Robert Robbins

A woman in a stagnant, stifling career takes charge of her indecisive son's college selection process. She takes him on a grand tour of college campuses in the hope of inspiring him to set the course of his future. In the process she squanders all of the money she saved for his college education leading to accusations that all this travel was nothing but a justification for an extended vacation. But it would be more accurate to say that her behavior was the acting out of a longing for a new start for herself.

An arts instructor has struggled to reach a position of economic security only to have his life disrupted by his ambition. If character is destiny, then one's destiny as an artist must also be determined by one's character and this cannot be denied through conscious decisions. Although the protagonist wishes to settle down in a comfortable life in academia, he is forced to strive for a greater artistic destiny by his vision. He is outwitted by his unconscious mind and thrown back into a life of struggle so that he might strive more mightily to create great art. Note carefully how all the characters try to avoid the human figure in art. This symbolizes the avoidance of passion, sexuality, and humanity.

A computer programmer is visited by his former girlfriend who mysteriously tries to get him to resume reading poetry. Essentially this is a play about not realizing your potential and imagines what would happen if somebody showed up to put you back on the right track. The Information Technology industry has been known to poach computer science talent from within its own sphere, but it can also be said that it poaches talent from the wider community. While not being too explicit about it, this play is a fantasy of one of the muses showing up to perform a rescue operation, to poach from the IT industry someone who has been resisting inspiration and the great destiny that inspiration is meant to bring about.

The Shaman was written to be the definitive play about shamanism as it relates to exceptional states of inspiration, alternative states of consciousness, trance, and other forms of visionary experiences. The main protagonist, Rudolph, is an intellectual who has spent many years researching shamanism. He is sought out by Melissa, a depressed young woman with a long history of self-harm, after boasting online that he has found a way to beat depression. Melissa’s brother, Scott, is introduced to provide some conflict in the form of rational skepticism of Rudolf’s mysticism. After a lengthy argument with them both, Melissa rejects Scott's controlling behavior and a new path for her life is suggested.

In this short play a shaman is consulted on how to use the power of the visionary mind to effect political change. A dream or a vision is how the spirit changes the conscious mind. It is the motivating force behind all art and the principle means by which we change our world for the better.

A dispirited young woman meets a visionary artist at a First Friday event and tries to understand his inner life. Errant Souls is a bold attempt to explore the psychology of the visionary artist. The play is also a meditation on the relationship of the artist to those who seek something through art. Visionary art is a particular type of art defined as "art that purports to transcend the physical world and portray a wider vision of awareness including spiritual or mystical themes, or is based in such experiences."

Introduction To Poverty is a satire about an outrageous college course designed to help middle class professionals make the transition to poverty. Various ridiculous schemes are recommended for coping with poverty including; growing a vegetable garden to put food on the table, begging online, entering writing contests with cash prizes, and taking in boarders. The plight of adjunct professors whose annual income is so low that they have to go on food stamps or wind up homeless is also revealed. This short play could be performed to protest the low wages of adjunct professors.