Rob Dames

Rob Dames

Rob's first success as a playwright came in 1978 with a production of the comedy mystery, Frozen Stiff followed by the Neaderlander Organization optioning his play, After All These Years for Broadway. These successes on stage opened the door to a long career writing for the theater, television and film. Over his career, he has written for producers: Aaron Spelling, Witt-Thomas-Harris, Ed. Weinberg, Gary...
Rob's first success as a playwright came in 1978 with a production of the comedy mystery, Frozen Stiff followed by the Neaderlander Organization optioning his play, After All These Years for Broadway. These successes on stage opened the door to a long career writing for the theater, television and film. Over his career, he has written for producers: Aaron Spelling, Witt-Thomas-Harris, Ed. Weinberg, Gary Nardino, Miller/Boyett and Steven Spielberg.
His play, "Virginia Throws A Wake" was a finalist for the Reva Shiner Comedy award. His drama, "Hauntings" was a finalist for The Stanley Drama Awards and later produced in L A. His social/thriller, "Nowhere Man" was performed at the 2018 Broadway Bound Theatre Festival in NYC. Other productions include: "Prepping For Widowhood", "Hauntings", "For All We Know", "A Tale of an Unexpected Gathering and Romance Made Absurd in the Telling."

Plays

  • A KNIFE, A GUN AND TWO PUPPIES
    A cop and a criminal face each other in an armed stand off and matter-of-factly discuss how silly this is.
  • THE MANTLE CLOCK
    Two couples, whose children are soon to be married, meet for the first time. What should have been a simple getting-to-know-you evening is turned upside down as secrets are discovered. Knowing those secrets, the question becomes: Should any of these revelations weigh on the decision to marry for the nuptial couple? Should the marriage be halted? Are the sins of the parents truly inherited by their children?
  • TWO OLD THIEVES WAITING AND REMINISCING
    Two petty thieves wait to meet a fence to off-load a bunch of stolen cell phones. As they wait they reflect on work, life, romance, death and that famous play 'Waiting for God's Toe'
  • A SUPERBLY HEARTBREAKING GAME Music by Dan Foliart Book and Lyrics
    Romance is the most popular game in the world, and everyone wants to play... but there is a problem -- it's a game without rules. In earlier times, people had those serendipitous moments where they met, fell in love and romance blossomed. Now the ability of immediate digital connection has oddly made true connections even more difficult. This musical centers on the stories of three young women, as they...
    Romance is the most popular game in the world, and everyone wants to play... but there is a problem -- it's a game without rules. In earlier times, people had those serendipitous moments where they met, fell in love and romance blossomed. Now the ability of immediate digital connection has oddly made true connections even more difficult. This musical centers on the stories of three young women, as they try to understand how to find and hold on to love in this game of romance.
  • A LOVELY PART OF TOWN book/lyrics Rob Dames; music Dan Foliart
    Near a small town in the middle of America, the occupants of the cemetery invite you up on the hill to hear their stories. The occupants cover a wide swath of history from the Civil War to this week. These are the stories of their lives and memories told through monologue and song. As one of the occupants says: "These are the stories we told to create our myths and legends by which
    you remember...
    Near a small town in the middle of America, the occupants of the cemetery invite you up on the hill to hear their stories. The occupants cover a wide swath of history from the Civil War to this week. These are the stories of their lives and memories told through monologue and song. As one of the occupants says: "These are the stories we told to create our myths and legends by which
    you remember us."

    The characters want the visitor to understand that though their bodies are gone, the spirit that defined each one continues for eternity. These are not stories of death. These are stories of life.
  • WISH I KNEW
    In this philosophical discussion of time and memory, a woman finds herself trapped in a hotel room with a mysterious man who has no memory. She is pushed to reveal to herself the one secret suffocating her life.
  • T'WEREN'T NO BALLOON
    A ten minute play: Have aliens visited us? Someone claims first hand knowledge.
  • NUMBER 7 BUS
    A woman finds revenge against the man who years ago raped her and the man who did not come to her assistance.
  • VIRGINIA THROWS A WAKE
    Virginia Doyle has been a dominating mother and a devoted wife. She broaches no disagreement in her family. What she says is law and this often borders on insanity.
    For the past two years, Virginia and Francis have been living at the home of their daughter, Ann and her husband, Ted, but now Francis’s dementia is becoming more and more serious making it difficult for Virginia to be the sole caretaker...
    Virginia Doyle has been a dominating mother and a devoted wife. She broaches no disagreement in her family. What she says is law and this often borders on insanity.
    For the past two years, Virginia and Francis have been living at the home of their daughter, Ann and her husband, Ted, but now Francis’s dementia is becoming more and more serious making it difficult for Virginia to be the sole caretaker and the two adult children debate whether they should suggest putting Francis in a nursing home. The need for this debate is resolved when Francis collapses that evening and dies.
    The next day, Virginia becomes the commanding general as she is determined to send her husband off with the finest Irish wake the parish has ever seen. And she is determined to have it in Ann’s home… to keep Francis’s body in the coffin in the family room for three days. The closed coffin is delivered and put in place.
    When Virginia learns that the Mayor will attend the wake (and probably TV news crews ) she is frantic to achieve perfection and runs the wake with an iron fist. When she opens the coffin lid to speak with her late husband, she is shocked to find instead the corpse of a Chinese dwarf.
    A hectic search for the remains of Francis begins only to discover that he is in a holding facility at the airport awaiting a flight to Xi’an, China and further that Homeland Security is reluctant to release the body to the mortuary until certain issues of national security have been resolved.
    Finally, the body is returned in time to hold the wake but even this success is complicated by the necessity of switching bodies into their correct coffins and the arrival of two gangsters bound to take the coffin of Francis away with them. In the end, Virginia has successfully protected the dignity of her late husband, but she is crushed to learn that the Mayor must cancel.
    The play ends of a touching scene of Virginia alone with her memory of Francis.
  • PREPPING FOR WIDOWHOOD
    Four women in their 70s, friends since college, meet for their regular bridge game. Two are widows. The conversation turns to how women of this age survive in widowhood as they are of an era when women married and raised children and were mostly defined by the man they married. This is a comedy exploring that unknown world for which few if any are prepared but more importantly it is about the power of life...
    Four women in their 70s, friends since college, meet for their regular bridge game. Two are widows. The conversation turns to how women of this age survive in widowhood as they are of an era when women married and raised children and were mostly defined by the man they married. This is a comedy exploring that unknown world for which few if any are prepared but more importantly it is about the power of life long relationships and the security that offers.
  • FOR ALL WE KNOW
    An aging rock star encounters the adult daughter he never knew he had. She is there on a mission to convince him to be a father. Each of them learns a part of the story they never knew.
  • HAUNTINGS
    (Synopsis)
    In this dark comedy, it is August eleven, the birthday of Alfred and Maude’s youngest son William who died accidentally over forty years ago. They have chosen his birthday as the day they will die. They purchased some pills and have an appointment with Death and wait for him to arrive to assist them.
    They invited their son, James, and his ex-wife, Catherine. None of them know why...
    (Synopsis)
    In this dark comedy, it is August eleven, the birthday of Alfred and Maude’s youngest son William who died accidentally over forty years ago. They have chosen his birthday as the day they will die. They purchased some pills and have an appointment with Death and wait for him to arrive to assist them.
    They invited their son, James, and his ex-wife, Catherine. None of them know why they are here and Alfred won’t reveal the reason.
    James wants to escape from this apartment and the suffocating tension between him and Alfred related to the death of William. Into this gathering comes the Tattooed Man, who takes everyone hostage. Alfred and Maude believe that this man is Death and announce their suicide plans to the family. James tries to dispel this illusion pointing out that this is just “some street punk” but his parents won’t be dissuaded. The Tattooed Man delays the final event asserting that he needs to know more about Alfred and Maude first. This leads to Alfred telling the basic story of William’s death. A fight for control of the pills causes Catherine to unleash her unspoken disgust of Alfred. When James takes control of the pills he offers Alfred a deal: he can commit suicide but not before he reveals the truth of that terrible day.
    The truth is revealed and the beliefs and relationships based on this secret are all changed forever.
  • DREAM DANCING
    A Mexican father in Los Angeles must deal with his son's desire to not attend medical school, but instead become a farmer. The father gave up his dream of becoming a professional dancer that he might provide a successful life for his son.
  • CLOSEST OF FRIENDS
    Friends from college, sworn to devotion to each other and deeply proud of their social dedication, have a reunion in a wilderness camp. After five years, the secrets they've kept hidden and the hypocrisy of what they purport to believe and how they live shatter relationships.
  • FROZEN STIFF by Bev Wiest and Rob Dames
    1938 New Years Eve in a mountain cabin in the Catskills. Eight people come together to create... romance, theft, murder, revenge...
  • Ready Betty
    A woman explains and demonstrates how to survive a series of catastophes.
  • NOWHERE MAN
    Carlos and Harvey are two of the millions of invisible people we pass on the street every day. Harvey is mentally challenged and has been protected by Carlos since they were twelve years old. Now twenty-one years later, Harvey has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Harvey is not afraid to die, but he is afraid to be forgotten. Carlos has promised him that he will die famous and be remembered for all time....
    Carlos and Harvey are two of the millions of invisible people we pass on the street every day. Harvey is mentally challenged and has been protected by Carlos since they were twelve years old. Now twenty-one years later, Harvey has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Harvey is not afraid to die, but he is afraid to be forgotten. Carlos has promised him that he will die famous and be remembered for all time.
    This promise has brought them to the rooftop of an urban building overlooking a street on which a parade will pass. The streets will be lined with many people including children. With them Carlos has brought a semi-automatic rifle.
    As they wait the parade, Carlos educates Harvey in his view of the universe, God and the essence of existence. Then suddenly, another lost soul, Nicky, arrives and accidentally lets the access door to the roof slam shut and lock. Carlos and Harvey are, at first, unhappy about this intrusion, but they are stuck with her. As they await the parade, Nicky discovers the rifle and learns of their plan. She is horrified and frightened and determined to stop the plan.
    The day passes and as Nicky and Harvey get to know each other, Harvey’s gentle nature touches Nicky. She tries to convince Carlos to abandon the plan for Harvey’s sake, but Carlos tells her nobody knows what’s best for Harvey except him.
    The parade arrives. The crowd in the street has grown large. It is time for Harvey to gain his fame. What happens at the end defines the relationship between Harvey and Carlos forever.
  • THE SUICIDE CLUB
    Louis is intent on hanging himself. As he hesitates, he is visited by previous suicides who are there to urge him on. When he learns how desolate the afterlife is for suicides, he reconsiders.
  • A TALE OF AN UNEXPECTED GATHERING AND ROMANCE MADE ABSURD IN THE TELLING
    A bizarre passing of ten minutes
  • ICARUS AND THE DOOR KEYS
    Icarus, first solo astronaut on the moon, loses the keys to the lunar module. Houston is not happy.
  • THE PROBLEM WITH ROWDY DYING
    Lottie and Martin are stuck with a mean, nasty jerk of a boarder, Rowdy, because they need his rent check. When Rowdy accidentally dies, they have to figure out how to keep him alive so that automatic payment rent check keeps coming.