John Mabey

FULL LENGTH PLAY: Two people unite against a crisis and divide on how to break through, revealing that sometimes fantasy is the perfect reality for impossible futures.

Gina, a transgender woman, and Keith, a cisgender man, navigate the joys and complexities of life over the course of their relationship. As emerging technologies offer a chance to connect with those who’ve passed away, both must decide what being alive actually means.

Impossible Theories Of Us is a play full of complicated hope, unfolding spirituality, and the dynamic ways one couple navigates mortality. Exploring both the possibilities and responsibilities of artificial intelligence, it challenges our expectations of what truly makes us human.

FULL LENGTH PLAY: Marie and daughter Rose Marie are left adrift after their husband/father, Michael, passes away, leaving behind boyfriend Arnie to discover a family of his own.

Mirroring the erratic path of grief, A Complicated Hope flashes between the moments in time that changed them all. Their journeys explore the challenges of both finding a family of choice and letting yourself be found.

HONORS
* PANOWSKI PLAYWRITING AWARD - 2021
* CHARLES M. GETCHELL NEW PLAY AWARD - 2022
* ESSENTIAL THEATRE PLAYWRITING AWARD – 2022
* SMITH & KRAUS BEST WOMEN'S MONOLOGUES - 2023

Available through Dramatic Publishing:
https://www.dramaticpublishing.com/a-complicated-hope

10-MINUTE PLAY: A parent and child reconnect in the most unique way, tearing the fabric of their own realities to find the threads of what remains in the space between.

As Xan utilizes technology to access a hologram of their deceased mother, Deb, they both find more than either expected. And as the implications of this relationship are discovered to be more fluid than fixed, both must decide what truly matters in the time they have left.

FULL LENGTH PLAY: Secrets and faith collide after a tragic loss, intertwining those left behind in a fight for survival.

Workshop Residency, UCF Pegasus PlayLab
Semi-Finalist, Fault Line Theatre
Semi-Finalist, Keegan Theatre
Semi-Finalist, Playwrights Foundation
Shortlist, Epiphanies New Works Festival

10-MINUTE PLAY: A small bag carries extraordinary secrets as one couple struggles to recognize each other and themselves.

HONORS
* SMITH & KRAUS PLAYS FOR GENDER MINORITIES - 2024

2-3 MINUTE MONOLOGUE: Not all monsters know that they are, and knowing the reasons why never erases what. But this nurse will support you, her way, whether you survive her help or not.

10-MINUTE PLAY: There's a small patch of land in Fontana Lake, North Carolina, with the remnants of Proctor - a former town that remains submerged but sometimes reveals itself to those who seek.

Here, two siblings are swept away by the currents of their relationship. But the promise of buried treasures is either a buoy or an anchor.

HONORS:
* FIRST PRIZE, PLAYWRITING - Blue Institute, 2023

FULL LENGTH PLAY:
One high school mascot, two very different schemes.
---
The statue of a mighty horse stands tall over Mustang High School, but the years have taken their toll on statue, students, and teachers. On the eve of this crumbling mascot being removed, opposing forces clash between preserving or destroying the last mustang. And there's one final night to discover what’s truly possible when misfits become mighty.

10-MINUTE PLAY: Love sucks for every couple eventually, no matter how many hearts are still beating.

10-MINUTE PLAY: Two women in a diner struggle to see each other and themselves. But what's shared by both has the power to illuminate what's truly missing.

10-MINUTE PLAY: 3 couples are searching for the mysterious Mount Greylock Fish Hawk for different reasons.
But when you're lost as well as in pursuit, sometimes being found is what really matters.

10-MINUTE PLAY: The distinction between sabotaged and saboteur becomes especially tangled by those studying the mechanism.

35-MINUTE PLAY: It’s hard to label anything, especially when you’re in love. And everything starts looking queer as one chosen family decides what it truly means to choose each other.

As some battle the pitfalls of coming-out again under a different label, others realize there isn’t an LGBTQIA letter that completely fits at all. But sometimes what matters most is discovering what’s between the letters and celebrating each other along the way.

45-MINUTE PLAY: Scholars agree The Three Wise Men weren't men, or even three in number, but these Magi are definitely wise.

FULL LENGTH PLAY: It’s hard to label anything, especially when you’re in love. And everything starts looking queer as one chosen family decides what it truly means to choose each other.

As some battle the pitfalls of coming-out again under a different label, others realize there isn’t an LGBTQIA letter that completely fits at all. But sometimes what matters most is discovering what’s between the letters and celebrating each other along the way.

There is also a standalone, one-act play, 'C Is For Cupid - Courting in the Time of Corona,' set after the events of this play.

HONORS:
BEST WOMEN'S MONOLOGUES - Smith & Kraus, 2021

Full script available through NEXT STAGE PRESS:
https://www.nextstagepress.com/the-b-is-for-bullsht/

15-MINUTE PLAY: Two people find their way back to each other, but risk getting more lost in the process.

30-MINUTE PLAY: Courting still happens in the time of Covid. And love is still just as beautifully complicated.

HONORS:
* BEST WOMEN'S MONOLOGUES - Smith & Kraus, 2022
* 2023 Some Scripts Literary Magazine 'Monologues by LGBTQIA+ Scriptwriters for LGBTQIA+ Actors'

10-MINUTE PLAY: The start of a famine led to their relationship, threatened now by the end of a famine.
At this pivotal moment of goodbye, two women are on the cusp of a huge journey without the other.
Through prayer & poem, each makes a discovery about their true destination.

FULL LENGTH PLAY: What's normal? And what comes after the 'new normal?' These characters are desperately trying to find out. But with big secrets, hidden identity, and chaos on the high seas, life after 2020 has never been so abnormally fun.

Fully vaxed and now ready to face the world, Ruth is having a garage sale to raise money for a cruise with her husband, Denny. But Denny has come to enjoy life sheltering at home and away from people, barring a playfully acrimonious relationship with live-in mother-in-law, Beverly. As their two grown children unexpectedly come home with a jailhouse boyfriend, the entire family must decide what matters most as they grow - together or apart.

TIME: This play joyfully explores that period of cautious reemergence during late 2021 / early 2022

ACT I: Family Room
ACT II: Cruise Ship Lounge

40-MINUTE PLAY: The Emperor has no clothes, at least nothing that connects with their identity. A modern twist on a classic tale about responsibility to self and others, acceptance, and love in its many forms.

HONORS
* Monologue selected for: Smith & Kraus WE/US: Monologues for Gender Minority Characters Anthology

10-MINUTE PLAY: After a successful anti-Nazi attack, two co-conspirators meet in prison - one free and one facing death. Both have an urgent but opposing plea for the other.
{A historical drama based on actual people and events from history}

HONORS
* SMITH & KRAUS BEST 10-MINUTE PLAYS - 2023

10-MINUTE PLAY: New York is special, they're just trying to figure out why. One sibling is looking for a way to reclaim history while the other is looking for a way to say goodbye. Both try to persuade the other about the true meaning of home.

10-MINUTE PLAY: A married couple unites against their worst crisis and divides on how to break through. But sometimes fantasy is the perfect reality for change.

HONORS:
* Smith & Kraus: The Best Women’s Stage Monologues, 2024

10-MINUTE PLAY: Two people on opposite sides question the real enemy.

*This is a standalone play from the full-length 'A Complicated Hope.'

HONORS:
BEST WOMEN'S MONOLOGUES - Smith & Kraus, 2022

10-MINUTE PLAY: Marie and daughter Rose Marie are left adrift after their husband/father passes away. As Rose Marie channels her grief into religion, an unholy divide erupts between them both.

On this day, they're driving to attend a campus visit but instead prove that the journey is so much greater than the destination.

*This is a standalone play from the full-length 'A Complicated Hope.'

10-MINUTE PLAY: Three monologues reveal secrets about the same night.

HONORS:
* Smith & Kraus: The Best Men’s Stage Monologues, 2024

10-MINUTE PLAY: Horror is often the manifestation of guilt and regret, nothing more. But what comes to us at night in the shadows might be far worse.

HONORS:
BEST MEN'S MONOLOGUES - Smith & Kraus, 2022

10-MINUTE PLAY: Gifts come in all shapes and sizes, but some are eternal.

10-MINUTE PLAY: A couple moves into a new house. But what they unpack is much more than items.

10-MINUTE PLAY: Three warriors need to escape a prison! They're actually insects trapped inside a glass jar, but life's all a matter of perspective.

10-MINUTE PLAY: We celebrate New Year’s Day by offering resolutions for a better self. But what happens to
those unresolved-resolutions on the last day of the year, with only 3 seconds left?

One brave woman demands an answer from Father Time, both getting much more than they ever
expected.

AWARDED BEST SHORT PLAY - Las Vegas Little Theatre, 2020

10-MINUTE PLAY: Two strangers meet by accident in a park.
One's running, one's standing, but both are tangled in a dance.

10-MINUTE PLAY: Super siblings make the best allies and the worst enemies. But on this day they're battling more than each other.

10-MINUTE PLAY: Even superheroes need a break, especially when they're sisters. In this heartfelt comedy, Maria and Dominique battle over what's next after a hiatus from saving the world leaves one sister feeling fulfilled and the other frustrated.

AWARDED FAVORITE COMEDIC PLAY - The Hive Collaborative, 2020

15-MINUTE PLAY: Two siblings are forced to confront the unfamiliar in the most familiar place, deciding what
matters most.

HONORS
* SMITH & KRAUS BEST MEN'S MONOLOGUES - 2023

10-MINUTE PLAY: Two people meet for the first time on Zoom for a surprise birthday party. But this turns-out to be a very different kind of surprise.

1-ACT PLAY: Two people meet for the first time on Zoom for a surprise birthday party. But this turns-out to be a very different kind of surprise.

10-MINUTE PLAY: Sometimes learning to accept ourselves is an epic journey .
Especially when traveling to Mars.
With robots.

10-MINUTE PLAY: What is the boundary between human and artificial? Shaun and X wrestle with each other and the fate of humanity as they decide the answer.

10-MINUTE PLAY: A life of crime doesn't pay. But when one hitwoman comes face-to-face with her mark, both realize that sometimes it does.

And in this reimagining of a classic noir, not everything is as it seems.

15-MINUTE PLAY: A grief-stricken college student with a secret pays a visit to his former Catholic high school teacher, Sister Agatha.

HONORS:
BEST 10-MINUTE PLAYS - Smith & Kraus, 2022

10-MINUTE PLAY: In the city of Amsterdam, two women discover that love is a language many learn but few understand.

Except for the snails, of course.

10-MINUTE PLAY: The last couple of years have been rough on us all. And some people will try anything
to move on - even waterfalls.

In this comedy, one couple is determined to make a friend of post-pandemic life without
making an enemy of each other.

10-MINUTE PLAY: There are many ways to be seen as two strangers discover the power of connection.

Salome, a cisgender woman, and Rhea, a transgender woman, meet via a smartphone app for the visually impaired. This chance meeting affects the lives of both women in ways neither anticipated.

HONORS
* 2023 Smith & Kraus WE/US: Monologues for Gender Minority Characters Anthology
* 2023 Some Scripts Literary Magazine 'Monologues by LGBTQIA+ Scriptwriters for LGBTQIA+ Actors'

10-MINUTE PLAY: It's always tough when someone storms-off after a fight, especially in Heaven.
But can a popular YouTube channel save their relationship (and, you know, all of humankind)?

10-MINUTE PLAY: Two strangers find themselves opposite each other, twice in the same night and doubly exposed.

10-MINUTE PLAY: Two men exchange dolls in an alleyway, a simple trade that isn't so simple.

10-MINUTE PLAY: We all celebrate finding the person of our dreams. But in this comedy, one couple
discovers what happens when there's a nightmare.

10-MINUTE PLAY: A family struggles with complicated grief and a complicated wedding. An unexpected surprise helps to unite both.

AWARDED AUDIENCE FAVORITE - JL Smith New Play Festival, 2021

8-10 MINUTE PLAY: What's the best way to end a friendship? Not like this.

HONORS:
BEST LAUGHTER ANTHOLOGY - Smith & Kraus, 2020

10-MINUTE PLAY: Walls are diaries and rooms have desires. In the buying and selling of a house, two people discover what's truly at stake and the power of finding love through loss.

HONORS:
*BEST OF FESTIVAL - Know Theatre, 2019
*BEST 10-MINUTE PLAYS - Smith & Kraus, 2021

5-MINUTE PLAY: There's never a good time for a couple-fight, especially during a home invasion. And you're the invaders.

10-MINUTE PLAY: There's never a good time for a couple-fight, especially during a home invasion. And you're the invaders.

10-MINUTE PLAY: In this dark parody of 'It’s a Wonderful Life,' Satan wonders if they’ve made the evil impact on humanity that they had hoped. In this moment of despair, Satan is visited by Clarence the demon, who’s looking to earn their horns. You’ll love what happens next in this silly twist on a classic holiday story!

2-3 MINUTE MONOLOGUE: The Soon-To-Be-Former Ms. Grinch has a lot to say.
She just doesn't realize it yet.

1-MINUTE MONOLOGUE: Being authentic is hard in a virtual world.

1-MINUTE PLAY: A 300-page vampire love affair play in 1-page. As you do.

1-MINUTE PLAY: When you try your best, do you ever really fail? Satan thinks so.

1-2 MINUTE MONOLOGUE: Baked goods make excellent snacks and even better metaphors.

1-2 MINUTE MONOLOGUE: Time to choose a Halloween costume! Who's your favorite Earthling?