Recommended by Mike Solomonson

  • Stung
    7 May. 2021
    I selected this play to be produced as part of our college's Spring 2021 Online Play Festival. This is a great script to explore as there are many subtle emotional shifts as we watch the two characters confront their fears and insecurities, which turn out to be things most people can relate to in their own lives. Ekstrand has written a simple, yet complex play.
  • 'Tiffany' is a Medieval Name
    5 May. 2021
    I selected this play to be produced as part of our college's Spring 2021 Online Play Festival, and a number of positive responses from audience members have been received. The play examines a heretofore unrequited love between two lesbian vampires. Can that change as they attempt to communicate via Zoom during a pandemic? Brown is able to play with a generation(s) gap dilemma, personal decorum, and fear of intimacy as obstacles that our two heroines must attempt to overcome.
  • Yes, And...
    1 May. 2021
    I selected this play to be produced as part of our college's Spring 2021 Online Play Festival. The play is undeniably a comedy as we watch our online scene partners struggle to get in sync with each other. However, in performance, other emotional layers can be discovered as they come to understand what has occurred in the other's life and the need for letting down their guards. As a result, we get the satisfaction of seeing a subtle bond form.
  • THE CHECK-UP (A Zoom Play)
    27 Apr. 2021
    I selected this play to be produced as part of our college's Spring 2021 Online Play Festival. A man struggles to explain his medical problem to a woman doctor during a Zoom appointment. If that's not bad enough for this shy guy, other family members crash the appointment with their own designs for the patient and doctor. Scott Mullen has written a fun, entertaining comedy that works well on an online platform.
  • Amazing
    24 Apr. 2021
    I selected this play to be produced as part of our college's Spring 2021 Online Play Festival. What appears to be a simple transaction, a magician performing for a child's birthday party, eventually reveals an inner desperation as both characters are attempting to find a meaningful connection in a world that has forced them into lonely isolation. The play veers from comedy to pathos in this boisterous 10-minute play.
  • THE BREAST MONOLOGUES (full evening or shorter, your choice)
    16 Mar. 2021
    Inspired by a quirky, French advertisement, this collection was created from interviews conducted with women about their breasts. The stories reflect how breasts can be sources of pride, fear, elation, anticipation, doubt, affirmation, and objectified burdens, among other experiences. The emotional range allows the action to swing from the humorous to the heart-felt. There also is an appealing flexibility as the play can be performed by small or large casts of women, as a short or full-length work, and as a live or virtual performance. What Eve Ensler artistically did for vaginas, Robin Rice might just have done for breasts.
  • Afar
    28 Feb. 2021
    For production companies looking for a play specifically written for a virtual performance, Matthew Weaver has written a fun, entertaining comedy where two people struggle to express physical intimacy within the artificial distance that is the pandemic world. Imagining how performers would kiss towards a camera will allow for a great deal of visual comedy in this 10-minute performance piece.
  • Detail Oriented
    24 Jan. 2021
    A play that uses repetitions as we watch a run-of-the-mill morning where a mother tries to see her daughter off to school. The reason behind the false starts and re-starts slowly becomes apparent, leading to a gut-punch ending when the true nature of the mother-daughter relationship is revealed.
  • Kangaroo Boy
    3 Jan. 2021
    What happens when the traits that make you unique and empower you are weaponized by others and, ironically, begin to undermine your sense of self? This is the central theme of this sensitively-written, one-act. Toby Malone has created two dynamic roles that demand both vulnerability and emotional honesty from its young performers that would consequently make for a powerful performance. I further admired Malone’s stage directions that are used to establish the tone of his memorable play.
  • Heirloom
    2 Jan. 2021
    I appreciated Kristin Hornsby's handling of dialogue, where she incrementally reveals details of the characters' extended family. Alice's desire for possessing a tie to her familial history is believably motivated, while her father's notions of "tradition" (steeped in patriarchal, gender assumptions) threatens to undermine their relationship. Hornsby presents relatable themes for an audience to consider in this 10-minute play.

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