Next Time On Spring Valley by
Two fanatics and their unwitting accomplices board a cross-country train with a mission of grave social and cultural import. How far would you go to save your favorite soap?
Full-length comedy.
Full-length comedy.
Louise Schwarz
Louise Schwarz
Louise Schwarz's award-winning plays have been produced and developed all over the country, including the New York International Fringe Festival/Theatre for the New City, the Mark Taper Forum's New Work Festival, Stage Left Theatre, Pandora’s Box PlayRites of Spring Festival, Horizon Theatre’s New South for the New Century Festival, Trilogy Theatre, Railroad Playhouse, Producer’s Club, Pulse Ensemble...
Louise Schwarz's award-winning plays have been produced and developed all over the country, including the New York International Fringe Festival/Theatre for the New City, the Mark Taper Forum's New Work Festival, Stage Left Theatre, Pandora’s Box PlayRites of Spring Festival, Horizon Theatre’s New South for the New Century Festival, Trilogy Theatre, Railroad Playhouse, Producer’s Club, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, Neo Pack Productions, Oscar Hammerstein Center, Cherry Lane Alternative, New Perspectives Theatre, RAL Productions/Museum of Sex, ESPA Drills/Primary Stages, Shakespeare on the Sound, ANDTheatre, among others.
Fellowships and residencies include Blue Mountain Center, Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Hambidge Center, and the Edward Albee Foundation. She has taught playwriting at Oklahoma State University, Hofstra University, Northern Stage, and Appel Farm Arts & Music Center. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a member of Honor Roll!, an advocacy group of women+ playwrights over 40. Louise is currently in the Writers Pool of Playground-NY, an NYC-based playwright incubator, and a member of Playwrights' Round Table in Orlando.
M.F.A. Playwriting, Columbia University. B.A. Directing, University of Georgia.
Fellowships and residencies include Blue Mountain Center, Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Hambidge Center, and the Edward Albee Foundation. She has taught playwriting at Oklahoma State University, Hofstra University, Northern Stage, and Appel Farm Arts & Music Center. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a member of Honor Roll!, an advocacy group of women+ playwrights over 40. Louise is currently in the Writers Pool of Playground-NY, an NYC-based playwright incubator, and a member of Playwrights' Round Table in Orlando.
M.F.A. Playwriting, Columbia University. B.A. Directing, University of Georgia.
Plays
Goat Coaster by Louise Schwarz
Recommendations: 1··Cast:10Genre: comedy, young audiences·Keyword: teenagers, petty theft + 4 moreGenre: comedy, young audiencesKeyword: teenagers, petty theft, amusement park, Colonial America, kleptomania, summer jobA group of high school students spend their summer working at Golden Olden Adventure Towne, a theme park outside a major American city in the southeast. G.O.A.T is having trouble adapting to a changing world where the theme park's old colonial themes don't quite work the way they used to. Just as the season is getting underway, some employees' personal items start to go missing. They quickly...A group of high school students spend their summer working at Golden Olden Adventure Towne, a theme park outside a major American city in the southeast. G.O.A.T is having trouble adapting to a changing world where the theme park's old colonial themes don't quite work the way they used to. Just as the season is getting underway, some employees' personal items start to go missing. They quickly suspect the thief is among them.
A short but full-length comedy, that can also be adjusted into a one-act by removing some or all of the interstitial scenes.Why Summer Is A Lie by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:6Genre: comedy, drama·Keyword: coming of age, sexual orientation + 4 moreGenre: comedy, dramaKeyword: coming of age, sexual orientation, sexual harassment, Summer Camp, discussions of childhood sexual abuse, Gay and LGBTQAt a sleep-away summer camp in New Jersey in 1997, teenage Livvie and her friends struggle with coming of age, and face what happens when deeply troubled kids clash with deeply troubled adults.
Full-length dramedy.This Is Not A Project by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:5–9Genre: comedy, drama + 1 more·Keyword: wrongful conviction, dating and relationships + 1 moreGenre: comedy, drama, romantic comedyKeyword: wrongful conviction, dating and relationships, exonerationLyle has been exonerated after over a decade languishing on Pennsylvania's death row for a crime he didn't commit. He's grateful for his freedom, but has much to learn about the how the world has changed in his time away. More than anything, Lyle wants a nice girl to settle down with -- no easy task for someone with such an infamous background.
Full length dramedy.Sorry City by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:8Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more·Keyword: adult children with aging mother, aging + 3 moreGenre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, mystery/thriller, tragedyKeyword: adult children with aging mother, aging, Generation X, suspicious death, hometownBess has returned to the city where she grew up to work a thankless temp job at a bank while helping her elderly mother Donna recover from knee surgery, when the man who crushed her now middle-aged and hardened heart as a young woman turns up dead. First assumed to be an accident, the death quickly becomes a preoccupation of a group of Bess's former high school friends.
Full-length tragicomic mystery.Pluses and Minuses by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:3Genre: comedyGenre: comedyAngie and her friend Josephine go to buy her a pregnancy test after getting a little liquid courage, much to the extreme discomfort of an innocent drugstore clerk.
10-minute comedy. Fun for accent work (midwestern/Minnesota).How To Be A Rock Star by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:6Genre: comedy·Keyword: rock stars, drugs and rock n' roll + 1 moreGenre: comedyKeyword: rock stars, drugs and rock n' roll, nostalgia for days gone by
Sammy, the former rhythm guitarist of the once-legendary rock band Snake Train, has gotten sober and is trying to get the band back together decades later. Trouble is, their new lead guitarist Decker is much younger and hasn’t quite gotten the hedonism and decadence of rock n’ roll out of his system. Sammy and his bandmates enlist the help of Betsy, his childhood best friend, to house them in her...
Sammy, the former rhythm guitarist of the once-legendary rock band Snake Train, has gotten sober and is trying to get the band back together decades later. Trouble is, their new lead guitarist Decker is much younger and hasn’t quite gotten the hedonism and decadence of rock n’ roll out of his system. Sammy and his bandmates enlist the help of Betsy, his childhood best friend, to house them in her mountain home in an effort to get Decker clean and to make the old magic happen again.
Full-length dramedy.A Life in Public Service (a monologue) by Louise Schwarz
Recommendations: 1··Cast:1Genre: comedy, political·Keyword: student council, childcare + 4 moreGenre: comedy, politicalKeyword: student council, childcare, Adolescence, coming of age, female coming of age, female monologueMonologue: A girl at various ages from 5 to 18 makes her stump speech running for student government. Great comic solo piece to show very wide range.
(The spacing looks weird but it doubles as a prop -- you'll see!)Theories of the Pole by Louise Schwarz
Recommendations: 1··Cast:6–8Genre: comedy, movement/physical·Keyword: Stripper, feminism + 2 moreGenre: comedy, movement/physicalKeyword: Stripper, feminism, generational divide, female sexualityThree young women decide to start a feminist revolution from the inside of a strip club.
Full-length comedy.That Bad Actress by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:7Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more·Keyword: con artist, dysfunctionGenre: comedy, dark comedy, satireKeyword: con artist, dysfunctionPrudence, a struggling NYC actress who has been cut off by her wealthy father on her 35th birthday, uses her considerable acting talents to obtain money in increasingly damaging and unethical ways.
Full-length comedy.Fairy Tale (a monologue) by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:1Genre: dark comedy, drama + 4 more·Keyword: deconstructed fairy tale, deconstructing patriarchy + 2 moreGenre: dark comedy, drama, fable/folktale, parody/spoof, satire, tragedyKeyword: deconstructed fairy tale, deconstructing patriarchy, domestic abuse, dark comedyCinderella is trying to hang on to her perfect image and her perfect hair and her perfect marriage. Abuse and addiction tell another story.
Dark comic monologue.The Journalist's Manifesto (a monologue) by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:1Genre: comedy, dark comedy·Keyword: monologue, TV journalist + 4 moreGenre: comedy, dark comedyKeyword: monologue, TV journalist, madness, drunk, abuse, murderA monologue in which a local news reporter has a bit of an onscreen meltdown while delivering the verdict in a murder trial. Great bizarro piece that an actress can really play around with and show her range in an audition.Four Thirty at Sunrise by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:4Genre: comedy·Keyword: senior living, Assisted Living + 2 moreGenre: comedyKeyword: senior living, Assisted Living, elderly women, School cafeteriaTen-minute play. The residents of Sunrise Villas Graduated Assisted Living Facility are discovering how little their dining room dynamics differ from that of the school cafeteria. We must avoid Betsy AT ALL COSTS!
4 women, seniors but it's also fun when the characters are played by childrenShe's Got A Nice One by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:3Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more·Keyword: deconstructed fairy tale, Nursery Rhymes + 1 moreGenre: comedy, drama, experimental, fable/folktaleKeyword: deconstructed fairy tale, Nursery Rhymes, Existential AbsurdismA ten-minute absurdist play. Old King Cole is having an existential crisis as two of his trio of fiddlers have gone to the other side and one is losing his hearing. It's also always daylight in his kingdom and it's starting to drive him mad.Fair Maiden by Louise Schwarz
Recommendations: 1··Cast:3Genre: comedy·Keyword: coming of age, rock star + 3 moreGenre: comedyKeyword: coming of age, rock star, 1980, junior high, school danceFuture rock star Sammy doesn't want to be at the junior high dance in 1980, but Greg (the drummer, of course) thinks it's the perfect time to put the moves on early bloomer Betsy. But can the spark ever be rekindled after she says something less than kind about Led Zeppelin?
Ten-minute comedy.Into the Confines of Paradise by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:3Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more·Keyword: adam and eve, absurd comedy + 2 moreGenre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, fable/folktaleKeyword: adam and eve, absurd comedy, college age, sexualityAdam and Eve are bored out of their minds, hoping someone else will show up and liven things up a bit. Is Lucy too good to be true?
Ten-minute play about faith, sexuality, and boredom.The Nostalgia Cure by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:3Genre: dark comedy, drama·Keyword: divorce, sexual assault + 2 moreGenre: dark comedy, dramaKeyword: divorce, sexual assault, consent, agingGrowing up is a funny thing. In the wake of his divorce, Will wants to turn back the clock and hopes that Farrah will help him recapture the old days. Can shame re-shape a memory?
Ten-minute play.
Like A Glove by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:3Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more·Keyword: fandom, proposal + 1 moreGenre: comedy, dark comedy, romantic comedyKeyword: fandom, proposal, horror moviesMarge, Simon, and Aaron visit the filming site of their favorite horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, to recreate an iconic scene, but some even scarier things are revealed in the re-enactment.
Ten-minute comedy.Lawyer Prep (a monologue) by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:1Genre: comedy, farce·Keyword: attorney, trials + 1 moreGenre: comedy, farceKeyword: attorney, trials, female monologueMonologue about an attorney who prepares for trial after a long time away from practicing law. A long, long time during which she watched way too much television. Good, big comic audition piece!The Fair Hope Memorial by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:7–10Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more·Keyword: abortion access, LGBTQ + 2 moreGenre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, political, tragedyKeyword: abortion access, LGBTQ, southern, Reproductive RightsIn 1999, a reporter from a popular New York women’s magazine visits a small town in Alabama to interview the proprietors of a controversial abortion clinic. As she arrives, the town is preparing to unveil a statue of two young children, one white and one Black, who were recently killed in a tragic accident. What she uncovers is a community torn apart by racial and religious tensions.
Full-length dramedy.A Little Bit Vacant by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:3Genre: comedy·Keyword: roadside motels, infidelity + 2 moreGenre: comedyKeyword: roadside motels, infidelity, affairs, adult friendships10-minute play
In this short comedy, Nora runs into her best friend in the most awkward of places. Will either of them tell the truth about their reason for being there?Beauty Pageant Massacre by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:8–12Genre: dark comedy, horror + 4 more·Keyword: beauty pageants, beauty queens + 5 moreGenre: dark comedy, horror, musical, mystery/thriller, parody/spoof, satireKeyword: beauty pageants, beauty queens, comedy horror, LGBTQ, thriller, horror satire, Mostly female cast by female playwrightA group of young women arrive at a theater to participate in a county beauty pageant. As the other contestants start to go missing and horrifying discoveries are made, the pageant host decides that the show must go on. How much blood and terror can these women withstand in order to win that prized crown? (Hint: it's a lot.)
Special Note: this play does contain a few performed songs and...A group of young women arrive at a theater to participate in a county beauty pageant. As the other contestants start to go missing and horrifying discoveries are made, the pageant host decides that the show must go on. How much blood and terror can these women withstand in order to win that prized crown? (Hint: it's a lot.)
Special Note: this play does contain a few performed songs and dances. Sheet music and recordings are available upon request, but other music can be used. It has also been adapted to be locale-specific if desired (e.g., the original NJ production's pageant was "Miss Glassboro," but became "Miss Middletown" in a CT production).Control of the Dirt by Louise Schwarz
·Cast:5Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more·Keyword: coping with death and grief, in-laws + 3 moreGenre: comedy, dark comedy, dramaKeyword: coping with death and grief, in-laws, college, contains LGBTQ characters, Mental HealthIn this tragicomic play, grieving widow Vanessa is trying to kick her late wife's nightmare-ish burden of a sister out of her apartment. When an easy way out presents itself through one of her therapy clients, she has a difficult decision to make between her own well-being and that of her patient.
Full-length.