Barry Brodsky

Barry Brodsky

Barry Brodsky is the former Director of the Screenwriting Certificate program at Emerson College. He currently teaches Screenwriting at Boston University’s Film school and Screenwriting and Playwriting at Lesley University’s low residency MFA Creative Writing program.

In 2008 he was nominated for an IRNE award (Independent Reviewers of New England) for Best New Play for The Boys of Winter (co-...
Barry Brodsky is the former Director of the Screenwriting Certificate program at Emerson College. He currently teaches Screenwriting at Boston University’s Film school and Screenwriting and Playwriting at Lesley University’s low residency MFA Creative Writing program.

In 2008 he was nominated for an IRNE award (Independent Reviewers of New England) for Best New Play for The Boys of Winter (co-written with Eric Small and Dean B. Kaner).

His stage plays have been produced in many theatres and cities over the past 20 years and three of his plays have been published. He is a past recipient of a grant from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation. Barry wrote the script for the short film I Miss You which was shown at the 2012 Algerian Film Festival and nominated for Best Short Film at the 2013 Madrid International Film Festival.

In 2015, his play The Twelve-Forty was named “People’s Choice” in the InspiraTO ten-minute play festival in Toronto.

Plays

  • King Street Mixup
    In an urban Welfare office in the early 1990s, a Regional Manager appears to let the workers know that the Department has ordered all its workers across the state to submit to a random drug test. The Manager tells them she will be back in a few hours expecting all to submit samples. The workers must decide whether to comply.
  • Returnees
    In 1968 at an obscure Washington, DC government office, civilians and military workers process orders for officers returning from Vietnam. The office is run by MAJOR TOM CARVER whose marriage is falling apart and who is frustrated by his inability to fire incompetent civilian employees. He takes an interest in KATIE HEDGES who was fired from another office and lands in the Returnee office, being paid out of Tom...
    In 1968 at an obscure Washington, DC government office, civilians and military workers process orders for officers returning from Vietnam. The office is run by MAJOR TOM CARVER whose marriage is falling apart and who is frustrated by his inability to fire incompetent civilian employees. He takes an interest in KATIE HEDGES who was fired from another office and lands in the Returnee office, being paid out of Tom’s pocket. PRIVATE JIM HALE is newly assigned to the office to “learn the ropes” from CORPORAL JOEY DELFINO, who seems to have some tricks up his sleeve when it comes to finding good assignments for officers. One of these officers is CAPTAIN BOBBY GARR who hopes to cap his military career with a “safe” assignment in Vietnam where he could retire on a Major’s pension. Carver takes Hale aside and implies that he thinks Delfino is taking money to set up good assignments for officers, and he wants Hale to report to him if he discovers this is what is happening.

    Three long-time, older civil servants continually struggle to get their work done: SONIA BEAUPRE lives a lonely life with a husband who doesn’t care for her; her time at work is her social life. FREDDIE C. FRANKLIN recently lost his wife and his son, a college grad, has gotten involved with a radical ‘Black Power’ group which worries Freddie. And ANNA B. MOORE, the office’s anchor is hoping for a long-awaited promotion to “Supervisor.” She is confident she’ll get it, especially since Major Carver has recently been put on the promotion committee. But Freddie continually reminds her that the section has never promoted a Black person to a supervisory position and he doubts they’ll start now.

    The tensions surrounding the concerns of all the Returnee Office employees builds to an explosive climax.
  • All Other Nights
    Ben Packer has suffered a stroke and can’t continue running his family business.
    His wife, Nettie, has sent for their two ne’er-do-well children: Aaron, a
    failed folk singer, and Ruth, an idealistic social worker. The family, along with
    ben and Nettie’s only friend, Ozzie, and Mark, an aspiring tv writer who has
    longed to marry Ruth, gather for a Passover seder. At the seder, broken...
    Ben Packer has suffered a stroke and can’t continue running his family business.
    His wife, Nettie, has sent for their two ne’er-do-well children: Aaron, a
    failed folk singer, and Ruth, an idealistic social worker. The family, along with
    ben and Nettie’s only friend, Ozzie, and Mark, an aspiring tv writer who has
    longed to marry Ruth, gather for a Passover seder. At the seder, broken
    dreams of the past humorously collide with brighter hopes for the future.
  • Copernicus
    : In 1520, legendary astronomer Niklas Copernicus, at age 47, is nearing the completion of his lifetime studies of the stars. He is in trouble with the Church, his long estranged brother has returned to try to win back the love of Niklas’s wife, and his ambitious scientific assistant is plotting to steal his life’s work. In the midst of all this, Niklas is called upon to organize the military defense of his...
    : In 1520, legendary astronomer Niklas Copernicus, at age 47, is nearing the completion of his lifetime studies of the stars. He is in trouble with the Church, his long estranged brother has returned to try to win back the love of Niklas’s wife, and his ambitious scientific assistant is plotting to steal his life’s work. In the midst of all this, Niklas is called upon to organize the military defense of his town from the oncoming attack of the rampaging Teutonic Knights. Story is loosely based on fact.
  • The Boys of Winter
    CHARACTERS

    1. Narrator, male, also plays Hockey Coach, Doug’s dad, Army recruiter
    2. Doug, male high school senior
    3. Bean, male high school senior
    4. Big Al, male high school senior
    5. Cathy, female high school senior
    6. Female – Doug’s mom, Physics Teacher, Kathy as adult

    SYNOPSIS

    1. PROLOGUE

    A homeless looking man...
    CHARACTERS

    1. Narrator, male, also plays Hockey Coach, Doug’s dad, Army recruiter
    2. Doug, male high school senior
    3. Bean, male high school senior
    4. Big Al, male high school senior
    5. Cathy, female high school senior
    6. Female – Doug’s mom, Physics Teacher, Kathy as adult

    SYNOPSIS

    1. PROLOGUE

    A homeless looking man (the Narrator) takes center stage and tells the audience that what they are going to see is the story of his youth. He introduces three young men, high school seniors on their school hockey team in White Lake, Minnesota in 1966. He says that one of the three is him, but he doesn’t say which one. They need to win their last two games in order to be the first White Lake team to make the state tourney in 20 years. As he leaves the stage to take the role of the hockey coach, the narrator lets the audience know that all three went to Vietnam, and he was the only one to return.

    2. ACT ONE

    The three boys, Doug, Bean, and Big Al are excited that they are close to the tourney. Their coach, Arne, will probably retire after this year and wants to go out a winner. Doug is in trouble in his physics class and his girlfriend, Cathy, is helping him study. If he fails the test, he will be off the team right before the big games. Doug’s father, Merle, tells Doug that a young man should serve his country during wartime, as he did in WW2. Doug’s mother, Sandy, wants Doug to go to college and stay away from the military. The tension in the house around this issue is palpable. Cathy talks with Doug about her cousin Jill who is living the hippy life in San Francisco – why don’t they both go and join her? Doug doesn’t consider this an option.

    At school, Al tells the other two that he’s seriously considering joining the Army. He isn’t doing that well in school either, and the Army recruiter is promising he will get training to be a mechanic. Bean is running with a “bad crowd” and belittles Al for thinking of joining the Army. The team wins its next game; one more win and they’re in the Tourney. A hockey scout from the U. of Minnesota was in the stands and Doug feels confident about being offered a hockey scholarship. But Cathy informs him that he’s failed his test. Doug is devastated. Meanwhile, Bean has gotten arrested for stealing a car and is bounced off the hockey team.

    Arne visits Mrs. Milton, Doug’s Physics teacher, to plead his case. It turns out they have a history and Mrs. Milton seems adamant. But when Arne informs her that Doug will probably join the military if he doesn’t get the hockey scholarship, she relents and allows him to re-take the test. At home, Merle is not happy with Doug and they continue to argue. Sandy tells Merle she’ll drive him to Canada if she has to.

    3. ACT TWO

    Doug passes the test and the team wins its final game to make the Tournament. The judge offers Bean a deal – join the Marines and we’ll wipe your record clean. Bean accepts the deal and leaves for boot camp.

    Al is disenchanted with his life and Doug goes with him to visit the Army recruiter. Despite Doug’s pleas, Al signs on the dotted line and soon leaves for Basic Training. Doug and his Dad continue to bicker over his future; Doug says that if he doesn’t get the hockey scholarship, he will join the military. Cathy tells Doug that she’s pretty much decided to move to California and wants him to join her. Doug is now considering this, though he knows it will displease his parents, especially is father. After losing the Tournament game, Doug finds out that Bean has been killed in Vietnam. Distraught and confused, he rushes down to the recruiter’s office to sign up.

    The narrator recalls, and the audience sees, Doug and Big Al’s paths crossing during a battle in Vietnam. Doug is depressed that Cathy has broken up with him and thinks he made a big mistake turning down the hockey scholarship. Al tells him that they’ll rebuild their lives when they return home, and that Doug should keep his mind on staying alive. The two friends part.

    4. EPILOGUE

    The narrator tells the audience that Doug was killed soon after that meeting, and that he, the Narrator, is Big Al.

    Al, now in his 60’s and surviving on a small disability pension, tracks down Cathy in San Francisco where she has settled and lived a satisfying life. They reminisce about their youth and voice their regrets and sadness over the deaths of their friends.

    The narrator regularly visits the Vietnam memorial in Washington, DC and camps out nearby. As he sits on a bench, Doug and Bean re-appear, skating across the stage and calling out to Al. The Narrator reaches out for them, but the young Big Al comes skating out and the Narrator watches sadly as his younger self and his best friends skate “home.”