Entering the next phase of his life with his teenage son, a paralyzed ex-football player attempts make peace with the past when his tormentor returns with an offer that will either uplift or destroy them all.

A frolicking, comedic and enlightening 45-minute, 5-actor version of Alice in Wonderland that can be produced outdoor or indoors…or filmed virtually. Think Monty Python meets the Marx Brothers. Commissioned by Serenbe Playhouse in Spring 2020 but not produced during Covid times.

COMPENDIUM OF SHORT PLAYS: I LOVE MY LAWER (but hate yours) is a compendium of short (mostly comedic) plays humanizing the process of being a lawyer. In each of the seven plays, a lawyer must overcome some kind of professional and ethical dilemma, sometimes with greater success than with others

Mrs. Palsgraf’s Dream Team is about a Young Lawyer whose worst nightmare becomes his greatest chance at success.

It is the Fall of 1924, and Mrs. Helen Palsgraf, an elderly cleaning lady, has just been bopped on the head by a penny scale while waiting for a train. Mrs. Palsgraf wants to sue the railroad, but no lawyer in town will talk to her – until pushes her way into the storefront office of the Young Lawyer.

Based on a famous 1928 law case (Palsgraf v. The Long Island Railroad Company), Mrs. Palsgraf’s Dream Team is a one-act play that, in one sense, traces the development of the law as it applies to torts and personal injury – and it is also a comedy about two people, outcasts, who will become footnotes to history but essential to each other’s life.

Even though every lawyer in the United States should be familiar with the name Palsgraf, little is known about the real Mrs. Palsgraf. This play presents a fantastical account of what may have transpired behind the scenes, as it showcases one man’s journey to reluctant hero.

Iowa 1962. Men work. Women take care of the home. And young Mary Jo Brickner is about to get married to John Sybil. It's a typical year in Swisher until Ritva Puotila storms into town and creates the BPW, a secret order of women designed to empower Mary to become the first female valedictorian of the high school....and a whole lot more. A fractured fairy tale where The Music Man meets Our Town meets Gloria Steinem meets the three witches of Macbeth.

SUMMARY
When Mary loses her bra during a romantic tryst, the B.P.W. springs into action. Posing as Mary's mother, father and boyfriend, the members of the B.P.W. -- who consist of a widow, divorcee and “spinster” -- use the bra to gain access to Mary's subconscious. They have different ideas about how a young woman should live, and they are desperate to share their views before, as they see it, the next generation is lost forever. Ultimately, it is Mary who must decide her fate as she comes to realize there is no guarantee of a happy ending, only the chance to control her own narrative.
A combination satire and fractured fairy tale (Our Town meets The Music Man meets Gloria Steinem meets the three witches of Macbeth), Burning Powerful Women depicts a clash between old-fashioned and modern living -- at a time when this clash was at its cusp, reflecting the changing status of women in America, and one adolescent’s attempt to take control over her life. Breaking the boundaries of time and space, Burning Powerful Women takes a stylized look at a very real emotion: the desire to find one's own voice.
Burning Powerful Women is a 70-minute play with seven characters that is to be played by four actresses ranging in age from 17-60. The three older actresses along with being a divorcee, widow and “spinster” also portray/channel Mary's mother, father and fiancee. The play requires a simple set, and the movement between various settings can be suggested by the blocking

DRAMATIC PREMISE: Questioning leadership leads to full-throated independence.
NOTES
This play was initially developed in a workshop with Margaret Baldwin and Diane Moroff where the play was devised from an exercise involving a poorly scanned newspaper, haiku poetry, and stream of consciousness writing exercise. This play was also developed as part of the Process Theatre (GA) Plays in Process Series. It also received a reading at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference (Alaska), and through No Shame Productions (Athens, GA). Also contributing: Lily Yancey Miller, the Fern Theatre, Nichole Palmietto and especially Open Minds Theatre. The play is meant to be developed as a collaborative piece with the script serving as the launch, not the end point. The portrayal of characters is meant to be done as authentically as possible, and, if produced, the play allows for flexible and innovative staging.

COMPENDIUM OF SHORT PLAYS: Seven short plays that take a contemporary look at parenting, for better and worse, usually for the better. These scripts lend themselves to both readings and productions.

The Shorts: (# of required actors)
Soccer Moms (2F)
The Talk (2M)
A CVS XMAS (3 adults)
Winners Never Quit (2M)
My Native Language* (3 adults)
Father-Son Outing: The Trip to Northlake Mall (2M)
The Yanks Are Coming (3 adults)
(* written by Barbara Kimmel)

COLLECTION OF SHORT PLAYS -- Hank Kimmel’s Shorts: Political Correctness features a compendium of short plays and monologues that takes an earnest, affectionate and satirical look at Political Correctness.

Each piece is self-contained, meaning it can all be performed separately or together…or some combination thereof….and in any particular order.


The Categories:

1) INTRODUCTION
a. Welcome to Our Holiday Show
2) WORKLACE
a. Proper Business Etiquette
b. Class Dismissed
3) COMMUNITY
a. Last Seat on the Train
b. The Name Game
4) RELIGION
a. The Day Santa Ignored Us
b. The Day Our 5th Grade Teacher Taught Us About Religious Tolerance
5) ROMANCE – lost and found
a. Sugar Daddy
b. Fairy Tale Ending
c. Politically Incorrect Dating
d. J Date
6) FINALE
a. The Dilemma of a Standing Ovation

Compendium of short plays: Hank Kimmel’s Shorts: Sports features a compendium of short plays and monologues that takes a comic, incisive look at Sports.

Each piece is self-contained, meaning it can all be performed separately or together…or some combination thereof….and in any particular order.


The Categories:

1) BASEBALL
a. One Day at the Little League Field
b. Winners Never Quit
2) SOCCER
a. Soccer Moms
3) TENNIS
a. The Day I Was Supposed to Play Tennis With Samuel Beckett
4) FOOTBALL
a. Redemption of a Football Widow
b. Confessions of a Hit Man – excerpt from a 60-minute one-act
c. Unbillable Hours – excerpt from a 90-minute one act

ONE ACT -- ADAPTATION: When the town’s richest woman comes into the bakery to make a special order for matza, the Baker tries to ready his co-workers for class warfare.

DRAMATIC PREMISE
Class envy is overtaken by class unity.

SYNOPSIS
It is three weeks before Passover, and word has gotten out: Mrs. Weinstock, the richest woman in town, is about to come into the bakery to place a large order for matza.

Most of the workers are excited. To please the richest woman in town would mean many things, but most of all it would mean getting a big tip, which is no small thing at a time when most people are poor.

There is a concern. Mrs. Weinstock is known for being tightfisted, and even if everyone does a good job, there is no guarantee that she will be uplifted by the Passover spirit. The Baker tries to convince his co-workers to expect less even as his own version of class differences takes an unexpected twist.

Matza for the Rich is a one-act play based on the short story of the same name by Avraham Reisen (from The Heart-Stirring Sermon and Other Stories; Edited and translated from Yiddish by Curt Leviant; Published by Overlook Press; Permission granted). It is a story about how perceptions about the rich…leading to scorn, envy and longing …both reinforce and distort the way and manner of those less “privileged.” It is also about how the employees of a Jewish bakery, desperate for a big tip, overcome their initial bickering and form an allegiance none of them expected.

Though the play takes place in a 19th Century Russian bakery, the issue of economic disparity is meant to speak to a contemporary audience.

SHORT LEGAL COMEDY: Ready to break up with her lawyer boyfriend when he takes on an unpopular cause,
Morgan still considers Brian’s appeal.

DRAMATIC PREMISE
Relentless advocacy can rescue a lost cause

COLLECTION OF SHORT HOLIDAY PLAYS: Holiday Dis-Enchantment: A Winter Holiday Jewish Christmas Comedy Show includes two short plays, a vignette and two short monologues that are tied together by the discomfort (and joy) a Jew feels at Christmas time.

Sometimes this discomfort is gnawing. Sometimes it is unknown. Sometimes it brings absolute joy. In Holiday Dis-Enchantment: A Winter Holiday Jewish Christmas Show this discomfort is always tinged with humor.

In The Day Santa Ignored Us, a Jewish Mother decides to confront a dismissive department store Santa – much to the chagrin of her 15-year-old son. Yes, Santa ignores them, but not for the reason they thought as the Mother overcomes her pre-conceived prejudice.

In The Day Our Teacher Taught Us About Religious Tolerance, a 5th Grade teacher, addressing her class, takes a stand against political correctness, and by the end of her lecture/monologue, she learns whether her students have taken her message to heart.

In Holiday Angst, a Jewish Man and a Jewish Woman try to overcome their holiday angst amid a cart-wheeling Santa and their own disturbed holiday images.

In Welcome to Our Holiday Show, the school principal addresses an assembly of parents, trying to convince them there's nothing offensive about the upcoming holiday show.

In Beat the House: A Hanukah Midrash, a 15-year-old girl, along with her 12-year-old brother, must decide about whether to let an off-centered relative join them for what will be more than an innocuous family tradition.

Sent away to a boarding school by his family as a death-defying act, young Benjamin tries to blend in until his mis-cast roommate pushes them toward divisive truths about race, class, religion and each other.

The Education of Benjamin First starts with Opening Day at the prestigious Mountcastle School in 1965. With the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement as the backdrop, Benjamin's father is desperate to create a better life for his son, but Benjamin's world is immediately jarred by his African American roommate, Charles Robert Hawkins the Fourth, who immediately challenges every one of Benjamin’s assumptions about the world as it is.. With his father urging from afar, Benjamin tries to forge ahead until he realizes that Charles, unexpectedly, may be his best hope for friendship …if they can reconcile their differences about race, religion, and class.

TRILOGY OF 10-MINUTE PLAYS: (taking place in 1994): Can be presented either individually or together
1) Pier Pressure -- As the storm of the century approaches, two men on a pier having different ideas about how to respond to the incoming onslaught. Dramatic premise: Machismo is no match for Mother Nature.
2) Carton of Pink -- About to lay off her eldest worker, Julie must repel the advances of Seth, who believes he can help his younger boss excel. Dramatic premise; Chauvinism is fueled by intractability.
3) Tinted Window -- As his dying wife urges him to leave her hospital room, Frank Meyer must decide if their boat is worth saving as the worst storm in years approaches. Dramatic premise: Denial foments vulnerability.

Summary: The three plays explore the destructive effects of a male-dominated culture where chivalry, chauvinism and machismo are overtaken by natural forces both within and beyond a man’s control. The plays can either work in chronological or reverse chronological order.

Caveat: Each of the three plays in this trilogy deal with uncomfortable subject matter in terms of gender relationships. The Playwright does not intend to offend and understands if someone wants to opt out from the experience of reading and / or seeing these plays. The characters are meant to be well-intentioned—and, as victims of their own culture, they try to rise above the darkness, with varying degrees of success.

COLLECTION OF SHORT PLAYS: My Life in Theatre takes an insider’s look at developing and producing a play through a series of short plays, monologues and sketches.
Warning: It is self-indulgent, self-referential and metaphysical, but it also should be fun for anyone who makes, watches or scoffs at theatre.
Each piece is self-contained, meaning it can all be performed separately or together…or some combination thereof….and in any particular order.
The Components:

The Audience: Looking for Our Town: An autobiography (10-minute play)
The Writing Process, Part 1: Mis-Characterization (3-minute monologue)
The Writing Process, Part 2: The Guy Dies in The End (5-minute sketch)
The Rehearsal Process, Part1: Stripping Bare (5-minute sketch)
The Rehearsal Process, Part 2: Streetcar Serenade (8-minute play)
The Curtain Speech, Part 1: Welcome to Our Holiday Show (1-minute monologue)
The Curtain Speech, Part 2: I Would Like to Thank (1-minute monologue)
The Cast: The Service Character Takes Center Stage (3-minute monologue)
The Main Show: Tales from the Titanic & other 1-minute plays (10-minute sketch)
The Main Show: Village Gun Shop: With special visit from Anton Chekov (5-minute sketch)
The Curtain Call: The Dilemma of a Standing Ovation (5-minute sketch)
The Prize Winner: And the Hank Kimmel Playwriting Prize Goes to… (5-minute sketch)

10-MINUTE COMEDY: Jessica has found the perfect date for her friend Scott, but there's a problem: Scott, a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, may not be as socially, sexually and politically open-minded as he thinks to pursue this dream person.

10-MINUTE COMEDY: A mother watching her daughter play soccer tries to convince herself that it's just a game– when she knows it's much more than that.

Co-written with Barbara Kimmel

10-MINUTE DRAMA/ COMEDY: A man was planning to go to New York City on September 18, 2001, but after the events of 9/11, he would have to overcome fear, some bizarre incidents and heightened security before actually making it to New York.

10-MINUTE PLAY: Bill and Wendy, an aging lawyer and a younger law student, try to keep the moral high road as they scoff at the intimate relationship developing between them and their colleagues. Based on a newspaper article from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution

10-MINUTE COMEDY: After seeing his 11-year-old son strike out four times in a Little League game, a father inspires his son to keep playing – but not in a way either of them expected.

The play requires two characters, a baseball mitt and not much else.

10-MINUTES: In a modern rendition of the “binding story,” a father responds to a call from beyond – though his 12-year-old son may not be a willing accomplice – as they try to figure if divine intervention is truly divine.

This play is meant to be performed with simple staging and a simple set. It takes place in the present.

10-MINUTE HOLIDAY PLAY: With his Uncle and teenage sister urging him into a high-stakes game of dreidel, young Michael must assign a value to his righteousness.

There is one last seat on a crowded train, and no one is sure who should take it. Is chivalry still in play or is it every man (and woman) for himself?

Last Seat on The Train includes five characters Young White Male Bodybuilder (early 20s), Young Black Male Professional (late 20s-early 30s), Woman Professional in Heels (late 30s-early 40s), Middle-Aged Man with a Briefcase (late 50s-early 60s) and Older Woman with a Walker (late 70s-early 80s) all of whom have legitimate claims (and a strong desire) for the last seat on the train. In the end, only one of them can take it.

SHORT MONOLOGUE: A young man decides how long he will wait for his tennis opponent – as others in his life urge him to press forth.

Playwright's Note: In his youth, Samuel Beckett played tennis with a fair amount of aplomb.

10-MINUTE FAIRY TALE -- performed live or virtually. Looking to escape the Queen and get back through the Looking Glass, Alice tries to get past a gigantic wall guarded by an obdurate Humpty Dumpty – as an elusive White Rabbit helps guide her. A 10-minute adaptation of a fairy tale.

DRAMATIC PREMISE
Crossing the threshold requires youthful persistence.

10-MINUTE COMEDY: Charles Hill comes to the pharmacy late at night to fill his prescription for Social Anxiety and finds an unexpected cure from the crowd he attracts.

Two recent law school graduates yearn for what the other has until each realizes she was destine to lead different lives.

Madeline and Adrian are rehearsing scene 10 (“the rape scene”) from Tennessee Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire. Madeline and Adrian are beginning acting students, earnest but not yet artistically equipped to handle a scene with so much sexual fury. Still, they proceed, ready to give the most they can to each other as the scene, if not their own relationship, approaches its climax.

Playwright’s note: Madeline is slightly more adept as an actor than Adrian, but this difference is not significant.

Dramatic premise: Dramatic tension provokes dramatic release.

10-minute comedy: It's the first night of Hanukah, and Christine and Christie, two newly-discovered Jews, seek the help of a traveling rabbi, who may know less about the religion than they do.

Dramatic premise: True faith requires a bit of faith.

MONOLOGUE: While being put on trial, Our Holy Leader (King David reincarnated as a woman) challenges her convinctions and ours -- as we the jury is about to pass judgment.

SHORT LEGAL COMEDY -- When Allison presses her client Peter to file a controversially novel lawsuit, she must convince Peter that it’s in the best interests of his family, and not just hers.
Dramatic Premise: Amicability is tested by zealous representation.

10-MINUTE EXPERIMENTAL FANTASY: Sitting at an edge of a pier, a forlorn suitor tries to break the resistance of his reluctant princess who wants to be swept away by more than just memory.

This play was developed in a workshop led by Erik Ehn.

Dramatic Premise: An earnest clumsiness rekindles forgotten love.

10-Minute Drama:
A man in the prime of his life is summoned to a funeral parlor where he is impelled to join a strange and precise ritual that is bound to leave one of the participants forgotten for all time.

Cycle of Death requires four characters (two males and two females) and four chairs. Though there is a surrealistic edge to the play, the action is very real to the characters.

At the risk of offending anyone who may be offended, a reluctant MC offers a list of disclaimers more entertaining than the show itself.

SHORT COMEDY ABOUT THEATRE: To stand or not to stand. That's what Adam must figure out after he sees a show that, well, impresses others more than him. Dramatic premise: Peer pressure leads to community engagement.

Comic Monologue (short) : Deciding about whether to call it quits, a schoolteacher has one last thing to say before Christmas to her 5th grade class – in her attempt to temper compassion with the truth.

Dramatic premise: Unfiltered truth leads unexpected compassion.

SHORT LEGAL COMEDY: SUMMARY: While meeting privately in a probate with Priscilla, the Mediator must decide the extent of Pricilla’s anger. Dramatic Premise: Patience is a virtue until when it isn’t.

COMIC MONOLOGUE: A writer takes stock of his entire life as he decides whether to use a bad word in his play in a short monologue that explores the thin boundary of between emotional investment and vulgarity.

Eff You is a four-minute monologue that requires a male actor and not much else.

Monologue:
When a young man finally gets the courage to ask the girl of his dreams on a date, he sees something on her windshield that forces him to rethink his action – or inaction.

Fairy Tale Ending is a short monologue that requires a male actor and not much else.

Gwen lives in a town where everything is perfect. The weather is perfect. The school is perfect. The kids are perfect. To celebrate this state of perfection, the town holds every year a Perfect Person Pageant. For the past five years, Gwen has been considered the most perfect person, and appears to be a shoe-in to win this year's pageant until Saturn, a Girl From Another Place, comes to town.

Aided by Helen (the only child in town without perfect attendance), Saturn unwittingly becomes Gwen's stiffest rival. Gwen tries to be gracious about this unexpected challenge, but in her quest to keep her record unblemished, Gwen starts to encourage others to act in less-than-perfect ways, while trying to keep herself clear of any imperfection. Despite Gwen's machinations, Saturn is poised to win Gwen's title.
But Gwen doesn't want to go down without a fight, and the balance of the competition is held in sway until Helen questions Gwen who then questions herself.

SYNOPSIS
My name is Marvin Schwartz, and I worry you’re not going to like me. I’m a lawyer by trade who’s spent the last 25 years in full devotion to Abe Rosen, a steel magnate who owned a questionably-run scrap yard. Abe’s about to die, and I’m not sure what he’s going to do with his will. I urged him for years to have something in place. He said, “Don’t worry, Marvin, I’ll make sure I’m not forgotten.” When Abe dies, he sets up a plan that forces me, his wife, doctor, rabbi, secretary, housekeeper, childhood friend and caddie to come together in an unexpected way. I will come out beloved, but not in the way I imagined as others thirst for revenge.
DRAMATIC PREMISE
The maniacal quest for money leads to an unquenched thirst for love, justice, and revenge.