Charles Scott Jones

Charles Scott Jones

Hello there! Originally from Southern Illinois, I’m a New York-based writer of plays, fiction, and theatre essays.
I have an M. A. from Hunter College where I studied playwriting with Tina Howe and dramaturgy with Jonathan Kalb. My thesis "Taking Courage From the Sturm und Drang" received CUNY’s Shuster Award. For eight years now, I’ve been a script analyst, essay writer, and researcher for...
Hello there! Originally from Southern Illinois, I’m a New York-based writer of plays, fiction, and theatre essays.
I have an M. A. from Hunter College where I studied playwriting with Tina Howe and dramaturgy with Jonathan Kalb. My thesis "Taking Courage From the Sturm und Drang" received CUNY’s Shuster Award. For eight years now, I’ve been a script analyst, essay writer, and researcher for Theatre for a New Audience. I’ve reported on seventy professionally submitted plays and written essays for TFANA’s 360° Viewfinder Series. Short stories of mine have appeared in North American Review, West Branch, Mississippi Valley Review, and other literary magazines. My varied background includes teaching English as a second language in Central Mexico, writing book and movie reviews for the Charleston Times Courier, and marketing readings and productions of my plays. My work has been read or presented by Emerging Artist Theatre, Love Creek, Naked Angels, Polaris North, and Times Square Playwrights.

Plays

  • NEON WIDOW by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    6–8
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: Kennedy assassination, secret service + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, political, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Kennedy assassination, secret service, anger and PTSD, circus, swordswallower, vietnam conflict, mental health awareness, the White House
    Full Length: Twelve years after the JFK assassination (1975), the wife of a former Secret Service agent combats her husband's worsening depression by hosting a group of trauma-stricken comic characters. With the help of one of them, a widowed sword-swallower--and her death-defying act with a neon sword, the troubled couple discover emotional resilience and a life they would have never thought possible.
  • STRING THEORY by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: adaptation, biography + 7 more
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    Keyword: misogyny, extra-marital sex + 6 more
    Genre: adaptation, biography, comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, horror, melodrama, romantic comedy, tragedy
    Keyword: misogyny, extra-marital sex, jealousy, string theory, love triangle, 19th century, Winter's Tale, domestic tragedy
    NEW FULL LENGTH - A well-born wife learns of her husband's affair - with her first cousin - and must decide whether or not to run off with an underground screenwriter and become an actress. Once she does, marriage, children, fame, and all hell break loose. Inspired by a late 19th-century love triangle, STRING THEORY tangles up the early adult lives of fictional versions of Siri von Essen, Carl Gustaf...
    NEW FULL LENGTH - A well-born wife learns of her husband's affair - with her first cousin - and must decide whether or not to run off with an underground screenwriter and become an actress. Once she does, marriage, children, fame, and all hell break loose. Inspired by a late 19th-century love triangle, STRING THEORY tangles up the early adult lives of fictional versions of Siri von Essen, Carl Gustaf Wrangel, and August Strindberg and casts events in today's world of sexual combat. The play sheds new light on a complex and great innovator of theatre - August Strindberg - certainly a rival of Chekhov and Ibsen for his profound influence on modern drama .
  • TROUBLE MAKER by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: biography, dark comedy + 7 more
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    Keyword: Fredrich Nietzsche, full length + 4 more
    Genre: biography, dark comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, experimental, fantasy, period, satire, science fiction
    Keyword: Fredrich Nietzsche, full length, experimental biography, family drama, philosophy, religion
    FULL LENGTH, my newest - an experimental bio play - inspired by the life and thoughts of Friedrich Nietzsche. A two-fold romp through the vast interiority opened up by Nietzsche's insanity during the last 11 years of his life. Act I takes place in 1997 in an unspecified college town in the U.S. - though the action engages with the past. Act iI takes place in 1897, in the Villa Silberblick, though the...
    FULL LENGTH, my newest - an experimental bio play - inspired by the life and thoughts of Friedrich Nietzsche. A two-fold romp through the vast interiority opened up by Nietzsche's insanity during the last 11 years of his life. Act I takes place in 1997 in an unspecified college town in the U.S. - though the action engages with the past. Act iI takes place in 1897, in the Villa Silberblick, though the action engages with the future.
  • ACCIDENTALLY UNLIKE A MONSTER by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 16
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    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: biography, dark comedy + 5 more
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    Keyword: Mental Health, anxiety + 8 more
    Genre: biography, dark comedy, drama, holiday, horror, romantic comedy, zoom
    Keyword: Mental Health, anxiety, Depression, detox, werewolf, connection, halloween, rock concert, addiction, domestic abuse
    10-Minute Play: A depressed and anxious rock star connects with a character in one of his songs, a werewolf reading from a Chinese menu. With her good counsel, he finds the courage to seek help.
  • A FINGER POINTING by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 8
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    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 6 more
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    Keyword: Juneteenth, Sociology + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, holiday, melodrama, movement/physical, parody/spoof, political, tragedy
    Keyword: Juneteenth, Sociology, black lives matter, racism, family, babysitting, Racial Tension, black, White, Italian restaurant.
    10-Minute Play: On Juneteenth the sound of a baby crying in a restaurant ignites a quarrel between a white man Local and a black man Frank until weapons are drawn. Honey, Local's wife, and June, Frank's sister, try to keep things calm, but . . . .
  • ALIEN FARMER'S WIFE by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 16
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: adaptation, fantasy + 2 more
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    Keyword: aliens, corn crop circles + 7 more
    Genre: adaptation, fantasy, romantic comedy, science fiction
    Keyword: aliens, corn crop circles, marriage, courtship, dating, love poetry, awkward romance, poetry, rural America
    10-Minute Play: Romantic sci-fi quirkiness. An alien posing as a corn farmer seeks a wife galaxies away. He is assisted by resourceful Peggy, until he finds his dream terrestrial. Inspired by a 1927 silent film, The Farmer's Wife, a romantic comedy directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
  • ALL HALLOWS EVE by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 12
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    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 5 more
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    Keyword: halloween, ghosts + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, farce, holiday, horror, romantic comedy, tragedy
    Keyword: halloween, ghosts, holiday, tragedy, dark comedy, Romantic, horror, Hell's Kitchen, romance, trick or treat
    10-Minute Play: A horror writer keeps her neighbor Evelyn up all night reading and smoking in bed – which gets the attention of a fireman from downstairs.
  • AVALON WAVES by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 9
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    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 5 more
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    Keyword: Avalon, New Jersey + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, farce, holiday, radio drama, satire
    Keyword: Avalon, New Jersey, summer, beach, Noel Coward, zoom, marriage, divorce, witty
    10-Minute Play: Marsha and Lilly discuss civic beach ordinances for dogs, only to discover that Marsha was once married to Lilly's current husband. (Inspired by the work of Noel Coward.)
  • BLIZZARD IN HAWAII by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 11
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: fable/folktale, holiday + 1 more
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    Keyword: childhood friendship, christmas + 5 more
    Genre: fable/folktale, holiday, young audiences
    Keyword: childhood friendship, christmas, polar bear, nicknames, holiday, Hawaii, Alaska
    10-minute Christmas Play: Blizzard the Polar Bear leaves Alaska on an iceberg and arrives in Hawaii on an ice cube where he meets Surfs-up the Skink and learns how to be cool. A play about making and keeping a friend.
  • CUBIST RODEO CLOWNING by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 8
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy, commedia dell'arte + 4 more
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    Keyword: New West, Rodeo + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, commedia dell'arte, dark comedy, movement/physical, pantomime, romantic comedy
    Keyword: New West, Rodeo, romantic comedy, silent movie, Sisters, family, ex-boyfriend, Painting
    10-Minute Play: A good intro. to CSJ's absurdism. A librarian, preparing for a quiet evening at home, must defend against familiar home invaders: her rodeo-clowning older sister and her painter ex-boyfriend.
  • FALLING IN TIME by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 11
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: holiday, new year's eve + 6 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, holiday, romantic comedy
    Keyword: holiday, new year's eve, intellectual, romance, comedy, veterinary science, cats, Times Square
    10-Minute Play: Horizontal meets vertical - as a distance truck driver and a veterinary scientist differ over the survival rate of cats falling from apartment windows onto city sidewalks.
  • GOONY BIRD HAT by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 6
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: biography, farce
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    Keyword: Schiller, J.M.R. Lenz + 8 more
    Genre: biography, farce
    Keyword: Schiller, J.M.R. Lenz, Sturm Und Drang, absurdist, Farce, historical, classical, Fantasy, spoof, 18th century
    10-Minute Play: Two dramatists from the Sturm und Drang, Schiller and Lenz, have been serving tea to the same aristocratic lady for over two hundred years. Until Lenz sees a goony bird peering out from the patron's hat.
  • HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 9
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 6 more
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    Keyword: horror, romance + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, fable/folktale, horror, parody/spoof, romantic comedy, satire
    Keyword: horror, romance, thriller, writers, Outdoor, dark comedy, Manhattan, urban dating, summer, rooftop
    One Act: A horror writer Darko regales a couple with the creepy story of how he met his new girlfriend, but leaves it half-finished - the other half furnished by his lady in red.
  • MAKING MYTH by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 9
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, commedia dell'arte + 5 more
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    Keyword: dark comedy, Monkey King + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, commedia dell'arte, dark comedy, experimental, fable/folktale, farce, movement/physical
    Keyword: dark comedy, Monkey King, Farce, India, zoo, Hindu God, mythology
    10-Minute Play - My Newest! While waiting in a checkout line of a discount dept. store, a man and three women embody the Age of Chaos and then . . .
  • MOSQUITO COMMISSION by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 8
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 3 more
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    Keyword: romantic comedy, kitchen drama + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, movement/physical, romantic comedy, young audiences
    Keyword: romantic comedy, kitchen drama, child, Parenting, dating, mosquito, baseball, Panama Canal
    10-Minute Play: On their third date Colleen and Ludlow prepare a lobster dinner together and learn more about one another than expected when Colleen's son Timothy comes home and shows Ludlow his magic trick.
  • NIGHT OF A THOUSAND SIPS by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 9
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: biography, drama
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    Keyword: gambling, alcoholism + 5 more
    Genre: biography, drama
    Keyword: gambling, alcoholism, casino, Atlantic City, blackjack, whiskey sour, inspirational
    Monologue: an alcoholic, Wendy, tells her group about the temptation to drink a whiskey sour the past weekend in Atlantic City.
  • PAT AND BILLY: THE FINAL CUT by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, farce + 3 more
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    Keyword: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, farce, parody/spoof, period, satire
    Keyword: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, movie producer, Sam Peckinpah, cowboys, Western, chick flicks, comedy, satire, parody
    10-Minute Play: Film producers Cecilia and Millie wrangle over the making of the last version of a Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett Movie - with the actors playing Billy and Pat and Projected Viewer polling.
  • POST OVERNIGHT DISTRESS by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: rom-com, acronym + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, holiday, parody/spoof, romantic comedy
    Keyword: rom-com, acronym, Romantic, Sexy, arguing couple, one night stand, spring, Valentine's Day
    10-Minute Play: After meeting in a bar, Princess and Dude wake up in bed together and receive a mysterious text with the letters: POD.
  • SPATSY KLOTZ by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 9
    ·
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: biography, comedy + 11 more
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    Keyword: coming of age, sex education + 8 more
    Genre: biography, comedy, dark comedy, drama, experimental, holiday, immersive, melodrama, movement/physical, period, radio drama, young audiences, zoom
    Keyword: coming of age, sex education, Sex, teen-ager, cowboys, girl diary, American suburbs, holiday, 4th of July, small town America
    Monologue-The 80s, Southern Illinois, and thirteen-year-old Spatsy Klotz reveals what she learns about sex by breaking into her rival Lydia’s house.
  • THE BIG NAP by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 5
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 7 more
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    Keyword: detective noir, adultery + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, holiday, movement/physical, mystery/thriller, parody/spoof, romantic comedy, satire
    Keyword: detective noir, adultery, motherhood, Marlowe, Nick and Nora, pregnancy, National Pineapple Day, bad dreams
    10-Minute Play: On National Pineapple Day, a young married couple, Hope and Finn, play detective with a pineapple and discover it's the stuff bad dreams are made of.
  • THE LOVE ASTRONAUT by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, docudrama/historic + 8 more
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    Keyword: pro wrestling, experimental + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, experimental, immersive, melodrama, radio drama, romantic comedy, science fiction, zoom
    Keyword: pro wrestling, experimental, hybrid, poetry, astronaut, docudrama, kinky, dark romance, Violent
    One Act: In this wild and very dark erotic showdown - an adman on the rebound from a TV model wades into even greater romantic danger with a professional wrestler. The cameraman can't believe his eyes. All four characters double as narrators.
  • THE WEIRD SISTERS by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 9
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 6 more
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    Keyword: romantic comedy, spoof + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, farce, holiday, horror, musical, radio drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: romantic comedy, spoof, Farce, marriage, divorce, MY FAIR LADY, Macbeth, halloween, holiday
    10-Minute Play: Henry's three ex-wives arrive at his apartment while he is bathing. The friction between Iris, Pammy, and Alicia slowly ignites a cauldron of marital strife as Henry serenades from the tub.
  • THE WHOLE VAMPIRE THING by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, adventure + 13 more
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    Keyword: Poe, dracula + 8 more
    Genre: adaptation, adventure, comedy, dark comedy, drama, experimental, fantasy, holiday, horror, immersive, melodrama, mystery/thriller, period, radio drama, tragedy
    Keyword: Poe, dracula, horror, vampire, St. Louis, thriller, radio play, halloween, occult, experimental
    One-Act Story Play: On the riverfront in St. Louis, waiter Slow Eddie falls prey to the psychology of vampirism due to his love for an alluring cocktail waitress named Vicky and her fling with Mitch the bouncer.
  • DRINKING WITH MOM'S DOG by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
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    Keyword: German, Eva Braun + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, faith-based
    Keyword: German, Eva Braun, dead dog, cheating, Meister Eckhart, swingers, holotropic breathing, LSD, psychoactive drug
    Full Length: The three grown children of Elsa return after the death of her dog, only to discover that their mother's soul has gone by the wayside. It is fifteen years since Elsa divorced their father Artie. Family secrets unfold and the home becomes a spiritual battleground. The youngest Grace and oldest Trip endeavor to save Elsa from the cynical forces represented by Artie, middle-child Boyd, and...
    Full Length: The three grown children of Elsa return after the death of her dog, only to discover that their mother's soul has gone by the wayside. It is fifteen years since Elsa divorced their father Artie. Family secrets unfold and the home becomes a spiritual battleground. The youngest Grace and oldest Trip endeavor to save Elsa from the cynical forces represented by Artie, middle-child Boyd, and sister-in-law Sloane. Where will wild child Fanny stand? All is revealed during the final showdown, a holotropic breathing exercise.
  • HOME OF THE RIB by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: sexual harassment, restaurant + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, experimental, faith-based, horror
    Keyword: sexual harassment, restaurant, vietnam, Texas, New York City, dark comedy, exterminator, Asian American and African American relations
    FULL LENGTH: 70 pages. NEW DRAFT! Born in Vietnam, raised by Texas Methodists - Phoon fights to rescue a failing New York City barbecue restaurant from a nightmarish vermin infestation. She seems to make matters worse by hiring a new bartender named Wanda, the ex-wife of Travis, her general manager. Push comes to shove and Phoon must use every creative bone in her body to stay the course and avoid catastrophe.
  • MOSQUITO LORE by Charles Scott Jones
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: daphne, Apollo + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, fable/folktale, fantasy, romantic comedy, verse
    Keyword: daphne, Apollo, Ovid, Mosquito Prevention, malaria, dryads, Greek mythology, superego, id
    Full Length: MOSQUITO LORE is a “dryad” comedy that pits mythology and Ovid’s poetics against the science of mosquito prevention. More specifically, the fear of mosquitoes ignites a modern-day reunion between Daphne and Apollo. Cupid is still among us, but he has upgraded his weaponry. Mosquito Commissioner Otto and field manager Babs try to contain Daphne’s mythic revolution. Will Daphne and her dryads (...
    Full Length: MOSQUITO LORE is a “dryad” comedy that pits mythology and Ovid’s poetics against the science of mosquito prevention. More specifically, the fear of mosquitoes ignites a modern-day reunion between Daphne and Apollo. Cupid is still among us, but he has upgraded his weaponry. Mosquito Commissioner Otto and field manager Babs try to contain Daphne’s mythic revolution. Will Daphne and her dryads (Tippi, Mable, and Greta) rewrite their own histories and become whole?
  • MOSQUITO LORE [short version] by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: fable/folktale, fantasy + 1 more
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    Keyword: Greek mythology, daphne + 7 more
    Genre: fable/folktale, fantasy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Greek mythology, daphne, Apollo, transformation, Ovid, date rape, feminist, cupid, love
    10-Minute Play: In this modern re-imagining, Daphne receives unexpected help from Cupid and reverses her mythic role to become the hunter rather than the hunted when she chases Apollo into the woods.
  • THE 4TH ZOA by Charles Scott Jones
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, commedia dell'arte + 5 more
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    Keyword: flapper, roaring 20s + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, commedia dell'arte, dark comedy, drama, fantasy, immersive, movement/physical
    Keyword: flapper, roaring 20s, William Blake, the 60s, Fantasy, The Four Zoas, comedy, physical
    Full Length: Hurry hurry - it's 1968- South of Chicago- where two aging flappers dance the Diddie Wa Diddie on an enchanted rug - and shake off forty years. With the help of a painter and a songwriter, Gertrude and Ruth Glass forever change the history of the human soul. The play's inspiration is THE FOUR ZOAS, an unfinished narrative poem by William Blake and "Diddie Wa Diddie" a song by...
    Full Length: Hurry hurry - it's 1968- South of Chicago- where two aging flappers dance the Diddie Wa Diddie on an enchanted rug - and shake off forty years. With the help of a painter and a songwriter, Gertrude and Ruth Glass forever change the history of the human soul. The play's inspiration is THE FOUR ZOAS, an unfinished narrative poem by William Blake and "Diddie Wa Diddie" a song by the legendary blues guitarist Blind Blake.
  • THE LUCY NIGHTMARE by Charles Scott Jones
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    6–8
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, fantasy + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: Lucy Ricardo, I Love Lucy + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, fantasy, horror, parody/spoof, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Lucy Ricardo, I Love Lucy, desi, Ethel, redhead, zany comedy, 1950's america, Vitameatavegamin, Advertising, Desilu
    Full Length: Commercial director Cliff is having bad dreams he refuses to reveal to wife Megan. Inspired by the 50s sitcom “I Love Lucy” and with the help of an off-beat marriage counselor - Megan gains access to her husband's dark show and a shattering new awareness.