Recommended by Dominica Plummer

  • My Life Has Been a Preparation
    20 Feb. 2021
    Larry Rinkel sums up the playwright's life perfectly in this wry reflection on who we are and why we write. The main character in My Life Has Been A Preparation is instantly recognizable, a man we can all identify with. In a few pages, RInkel takes us from childhood to retirement, and lays out the motivation that keeps a writer working away with no guarantee of success. For all its elegiac tone, however, there is something life affirming and even cheering in Rinkel's recognition that playwriting is its own reward. Well done!
  • Sunset Skies
    17 Feb. 2021
    A charming short for older actors. John Kelly deftly sets up this piece is which a man appears to be robbing two women who cannot see. But these ladies are not as defenseless as they seem, and try as he might, François cannot steal anything without being caught dead to rights. Anna and Evelyn are way ahead of him the whole time!
  • This Year
    16 Feb. 2021
    A highly topical pandemic play that is just right for actors during lockdown. Lam's ingenious drama places a boss and an employee in their respective cars on the way to work in California. They find themselves battling traffic, COVID, wildfires, a lack of protective gear and the politics of an unfriendly workplace that won't let them work from home. To make matters worse, this hapless and unlucky pair find they have one more obstacle to work around before they reach the comparative safety of the office. This short play has drama, suspense and a lot of wry humor. Recommended!
  • The Last Ride
    11 Feb. 2021
    The Last Ride is an appropriately apocalyptic vision of Los Angeles on the first day of a Pence presidency. Mildred Lewis serves up her nightmare scenario with sharp wit and lots of suspense. Her characters Marisol, Darius and Amanda have nothing in common except that fate has brought them together to figure out how to survive. Can they work together as a team to fend off the coyotes and get out of NE LA? There is hope as well as humor in this taut, short drama.
  • Mercy Otis Warren at the Pilgrim Hall Museum, 2028 - Monologue/Solo Short Play
    10 Feb. 2021
    Mercy Otis Warren is vividly reimagined in this monologue. Elisabeth Griffin Speckman sets the scene with Warren's return to a museum in her hometown, centuries after her death. There's lots of information about her life, presented with insight and humor. Warren is understandably irritated, for example, to discover the books of her male contemporaries are for sale in the bookstore of the museum, but not her own. A clever, informative piece for audiences of all ages.
  • The Pet Play
    9 Feb. 2021
    A funny, but poignant comedy about all the ways our pets dictate the choices in our lives. It's a particular problem for lovebirds Taylor and Jennifer because their pets don't get along. In fact, Jennifer's cat Peanut doesn't get along with anyone. Using puppetry to play the pets, Noemi de la Puente's drama zips along with equal shots of humor and pathos, as Peanut and Porkie drive their humans to the brink and beyond!
  • Three Seconds To Midnight
    31 Jan. 2021
    This two hander pits old Father Time against a disillusioned attorney who's having trouble letting go of her past. Bonnie has summoned him to sort out her problems with only three seconds of the old year to go. An impossible task? But John Mabey's warmhearted drama suggests new beginnings instead of endings, and audiences will love the way things turn out in this unlikely meeting of two lost souls.
  • LOVE AND OTHER AILMENTS
    29 Jan. 2021
    A lovely encounter between a father and a future son in law. Jack Levine gives us the scoop on what William thinks about marriage in this short play—but there's a delightful twist. Teddy listens respectfully to all the warnings, but he's too lovestruck to worry. What can William do but welcome Teddy into the family, and look forward to the extra space he'll get for his stuff when his daughter moves out. Or will he? Not if his wife has anything to do with it!
  • No Right Time, a virtual play in 10 minutes
    26 Jan. 2021
    A well crafted, timely play that reminds us how high the stakes can be when a family member is working on the front lines during a pandemic. Jackie Martin has created a short drama that seems like talk about every day domestic details, but which is actually a conversation about the things we fear most. David is reluctant to continue, but his husband Kevin (an ICU doctor) knows the truth — that there may not be a second chance. Warmly recommended.
  • Matthew Weaver and Tristen Canfield Are in a Terrible Play
    16 Jan. 2021
    I always enjoy a play about Matthew Weaver, and this is no exception. Lots of clever dialogue about what constitutes a good drama, but holding the piece together is this warm and affectionate debate between two good friends. That said, there's still suspense! Will Matthew and Tristen come to blows over what theatre should be? Read this play and find out!

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