Paul K Smith

A final parting: A Father is wrapping presents with his daughter, as she decides to whom to give each object that holds her most precious memories. Saying good-bye to a dying child is a brutal, unnatural experience for this parent. Audiences praise the play's emotional power, natural feel, profound encounter, and courageous honesty.
The moments may be final, but they are shared; they are treasured; they evoke power and transcendent beauty. And actors become incandescent in these roles.

A PAIR OF HEARTS” is a love story, pure and simple. Time-bending. Mysterious. Heart-breaking; yet, joyous. We share Becky & Tom’s journey from their first, endless night in each other’s arms— to the elation of their child’s birth— to the heart-chilling void of losing him. After this, over time, will their love simply decay, age, and die?

Or can Becky reverse time, find new purpose in her art— and rekindle: “the night I fell in love with you”?

The play-script is a time-bending kaleidoscope in eight scenes, for four Actors, from four points of view.

So the play's voyages— they are not journeys, they are voyages— from joy to heartbreak; to the rekindling of love— arrive at distinct moments plucked from time, but sharing the stage together.

At readings:

Actors and audience members praise its "bold concept," "romantic moments," "beautiful language," "distinct characters," "depth of character," "natural flow," "use of contrast," "speed of movement," its "build", "relentless tone," "the way it finds ways to surprise us," & the juxtaposition (“like ‘Romeo and Juliet’") of a dream-world of lovers with menace from a world outside.

Dramatizing the desperate action that a haunted woman takes, as she sees the man she madly loved-- and lost-- returning---
In the face, the eyes, the mouth of her baby boy.
A love story with a twist.

Minimal, if any, set.

2 women fight hunters and developers to keep alive the last surviving female of a species on the verge of extinction.

Single Mom. Burning with love for the man she suddenly lost. Begins to see him re-appear in their baby...

"The Night I Fell in Love with You" : When the woman he loves becomes wild with regret, a man time-travels into their past to rekindle their passion and romance.

Angelfire:
A passionate, poignant, “haunting” life-long romance of 2 people craving love.
In flashbacks of four anniversaries.

3 Women fight developers, hunters, and Hurricanes to defend species from extinction & to preserve wetlands from destruction.

An actor describes this Romance: "A poetic, yet somehow raw, straight-to-the-point show about falling in love, and how loving someone can make you the happiest, most fulfilled you’ve ever been, -ranging to the most tragic you’ve ever felt."

A duel between 2 strong women over the fate of the original World Trade Center.
Orcana Mrożek is the aspiring, entrepreneurial developer with the idea for the Twin Towers.
Lady Shirley Marlborough is an antiquarian with a mysterious, personal motive for her to fail.

Two women defend the land and defeat a hunter who behaves as if, because he owns the land, he owns every creature on it.

A young woman of entrepreneurial vision battles a New York banker to develop her idea: a Twin Towered, World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

Two women--a young woman, and a woman about thirty years older-- encounter each other upon the passing of Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonard had painted the "Mona Lisa" over a thirty-year period --it is still on the artist's easel where the women find themselves.
The younger woman has been sitting as Leonard's latest model for the "Mona Lisa." The older woman-- whose home this is-- was the very first "Mona Lisa."
Which of the two is the true "Mona Lisa?"
Which of the two has been the truer muse and inspiration?

Leonardo da Vinci --Sensitive Artist-- Engineering Genius-- and-- Master Showman--. A theatrical romp with two Rock Stars of the Renaissance.
Plus, Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa.

All-Out Competitive Sports. Act One: On the college level. Act Two: On the Pro-level. Key roles include the Coach, the Booster, and the 5-Star Athlete.

In "Napoleon on the Run" by Paul K. Smith:

The most successful General in history finds himself in Mariampol.
Fleeing from his first defeat-- his disastrous defeat, fleeing Moscow & a defeat that changed his world.

If he just punishes the man who betrayed him and caused this, he wonders:
can you make things go back to how they were, can you do that?

{There is both a full-length version--
and a 15-minute, stand-alone, one-act version (attached as sample, below).}

A romance portraying a woman's first love-- after love-- after love.

A breathless rendezvous-- all the shared adventure of discovery-- the first-time charm of two people falling in love. Touched by its magic in a world where personal enchantment trumps impersonal calculation.

“Deep as first love, and all Wild with regret.” -Tennyson

First Love: A Young Woman the night she first falls in love.

Regret? : The same woman half a century later, revisiting that moment in time.

Love Story. Time-Bending. We follow a couple during a lifetime of love. Two people. Two roles. For Four Actors-- 2 Women, 2 Men.

A "lyrical, haunting, love-story with a fairy-tone tone."

A grieving woman revisits an old relationship, for comfort. It's not there.

The relationship is not with a man-- it is with Yahweh.

Struck by His silence, His Silence during Covid, His silence during Holocausts, she reminds Him that "Silence is Complicity."

At the end of their Encounter, in a twist: we see the reason -- the moving reason -- for that Silence.

Then Act Two begins, with its own ironies of fate.

"American Woman: The American Suite" is a new, original, full-length drama.
Six gut-wrenching scenes of the experience of mature women-- and of young women-- making choices, in six American cities:
New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Boston, San Francisco, Atlanta.
Each scene ends with a twist-- or two.
6 Scenes, 6 Cities, 6 Punches to the Gut.
Act One: his story.
Act Two: Her Story.

The primal horde: a Blended Family of four in a basement apartment. All basic instincts. No restraints.

A young woman resists and prevails over a tyrant.

Inspired by Racine's three plays where a young woman fights a tyrant: "Bajazet", "Phèdre", and "Mithridate".

But here instead of being a victim, she is a victor-- and prevails.

The ideas, work, inspiration, life, loves, and travels of the twentieth century's most influential feminist.

SYNOPSIS OF SCRIPT: A young scholar finds "wondrous joy" from her discovery of an extinct genre from the time of King Arthur. It becomes her Rosetta Stone to explain mysteries that have baffled others. But she finds herself in a race against time to complete her work, to find fulfillment, and provide meaning to others based on what she unearths: a light from the Dark Ages that will help them shed their despair. If she just had more time-- But she is fighting the death that stalks her, as if it came from the very pages of the illuminated manuscript she found, clawing at her life to keep her from revealing secrets she discovers. And then-- as if venturing through a portal into time-- she finds the meaning she has sought all her life, as if back in the past she creates the very treasure, the redeeming treasure, that she will find in her present.

Her search reveals the true history of a scholar who became a head of state.

A three-act play:

Act One was staged as "A Woman with a Rose" at the Secret Theatre, July 13 - August 15, 2019, New York.

Act Two was showcased as the stand-alone play "Sarah's Rapture" at the Manhattan Repertory Theatre, August 16-17, 2019, New York.

Acts One and Two together are to be staged as "Alfredus Rex and Sarah of Williamsburg" January 8-12, 2020, at the Hudson Guild, New York.

Myths we live by, Secrets and Social Roles, what is forbidden to Ever say -- and how Mata Hari responded to turning 40. Theatrically: utilizes tripartition of acting where an actor plays a character who in turn performs multiple roles. In Paris, 1917: with Mata Hari, Coco Chanel, Colette, Marie Curie, Djuna Barnes, Isadora Duncan: The women who made Paris, Paris.

A young woman falls in love with a young man and his kisses -- at the World Trade Center, the morning of 9/11.

A one-act play of social content, where the Predator becomes the Prey.
Themes of Trust, Compulsions, Taboos, and Obsessions.
Late at night in the City. . . a deadly encounter with a twist.

One reviewer writes: "The palpable sense of tension you feel is absolutely amazing.
The countdown, the ticking clock, and counting of the tasks gives off such a tangible sense of danger.
No moment is lost. The audience was forced to hold it breath through the entire play."

A love story where an archaeologist travels through 9 portals of time to revisit a beloved.

Moving from St. Augustine to Cocoa Beach to Tampa, 3 scenes, 3 cities, 3 punches to the gut.

What it's like to break away from home and Daddy when your father is Josef Stalin.

Racine's "Phèdre" in Four (minutes).

A play set now.

For one.

A 5-minute play with a twist.

Challenging THE Patriarch, a woman calls out GOD for His Silence:
"Silence Is Complicity."
And then she calls upon Him to atone for his Sin. His Silence.

A one-minute, 2-character play.

For 2 actors, any age, any gender, any heritage.

The young Alfred the Great, experienced through a time-portal.

Picture "Ondine" crossed with "Tempest".

"Cave Woman Sex," a short play portraying lust and power in the city. Inspired by Racine's "Bajazet".
Synopsis: Four people with no inhibitions. The "primal horde."
A tale of rebellion.
For its tone, picture Racine crossed with Artaud; or, Seneca crossed with Witkacy.
Ideal for actors who can portray not only the overt, surface, literal meaning of the action -- but actors who reach into the subconscious of the audience, touch, grip and twist our basic dreads, fantasies, desires.

During his War on Ukraine, the Dictator of Russia is confronted by his mother, who’d raised him to be a priest. She uncovers truths that reveal his deliberate extermination of Ukrainians.

A timely, 10-minute playscript developed for 2 actors. Minimal set.

10-Minute, 1-Act, 2-character Adaptation of Racine's plays "Bajazet", "Mithridate", and "Phèdre".

Those are 3 plays in which we see a Young Woman confront a Tyrant.

In Racine, the women are tragic figures who are victims-- and die.
In our play, the women are characters who are victors--- They survive---- and prevail.

A play of 50 roles grouped as 7 archetypes including: warrior queen and ruler, revolutionary, explorer, scientist, teacher, creative artist, entrepreneur...

A presentational drama; not of conflict, but of portrait, and contrast.

A portrait for the stage of 50 women of wonder. Women who've made our world-- our world.

All roles are women's roles. For actors who can portray multiple roles, across different time periods, cultures, social structures, and personal aspirations.

The 50 profiles are drawn from 250 profiles of great, inspiring women from history that I developed over a two-year period on LinkedI.

A “pre-quel” to the author’s full-length play “The Women of Paris,” which was staged October 2018 in New York.

Paris. 1917.
We meet Mata Hari. Marie Curie. Colette.
We meet them as women reclaiming dreams they've shelved.
Reawakening hidden selves. Breaking free. Finding their wings to fly.

Marie Curie harnesses science to save wounded young soldiers.
Sarah Bernhardt gives acting lessons to a courtesan.
Isadora Duncan creates modern dance.
Coco Chanel invents the little black dress.
Each woman creates separate social roles. Roles at war with each other.

Breaking free of convention brings down the wrath of society:
One woman is shot for doing forbidden things.
Yet they survive. They prevail.
Along the way, these women also create Paris.

Set in the Hill Country. The time is 1959, a turning point in America: as the nation became more urban than rural. Like that Buddhist tale of the death of the last saint at the hands of the world’s first philosopher— here the battle between the two main characters – Betty and Karen – parallels the beginning of the death of the Country at the hands of the City.

“When a man needs a woman to make him feel young, it is hard on a woman to grow older,” Betty says when we first meet her.

Then after her Two Act, 15-round prizefight with Karen, she says,

“My heart’s like land that’s all played out. Nothing new is going to grow in it, now.”

And between those poles, there is Preston. (" I don't plant my seed, and then just walk away.")

This play is their story.

A man of ideals comes to another man’s home to execute him. The wife welcomes him, convinced it is her old lover from many years ago come to see her, romance her, and woo her away. Written so the same actor can portray both the target and the assassin: both the husband – and her first love, that so haunts her. At the beginning, the woman -- whose language is Art -- is mute. But with her shocking choices, she reawakens.

Two settings: 1) Tranquility Base, The Moon. 2) Little Havana, Miami.

Full Production at 7 Stages Theatre, Atlanta. Well-reviewed. Full houses throughout the run. A Russian Camelot. Set in a time when politics were wonderful, business was ennobling and exciting, and love was magical and fulfilling.

Had to search history pretty hard to find a time like that.

Reflecting my experience as a professional strategist for corporate CEOs and self-made overseas billionaires, occasionally the corporate prince emerges as a character in my work for the theatre.

In this script, I use the framework of the 21st century corporate family -(meaning the people at "Corporate") to dramatize events at the court of the King of France: Louis III, after he’s been two decades under the influence of that Kissinger/Machiavelli of his time, Cardinal Richelieu.

Historians document that Richelieu had influence over the King of France by supplying him with women who became his mistresses. While remaining the cardinal’s spies.

Then one day, (history recounts), Richelieu replaced the string of women with a boy.

And the boy began to dominate the king. You have the King of France in the Royal Bed, historians write (we’re talking primary sources) – you have King Louis weeping and kissing the new favorite’s hands, begging the boy not to abandon him.

Within the framework of a contemporary corporate family, this script portrays what began to happen—beginning with the King’s own wife falling for the boy as well. The King presents his wife with an impossible choice.

Development history:

Read: as “The Woman who Braided the Rings of Saturn,” at 7 Stages Theatre, Atlanta.

Workshopped: as “White Widow” at the Genesis Space of the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta.

With an underlying love story of an astrologer and a would-be astronomer: if he can just explain the baffling mystery of the Rings, with this one achievement he could redeem himself for selling out – to her husband, the CEO of the corporation which employs him as a pseudo-scientist.

"The Women who Fought Russia's War on Ukraine" is an original, full-length drama. The story is based on primary sources. Developed through a series of 8 readings, scene by scene during revisions, incorporating audience feedback.

7 Scenes dramatize the Women most directly involved, during the Russian dictator's deliberate, unprovoked assault on Ukraine-- its cities, its farms, its people.

The Sample:

10 pages from the script of

"The Women who Fought Against Russia's War on Ukraine."

A ten-page sample to give you a taste.

These pages come from a scene between a mother and her adult son: -- a backstory to current events.

That son is the Russian Dictator, and he is in the midst of Russia's deliberate starving to death of five million Ukrainians.

Even in public readings, the power of this targeted apocalypse comes across. It is Not just about Ukraine-- But about Tyranny. Patriarchs. Dictators.

In the current climate of interest, perhaps you'll feel this would meet the current, surging, topical interest of your audience.

Would welcome sending your theatre the full script. Have been developing it through readings to get the gestural language just right.

Perhaps you, too, will see this as a work that can harness theatre to edify-- entertain-- and inspire. To offer relevance to our times.

(And this is the sequel to the play successfully staged in a full-production, to full houses, well-reviewed, at 7 Stages.)

Roles for 4 - 5 actors to portray New York City living over the last half-century.

A dramatic tetraptych:
4 tales with a twist, including a World Trade Center love story,

The individuals tales (which make up a descent into Hell) have been repeatedly produced as stand-alone plays,

For the many who do not live life in hotel suites, but on the streets: a city suite.

From Noon to Midnight, 12 Hours in the life of the city.

Opens with God and Ms. God in their hotel room checkout time

Closes in a convenience store with a double race-against-time.

One reviewer:

"Paul K. Smith's 10 minute horror play, 'You've Got To Put Them Out Of Their Misery' terrified the audience.

The play follows a young domestic abuse victim with an unsettling twist at the end that leaves the audience in shock."

Think "Titanic" but Tuesday Morning, the South Tower, of the World Trade Center.
A young woman and a young man -- their first kiss-- their last kiss.
And how the loss of that day of promise haunts their lives the next twenty years.
The madness of first love-- the wildness of regret.
In five scenes. Scenes of love, scenes of heartbreak. For four actors.

A traditional, white family decides to go multi-cultural and ingest an African American woman into their household. As naturally as ordering a pizza. "Look at her smooth hands. Her soft cheeks. Why can't you be like that?" the Father asks his wife. And then he tells their young guest: "I could just eat you up. . . "

Set in the royal court on Triton, the largest Moon orbiting Neptune.

A spaceship is seen in the sky from the 3rd planet (=Earth).

The Palace residents feel enslaved by the -400 degree climate outside.

The action begins when a spaceship is seen in the sky from the 3rd planet (=Earth).

One faction at Court believes this is a ship sent to attack them.

The other faction is convinced they have come from Earth to rescue them.

The tale, the characters, their desires --incorporate a Persian love story from the 1300's.

One person lets nothing stand between himself and the object of his desire.

The other person lets nothing stand in the way of completing his obsessive compulsion.

One night, at midnight, their paths cross.

A play about life in the city. A play with a switch. An actors' play.

Based on true events.

Othello confesses to the Police. In 2017. In a city, at the Police Station. And Othello is a woman, a literate woman, who quotes Beckett and Faulkner -- and Shakespeare.

And confesses to killing her wife -- "Desdee" (Desdemona).

A ten-minute, one-act romp.

Dramatizes the Buddhist tale of the death of the world's last saint at the hands of the world’s first philosopher.

The love story of Ivan the Terrible and Queen Elizabeth I. A play about the differing expectations two people in a romance can have of each other, and how it colors their worlds forever. And a powerful woman blacksmith who forges the magical Excaliburs of her age. Excerpts presented at Huckleberry Theatre, Vancouver. (A sequel to Wild Bess produced at Cafe Picasso.) Based on true events.

Produced like a Brechtian epic, at a cabaret venue, Café Picasso. One reviewer described it as "a fairy tale princess being thrust into history." Elizabeth I as the Moses of her people. The sound palette incorporates poly-rhythmic music, including the music off Tibet as the Armada approaches; the music mirrors the woman at three ages. Dramatizes the birth of core geopolitical ideas (500 years later, our conceptual constructs like “balance of powers”).

The title says it all.
A play celebrating the most fascinating creature in the world: a woman of forty.

(A full-length, angry comedy) Set in a lumber camp in the American Colony of the Philippines (1930's). Fighting off a viral pestilence of contagious, hallucinatory dengue fever.
Over the top.
Audience favorite in Atlanta: "Slanting Anny," the spying, gun-toting sister of Lovely Lydia.

Set in a Racinian palace on Triton, the moon that orbits Neptune. A spacecraft is seen in the sky, coming towards them, fro the third planet (= Earth) . One faction at court says they are coming to attack them. The other faction says they are coming to liberate them from this frozen Hell. {The spacecraft features 3 singing astronauts and a beer-swilling pit bull.} The language is drawn from 14th-century Persian love poetry -- and yet -- the consensus at the first reading was that this is one of my most naturalistic works(!). Go figure.)

A play about Old Sparky. A vaudeville about the death penalty. The interesting thing is, in performance, those in the audience who support the death penalty felt the play opposes the death penalty.

Those who oppose the death penalty felt that this play supports it (it doesn't).

26 executions (and distinct personality responses), 1 paternalistic warden. Although farcical (Not sardonic) -- it is based on true events at Sing Sing.

Spurned Lover Stalks Byron Across Europe.
And Mary Shelly finds her Monster.

Synopsis: When a developer with absurd but dangerous political aspirations treats his third wife and eldest daughter as co-actors – and audience, he learns that they may be silenced – but not conquered.

"Piece" on Earth.
On Christmas Eve, a predator becomes the prey.
Two speaking roles, any age, any heritage, any gender. Simple set.
Requires one clock, two revolvers.
Stage duration is flexible -- from ten minutes to twenty.
Cast size: flexible, the more people the more menace as they exit, "abandoning" the protagonist.

Checking-Out.

Presented Off-Broadway by Theatre Studio.

Phedre in 2 Minutes.

Homecoming of the Prodigal Son to his dysfunctional family. And what an archetype is this Matriarch, his Mother.

Bloodline.

SYNOPSIS:
When a mysterious love letter arrives from a young man: a woman feels that for her, at long last, a chance at passion has finally come- but too damned late.

For 3 Actors. Minimal Set, if any.