Chris Gacinski

SHORT ONE ACT: Episode III of the Unhinged Series.

Damian just got out of jail, and a lot has changed since he was locked up, but the one thing that didn't was his drinking. His best friend, Mikey, is now concerned with how much Damian has been drinking, and steps in to try to get him the help he needs.

SHORT ONE ACT: Episode II of the Unhinged Series.

Two friends in their late 20’s revisit Crabapple Anne’s, an old dive bar they spent their college years at. The follow up episode to Unhinged talks about growing up and maturing in a purely insane way.

FULL-LENGTH: Paulie and Juliette have been in an unhappy marriage for years, with constant fighting and bickering filling every room they walk into. One day, out dinner with their friends, Ryan and Olive, they decide to trade spouses for the week, as a way to hopefully improve their marriages. It is soon revealed that Ryan and Olive have a dirty secret the world isn't ready to know.

SHORT ONE ACT: Episode I of the Unhinged Series

Mikey is down on his luck. He left his job and his girlfriend on the same day, and is now back on dating apps. That's where his best friend, Damian, comes in to help...or so he thinks.

ONE-ACT: Two artists attempt to write a new musical, but their dependency on substance hinders the creative process. Solomon and Matilda are as passionately in-love with heroin as they are with each other. Matilda got clean under the nose of Solomon, who uses substances for his artistic gain, or so he thinks. The play chronicles multiple facets of dependency with two characters who are empathetic at their core, but have been corrupted by their addictions.
This play is a unique experience for the audience, as there's an eclectic mix of theatre, music and poetry weaved within within tense dialogue. The structure itself runs as one continuous scene with only two characters on a bleak stage. It's a language play at its core with theatre of cruelty on its skin, it's a play that is painful to watch, but you are compelled to continue watching as there's a sense of hope, albeit ever-fleeting. It will provoke thoughts on drug use and its impact on artists, the people around them, and on those who have to experience or have experienced it, along with draw a parallel between a toxic relationship and a drug addiction.

TEN MINUTE: Three college students pretend to be poets they have to write as for a school project.

ONE-ACT: Lorenzo is a recently divorced writer who has recently moved to Paris to make a name for himself as a playwright. He submits a play to Jean-Paul, the owner of a large theatre company, who rejects his piece. He is in search for the best play of this generation, to compete with the rising popularity of musical theatre. Lorenzo soon meets Federica, an Italian-American writer, and they team up to compose this piece. Band-Aid is a cautionary tale that explores falsified love and emotions, along with the relevancy of the play in a metatheatrical piece that straddles between romance and drama.

This piece contains basic Italian and minimal French, along with poems that are read aloud ala spoken word. Translations provided on request.

TEN MINUTE: Luis, a twenty-three year old college student, has decided to smuggle 100k worth of cocaine into the United States to pay off his student loan debt. The play takes place in his hotel room three hours before his flight. He recollects everything that got him to this point, and thinks about the possible outcomes from this mission.

MONOLOGUE: A cat-loving woman gruesomely describes the time her ex-husband brought home a dog.

MONOLOGUE: A plant sits on the barren shelves of a grocery store during a period of panic buying. While no one is interested in buying the plant, the plant is definitely interesting.

TEN MINUTE: A man and his girlfriend are enjoying a nice dinner for his birthday, but suddenly, tragedy strikes, and leads to the man struggling for his life. Do all lives matter when one person is in the most danger? Bill does not seem to agree. Whose life matters more?

UNAVAILABLE FOR PRODUCTION UNTIL FEB. 2025

TEN MINUTE: Le Petit Bateau is a short absurd piece that involves Jacques and Francois, two escapees from the grips of an angry French populous, who escape via the sea. They are now stranded in the middle of the ocean, with no sight of land anywhere, and no hope for rescue. The boat they sit in is cramped, with little to no space for themselves, and they cannot see eye to eye.

Run time: 10-15 mins

This piece contains basic-intermediate French. Translations provided on request.

MONOLOGUE: This piece is a cry for help from a boy who's neglected at school by his peers.

ONE-ACT: Waiting for the Birds is a short, absurd piece that’s about Phil and Mel, two individuals of differing social class. They engage in philosophical discussion in the middle of a park, waiting for these "birds" to show up. The discussions these two individuals have range from their own lives, their own personal philosophical/humanitarian beliefs, and asking the overall question "is life something as precious as it is disposable?" This piece has been described as a mix of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Edward Albee's Zoo Story.

FULL-LENGTH: “Two Tickets to Delray Beach” is a full-length play that covers multiple issues within the arts. The play highlights child actor Leo and his dysfunctional family. Steven, Leo’s father, is a police officer, and Leo’s mother, Linda, is Leo’s agent, booking Leo for anything and everything. It is revealed that Linda has underlying substance abuse issues, using the money Leo makes from these shows on Xanax and whiskey, underneath the nose of both Leo and her husband. The play shows how child actors are overworked, abused, and at times, molested, by those they work with. This play also highlights substance abuse issues and the importance of knowing that drug users are infected with an illness, that their scandalous actions are a byproduct of their addiction.

MONOLOGUE: A passionate cat owner is confronted with the grim reality that their cat is getting old and is ill, and must do what's right.

FULL-LENGTH: It's been months since the passing of Ben's best friend: his father. He sits in his room all day to compose art, to conceal the pain he's experiencing. The medications he routinely takes doesn't improve his mood, nor his life. His brother, Brian, introduces him to marijuana, and it slightly improves Ben's mood. Ben is then prescribed a legalized form of magic mushrooms, which causes him to vividly hallucinate about his father, reconnecting a bond that was once severed. This play is Ben's quest for happiness, and for closure. To show that although these substances are illegal, both can serve a remedial purpose in one's recovery process.

FULL LENGTH: Unhinged students with an even more unhinged professor wage war on one another within the walls of a corrupt university. After Ben has his longboard taken by his professor, everything goes down hill in this dark tragicomedy.

An officer approaches two bystanders about a shooting that just occurred, what we don't know was the bullets that were shot came from the officer's pistol. The exploration of police intimidation tactics, the importance of learning laws, and the lack of police training all boil over in this fifteen-minute drama.

As a sequel to the play "Two Tickets to Delray Beach," we are picked up where we were left off: A broken home, with a drug-addicted mother as the crux of the families burdens. She is sent to rehab to fix her life for her, and for her family. Can the desire to reunite one with those they love most conquer an addiction?