Alice & Lisa are married and very much in love, ready to take the next step to start a family. Which twenty years ago, wasn't done. They are celebrating going into the next chapter of their lives and part of that is gathering family and friends. Well, maybe just friends. But then again you can't exclude the family. What you can do is have a separate party for both mothers. Just the four of you. What could possibly go wrong with that? ***PLEASE NOTE*** "SAMPLE SCRIPT" HAS BEEN REPURPOSED TO PROVIDE A ZOOM FRIENDLY SCRIPT

Crimson by Michael Perlmutter is a unique look at love, violence, sex, control and the need to live one's life on the edge. Exploring the tenuous relationships between partners who have grown too comfortable and partners who are forced to live out a far too dangerous relationship. In a world full of people crying out for attention and atonement Crimson is sadly as relevant today as when it was first presented in 1983 (Winning a 1983 Los Angeles Drama Logue Award for writing). However this script presented here is an entirely re-envisioned storytelling, paring down a cast of six players to three, with new scenes, venues, twenty-first century technology and social settings to play to today's audience.
Domestic violence is looked at from a differing perspective of the abused as controller. This is by no means a feminist bashing position being taken but a unique facet of the relationship between pain and love. Kim Tharp, is an emotional runaway who can only find security in a re-creation of her earliest remembered pain. Crimson has been referred to as a step beyond "Looking For Mr. Goodbar". Sadomasochism has formed an intricate lacework trim on the edges of the cloth of human sexuality since the beginning of time and Crimson digs deeper into the existence of the aberration in our daily lives without the use of graphic or lurid scenes but the relying on the tension that drives us to our extremes in this way the play stays uniquely innovative in its approach to the themes of control, violence sex, striving for more and settling for less--pushing the boundaries by denying them.

Jenna LaFluer, a company actress, steps out onto the stage, surveying the wreckage that was Ford's Theatre shortly following the assassination attempt of Abraham Lincoln on April 14th, 1865, to sneak a cigarette. She and seven other performers and stagehands have been temporarily trapped inside the locked down theatre as a growing mob congregates outside the building to await the fate of the President and the nation. The ongoing interviews of those who claimed to have witnessed the evening's attack have been postponed due to the increasing danger from the assembled swarm. In order to ensure their protection, the actors and crew are all quickly been sequestered to the stage itself.

Relationships strain as the evening wanes on. The crowds outside begin demanding justice from those responsible, shooting at the building and smashing windows in an attempt to flush out the conspirators and vent their anger while a small faction of Union soldiers hold down their ground. The chant of "Burn it down!" raises the stakes higher, taking a further toll on those embedded inside.

In order to survive will this ragtag group need to give up one of their own to satisfy the mob and earn back their own freedom? 1865 is as relevant and true today in the wake of 9/11 and LA riots (1965 and 1992) as it was when our nation first lost its innocence.

We've all been there. You’re running late for work, an important presentation on the on the calendar, your job may very well hang on the line. If you indeed show up at all: you better have one helluva damned good excuse. Elaine may, after all she found a head. But she may also have lied one too many times in the past for the truth to be able set her free. And after all, what is free? And what is the truth? Severance Play, by Michael Perlmutter, is a comedy about office politics, romance, sales, lies, sex and maybe a little murder. (PREVIOUSLY ENTITLED OFFICE GAMES)

Following the same timeline and events as Shakespeare’s MacBeth, told through the eyes of her two chambermaids, THE FALL OF LADY M centers on Lady MacBeth's lust for power, manipulations, rise to position, dissent into madness, and ultimate death. Relying on all female characters including unique twists on Ladies MacBeth, MacDuff and, of course, the three witches, THE FALL OF LADY M spins a new tale of murder, betrayal, defiance and taking hold of the future, set inside that of the classic story of power, greed and the edge of fantasy.

(At rise:
A non-de-script room, could be anywhere. A single door leads in and out of the room. No windows, no clocks. A table complete with a phony white table cloth supports two pads of paper, two pencils, two water glasses, a pitcher of ice water and napkins. A set up you might find in the conference room of any suburban hotel, often rented out for sales meetings and self help seminar gurus who travel through town to town in hopes of alleviating the townsfolk a few bucks from their retirement savings in trade for a better life, a better marriage, a better income. These aren't the first things we notice however. The first thing to catch our attention is probably the fact that there are two chairs, set facing each other almost centered in the room. but what we actually notice most of all is that on the two seats are a man (ADAM) and a woman (EVELYN aka LYNN) who are dressed in nothing but their underwear. Nothing suggestive in their underwear choices, in fact, their choices here are modest at best but underwear all the same. ADAM And LYNN face each other uncomfortably for what may actually be as long as three minutes but what feels more like a lifetime.)

ADAM: (Finally breaking the silence) How long're we supposed to do this?
LYNN: Can you just take this seriously, please?
ADAM: Hardly.
(Pause.)
ADAM: We were supposed to do this naked, you know.
LYNN: Yeah, well . . . maybe next time.
ADAM: (Under his breath:) Like there's gonna be a next time.
(LYNN just stares at him--obviously having heard what he had to say.)
ADAM: What?
LYNN: If you ever want to see me naked again, you're going to commit to this. OK?
ADAM: Whatever you want.
LYNN: OK?
ADAM: Fine.
LYNN: OK?
ADAM: OK.
LYNN: OK.
ADAM: OK. . . Jesus.


What follows is IN THERAPY

Like most of us who studied Theatre, I first encountered Chekhov in college, where I really can't say I fully understood him: long speeches about nothing, that the characters seemed to be taking way too seriously; and this was supposed to be a comedy--so you just shrug your shoulders and say, "I just don't get it"--only to yourself mind you; you certainly don't want to appear daft--and move on. But even then I had to admit there was something about Chekhov's style that kept you spellbound--even if you didn't know what it was. As the years passed and I started to learn to navigate out in the real world (where we've all chosen to escape from for a few hours as you read this) I would reflect on Chekhov's writings, and even have the occasional Ah-ha moment, but life's demands (bills, family and the need to endure) continued so there was nothing much done about it.
Then you grow up and you reread the plays and you realize that nothing the characters talk about are what the characters are talking about. Just like we do in real life--because they too don't want to appear daft, or useless or vulnerable or you name it: they're denying it with speeches about . . . nothing. Oh sure, once in a while some truth might creep up to the top but as soon as you're aware of it you cram it back down with another helping of cheesecake banter. And it was damned funny too. But I found much of Chekhov's humor had been locked away by the "proper English translations (and by English I mean British)" of a hundred years ago and the censors of both the Russian Ministry and Victorian England. So, I, like David Mamet has done with The Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya, Americanized the play (The Seagull), removing only the censorships and "proper grammar" stumbling blocks, in an effort to reach today's audience with truths that remain timeless to this day.

An empty stage. An actor, then two men—no wait: women . . . Vying for recognition and acceptance . . . aren’t we all?