Tom Galloway is depressed. Grieving the loss of his life partner, and recently retired, he has no idea what to do with the rest of his life. His book club buddies help him brainstorm possibilities, and Tom finds that the climate crisis stirs his passion. He vows to volunteer with a climate research project based at a local university.

But Tom never follows through, stymied by fear of failure and a series of surreal visions of his own violent demise. Fortunately, he gains confidence and strength from the support of his fellow book lovers – particularly Izzy, a college student and climate activist. Izzy had joined the book club while in high school at Tom’s invitation. The experience was a lifesaver, and Izzy is determined to repay his kindness by helping him find new meaning in his life. Will Tom become a warrior for the planet?

After a class reunion, two old high school buddies go to a rock concert for a trip down memory lane. Everyone there is white like them. Which makes one of them very uncomfortable. What’s a woke dude to do?

It's a growing phenomenon that no one wants to talk about: White people are turning Black. On the eve of his wedding, Alan Guthrie learns it's about to happen to him. The veteran slacker/stoner is freaked--not least because his prospective father-in-law would do everything in his power to prevent his daughter marrying a black man. Alan's solution? Persuade his identical twin brother, who is gay, to impersonate him at the ceremony. The desperate ruse launches Alan and his co-conspirators on a madcap pre-nuptial adventure involving organic vegetables, ventriloquism, a golfing accident--and some serious identity issues.

Al saw a buddy blown up in front of his eyes by a booby-trap bomb; the image still haunts him more than 40 years later. Tom talked his way out of a lynching by college students who called him a “commie faggot’ for organizing to stop the war. Jay went into self-imposed exile in Canada. Randy went to jail for refusing to cooperate with the draft system. Frank got a medical exemption – with the help of a fake X-ray from a sympathetic family doctor – and became a draft counselor to other working-class kids who had seen friends go “over there” and come home in a box or a wheelchair. Penny saw the suffering and the carnage first-hand as a nurse in a field hospital in Vietnam.

“The Draft” is an interweaving of the real-life stories of 10 young Americans – eight men and two women – whose lives were shaped and forever changed by the military draft during the Vietnam War (or “The American War”, as the Vietnamese call it.) The play examines the choices they made when confronted with the draft and the personal impact of those choices then and since. With the U.S. embroiled in ongoing military campaigns overseas, “The Draft” asks provocative and relevant questions about moral choice, the meaning of patriotism, and the impacts of war and militarism.

www.vietnamdraftplay.com

Joe Bell was a celebrity—a popular tour guide at Elmwood Hall, a famous Gilded Age mansion in Rhode Island. But for the last 14 years, Joe has been in jail. The African American guide known for his encyclopedic knowledge and folksy charm was convicted of burning down the historic mansion he once so proudly showed to visitors.

It’s now 1986, and the world has forgotten about Joe Bell. But not Susanna Hatch. The young white law student believes Joe was framed by the FBI as part of its campaign against black militants in the turbulent Civil Rights era. And she’s determined to prove his innocence. Some basic inconsistencies in the case give her grounds for hope. For one thing, Joe’s motivation for the crime was never adequately explained: he had a passionate—and scandalous—affair with the mansion’s wealthy owner, Lindsay Pettigrew, after she hired him as a tour guide. Why would Joe have destroyed something so precious to his lover? There were no eyewitnesses, and the prosecution’s case rested entirely on forensic evidence that could have been manufactured. Moreover, Susanna doesn’t believe Joe is crazy, as his defense lawyer argued in mitigation at his trial.

Susanna goes to interview Joe in the prison psychiatric unit where he’s confined. While she wants justice for Joe, she’s also desperate to learn the truth for personal reasons: Lindsay Pettigrew was her grandmother, and she had always idealized Joe and Lindsay as a pure and perfect love union. Plagued by doubts about her own current romantic relationship, Susanna hopes for confirmation that true love can endure and triumph.

As she discovers, the truth is rarely simple—and sometimes shocking. Joe reveals that he did, indeed, burn down Elmwood Hall and that he and Lindsay planned it together. It was a symbolic act against oppression and exploitation, but one born out of love. They wanted to be together forever, and the mansion, with all its history and associations, stood in their way.

The wealthy suburb of Nirvana, California is home to a nuclear weapons production plant as well as the Nirvana Community Players. The local thespians have long dreamed of winning the annual award for the state’s best community theatre production. And this year artistic director Jonathan Sinclair—whose day job is designing missiles—is certain they will finally triumph with Noel Coward’s "Present Laughter". The one problem is the lead role: Jonathan can’t find the right actor to play Garry Essendine, the matinee idol at the center of Coward’s classic comedy.

Enter a man dressed as Mars, the Roman god of war. He wants to read for the part. And he blackmails Jonathan into casting him as Essendine, threatening to expose him for cheating on his wife and participating in a secret CIA project to provoke America’s next war. Desperate to save his career and his marriage—and to stay out of jail—Jonathan tries to convince the other core members of the theatre company that Mars, always in full regalia and answering to no other name, is perfect for the lead role in Present Laughter. Naturally, it’s a tough sell. Is “Mars” crazy? A terrorist? Or just a harmless eccentric with identity issues?

But Mars’ charm and personal magnetism are persuasive. He’s soon a local celebrity, inspiring high school students with classes and skits on Roman mythology. The clincher is a movie deal: a major studio decides to film the Nirvana Community Players’ production of "Present Laughter" – or rather an adaptation by Mars called "Present Slaughter" – as “reality theatre”. The new version is set in Roman times and stars Mars as a vain and sexually impotent Caesar obsessed with fighting imperial wars.

In the dramatic climax of this spoof on militarism and celebrity culture, violence intrudes and the boundaries between myth and reality blur….

Robert climbs a mountain in search of peace and quiet. Instead, he meets an engaging stranger who convinces him to make an unusual commitment.

All multi-tasking Rebecca wants is her bagel and cream cheese. What could possibly go wrong?

A man whose estranged brother is dying learns a lesson about love and loyalty from his tree-hugging seven-year-old daughter.