R. D. Rhobajt

SYNOPSIS - Several decades into the future, “Climate Liabilities Commission” agent Shea McCleary is hot on the trail of the vigilante group “The Planet Paladin Fellowship,” which has targeted Olivia Levingston, one of the few remaining Climate Science Deniers left in society, for execution. Shea’s stake in protecting Olivia heightens when she discovers that Olivia is the estranged mother of her high-school “one-that-got-away,” Alan Nolan, who has lately become his mother’s caretaker. Alan, as the son of a Denier with a monumental climate lien debt, must endure relative poverty and little hope for his dream of starting a family.

After a heated confrontation with the Planet Paladin Leader, Shea moves Alan and Olivia to the safety of the CLC Commissary, but a confused Olivia escapes, and is caught by the Paladins, who attempt to film her execution -- drowning by raised ocean tides -- for her climate change denial crimes. Shea breaks up the execution, but delays rescuing Olivia from the rising ocean due to Olivia’s disrespectful rants about Shea’s profession, and rants about “conspiracy” climate science in general, during which Olivia dies of a heart attack from the stress of the situation. Alan is mysteriously sent a clipped video of Shea leaving Olivia to drown, and is furious about it, escaping Shea’s custody himself, not knowing she was merely threatening to leave unless Olivia promised to stop her denials and repent, for the good of her son’s future.

After subplots involving Shea’s deputy’s secret love for her, a Planet Paladin Leader’s embarrassing secret, and a colorful free-church and speak-easy for Denierkin, Alan is captured by the Paladins, now joined by one of Shea’s superiors, Commissioner Green 9. Faced with a secret alliance between the Vigilantes and her own Government, Shea must choose between joining with a world bending towards revenge, or striking out on her own to find a true path of Justice for all human beings ...

CAST: 5 actors (3 F, 2 M) play 17 roles.

SUMMARY: When a sexual abuse mentor’s career path is thrown off the rails by a troubled and manipulative abuse victim, she will have to dive deep into her past to discover whether healing cycles of abuse is truly her calling in life.

SYNOPSIS: Nia is a sexual abuse survivor attending graduate school to become a therapist when her own therapist assigns her mentorship over 16-year-old Nikki and 17-year-old Remy. Mentorship goes well with Nikki, but Remy presents several challenges: he shrugs off, or walls off, his abuse as something he’s in full control of; he questions Nia’s motives for becoming a therapist; he attempts to get her to try drugs, including ecstasy, as he’s read it’s an effective treatment for P.T.S.D. related to abuse; he finds Nia’s estranged abusive stepfather on social media; and in general acts like a manipulative and inconsiderate jackass.

When Remy gets Nia to go to the club with him we learn about his entanglement with the club owner, who is dealing him drugs for sexual favors. Soon after this, Nia’s attempts to get through to him about his abuse and his behavior are interrupted when Remy tries to seduce her.

Then, for reasons stemming both from Remy’s goading and her own search for healing, Nia decides to contact her stepfather, but her designs on confrontation and closure are waylaid by the fact that he is in a coma, under the care of his probably homicidal wife.

Nia is again interrupted when she gets word that there’s been an altercation between Remy and the club owner, and that Remy has slapped Nikki after trying to get her to have sex with him. She then returns to explore whether healing the cycle of abuse is possible, for either of them.

Several generations into the future, two nomadic factions are at war. After an opening raid, Captain Rennon conducts a funeral, honoring the fallen. Soldier Jamison is given a fallen comrade’s youth-training duties. As she studies for her new mission, she chances upon forbidden writings from the past (planted by The Civilian), conflating historical examples of non-violence with passages about the “Unified States.” She attempts to explain these historical writings to her bed-partner, Soldier Adams, but all he can fixate on is the ancient weapon that could destroy one’s enemies all at once. On Jamison’s first day as youth-trainer, she tests out her newly-learned peace-tactics during war games, and finds some success. She later attempts to tell Doctor Sullivan about this, but the doctor is too excited about a drug she’s just developed that promises to make torturing prisoners obsolete. It is tested on a prisoner captured in the opening raid, and they gain valuable intelligence, leading to plans for a new offensive.

The night before the battle, Soldier Tyler convinces her brother, Soldier Jerin, to let go of his recent troubles and death-wish, and to celebrate their upcoming victory. Meanwhile, Jamison learns she is pregnant. When she next overhears a Herald from the main camp tell Captain Rennon that their unit is to head a suicidal diversionary effort for the great offensive, her mind is made up... Before the battle, Jamison gives a speech: to unify all peoples, through her conflated/idealized ancient ways, and leads them into battle: with not weapons, but flowers and a peace-flag. Some are killed before the enemy realizes what’s going on, and the rest are captured. After this bizarre charge, the Enemy Captain tries to make sense of what he’s just seen. Other enemy soldiers also ruminate over the charge. Enemy 4 thinks it is a sign of the end times, but Enemy 5 thinks it is a sign of a new peace to come. He then frees Jamison, and together they discover the loophole in their scriptures that promises to stop the war once and for all. They try to rally everyone to this new ideal, but it is not to be, as Adams kills Enemy 5 in order to facilitate an escape. Rennon and a few others are left behind because of their injuries.

On the run from the enemy, some soldiers are hidden by the Civilian, who reveals to Jamison that he planted the writings she found, then explains that she went too far in trying to employ the non-violent ideas in a military fashion, and that she should continue her peace-making, but in a more shepherding way. Jamison, still angered by Adam’s killing of Enemy 5, is now enraged at discovering the Civilian’s manipulation. Safely back at camp it is discovered that some of Sullivan’s mind-control drug went missing before the mission. Adams wants to know if Jamison used the drug to implement her peace-charge, and if he was one of the soldiers drugged. On top of that, a Kahpa and their Orator are on their way to hold a trial deciding the fate of the company. So Sullivan and Adams try to convince Jamison to go along with a scheme to salvage as much as they can from the situation. At the trial, Adams pledges to lead their unit on a rescue mission to restore the damage done. And, as Jamison’s and the company’s fate is decide, Captain Rennon’s fate also plays out in an enemy detention ward.

"Guitarot" is a comedy skit show combining tarot, guitar, improv, pop culture, and music theory into divinations unlike anything you have ever séanced. There is a link to the show's website in the supporting materials field.

The youth musical "The Upstanders" was originally commissioned and produced at Highlands Elementary in Edina, Minnesota to highlight the bullying awareness “Upstanders” curriculum used in the classroom, as well as to meet a need for diverse and inclusive casting options amid limited technical means.

Since its production (viewable via Youtube link), professional full rock-band recordings of instrumental “performance” tracks and vocal “practice” tracks have been produced, and sample pages of the Scores (piano/vocal/chord) and Book are also available. This youth musical was written to appeal to audiences of all ages, and is currently available for further productions via Leicester Bay Theatricals.

Cast: 4 M, 9 F, 17 flexible, opt. extras (Doubling: 2 M, 1 F, 12 flex) Performance Time: Approximately 35 minutes.

SYNOPSIS - Bullying comes in many flavors. Kids can lie, steal, and intimidate, make others feel bad about not fitting in, or for being who they “shouldn’t” be. They can even bully by getting revenge for being bullied in the first place. Fortunately, there are just as many ways to stand up to bullying, to be an “Upstander,” and the kids at Highlands School may find it within themselves to stand up in the face of these all too familiar pickles. And, with a little empathy, they may even find ways to Upstand for the bullies themselves. This easy to stage musical is perfect for 4th-8th grade thespians. Features 7 original songs.

After a global catastrophe wipes out virtually all human knowledge, can humankind rediscover the true meaning of Christmas?”

One day while I was thinking about how hard it would be to explain mistletoe to people not familiar with Christmas, I accidentally made contact with Effex Duesey, an interdimensional consciousness from the future, who told me the story of how Christmas did indeed once need be rescued from obscurity, after being almost entirely forgotten.

Can these aftertold (as opposed to foretold) dytopian humans get that long lost holiday of Christmas to come out right? Do the botched details matter, or is it the spirit of Christmas that counts?

*minimum 2 youth and 2 teen actors needed.

SYNOPSIS:

Once upon a time, a long time ahead...

After a future global catastrophe in an alternate quantum dimension, the humans who’ve managed to survive have forgotten all things related to their old culture and heritage -- related to our present quantum dimension that is -- including Christmas!

The worst of a “Great Hibernation” is over, and humans have begun to emerge, including one small circle of people known as Copians, along with a group of feral humans. Also present is a mysterious renegade known as “The Antediluvian”, whom the Copians hate for ignoring their laws and for hoarding foodstuffs and medicines in his stronghold.

As the story begins, Dajee has learned about some of the practices of what used to be known as “civilization,” which he wants to revive! Unfortunately, because of the circle’s strict rules limiting anything that would waste resources or human energies, he is finding this to be difficult.

Whardin, the circle’s Chief Mother, has even thrown him in a cage for his most recent attempts, from where he enlists the help of his daughter, Ainjee, to implement his latest scheme: a Christmas celebration!

Against the Chief Mother’s wishes, most all in the circle secretly go along with this plan, preparing a Christmas Eve pageant, which some believe may awaken the Christmas God and bring forth the Santa Claus as well as any number of Christmas miracles! Alas, it is not to be, as their plans to distract Whardin fail, and she discovers their plot right before the Xmas Eve pageant is to begin.

In a confusion of Copians running scared for fear of Whardin’s reprisal, Ainjee’s snow machine is knocked over and goes berserk. The next day, Christmas day, Whardin’s son Kemdin agrees to find and disable the renegade machine, as Ainjee is now in the cage with Dajee.

While trying to neutralize the machine, Kemdin is injured and enters a coma. No one in the circle can heal him, and so it falls on Ainjee to explore the last avenue anyone can think of: she must somehow enter the Antedilluvian’s stronghold and find a way to enlist his help ...

Humans in a boat travel across a sea or ocean, going from Libya to Italy, France to England, China to Japan, the Caribbean to Florida, anywhere to anywhere, taking place in the past, right now, or in the future. Anyone from anywhere for any reason may become a refugee ...

A link to a performance at the MN 2021 Virtual Fringe is available in the supporting materials field.

The youth musical "Searching for Sparks" was originally commissioned and produced at Highlands Elementary in Edina, Minnesota to highlight Peter Benson's thriving through "Sparks" curriculum used in the classrooms at Highlands, as well as to meet a need for diverse and inclusive casting options amid limited technical means.

Since its production (viewable via Youtube), professional full rock-band recordings of instrumental “performance” tracks and vocal “practice” tracks have been produced, and sample pages of the Scores (piano/vocal/chord) and Book are also available. This youth musical was written to appeal to audiences of all ages, and is currently available for further productions via Leicester Bay Theatricals.

Cast: 2 M, 2 F, 28 flexible, opt. extras (Doubling: 1 M, 1 F, 10 flex) Performance Time: Approximately 55 minutes.

SYNOPSIS - Flint is a boy who can’t find his “Spark”; Cindy is a girl who will stop at nothing to help him find it. With the help of a musician, a class clown, an environmentalist, a brainiac, a volunteer, a hockey player, and a wise old janitor, Cindy finds out that Sparks aren’t always what she thought they had to be, and Flint discovers that sometimes the best time to find your Spark is when you aren’t looking for it. This musical, inspired by the work of Peter Benson, is perfect for later elementary and middle school classrooms, there’s a part for everyone to play! Features 7 original songs.