Cherielyn Ferguson

It’s 1972 and Linda’s thrilled to escape small-town Nebraska for college. She’s sure she’ll be free of the harassment she had to take during her job at Gladys’s drugstore. Gladys claims, “that’s just the way boys are”. Linda’s response to Gladys’s dismissal of her complaints gives Gladys more information than she wanted to get.

Finalist: Moxie Theatre's 2026 Lamoise New Works Festival
Reading: Midwest Dramatists Conference
Reading: Valdez Theatre Conference
Reading: Playwrights' Center - SF

A young disabled Civil War veteran spends his days hawking tours of Gettysburg, often to people oblivious to the true toll of the battle, and the role he plays in selling the battlefield as a tourist attraction begins to weigh on him. A brief encounter one day with a Union widow gives him the renewed energy he needs to make sure everyone sees the effects of the war as he does.

Production: Salem State University

10-minute play
If you hear something, do you say something: Two women overhear a neighbor lace into her kids with an obscenity-laden rant. Is it their responsibility to intervene?

Production: Professional, The Pear Theatre
Finalist: Chameleon Theatre Circle New Play Contest

10-minute play
Newly-widowed Carolyn surprises her adult son Mark when she says she’s ready to complete the sale of the family’s beloved vacation home—ASAP. Carolyn will do whatever it takes to get the house ready to sell—even if that mean erasing much of what makes the house so special to Mark. When Mark presses his mother about her hurry, he learns something about the house that he wishes he hadn’t.

Community Theatre: Reading, The Storefront Theatre
Community Theatre: Production, Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre
Professional: Production, Monster Box Theatre

10-minute play
Ah, the hazards of the holiday season: the fruitcake, the frenzied shopping . . . the carolers. Lauren and Josh are settled in for a quiet evening at home when they hear “Angels we have heard on high, Sweetly singing o’er the plains”. Opening the door is the first mistake, that leads to the next, and the next . . .

Production: Quannapowitt Players

10-minute play
After two grueling days of interviews Rory, an ambitious young tech worker, takes up a spur-of-the-moment invitation to have dinner with his potential manager. As the meal winds down, casual assumptions about class and background play a greater part in Rory’s future than expected.

Reading: Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival
Zoom production: Dromio Players

One-act play
Four eccentric tenants gather to create a plan to survive whatever emergency lurks out there for them in these uncertain times. The orderly process of getting contact info and sharing their own oddball personal protection strategies devolves into chaos when they decide to stage a response to an imagined emergency. Lights blow out, an intruder arrives, and cover is taken. Will they be safer when the evening’s over? Who will go home feeling wronged and peeved? And who will stay to embark on the most promising security plan of all?

Production: University, Adams State University, Colorado
Finalist: Chameleon Theater Circle New Play Contest

10-minute play
It’s 1951 and Bob comes home with something special from his research lab at Phillips Petroleum: a bottle you use once and throw away. For Bob, the future’s so bright, we’ll have to wear shades. His wife Marion’s not so sure about that. What if we said “no” to the future?

Production: Community Theater, The Lantern Theatre, Sheffield, UK
Reading: Community Theatre, Kumu Kahua Theatre

10-minute play
Romeo, Juliet, and Will Shakespeare are shot through time and space—trading their familiar Globe Theatre for a modern marriage bureau. Do all the old rules apply, or is this a whole new world?

Production: Professional, The Pear Theatre
Production: Professional, Fusion Theatre Company: The Seven - Albuquerque NM
Publication: Smith & Kraus Best 10-Minute Plays 2026

10-minute play
It’s December 31st, and Father Time is on his way to some well-deserved R&R. But Baby New Year has questions. What’s the strategic plan? Where’s the path to greatest impact? Baby’s annoyed by Father Time’s pushback, until the old man shows that while he can’t talk deliverables and deep dives, he can still pass on the keys to success.

10-minute play
A son wants to spare his forgetful mother the trouble of making a full-blown Thanksgiving dinner. He’s sure he has the perfect alternative, but she has other ideas.

Professional: Reading, PlayGround-SF

10-minute play
Character A finds themself in front of a park bench—again. Nothing good ever comes of that. But Character B disagrees, and determines to show Character A they're wrong. Plenty can happen in front of a bench . . .

Production: Cannon Theatre
Production: Queens Short Play Festival, semi-finalist
Production: Lantern Players, UK
Reading: Tiger's Heart Players

Full-length play
Early 20th century American aviatrix Blanche Stuart Scott doesn’t wait around for adventure and fame to find her. This Rochester-born woman goes after it, discovering that all along the way men want to claim her ideas as their own, use her flying expertise to enhance their own celebrity, or narrow her ambitions through marriage. Whether it’s confronting her mother’s disapproval of her choices, defending her record as the best female pilot of her time, or battling for her rights in a male-dominated field—Blanche meets every challenge head on.

Finalist, Hudson Valley Theatre Festival
Semi-finalist, American Association of Community Theatre

10-minute play
Ben paces anxiously behind Tara while she finishes reading his newly-completed novel. She turns a page and sighs. She makes a note. What’s she really thinking? Ben insists that Tara give it to him straight, no matter what. And then she does . . .

Production: Community Theater, Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre
Production: Community Theater, Pegasus Theatre of Sonoma
Production: Professional, Monster Box Theatre
Reading: The Chameleon Theatre Circle, Winner 10-minute play category

10-minute play
When you’re the “world's most beautiful woman”, it’s hard to be seen as anything else. Hedy Lamarr tried, though. In 1942, the Hollywood actress presented the Navy with her Secret Communication System, confident that it would make a difference in submarine warfare. It would have, too, but the Navy had other ideas.

Production: Soapbox Stageworks 2026

One-act play
Angie, a guard at a large urban art museum, is on the verge of becoming a supervisor, which promises even more access to the art she’s proud to protect every day. But her path is threatened when Garrett, a street artist, visits her workplace with a shady plea for help. Angie must protect herself and her future from Garrett’s flimsy claims that he’s left his troubled life behind.

10-minute play
A cheerful hitchhiker finds himself in a car with a driver who’s not quite so cheerful. What could go wrong?

10-minute play
Who’s behind those placid voices that announce the next bus stop, tell us to exit from the rear, urge us to hold on for our own safety? Those voices want to connect with others, just the way the rest of us do. Take a 10-minute bus ride and hear them share a secret desire or two, and also reveal the course they take to find a life outside the bus.

Production: Community Theater, Gemco Players, Victoria, Australia

10-minute play
When Kim, a newly retired-teacher, asks for her neighbor Amy’s help on her school board campaign, Amy’s ready to enlist. Kim’s objectives for the district sound reasonable-- up to a point. And Amy finds she has a new decision to make.

Workshop: Playwrights' Center of San Francisco
Production: Playwrights' Center of San Francisco

A short play
Our earthly competition for fame doesn’t die in the Afterlife, it just takes a different form: The Pantheon of Memorabilia Immortals. Recent inductees Mozart and Mona Lisa will select the next master or mistress of merchandising. Will it be Jane Austen, Coco Chanel, Alexander Hamilton, or Napoleon Bonaparte? May the best socks, mugs, and mouse pads win.

10-minute play
The 1950s weren’t all about Bing Crosby singing White Christmas; some people could still have trouble getting into the holiday spirit. To wit—Jake’s got an anger management problem and he’d like to fix everyone’s wagon. He finds an unwitting accomplice in Irma, his mild-mannered, elderly neighbor. And then all hell—or rather, all fruitcake—breaks loose.

Reading: Actors Reading Writers, Berkeley

The 1950s weren’t all about Bing Crosby singing White Christmas and Silver Bells; some people could still have trouble getting into the holiday spirit. To wit—Jake’s got an anger management problem and he’d like to fix everyone’s wagon. He finds an unwitting accomplice in Irma, his mild-mannered, elderly neighbor. And then all hell—or rather, all fruitcake—breaks loose.

10-minute play
Everyone’s holiday traditions are just like your own, right? Not so fast. When your new in-laws gift-giving customs make no sense to you, do you speak up or shut up? Newlywed Kristen finds out what happens when she goes with the first, risky option.

10-minute play
On the 4th of July, Stan brings over an American flag for his son, Kevin, to display outside his house. Stan expects Kevin to fly the flag as enthusiastically as he himself does. Kevin both surprises and disappoints his father when Kevin shares his questions about what it means to fly the flag.

Playwrights' Roundtable: Launch 2025, Orlando, FL

10-minute play
Overwhelmed as she clears out the family house, Julie mistakenly tosses out a memento of great importance to her late mother. Help comes from an unexpected source when she races to save the “treasure” she was told to hold on to—forever. A philosophizing refuse worker advises her let go of this thing that, as the saying now goes, does not spark joy. And to keep the thing that rings a bell.

Professional: Pan Theater - Anything Can Happen in 10 Minutes Play Festival

10-minute play
Nate and his family are new to the neighborhood, and when the holidays roll around, long-time resident John expects Nate to fall in line with the Cherry Avenue Tree Tradition. But Nate has more questions about the regimented decoration scheme than John’s prepared for and John begins to reconsider the whole thing. Who’s in and who’s out? And why?

10-minute play
Rygos finds the love of his life while on vacation. Now back on his own planet, he can’t wait to introduce her to his mother. Once Mom finds out where her son’s intended comes from, she’s determined to put a stop to it all. But Rygos finds a way to make her see the light.

Production: Redlands Theatre Festival, July 2026
Production: Pegasus Theater Sonoma, October 2026
Finalist - "Views from a Lamp Post" Cork Arts Theatre, Cork, Ireland

One-act play
An impossibly high rent hike forces Jane to sell off her treasured collectible and antiques inventory to make way for a trendy store owned by Nicholas, a determined Millennial. Rebecca, a young merchandise liquidator, only makes matters worse by questioning the prices of Jane’s merchandise. And just as Jane tries to hold on to everything that’s safe and familiar, Jane’s autistic adult daughter Lucy presses her mother for more responsibility and independence. What’s the real value of Jane’s collection of old clocks, china, and vintage records—to Jane and to others? Are Lucy’s ambitions reasonable? And who gets to decide?

Shawnee Playhouse: Shawnee Original Playwright Series - Winner, One-Act category