R. D. Murphy

I am a member of Actors’ Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild and have been performing in Boston and throughout New England for over 25 years. I have served as Board Vice President of Boston’s THEATRE COMMUNITY BENEVOLENT FUND and as a Board Member of STAGESOURCE, the Alliance of Theatre Artists and Producers, which is also based in Boston. For over a decade and counting, I have adjudicated for the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild (METG) - lets build those audiences of tomorrow!
I was named a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellow in Dramatic Writing in 2015.
My full length plays include HORRIBLES PARADE which was partially developed across two sessions of playwright Melinda Lopez’s workshop ACTORS WRITE PLAYS sponsored by the Huntington Theatre and the Mellon Foundation...

I am a member of Actors’ Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild and have been performing in Boston and throughout New England for over 25 years. I have served as Board Vice President of Boston’s THEATRE COMMUNITY BENEVOLENT FUND and as a Board Member of STAGESOURCE, the Alliance of Theatre Artists and Producers, which is also based in Boston. For over a decade and counting, I have adjudicated for the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild (METG) - lets build those audiences of tomorrow!
I was named a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellow in Dramatic Writing in 2015.
My full length plays include HORRIBLES PARADE which was partially developed across two sessions of playwright Melinda Lopez’s workshop ACTORS WRITE PLAYS sponsored by the Huntington Theatre and the Mellon Foundation. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SHAVE, a scene from that play, was included in a staged reading at the Huntington in December 2014.
From 2014 -2017, I served as Arts Fellow at the St. Botolph Club in Boston. My plays HALF SUNK AND SHATTERED; SCRAPGOAT; and WHO ORDERED THE HAPPY ENDING? (featuring the world's oldest FRIENDLY'S waitress) were performed at the annual St. Botolph 10-Minute Play Festivals.
Three of my scripts have been produced in the annual Boston Theatre Marathon (which anyone in Boston will tell you is a BIG thing): THE PROS AND CONS OF IMPLOSION; GLENDA JACKSON IN A BODEGA (I AM NOT); and SCRAPGOAT.
THE PROS AND CONS OF IMPLOSION was produced in the 2022 Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival.
Other plays include: THAT THING YOU DO WITH YOUR TONGUE, produced by Newburyport Center for the Arts and published by SMITH & KRAUS in Best 10-Minute Plays 2012; THE CUCKOOS (produced by SLAMBoston 2015 and by Newburyport Center for the Arts in 2016); BROOM CLEAN (produced by Salem Theatre Company); SCRAPGOAT (produced by Salem Theatre Company); and FACE TIME (SLAMBoston 2010 and also Fort Point Theatre Channel). My play with music BOLLYWOOD ENDING was produced by Boston’s FeverFest and published by SMITH & KRAUS in Best 10-Minute Plays 2010.

Scripts

THE PROS AND CONS OF IMPLOSION

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY
Allie is a whip-smart, mechanically inclined high school senior who is a car whisperer. She wants to restore her neighbor’s Volvo which has been left to rust for 20 years. Simple plan, right? Depends on what you know about implosion.

10 MINUTE PLAY
Allie is a whip-smart, mechanically inclined high school senior who is a car whisperer. She wants to restore her neighbor’s Volvo which has been left to rust for 20 years. Simple plan, right? Depends on what you know about implosion.

GLENDA JACKSON IN A BODEGA (I AM NOT)

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY
Michael Errington has a toothache. That would be painful enough but Glenda Jackson has come to New York to play King Lear. Whenever Glenda's in town, it means a farrago for Michael, who is Glenda's doppelganger.
Published in BOSTON THEATER MARATHON XXII ANTHOLOGY.

10 MINUTE PLAY
Michael Errington has a toothache. That would be painful enough but Glenda Jackson has come to New York to play King Lear. Whenever Glenda's in town, it means a farrago for Michael, who is Glenda's doppelganger.
Published in BOSTON THEATER MARATHON XXII ANTHOLOGY.

SCRAP GOAT

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY
Former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay has been convicted of fraud in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. On the eve of his sentencing, Lay receives a mysterious visitor who intends to absolve his sins.

10 MINUTE PLAY
Former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay has been convicted of fraud in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. On the eve of his sentencing, Lay receives a mysterious visitor who intends to absolve his sins.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SHAVE

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY
“I’m forgetting how many wars I’ve forgotten.” A vet wants a shave; his brother wants justice. That’s a lot to ask of a heartbroken barber.

10 MINUTE PLAY
“I’m forgetting how many wars I’ve forgotten.” A vet wants a shave; his brother wants justice. That’s a lot to ask of a heartbroken barber.

PRINCESS SCHOOL FOR HUSBANDS. OR NOT.

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY in the style of Moliere. Rhyming couplets! Swordplay!
A decade ago, JAMIE was one of the first successful influencers; today he is a venture capitalist ready to cash in on the creators found on Tik Tok and Youtube. He’s set his sights on PRINCESSLIFE a wildly popular post created by an in-demand Princess Party performer. JAMIE urges PRINCESS to meet with his Funding Committee today at noon. Only...

10 MINUTE PLAY in the style of Moliere. Rhyming couplets! Swordplay!
A decade ago, JAMIE was one of the first successful influencers; today he is a venture capitalist ready to cash in on the creators found on Tik Tok and Youtube. He’s set his sights on PRINCESSLIFE a wildly popular post created by an in-demand Princess Party performer. JAMIE urges PRINCESS to meet with his Funding Committee today at noon. Only one problem: his wife PENNY has already hired PRINCESS to work her four-year-old fanboy’s birthday today at noon. JAMIE is desperate to convert clicks into gold. PENNY demands a Princess-perfect party or heads will roll. Somebody has to be schooled.

STAY FRESH

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY
“Those who do not learn from history armoire ikea kit.”

10 MINUTE PLAY
“Those who do not learn from history armoire ikea kit.”

THE HIRELING

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY
The labor market is booming ever since alien monsters permeated our galactic dimensions and started working entry level jobs. But is java-to-go a universal language? Devon manages a coffee franchise and sees the post-permeation economy as the answer to his dreams. Or is it his worst nightmare?

10 MINUTE PLAY
The labor market is booming ever since alien monsters permeated our galactic dimensions and started working entry level jobs. But is java-to-go a universal language? Devon manages a coffee franchise and sees the post-permeation economy as the answer to his dreams. Or is it his worst nightmare?

THE CUCKOOS

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY
In a seller's market, the couple touring your house wants to be "just like you." It's a lock, right? Not when the Cuckoos appear at your door...

10 MINUTE PLAY
In a seller's market, the couple touring your house wants to be "just like you." It's a lock, right? Not when the Cuckoos appear at your door...

THAT THING YOU DO WITH YOUR TONGUE

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY
The newspaper feature DINNER WITH CUPID, a blind date recorded for all the world to see, reaches new lows when a dog is paired with a cat. News cycles collide when a physicist/part-time waitress hijacks this media event, while looking for the next big sizzle. Incidentally, how do you do that thing with your tongue? Partially based on kinda true events! Published in SMITH AND KRAUS THE BEST TEN...

10 MINUTE PLAY
The newspaper feature DINNER WITH CUPID, a blind date recorded for all the world to see, reaches new lows when a dog is paired with a cat. News cycles collide when a physicist/part-time waitress hijacks this media event, while looking for the next big sizzle. Incidentally, how do you do that thing with your tongue? Partially based on kinda true events! Published in SMITH AND KRAUS THE BEST TEN-MINUTE PLAYS 2012.

BROOM CLEAN

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY
When you’re a “closer”, your job is to clear and secure a foreclosed house. Sometimes what you find strikes close to home.

10 MINUTE PLAY
When you’re a “closer”, your job is to clear and secure a foreclosed house. Sometimes what you find strikes close to home.

FIRE ESCAPE PLAY: GHOST STORY

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY
Salem's rogue Halloween Festival has sputtered out (COVID shut down the official bacchanal), as FITZ and FIDELIA return to their B&B in the wee hours of the Day of the Dead. They're arguing loudly and attract the undesired attention of a lingering guest.

10 MINUTE PLAY
Salem's rogue Halloween Festival has sputtered out (COVID shut down the official bacchanal), as FITZ and FIDELIA return to their B&B in the wee hours of the Day of the Dead. They're arguing loudly and attract the undesired attention of a lingering guest.

FIRE ESCAPE PLAY: ESCAPE FROM BAKED ALASKA

by R. D. Murphy

Synopsis

10 MINUTE PLAY
MAGGIE misses RAJ - the late adventurer, archeologist, and love of her life. Her son BURTON attempts to dig MAGGIE out from an avalanche of memories and possessions, including an arctic mesotonic ice hatchet of questionable provenance.

10 MINUTE PLAY
MAGGIE misses RAJ - the late adventurer, archeologist, and love of her life. Her son BURTON attempts to dig MAGGIE out from an avalanche of memories and possessions, including an arctic mesotonic ice hatchet of questionable provenance.