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Charles Scott Jones

Recommended by Charles Scott Jones

  • You Before Me by Samantha Marchant
    19 Feb. 2024
    “ This is a fine mother-daughter play. YOU BEFORE ME can be read without knowledge of the Demeter - Persephone - Hades myth. But refreshing my memory of the mythical antecedents gave added depth to the tension between Seph and Deme. I love it that Seph and her husband are realtors in Florida and that Seph has come into her own - so well that she can give just the right loving attention (nourishment) to her mother. Samantha Marchant has authored a very warm and heartfelt play for every season. ”
  • Interventions by Greg Lam
    19 Feb. 2024
    “ INTERVENTIONS by Greg Lam is big fun. Even if you haven’t researched the Tippet Equation. Even if you’ve never heard of it. Lam has a knack for taking genre scenarios (sci-fi, horror) and making them seem fresh through his skillful and imaginative handling of characterization. It’s no accident this time-travel gem is frequently produced. I look forward to reading more from this playwright. ”
  • Do You Have the Time? by Kate Danley
    17 Feb. 2024
    “ Terrific short play. Love the sense of temporal panic and lunacy. DO YOU HAVE THE TIME by Kate Danley reminds of a line from a song - "Time made a fool out of me." Time is making fools of us all. ”
  • Day Shift of the Dead by Greg Mandryk
    16 Feb. 2024
    “ Ah, the ubiquity of zombie apocalypse doom death destruction. Or the complete collapse of civilization has been exaggerated. DAY SHIFT OF THE DEAD by Greg Mandryk is a blast. I really admire the way the protagonist Bert sets up the world of the play and his insightful monologue that gives a new layer to the madness. Fine work from a playwright that always delivers the goods. ”
  • Awesome Possum by Elizabeth A. M. Keel
    16 Feb. 2024
    “ The back and forth between Amy and Dr. Roman creates a spectacularly weird suspense. That’s distinctly veterinary mythological - evolutionary theological - or something. Words fail. This short marvel of a play - AWESOME POSSUM by Elizabeth A. M. Keel - toys with your imagination until you’re afraid to discover what’s in your own head. Don’t want to say more. So read, produce, enjoy the poke at your sanity. ”
  • The New Client (Ten Minute) by Paul Donnelly
    15 Feb. 2024
    “ The argument in THE NEW CLIENT is so meticulously and poignantly composed. Paul Donnelly does an admirable job making both sides of the classic Duty vs Love conflict credible, sympathetic, and contemporary. As much as any play you will ever read, this one will have you wondering what the future will hold for its characters. Every time I think I have a handle on how I feel about this issue I think about it some more. And I'm not so sure. So if our goal as dramatists is to encourage a more thoughtful society, this is a cornerstone. ”
  • (Un)Drinkable by Dana Hall
    15 Feb. 2024
    “ Almost ten years now since the city of Flint, Michigan changed its municipal water supply to the Flint River - and (UN)DRINKABLE by Dana Hall is perhaps more important than ever with climate change and shrinking water supplies. The drip-by-drip construction of this drama hammers home the horrific inhumanity and systemic racism of the Flint water crisis. This is a play I will never forget. For its focus and centering on an essential tragic flaw in our system. The quote from Dr. White-Newsome's MLK lecture says it all. Read this play today for all of our tomorrows. ”
  • PICKUP by Marj O'Neill-Butler
    14 Feb. 2024
    “ It’s very difficult to write a fresh scene involving a bad pickup scenario. With PICKUP, Marj O’Neill Butler has done it brilliantly through the use of humorous and telling names and a twisty dueling repartee. As a playwright I admire the character Paulette’s use of jump retorts to keep Peebles off balance. She’s always one step ahead of the falsely self-assured doofus. The timing of the actors would be everything in this wonderful piece and I’d love to see it staged. ”
  • Dead of Winter by Brent Alles
    14 Feb. 2024
    “ The use of sound in this audio play is superb. DEAD OF WINTER by Brent Alles is full of dread and snow-crunching steps of horror and a kind of pathos for all three characters involved in the gut-wrenching triangle they form one cold night in Northern Michigan. I love the very specific setting and that the footprints in the snow aren't quite human anymore. This one will keep you thinking macabre thoughts late into the night because of its deep emotional resonances. ”
  • "The Long Walk" by Ashleigh Ann Gardner
    14 Feb. 2024
    “ Think beat poetry or the use of language Ginsberg drew from Walt Whitman as a means for accessing THE LONG WALK by A. A. Gardner - a disturbing, dark opalescent, and profound two-hander - that magnifies to very large effect Ray's feelings - in his best friend Leo's Volvo after being bailed out once again - as Ray slowly sobers to the clear and irrefutable fact of his abysmal existence. I'm a sucker for hard-earned reckonings from nights of debauchery in St. Louis and this one thrilled my nostalgia to the max. ”

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