Mark Rigney

Mark Rigney

In our semi-post-COVID world, good news rears its furry little head. First up, "Bears" and "Cavers" have been published by Next Stage Press. You can still check out the beginning of these plays right here on NPX. The Bastrop Opera House produced "Techies" back in January 2023 after that play won the TNT Pops Playwriting Competition. "The Wizard Delivers (and Pinky Stays the...
In our semi-post-COVID world, good news rears its furry little head. First up, "Bears" and "Cavers" have been published by Next Stage Press. You can still check out the beginning of these plays right here on NPX. The Bastrop Opera House produced "Techies" back in January 2023 after that play won the TNT Pops Playwriting Competition. "The Wizard Delivers (and Pinky Stays the Course)" opened at Whiteland High School in November, 2022. Both "Techies" and "The Wizard Delivers" are intended for high school-age actors, so if you're connected to a high school program and you'd like to see something new, rowdy, and relevant on your stage, please be in touch.

Over the summer, "Yartsy on Division" was featured at Capital Repertory's Next Act! Festival in June '22, and I am one of the 50 playwrights selected for CCTA '23 (Climate Change Theatre Action). Hope springs eternal. And now for the "real" bio:

Mark Rigney has had work produced or developed in twenty-three U.S. states, including at 59e59 (NYC), the Utah Shakespearean Festival’s Plays in Progress Series (Cedar City, UT), the Alleyway Theatre (Buffalo, NY), the Cell Theatre (Albuqerque, NM), the Ark Theatre (Los Angeles, CA), the Forest Roberts Theatre (Marquette, MI), the Indy Fringe Festival, and others. International productions have taken place in Australia, Austria, Canada, Hong Kong, Nepal, and New Zealand. He has won several national playwriting contests, including the John Gassner Playwriting Award, the Maxim Mazumdar New Play Prize, the Jury Prize for “The Seven,” and the Panowski Playwriting Award (twice). Multiple titles are published by Playscripts, Inc., including "The Shout" (Fall, 2016), "Ten Red Kings" and "Acts of God," the latter produced over fifty times around the U.S. His ten-minute plays appear in multiple editions of the Smith & Kraus series, "The Best Ten-Minute Plays" (2012, 2013, 2014, and 2018), and in "25 10-Minute Plays for Teens" (Applause). ArtAge recently published "Griddle Cakes," and has named it an Editor's Pick.

In other work, his novellas and novels, The Skates, Sleeping Bear, Check-Out Time and Bonesy used to be available from Samhain Publishing...but Samhain went belly-up, so now he is relying on his agent to save his life and find new homes for these and other manuscripts. His short fiction appears in Witness, Ascent, Unlikely Story, and The Best of the Bellevue Literary Review, among over fifty other venues. In non-fiction, Deaf Side Story: Deaf Sharks, Hearing Jets and a Classic American Musical (Gallaudet) remains happily in print.

When not writing, he has worked as a zookeeper, a sound recordist, a tech director, and as a retail trainer at Borders Books & Music. His website is www.markrigney.net.

Plays

  • Everything Must Go by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama, mystery/thriller + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: opiods, antiques + 2 more
    Genre: drama, mystery/thriller, political
    Keyword: opiods, antiques, ghost story, racial issues
    Shelby Foster’s shift at her dying guardian’s antique mall goes downhill fast after a shopper spots a set of “slave shackles” for sale and cries foul. The local police get involved, along with an aging antiques dealer, plus Shelby’s (deceased) brother, Zach––a former opioid addict who won’t leave Shelby alone until she can make at least a modicum of peace with his death. The next day (Act Two), Shelby’s friend...
    Shelby Foster’s shift at her dying guardian’s antique mall goes downhill fast after a shopper spots a set of “slave shackles” for sale and cries foul. The local police get involved, along with an aging antiques dealer, plus Shelby’s (deceased) brother, Zach––a former opioid addict who won’t leave Shelby alone until she can make at least a modicum of peace with his death. The next day (Act Two), Shelby’s friend Maureen visits the mall and passes out from an overdose of painkillers, forcing Shelby to put her past EMT training to use and come to terms with her very direct role in Zach’s final moments.

    A rustbelt drama that explores race, fading Americana, and prescription drug addiction, Everything Must Go culminates in a sacramental “fire sale” that engulfs the antique mall, thereby clearing the way for Shelby to escape her dying town and maybe––with luck––become the life-saving medical professional she always hoped she’d be.
  • Something Less Direct by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: comedy, trial + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, fantasy, political
    Keyword: comedy, trial, animals, green, environmental, Non-Binary, extinction, COVID, seven
    Every five years, the animal kingdom sends delegates from every species to a remote location where they assess the state of the world. At this year's conference, a splinter group of six animals (Bonobo, Kangaroo, Vulture, Gila Monster, Tiger & Musk Ox) convene the trial of the island's sole human resident (Karen), on charges of everything from planetary genocide to littering. Karen treats the...
    Every five years, the animal kingdom sends delegates from every species to a remote location where they assess the state of the world. At this year's conference, a splinter group of six animals (Bonobo, Kangaroo, Vulture, Gila Monster, Tiger & Musk Ox) convene the trial of the island's sole human resident (Karen), on charges of everything from planetary genocide to littering. Karen treats the whole thing as a joke ("Talking animals, ha!") until she realizes that not only are her captors serious, but they are using her as a stand-in for the whole of humanity. If she is found guilty, Homo sapiens will we wiped from the face of the earth.
  • Visionaries by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    5–6
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: comedy, Talking Animals + 7 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, drama, fantasy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: comedy, Talking Animals, miracles, digital technology, quest, life's big questions, small cast, comedic roles for women, open ethnicity
    When the care and feeding of a blind chicken throw a wrench into Crystal’s plans to attend her far-side-of-the-country high school reunion, the groundwork is laid for a marital rift, a fabulous book project that will surely save the world, and various talking animal totems that offer wildly conflicting advice.
  • Techies by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    13
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: high school age actors, high school appropriate + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, young audiences
    Keyword: high school age actors, high school appropriate, contemporary issues, metoo, high school, ensemble, open ethnicity, open gender, cancel culture
    At rise, the high school stage crew prepares for the first show of the year, The Crucible, a play of accusations and witch-craft. Tyler, leader of the tech team, has everything under control––or so it seems. Something of old Salem lingers in the air, and before even the first rehearsal, the stage crew’s world comes under siege. When Haley arrives as a transfer student, bringing solid tech skills and an...
    At rise, the high school stage crew prepares for the first show of the year, The Crucible, a play of accusations and witch-craft. Tyler, leader of the tech team, has everything under control––or so it seems. Something of old Salem lingers in the air, and before even the first rehearsal, the stage crew’s world comes under siege. When Haley arrives as a transfer student, bringing solid tech skills and an upsetting past, fingers start pointing at Tyler, and soon the divisive rumors that center on him and his now ex-girlfriend, rumors of abusive behavior, become impossible to ignore. As opening night marches inexorably closer, each of the techies must decide where they stand, and which forms of loyalty they most hold dear.
  • Gloria on Division by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: theatrical, January 6th Insurrection + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, political, satire
    Keyword: theatrical, January 6th Insurrection, cancel culture, full-length, no intermission, ethical issues, mixed marriage, ninety minute drama, Donald Trump, high school
    Gloria, mother to teen-age Tanya and recently separated from Craig, Tanya’s father, is doing her best to decorate for Yart, a neighborhood art festival. At the same time, she’s trying to keep secret the OnlyFans work that sustained her financially during COVID. Enter Tanya’s former fifth grade teacher, Rosie, intent on discovering why Gloria is just about the only person in the neighborhood who didn’t sign a...
    Gloria, mother to teen-age Tanya and recently separated from Craig, Tanya’s father, is doing her best to decorate for Yart, a neighborhood art festival. At the same time, she’s trying to keep secret the OnlyFans work that sustained her financially during COVID. Enter Tanya’s former fifth grade teacher, Rosie, intent on discovering why Gloria is just about the only person in the neighborhood who didn’t sign a petition (pushed by Tanya) demanding that the schools fire Rosie for attending the January 6th rally in D.C. Add in Gloria’s nosy landlord, and soon it’s neighbor against neighbor, each decrying the other for participating in “cancel culture.” Everyone wants to stand on the side of the angels, but which angels will they stand with, and at what cost?
  • The Wizard Delivers (and Pinky Stays the Course) by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    9
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: comedy, large cast + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, young audiences
    Keyword: comedy, large cast, high school, high school age actors, great roles for teens or young adults, college admissions, open ethnicity
    In the alley behind Crusty Rusty’s Pizza Joint, a recent high school grad known only as the Wizard dispenses advice and plays at being a college counselor––all for a fee, of course, which her teen clients are happy to pay, since the Wizard's track record is exceptional. Her clients include high schoolers of all stripes, including several whose troubles run too deep to be solved by anything as straight...
    In the alley behind Crusty Rusty’s Pizza Joint, a recent high school grad known only as the Wizard dispenses advice and plays at being a college counselor––all for a fee, of course, which her teen clients are happy to pay, since the Wizard's track record is exceptional. Her clients include high schoolers of all stripes, including several whose troubles run too deep to be solved by anything as straight forward as the Common App. But the Wizard never gives up, not on her clients, and not on herself––at least until it’s time to pursue dreams of her own and leave her beloved alleyway kingdom (queendom!) behind.
  • The Polar Bear Gambit by Mark Rigney
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: comedy, dementia + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: comedy, dementia, Alzheimer's Disease, Sisters, climate change
    Now in her seventies, Marcie O’Dell’s quiet life has become increasingly stressful. The Hallmark shop she operates is on the brink of bankruptcy, and she doesn’t have the money to repair the sagging, damaged roof on her house. The one bright spot has been the rise in popularity of her YouTube channel, where she hosts “Marcie’s Senior Moments,” an advice show for older viewers.

    It ought to be a...
    Now in her seventies, Marcie O’Dell’s quiet life has become increasingly stressful. The Hallmark shop she operates is on the brink of bankruptcy, and she doesn’t have the money to repair the sagging, damaged roof on her house. The one bright spot has been the rise in popularity of her YouTube channel, where she hosts “Marcie’s Senior Moments,” an advice show for older viewers.

    It ought to be a blessing when Marcie’s sister, Roz, moves in, but Roz is suffering from Alzheimer’s and has come to believe that she is a massive arctic polar bear. In short order, Roz discovers that Marcie has been covering these delusions on “Marcie’s Senior Moments,” effectively making her decline a matter of public record. Amidst accusations of elder abuse and confusing leaps in cognition and memory from Roz, Marcie must juggle work, home, and her professional online persona, all while locating the perfect assisted living facility for a much-loved sister who is, despite Marcie’s best efforts, too much to handle.
  • Bears by Mark Rigney
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    3–4
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: green, animals + 8 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, drama, fable/folktale, fantasy
    Keyword: green, animals, zoo, wildlife, coming of age, Sex, comedy, drama, environment, apocalypse
    The world is going to hell in a hand-basket, but neither Growl Bear nor Timmy Bear, two grizzlies stuck in a suddenly deserted zoo, have the least idea what a hand-basket might be. What they do know is that their keeper is in tears more often than not, and the treats they used to get from cheerful zoo visitors are long gone. Enter Suzie Wild Bear, a committed loner brought to the zoo for breeding purposes. As...
    The world is going to hell in a hand-basket, but neither Growl Bear nor Timmy Bear, two grizzlies stuck in a suddenly deserted zoo, have the least idea what a hand-basket might be. What they do know is that their keeper is in tears more often than not, and the treats they used to get from cheerful zoo visitors are long gone. Enter Suzie Wild Bear, a committed loner brought to the zoo for breeding purposes. As the zoo shuts down around them, the three bears form an alliance and escape to the supposed paradise of the wilderness.
  • Michael, Cleveland by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: Race, race relations + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: Race, race relations, new parents, baby, comedy, drama, St. Louis, midwest
    Two married couples arrive at a St. Louis-area hospital having been informed that their babies were switched at birth, and hospital facilitator Nancy Kimura attempts to reassure Michelle and Jayden Ross, both black, prior to introducing them to the second couple, Oregon-based Lindy Dodge and Sam Shaw.
    Who turn out to be white.
    After recovering from their initial shock, the two couples stake out...
    Two married couples arrive at a St. Louis-area hospital having been informed that their babies were switched at birth, and hospital facilitator Nancy Kimura attempts to reassure Michelle and Jayden Ross, both black, prior to introducing them to the second couple, Oregon-based Lindy Dodge and Sam Shaw.
    Who turn out to be white.
    After recovering from their initial shock, the two couples stake out their territory, and both insist that they love and adore the child they have. Neither couple has any intention of switching back.
    Or so they claim at the outset.
    But best laid plans have a habit of unraveling, and alliances, even in marriage, do not always hold. After nudging from Nancy and the arrival of a talkative “singing telegram” by the name of Buddy, only Lindy remains committed to keeping and raising the “wrong” child. Despite her resistance, the writing is on the wall. Birth children will go with birth parents. Everybody––and nobody––wins.
    A hilarious, scathing comedy of parenting, family, and race relations, Michael, Cleveland tackles the lies people tell when brought face-to-face with their deepest hypocrisies.
  • Summertime by Mark Rigney
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: apocalypse, comedy + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, political, satire
    Keyword: apocalypse, comedy, drama, Black comedy, current events, aliens, health care, physical comedy, satire
    Summertime tracks the Kohl family, a nominally successful upper middle class clan dealing with an impending political crisis in which the United States Congress, in its infinite wisdom, has outlawed both medicine and medical practitioners in an attempt to deal with a burgeoning population crisis.

    Twentysomethings SUMMER LANE and JESSE KOHL are welcoming a new baby into this inhospitable landscape...
    Summertime tracks the Kohl family, a nominally successful upper middle class clan dealing with an impending political crisis in which the United States Congress, in its infinite wisdom, has outlawed both medicine and medical practitioners in an attempt to deal with a burgeoning population crisis.

    Twentysomethings SUMMER LANE and JESSE KOHL are welcoming a new baby into this inhospitable landscape, while Jesse’s parents, TOM and SARAH KOHL, are grappling with both Tom’s professional irrelevance (he’s a pundit) and Sarah’s slide into paranoid dementia. AUNT PRU, forever ensconced in the family armchair, provides bleak commentary at every turn, even after the arrival of a MEDICAL MALFEASANCE INSPECTOR, who threatens to send the entire Kohl household to prison for daring to try to take care of themselves (using every privileged means at their disposal).

    As the outside world falls apart, only Summer rises to the challenge, ditching her sunny, optimistic persona in an all-out war to protect herself and her baby. A dark, hilarious take on the cost of having faith in the system, Summertime takes readers and audiences where we all hope we never have to go.


  • Ten Red Kings by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    10–18
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: college, stage combat + 6 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, drama, fantasy, movement/physical, science fiction
    Keyword: college, stage combat, addiction, Fantasy, video games, gaming, colleges and high schools, large cast
    Margot Cates, one year into college, is home for the summer and all set to spend every waking minute honing her skills at World of Warcraft, but before she can get her rebellious avatar, Nightwatch, into full fighting readiness, Margot finds herself packed off to a wilderness camp for on-line gaming addicts. There she meets a bevy of fellow campers in various stages of acceptance and/or denial, together with...
    Margot Cates, one year into college, is home for the summer and all set to spend every waking minute honing her skills at World of Warcraft, but before she can get her rebellious avatar, Nightwatch, into full fighting readiness, Margot finds herself packed off to a wilderness camp for on-line gaming addicts. There she meets a bevy of fellow campers in various stages of acceptance and/or denial, together with Rhonda, a group leader who invokes any number of unexpected tactics to counter and redirect the campers’ “addictions.”
    Margot doesn’t believe for a second she’s addicted to anything; indeed, she’s quite certain that gaming offers far more benefits than pitfalls. Adding insult to injury, Nightwatch originally belonged to Margot’s older sister, Courtney, who was killed in a highway accident a year before and now, at the camp, begins making ghostly visitations. Margot, determined to escape her troubles, sets Nightwatch on a new course, to find a lost map that will explain her reality, and her place in it, but Nightwatch, newly allied in-game with a wizard belonging to a fellow camper, has ideas of her own about who should be in charge.
    A contemporary play built on contemporary concerns, Ten Red Kings bridges the “real” and “digital” worlds with music, dance, and the harrowing drama of savvy young adults determined to rise above.
  • Acts of God by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    12
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: high school, teenagers + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, tragedy
    Keyword: high school, teenagers, tornado
    Acts of God, a storm-tossed swirl of a play, tracks twelve high-school students through the year following a devastating tornado strike. As the students grieve, assist in the recovery efforts, and tackle the basics of getting on with life, they must also cope with the storm’s emotional detritus. Friendships and allegiances shift, beliefs and faith are tested, and the threat of future storms lurks daily just...
    Acts of God, a storm-tossed swirl of a play, tracks twelve high-school students through the year following a devastating tornado strike. As the students grieve, assist in the recovery efforts, and tackle the basics of getting on with life, they must also cope with the storm’s emotional detritus. Friendships and allegiances shift, beliefs and faith are tested, and the threat of future storms lurks daily just below the western horizon. By turns comic and wrenching, the play culminates in a second storm warning, and as the sirens blare once more, each character relives the once-in-a-lifetime terror they thought they’d put behind them…
  • Saint Harley, Adventure Girl! by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 5 more
    ·
    Keyword: contemporary, war + 7 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, dark comedy, drama, faith-based, movement/physical, political
    Keyword: contemporary, war, feminism, saints, Doctors Without Borders, Syria, international terrorism, adventure, coming of age
    Harley Lynn hails from a sheltered factory town, but her fascination with sainthood––the daunting, sometimes hilarious task of trying to do good––sends her across the world to war-torn Syria and the medical tents of Doctors Without Borders. This most unlikely of comedies tracks Harley Lynn’s spirited attempts to save the world, and features a cast of thousands (well, okay, two), Donna Summer, and dancing.
  • The Fox by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: music, abuse + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: music, abuse, baseball, folk music, marriage, young adult, sexual politics, young love, blacklist
    A sharply funny play that explores the value of art in the face of unforgivable private behavior, The Fox tracks folksinger-for-kids Brendan LaSalle, who has enjoyed a long career and a happy marriage, but his reputation is endangered when his son’s girlfriend, a budding journalist, uncovers a long-buried claim that Brendan abused one of his young fans. Brendan attempts to rescue his legacy as a performer, but...
    A sharply funny play that explores the value of art in the face of unforgivable private behavior, The Fox tracks folksinger-for-kids Brendan LaSalle, who has enjoyed a long career and a happy marriage, but his reputation is endangered when his son’s girlfriend, a budding journalist, uncovers a long-buried claim that Brendan abused one of his young fans. Brendan attempts to rescue his legacy as a performer, but a noisy protest in his own front yard “outs” him as an accused sex offender.
  • End Of the Rainy Season by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: Africa, green + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: Africa, green, magic, environment, drama
    A U.S. grad student seeks shelter for the night from the owner of a tiny hotel in Togo.

    "End of the Rainy Season" appears in The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2014 (Smith & Kraus).
  • Caretta-Caretta by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, political
    ·
    Keyword: nature, environment + 8 more
    Genre: drama, political
    Keyword: nature, environment, green, Greek mythology, Greece, Sea Turtle, beach, beach town, ecological collapse, family
    On a Greek island, two brothers try to convince their environmentally minded sister to sign papers that will convert their strip of family-owned beach to a hotel high rise. Meanwhile, at their feet, an ancient mother sea turtle digs a hole to lay her eggs. On such a night as this, can there be any winners?
  • Water from the Wells by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: comedy, drama + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: comedy, drama, race relations, stroke, road trip, Canada, epic journey, right to die, assisted suicide
    Constance (Connie) Daniel provides full-time, live-in health care for stroke victim Archie Harris, a job that allows her to save funds to complete her MSW. Oliver Harris, Archie’s adopted son, pays a daily visit, and all in all, things seem to be swimming along, except that wheelchair-bound Archie is desperate to visit a lake that was central to his childhood. Unfortunately, the lake in question is hundreds of...
    Constance (Connie) Daniel provides full-time, live-in health care for stroke victim Archie Harris, a job that allows her to save funds to complete her MSW. Oliver Harris, Archie’s adopted son, pays a daily visit, and all in all, things seem to be swimming along, except that wheelchair-bound Archie is desperate to visit a lake that was central to his childhood. Unfortunately, the lake in question is hundreds of miles away and over an international border, in Canada. Archie starts demanding that Connie take him there (Oliver won’t; he loves his dad too much to endanger him), and Connie refuses and refuses and refuses––until Archie convinces her that he’s dying, not recovering, and that he deserves the chance to choose the manner and place of his death.

    So begins a charming (?) odd-couple road trip, with Oliver and the police in hot pursuit. Their Odyssey ends with Connie tacitly permitting Archie’s suicide in the shallows of Cedar Bay Lake. The authorities arrest Connie, but in the final scene she is paroled and turned back to a life in which she will always have to ask herself, “Was it worth it?” There are no simple answers, but there is always more water in the well…
  • Griddle Cakes by Mark Rigney
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: Seniors, climate change + 2 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: Seniors, climate change, environment, comedy
    Two aging sisters debate the neighbor's annual wildflower walk, climate change, and whether to gun down their annoying telephone with their rifle, all while remaining ensconced in their twin rocking chairs.