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Charles Scott Jones

Recommended by Charles Scott Jones

  • The Drums by Katherine Vondy
    23 Jan. 2022
    “ Part of the charm of Katherine Vondy's THE DRUMS is how meticulously crafted it is. The play always knows exactly where it's going - as it keeps you the reader a step behind - a cool place to be because you don't feel lost but you're never quite there - so it's, like, whoa, let me go read this again. The back and forth between Sharky and Dome is big fun and their app concepts are very clever. And I love it that the roles can be played by anybody, the faces of good and evil open to all!! ”
  • Chapter Envy by Toby Malone
    22 Jan. 2022
    “ Marriage is timing - trying to align the intricacies of one's circadian rituals with someone else's. CHAPTER ENVY is a wily comedy about a couple who operate at different speeds trying to read the same book. It's truly admirable how minutely Toby Malone has thought out all of the bedtime movements of Jessie and Mark and their tussle over the same potboiler (sci-fi fantasy? - the leaked character names are superb). I'm reminded in the best way of the physical humor of Chaplin or Keaton, the attention given to a key prop in silent films. And the dialogue fits perfectly. ”
  • this proves it by Lee R. Lawing
    21 Jan. 2022
    “ It's a watershed when you lose your second parent as two brothers have in "this proves it." I love the title and the childless younger brother Chris behaving more child-like than so-called favorite son Ken. There's the sense that Lee R Lawing thoroughly knows his subject - as Ken realizes what Chris seems to know at the play's opening, that by arguing about their mother's love, by still competing for her love, they keep her alive with the fervor of their caring. It's a very nice effect that you can picture this brother act going on long after the play. ”
  • The Girl in the Mirror by Rachel Feeny-Williams
    20 Jan. 2022
    “ Attics as repositories of the past are ideal settings for drama and who doesn't love a good mirror tale?
    THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR highlights the lives of two teenagers, Sarah and Hannah, and contrasts the harsh work-life of an Edwardian parlor maid with the school-life of a modern, spoilt adolescent. Rachel Feeny-William centers young women in this slow-burning horror shocker. It would be great fun for young and old, as we're all acquainted with ingratitude where it rears up most hideously, in our own reflections. What this play does best is hold up a mirror to modern society. ”
  • THE MADNESS OF MEMORY (from the MAD FOR MYSTERY Collection) by Vivian Lermond
    19 Jan. 2022
    “ I love kitchen plays for unfolding family secrets and this one doesn't disappoint. THE MADNESS OF MEMORY begins with lost car keys and opens up memories in this powerful short play by Vivian Lermond. Gina has a reckoning with her mother, Rosie, suffering from dementia who nonetheless manages an instance of chilling clarity. A favorite moment is when Gina chides her mother for not changing the calendar from June, even though its September, and Rosie's over-reaction, "I like June. I don't like you. You're a bad girl. I'm calling the police. They'll put you in prison." Ah, and then... ”
  • Playing With Dolls by John Mabey
    18 Jan. 2022
    “ The ingenious setting/premise of PLAYING WITH DOLLS - in an alley behind a toy story - an interracial meeting between fathers exchanging dolls - is so ominous and curiosity-inducing. John Mabey has such a light and magical touch for difficult subjects. Even after a second reading, I'm agog at how he pulls off the art of making friends by two male parents. I love it that Carl appreciates Gregory for his honesty and gentle antagonism and Gregory tolerates Carl's clumsy attempts at openness. It's not easy for adult men to make friends and this wise play offers a pathway. ”
  • Something Borrowed... by John Busser
    17 Jan. 2022
    “ With SOMETHING BORROWED John Busser works his sibling-rivalry premise to its fullest extent with so much pain and humor. Borrowing as in thievery is a boundless source of mirth, as is coveting what isn't ours. I suspect most of us have been both sisters at some time in our lives (like Rachel, imagining something is ours until it is - like Sandra, yearning too much for what we won't get back.) I love the cascade of objects they carp about, the notebook, and the awesome non-verbal reveal that puts this short on a whole new and "deeper" plane. Terrific job. ”
  • THE CAKE by Jack Levine
    16 Jan. 2022
    “ In a diner two grown sons celebrate and remember their late mother's sense of humor in THE CAKE. When Alex was 10 and Charles 5, Mom tests the limits of the adage: You are what you eat. I admire how Jack Levine stays true to the heartwarming memory. There are family tensions and danger on the periphery - the brothers are after all from a family - but THE CAKE doesn't taste bitter. It is about the familial love we so often take for granted and encourages us all to hold onto what is dear to us about our mothers. ”
  • The Furniture Store by Daniel Prillaman
    15 Jan. 2022
    “ Okay. Here it is for the jaded been-there and done-that crowd who think there's nothing left to thrill them. Here it is at last that you find yourself within a play where and when anything and everything can happen. THE FURNITURE STORE is a premise play that sheds its premise and goes plot naked. Audience and stage direction become unwitting and unwilling characters once it's too late to hit the deck. The world of this Daniel Prillaman 10-min show spins so expertly out of control, it's liberating. For me expectations have never been more wonderfully not met. ”
  • Throwing Rocks (Short Play) by Debbie Lamedman
    14 Jan. 2022
    “ I love THROWING ROCKS because as delusional as Molly is, her yearning for Jack's return is that aching emotion so many of us feel when we miss someone and imagine footsteps in the hallway or any of the trigger sounds that signal an approach. Rocks as the object is well-chosen because the time-honored strategy for a young suitor to get his lover's attention is to toss pebbles against the bedroom window, but marriage requires something larger and jagged, more painful. Debbie Lamedman's play is so sad and beautiful and it reminds me somehow of Beckett's Happy Days. Insightful work. ”

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