a highly successful stripper. We see that darkness prevails in her life, however, when she recounts the lingering pain from three lost loves.

FULL LENGTH: James Lassiter is a disgraced ex-football player whose only choice in life is to take over his deceased fathers business - as well as something else, which reveals itself early in the play. A story of betrayal, mendacity, familial discord, toxic masculinity and gothic horror. A tragedy set in the contemporary American South.

FULL LENGTH: "In the spring of 1981, a young man and a young woman come to a small town in Georgia, from very different places and for very different reasons. The worlds they've left, the world they find, and the worlds they cannot leave behind collide in this compelling play, full of poetry, drama, and vivid characters, from a fresh Phoenix (AZ) voice." - Daniel Shea, Phoenix Theatre New Works Festival

FULL LENGTH: It's 2004, an election year in an unnamed Southern state. The Democratic U.S. Senate incumbent for over 40 years, Barker Hudson III - 80 plus years & counting - is running for re-election. His challenger is an African American woman - a young 30-something Republican/Nationalist. Barker has had the Southern black vote sewn up in his state for years. And he's sure this election will be another cakewalk. But Barker finds that there's a lot more to this particular challenger than meets the eye. A hell of a lot more!

FULL LENGTH: Sequel to "Default". Set in 2016, Barker Hudson III has since passed on. And African American U.S. Senator Esther Bailey is running for re-election. But she's in trouble: her poll numbers are down. And her two challengers: a Democratic Socialist and a populist with ties to extremist groups, are ahead of her by double digits. Yet it is her daughter Emily, a writer for a leftist online magazine, who could sway the course of the election. But how?

FULL LENGTH: Third installment of the "Default" trilogy. It is now 2024. And Republican Senator Esther Bailey is running for President. Her opponents are her former college roommate and current Democratic Vice President, and an Independent Congresswoman and Christian Nationalist. In fact, for the first time in American history, all front running Presidential candidates are women. This is truly auspicious, despite the fact that a growing number of Republican men may abstain from voting.

FULL LENGTH: A topless dancer, a former driver for a drug kingpin, the kingpins moll, an ex-boyfriend with the demeanor of a wronged teenager, and his brother - an unapologetic redneck ex-con. Throw in $500,000. in stolen drug money and one has the makings of a long days journey into an endless night.