Richard Schotter

Two old friends, Fred and Harry, have come together in an unnamed spot, to await the arrival of The Duke. As they wait, they wonder what how the Duke will look, whether he's changed, how he will treat them, how they'll feel when they've seen him. They see a man who looks like The Duke, they question him, but he's not the Duke. He looks like The Duke, but it's not him. They continue to wait, and talk, and , as they do, their attitude towards the Duke begins to change, to sour. They begin to turn on him and focus their attention instead on "The Lady." A play about fame and America and short attention spans.

It's the 1980s on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Sam and Alvi, in their sixties, have been partners in their sporting goods store for 30 years. But the Upper West Side is changing, being gentrified and Howie, the yuppie son of their landlord, is coming to tell them he's raising their rent. What will become of the store, and, more importantly, what will become of the relationship between these two old, cantankerous friends? This is a sweet, moving play that speaks of friendship, love, marriage,change and baseball. Taking Stock was originally produced by the Jewish Repertory Theatre in New York with George Guidall and Lee Wallace. It was subsequently produced by the Aurora Theatre in Denver and in two staged Los Angeles readings with Ed Asner. Taking Stock is published by Samuel French, Inc.

It's 1955. Howie Golden, an awkward 15 year old, sits in his apartment in the Bronx after having failed to get a date with Allegra Goldstein when the voice of disc-jockey Alan Freed, The King of Rock 'n' Roll, speaks to him and promises to give him a "rock and roll soul." Freed then appears and attempts to transform Howie, but the transformation is interrupted by a phone call from Freed's lawyer about impending payola investigations. Things turn darker as Freed leaves, but not until Howie thanks him for bringing him rock 'n' roll and changing his life. A funny, bittersweet and charming ten-minute play. First performed at the Boston Theatre Marathon. Subsequently at CityLores's Tribute to New York DJs and at Williams College Summer Theatre.

It's Broadway composer Charlie Sussman's seventy-fifth birthday ans his family--his son Jonathan, a Shakespeare scholar, Jonathan's wife, Dierdre, a concert pianist, their sixteen-year-old daughter Miranda and Janey, Charlie disaffected, gay younger daughter--have all come from California to his old house on the Connecticut coast on a late-June weekend to celebrate. The celebrated will be presided over by Charlie's loyal, very Yankee second wife, Margery, who is fiercely protective of Charlie's well being.

Charlie is an irascible, self-involved musical theatre composer whose work was all the rage in the seventies. Although he hasn't had a hit show in over twenty years, and his heart is not what it use to be, he's still plugging away and anxious to play his new score for his family.

Scores of a different kind, however, are on the minds of his children, particularly the fact that Charlie left his dying wife twenty years ago to marry Margery. Charlie also has a secret of his own.

THE SUSSMAN VARIATIONS is funny intense, smart, warm and contains echoes throughout of Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST. The play is also infused with music--Charlie's Broadway tunes (written by me and composer Phil Schroeder, The Schubert impromptus that Dierdre is practicing and the eponymous "Sussman Variations," the classical piece Charlie has written for the occasion. The play examines with insight, melody and humor, the complexity of family relationships, the sacrifices on makes at the altar of ambition and the complex ways we raise our children. Excerpts, Music samples photos and reviews of the 12012 production od the play at Boston Playwrights' Theatre can be found at thesussmanvarations.com

A steel mill. Turn of the twentieth century. Janosh Farber, a Hungarian immigrant, arrives at an American steel mill where the foreman, Mr. Billy, takes away his name and puts him to work in the "sweating mill. In this poetic, lyrical play, Janosh feels compelled to run away from mill and into the hills where he can dance and be free. In the hills, he meets Miss Helene, who is hiding there, and the two of them, at first reluctantly, find trust and love together. Until Mr. Billy climbs into the hills to bring Janosh back to the mill. A synopsis doesn't do justice to the lyrical tone of the play, a tone that compelled composer Jerome Hughes to turn the play into a chamber opera.