Donald E. Baker

10-MINUTE TWO-HANDER. Warren has been estranged from his mother for five years, ever since she discovered he is gay. He is not pleased to find out she and his partner Dale talk on the phone regularly. And that Dale has invited her to Thanksgiving. And that she will be joining them at the traditional “orphans’ feast” where she will be surrounded by all their gay friends. Can Warren be placated by Dale's homemade cinnamon rolls? A domestic comedy about being open to reconciliation when the opportunity presents itself.
Produced as part of Chapin (SC) Theatre Company's Second Annual 10-Minute-Ish Play Festival, 2022. Published in “Baker’s Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues” from Next Stage Press, 2023.

After Ray loses his husband, he moves into Chateau Rainbeau, a gay retirement facility where his friend George lives. James, Ray’s long-time nemesis also lives there. Their enmity breaks out into the open when they both enter the facility’s annual holiday door decorating contest. The play deals with issues of rivalry, coping with grief, and, perhaps, finding love in ones seventies.

(Alt. title: "Back Home Again") FULL LENGTH. What do you do when people you love choose hate? A play about the life-altering choices people must make in the face of extremism abetted by Evangelicalism. The world of the play is the 1920’s, but the religious prejudice and xenophobia of a century ago still echo in contemporary American society. All the characters are White because there were so few African-Americans in rural Indiana at the time, the White folks turned on each other and Protestant/Catholic conflict became the issue. Premiered in Austin TX by Southwest Theater Productions, Jan.-Feb., 2020. Copies of the full script and licensing information are available from the publisher, Next Stage Press: https://nextstagepress.com/trade-with-klan-a-play-about-choices/

FULL LENGTH. When the Grand Dragon takes charge, nothing is sacred and no woman is safe. D.C. Stephenson, Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, rules Indiana until he is convicted of murder and rape. He is a power-hungry, narcissistic, sexual predator. This play, set in the 1920's and inspired by a true story, contains startling parallels to the society and politics of contemporary America. Panglossian Productions of Williamsburg, Virginia, recorded a staged reading and uploaded it to their website, November, 2020. A radio adaptation was performed before a live audience in March, 2018, by the Radio Theatre Project of St. Petersburg, Florida, and is available on Soundcloud.com. Copies of the full script and licensing information are available from the publisher, Next Stage Press: https://www.nextstagepress.com/grand-dragon-in-power/

COLLECTION. "Baker’s Dozen" is a collection of 13 short gay-themed comedies and dramas for 1, 2, or 3 actors. From a drama in which the same-sex partner and the homophobic sister of a dying man meet for the first time, to a comedy about a man summoning a demon on a dating app; from a monologue in which a man recalls the sexual abuse he suffered when he was thirteen, to the gentle humor of an older gay couple bickering about aging and flirtatious baristas—these pieces—and more—will tug at your heartstrings and tickle your funny bone. Most of all, they’ll remind you of the great variety of the gay experience. Full copies of the collection and licensing information are available from the publisher, Next Stage Press (https://www.nextstagepress.com/bakers-dozen/).

SHORT DRAMA IN TWO SCENES (60 minutes). Draft 10/24/23. Eddie and Danny are blue-collar small-town guys. In Scene 1 (1975), Eddie questions his sexuality after an encounter in a public restroom. When he turns to his best friend Danny for help, the toxic nature of their lifelong relationship is revealed. In Scene 2 (1985), both men discover they may have been infected with HIV/AIDS. Can that shared experience rekindle their friendship? STRONG LANGUAGE.

25-30 MINUTE DUOLOGUE. Draft 07/23/24. A man confronts his abuser 27 years after the fact. Douglas, a White romance novelist, and Timothy, a Black college professor, have a history. Twenty-seven years previously Douglas hired the 13-year-old Timothy to mow his lawn and subsequently sexually abused him for several months. In the intervening years Douglas has enjoyed increasing success while Timothy has been mired in fear and self-loathing. Now Douglas opens his door to discover the grown-up Timothy standing on his door-step, and he has a gun. Issues of sexual trauma and white power emerge as the two men hurl conflicting memories at each other, and the tension builds to a shattering conclusion.

This play has adult language and content. It references childhood sexual abuse although no abuse is depicted. A gun is seen onstage and there is the sound of a gunshot.

10 MINUTE TWO-HANDER. Flo’s son has not only rejected his parents’ plans for his future, he just might end up marrying outside his religion. Whether Flo likes it or not, she’ll get Aunt Nellie’s two cents worth of advice on the situation. (Aunt is always pronounced like the insect.)

15-20-MINUTE TWO-HANDER. (Rev. 091223) Eddie and Danny’s lifelong friendship comes apart under the stress of deception, sexual fear, and self-loathing. The two are a couple of blue-collar guys. As teenagers in high school (Class of 1968) they engaged in a little sexual exploration with each other until they started dating girls. After graduation they stayed in their small hometown, got married, and had kids. After an encounter in a public restroom, Eddie questions his sexuality and is overcome with religious guilt. When he turns to his best friend Danny for help, the toxic nature of their relationship is revealed. GRAPHIC LANGUAGE. This is also serves as Act I of the full-length version.

ONE MINUTE TWO-HANDER. Robert tells his mother he has finally had enough of Uncle Jake's Thanksgiving rants about "people like him" and plans to confront him at the next family dinner. There's a bit of a twist at the end. Published in "Fresh Words: An International Literary Magazine: LAAFTRRRRR, An Anthology of One-Minute Comic Plays Volume I" (August, 2023).

6-MINUTE TWO-HANDER. Roger's best friend is very concerned when they discover Roger met a demon on an online dating site. They're even more concerned when the demon turns out to be a personal injury lawyer. Originally written in response to a prompt in the Threshold Theatre (Minneapolis) 30-day writing challenge, 2022.
Published in “Baker’s Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues” from Next Stage Press, 2023.

TEN-MINUTE TWO-HANDER. Married couple Will and Michael are growing older, Will gracefully, Michael not so much. With their elevator not working, they find themselves trapped in their high-rise condo, discussing aging, flirtatious baristas, and the "National Geographic."
Published in “Baker’s Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues” from Next Stage Press, 2023.

8-MINUTE TWO-HANDER. A straight(?) man suggests he and a gay co-worker share a hotel room at a business conference so they can “get to know each other a little better.” They may have different ideas about just what that means.

20-MINUTE PLAY.(Rev. 091223) In 1950, a pleasant father-son evening of window shopping for cars turns serious when the son mentions his best friend is considering suicide. The friend is being bullied at school because he’s thought to be “queer.” This triggers a painful memory from the father’s days in the army in World War II. Their conversation results in mutual revelations that change their relationship going forward.
Published in “Baker’s Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues” from Next Stage Press, 2023.

10-12 MINUTE ONE-WOMAN PLAY/MONOLOGUE ABOUT RACISM AND REFRESHMENTS. Velma, a White woman "of a certain age" is shocked to see a person of color walking into her neighbors' house. Turns out the daughter of the White family next door encountered him in Peru during her junior year abroad and now she's brought him home to meet her parents. What if he comes peeking into Velma's windows? And what if he's out in the yard when "the girls" show up for bunco that afternoon? They'll be afraid to get out of their cars! And here she's gone to the trouble of making a special ice box cake for refreshments! She can't wait to tell her best friend all about it. The play is Velma's side of the conversation and uses gossipy humor to illustrate the casual racism of the 1950s and to demonstrate that fear of young Black men is nothing new in American society.
Produced on Facebook and Vimeo by Stage Left Theater of Spokane on October 8, 2021, with Lynn Noel as Velma, directed by Susan Hardie.

TEN-MINUTE TWO-HANDER. Ben, who never appears in the play, is in the hospital on life support following an accident. His lover of five years, Jonathan, and Ben's homophobic sister, Sandra, meet for the first time to discuss what happens next. The encounter does not go well as the two argue about the definition of family, religion, and whether one can "love the sinner but hate the sin."
Published in “Baker’s Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues” from Next Stage Press, 2023.

8-10 MINUTE PLAY. Gina and Dick discuss their son’s—and Dick’s—anxiety about not measuring up "down there." Does size really matter?

5 MINUTE PLAY. Struggling playwright Marvin fires his Muse, but will her hunky replacement prove to be more distraction than inspiration?
Published in “Baker’s Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues” from Next Stage Press, 2023.

ONE MINUTE PLAY. Two men meet in a gay bar and discover they have something in common.

TWO-MINUTE COMEDY for two actors of any age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or gender expression. The “Klutz of All Klutzes” explains to their spouse why an attempt to take a box to the trash means a trip to the ER and the pet cemetery.
Published in “Baker’s Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues” from Next Stage Press, 2023.

FOUR-MINUTE MONOLOGUE TIMOTHY, a 38-year-old man recalls the aftereffects of the sexual abuse he suffered when he was thirteen.
Published in “Baker’s Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues” from Next Stage Press, 2023.

TWO-MINUTE MONOLOGUE. An older white woman discovers an interracial same-sex couple is moving in across the street. Revised after the reversal of Roe v. Wade seemed to endanger Obergefell.
Original version produced on Facebook by Stage Left Theater of Spokane, March, 2022.
Published in “Baker’s Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues” from Next Stage Press, 2023.

7-MINUTE MONOLOGUE. Doug, now in his seventies, recalls his thirteen-year-old self spying on Dad and "Uncle Mark" when they were supposed to be building birdhouses down in the basement workshop. What he sees through a knothole begins his own journey of sexual awareness but results in the destruction of his father's relationship with his oldest and dearest friend.
Published in “Baker’s Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues” from Next Stage Press, 2023.

5-MINUTE MONOLOGUE. A man fearfully questions his sexual identity.
Published in “Baker’s Dozen” from Next Stage Press, 2023.
Published in the "some scripts" anthology "Monologues by LGBTQIA+ Writers for LGBTQIA+ Actors," 2023.

7-8-MINUTE MONOLOGUE. Fifty-year-old Richard lived with David and worked in his store, but the two never got around to getting married or doing the necessary legal paperwork. Now David is dead from COVID and his homophobic mother has inherited everything. Richard finds himself unemployed and homeless, angry and bitter--and very afraid he may have given David the virus that killed him.
Published in “Baker’s Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues” from Next Stage Press, 2023.
Published in the "some scripts" anthology "Monologues by LGBTQIA+ Writers for LGBTQIA+ Actors," 2023.
Performed in 2022 by Magnolia Arts Center in Greenville NC (awarded audience favorite).
Performed in 2021 by Talking Horse Productions in Columbia MO.
Published by the "some scripts online literary journal" in Issue 4: Outbreak, 2021.

MONOLOGUE: 5-6 minutes. A besieged jail. A frightened Black prisoner. An angry White mob. A sheriff determined to uphold the rule of law. A daring escape in the dead of night. Julius August “Gus” Lemcke (pronounced “LEM-key”) was sheriff of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, in 1880 when a clash between overheated political partisans resulted in a Black Republican and a White Democrat shooting each other. The White man was cared for by his friends. The Black man ended up in the county jail, surrounded by armed and angry citizens determined to lynch him from the nearest tree. This monologue is adapted from Lemcke’s own account of this episode in his 1905 published memoir.

9-10 minute MONOLOGUE. A White man in his seventies recalls the childhood trip to Florida when the “saw” Black people for the first time and also experienced the first stirrings of sexual awakening.
Published in "Baker's Dozen: 13 Gay Plays and Monologues" by Next Stage Press, 2023.

3-4 MINUTE MONOLOGUE. Fourteen-year-old Eddie comes from a fundamentalist Christian household, so he is sure that his natural teenage urges and the content of his sex dreams are an affront to God. He prays desperately for strength to resist and begs God not to let him be gay.

2-3 MINUTE MONOLOGUE. Musings from a life of experience. For an older actor of any gender expression, race, or ethnicity.

60 MINUTES. When the Grand Dragon takes charge, nothing is sacred and no woman is safe.

D.C. Stephenson, Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, rules Indiana until he is convicted of murder and rape. Set in the 1920's and based on a true story, the play contains startling parallels to the politics of contemporary America.

The performance by the Radio Theatre Project at the Studo@620 in St. Petersburg, Florida, on March 26, 2018, is available on Soundcloud.com at: https://soundcloud.com/radiotheatreproject/grand-dragon-in-power-by-don…