Poetic justice is sometimes the most just.

Albert Durante has read most of the books he restores in Contrapasso’s workshop. Durante has a warm and supporting relationship with his teenage niece, Beatrice, who also works there.

During his walks in the park, Durante surprises himself by establishing a rapport with a homeless man, a veteran, Virgil, with a metal plate in his head.

Contrapasso prizes a religious statue of given to him by his mother as a confirmation present. Beatrice accidentally breaks Contrapasso’s statue. During a confrontation afterwards, he loses control and kills her. As the police investigate the crime, Durante learns of Contrapasso’s guilt but is unable to prove it to the police.

The Divine Comedy provides Durante and Virgil an idea for exacting poetic justice. Durante takes us on a journey as he sees society and himself in a new light.

Set: Book restoration shop, a bench in the park
3 males (30+)
1 female, teens
1 gender neutral 30+

What does it mean to be an American? What does it mean to be an African American?

ENDS is a socio-political drama set in 1967 and deals with a confrontation between two men and the ideas they represent. Kingsley, a thirty-year old African-American man, has lived alone for the past eighteen years in a secured forest cabin. Besides his childhood experiences and memories, his view of life is based on his many books. Glober, a recently returned  Vietnam veteran, forcibly takes refuge in Kingsley's cabin during a violent storm.

ENDS places each of us in the cabin and forces each of us to re-examine  our own perspective. The characters (and the audience) are faced with the question of whether Kingsley should leave for middle America of 1967 or  stay in his self-sufficient seclusion. While Kingsley is trying to decide if he should "join" society, Glober is deciding if he should "leave" it.

EROICA is a timely play dealing with timeless issues . Set in 1966, it is the story of Sally, a woman patriot living in small town, U.S.A. While her brother is missing in action in Vietnam, she learns her husband, Victor,--the town’s high school basketball star and now coach--has secretly faked a medical condition to avoid the military draft.

Victor is overly protective of his disabled sister, Grace, a nun who prays for peace at political demonstrations while struggling silently with her own doubts regarding faith. Charles, an embittered former athlete, learns Victor's secret and is bent on revenge.

Please note in the cast descriptions that the character Grace is disabled. There is no specific reference in the script.

EROICA was named a Finalist in the American Theatre Co-op, Reva Shiner and Coldwater (MI) Playwriting Competitions, Semi-finalist in the Mill Mountain (VA) Playwriting and Reverie Productions (NY)competitions.

EROICA explores the nature of faith, commitment and betrayal. What happens when political and social questions conflict with certainties of the heart? In the end, we see that sometimes there are no right or wrong answers, no winners or losers; only victims.

While home on military leave, Mary announces her engagement to LizBeth and throws an already tense family dynamic between her parents, Frank and Corrine, into a tailspin. Corrine’s father, Leo, a retired veteran, and his second wife, Nana, visit to welcome Mary home.

The role of truth and unconditional love add a sense of love, direction and perspective to the struggles.

THE TINKER WINS is a comedy of an eccentric family who, when faced with a crisis, is forced to examine what it thought were its values.
Rachael, the mother, raises monkeys, lions, and llamas in the back yard. These noises are often heard throughout the play. Rachael's husband, Jacob spends much of his time observing known planets and stars and submitting new names for them to astronomy societies. They have four children; Joey, Camille, and Ursula. Each in their twenties, have has or her individual eccentricities but share a joy a living.
For Joey, legendary heroes such as Zorro and Robin Hood are real people. Camille assumes the roles of others personalities in order to understand how others feel. These people have been a rabbi, Madame Defarge, women who are deaf and born without any arms. Meanwhile, Ursula walks around quoting historical references as she prepares to appear on a television quiz program. Lionel, their brother, feels that he is the only normal one in what he sees as a crazy household.
When Camille's legs are amputated, Joey, Camille and Ursula change dramatically. They now feel there is no joy in life, that it has no purpose. As Joey proclaims, "If Camille can't accept herself, how can anyone expect us to." It is Lionel who has now discovered a meaning to his life as he leads the others to "hitch their wagon to a star."
The title of the play refers to the archery contest that Robin Hood, disguised as a tinker, wins so that he may be awarded the silver arrow from the Maid Marion.

ADRIFT is a memory play. Jacob is a naval officer forced to retire because of his medical condition. The scenes between Jacob and his son, Isaac, progress back and forth from Isaac’s childhood to his role as a teacher and finally to the present. Although Jacob is dead when the play begins, he is “Present” in Jacob’s conscience and on stage with Isaac during the action. We see Isaac’s reverence as a child, his flippancy as a teenager and then compassion as an adult.

Life is full of choices; can one honor his parents and not honor their wishes? Can one violate his nature of who he is and still be himself? During his naval service, Jacob had to make a decision; one that he has not been able to live with. Now his son, Isaac, must do the same.

Isaac, once confident and sure of himself and his role in the universe, is like the suffering seaman in Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner;” he learns that not everything can be known. The poem is a thread throughout the play.

Judd, a church deacon, is Isaac’s principal. Judd is more concerned with being named the principal of the year than with students learning how to think. Judd’s son, Tom, is one of Isaac’s students and has become an atheist. Tom is afraid to confront his father but gains confidence from Isaac. Isaac and Tom each grow as men and learn from each other about what it means to be a son.

Relationships between father and son are intertwined with each one’s definition of loyalty and honor. Isaac and Tom learn and grow from each other. As they reverse their roles, the teacher becomes the student and the student the teacher. The same is true with Jacob and Judd as they reverse roles with their children. Parent and child; they each feel they have failed each other. As they each realize their humanity with all its shortcomings, that same humanity is strengthened.