William Triplett

UNDER REVISION - FEEDBACK WELCOME VIA DM

Full-length: Driven equally by a need to avenge his dead father as well as prove himself, a young defense attorney takes on a difficult case in the final round of war crimes trials in Nuremberg in 1948. But his client resists his help, and the Army Judge Advocate General may be withholding vital evidence. As he struggles to build a case, scenes from the past come alive and his father's ghost pushes him deeper into ethically questionable territory, until he must make a character-defining decision. A play about the crippling hold even dead fathers can have on sons.

10-Minute play. Helen and Peter cross paths at an exhibition opening, seeing each other for the first time since their illicit affair ended almost three years ago. She has recently separated from her husband; he is thinking of leaving his wife, but seems to want to discuss it with Helen, asking her to have lunch with him. Emotions, pain and guilt she thought were gone resurface for Helen, who needs to determine whether agreeing to that lunch would mean her life is moving forward or backward.

IN DEVELOPMENT

10-Minute: Flora, an adult survivor of child sexual abuse, finally has both a chance and the inner strength to bring the man who molested her to justice and possibly save a little girl from the same fate. But the price might be her marriage.

10-minute play: Theo descends into an abandoned mine in hopes of finding and killing in its lair some horrible beast that has been mutilating men in a small Colorado town. Instead he finds Mina, who claims to live in the mine with her sister. An alpha male with a logical mind if there ever was, Theo all but dismisses Mina. But the more he presses her about the beast, the more she offends his expectations of what a woman should be. Not good for him.

10-minute play. On the run for his life, Sam is trying to reach the mythic land where no one ever dies. But Dez, the land's mysterious guardian, tells Sam he must first get to the Cemetery of Dreams, taking him on a journey that will reveal to him the true meaning of eternal life. Kind of.

10-minute play. Camille finds the afterlife is a lot like a Saturday morning cartoon that constantly seems to be in production and starring her as a coyote. Just when she thinks eternity is an endless animated farce that makes no sense, she discovers something in herself she never thought existed. And she wins.

IN DEVELOPMENT

Full-length: After ten years of marriage scarred by hurt and anger, Jillian and Cole are separated but, despite everything, unhappy about a divorce they know is inevitable. When a Stage IV breast cancer diagnosis forces them back together to face the debilitating treatment Jillian must undergo, each privately hopes to be able to find some kind of peaceful resolution before it may be too late. But their past keeps getting in the way. Literally. A story about the struggle for love and forgiveness in the circles of time.

10-minute play. Arvin Drumheller is dead, and nobody is happier than his son, Boyd. Arvin’s widow, Inez, is equal parts grieved and relieved. How the hell did it come to this? The action moves backward in time to reveal how (1) abuse comes in different forms, (2) love can make some serious mistakes, and (3) partial deafness can be an unbreakable tie that binds.

One-minute play. What are the odds a revolver with one bullet in the chamber will not fire even after the trigger is pulled more than 300 times? Would they be greater than, less than, or the same as the odds of a man not recognizing the woman he assaulted years ago -- and who now holds him prisoner? What are the odds he survives?

10-minute play. It's 1931, and a formerly divorced English couple now trying marriage to each other a second time are living in a cozy French cottage with their brand new baby. But the father’s suspicions about the child’s true lineage lead to dubious experiments that may require an ambulance and the police. A family comedy.

(Inspired by Noel Coward's "Private Lives" and Thomas Middleton's "The Changeling")

Full-length: In Athens of Greek Antiquity, fifteen or so years after all that bloody business with Jason and their kids, Medea is on the verge of redemption. In a few days King Aegeus of Athens will marry her, as he promised he would. Originally from Colchis, a minor land of dark-skinned people, Medea is poised not only to become Queen of the greatest and possibly whitest city-state in existence, but also mother of the future king – her illegitimate, gender-fluid son with Aegeus becomes legitimized by the marriage. But then the mighty cis-warrior and schemer Theseus – a bastard son Aegeus never knew he had – appears, posing a direct threat to her hopes and dreams. Medea must struggle against her own worst impulses – not to mention the everyday sexism and racism of the time – to make sure Aegeus keeps his promise to her, while also proving she’s not that homicidal woman everyone thinks she is, but instead a really nice person and a great mom.

5-minute play. Two people try to come to terms with a painful history that neither remembers in great detail, but each still feels the hurt as if it happened yesterday. In fact, maybe it did. The present seems to be all that matters; anything else is too frightening to contemplate. (Inspired by the works of, well... it's probably obvious.)

10-minute play. As usual, Winston boards his crowded commuter train in broad daylight and shuts his eyes for his brief ride home from work. Twenty minutes later he opens them and finds it's pitch dark out, only two other passengers are aboard, and the train is going recklessly fast. Everything otherwise looks and seems normal -- but it isn't. Especially those two other passengers. Is he suddenly in a nightmare? If so, whose?

IN DEVELOPMENT

10-minute play: In some time-warped place where people apparently never age, the father-killing/mother-marrying Oedipus Rex has been living for a while with the infamous axe-murderess Lizzie Borden. Then he starts receiving a dire prophecy making him desperately want to leave… and Lizzie very unhappy.

Full-length: It's spring of 1941, and the Nazi blitz that has overrun mainland Europe is on the verge of destroying Britain. Why then does Rudolf Hess suddenly drop in – literally – wanting to talk peace? Is it a trick, or is he merely, as he appears to be, insane?

And why does Winston Churchill allow the raging occultist/mystic Aleister Crowley to interrogate Hess?

Worse, why are an unknown officer named Ian Fleming (still a great disappointment to his mother) and a famous actor-playwright – Noel Coward, of all people – supervising this dubious venture?

Add in the sudden appearance of the ghost of Fleming's former fiancée, a blithe spirit if there ever was, and suddenly the fate of the entire United Kingdom – not to mention the new play Coward is trying to come up with and Fleming’s impending wedding – are all on the line.

A historical spoof of alliances, patriotism, egos, magic, artistic inspiration, the origins of James Bond, and the sexual aspects of yoga, all of which lead Fleming to make a life-changing discovery and decision.

10-minute play. On the eve of her 18th birthday, Hunter is trying to leave home before anyone can find out -- when her younger brother walks in and pleads to know why she’s going. Unwilling and maybe even afraid to reveal the real reason, she will only say she has to leave their small town; that just makes him more desperate for her to stay. And both come to realize a bond they didn’t know they have is breaking. A story about first pains and hurts of growing up.