Peter Dakutis

Peter Dakutis

Peter Dakutis is an Atlanta-based technical writer/editor who gets busy with his muse through playwriting. In addition to several productions in the Atlanta area, his work has been produced around the US and in London and Canada. His play “Transcodicil” was chosen for the Smith & Kraus Best Ten-Minute Plays 2021 Anthology.

Plays

  • Very Common Remedies
    Ricky's been shot. Will he get the medical help he needs, or will passersby offer him the very common remedies of thoughts and prayers?
  • Offboarding
    It's the last day of work at Circle 9 Enterprises for corporate drudge Bobble. Withers, the head of Human Resources, is not going to make Bobble's offboarding interview easy.
  • A Sign Is a Sign
    The sign says to stand there until you are needed, but what if you’re blocking someone else’s way?
  • Transcodicil
    Joe, a transgender man, and Shawna, a transgender woman, are married, and Joe is carrying their child. Joe’s Aunt Tammy has recently died, and Joe was expected to be her sole heir. Tammy’s executor, Virginia, tells Joe and Shawna about a codicil Tammy added to her will, which may prevent Joe from inheriting the estate. It turns out that Joe’s transphobic mother, Loretta, and her church pressured Tammy into...
    Joe, a transgender man, and Shawna, a transgender woman, are married, and Joe is carrying their child. Joe’s Aunt Tammy has recently died, and Joe was expected to be her sole heir. Tammy’s executor, Virginia, tells Joe and Shawna about a codicil Tammy added to her will, which may prevent Joe from inheriting the estate. It turns out that Joe’s transphobic mother, Loretta, and her church pressured Tammy into creating the codicil. Thanks to Shawna’s shrewd thinking, the codicil goes through its own transition, and Joe and Shawna stand up to the bullying.
  • The Satin Worshippers
    Dave and Buster are would-be devil worshippers who want it all: money, tacos, ladies, and a reality show. The trouble is they don’t know how to spell properly, which results in a visit from a mysterious stranger. Could satin worship be in their future?
  • The Divorce Lawyer's Love
    Emily is getting a divorce and wants Charles to be her lawyer. Charles explains that he can't because he is in love with Emily. Is there anything she can do to convince him to represent her?
  • Xtreme Xmas Boot Camp
    At the Xtreme Xmas Boot Camp, Coach Holly ensures that you will have an extremely merry Christmas. Or die trying.
  • X-Mas Men
    Dr. Maddie wants to use her death ray to blow Santa and his reindeer out of the sky. Can the X-Mas Men, that limited holiday collection of mutants, save the day?
  • A Christmas Bedtime Story
    After a rough year living on her own, Michelle is home for the holidays. On Christmas Eve, her father Frank asks to tell Michelle a bedtime story about a mysterious gift. Could the story have a happy ending for Michelle?
  • The Case of the Trampled Grandmother
    Hard-boiled elf detective Ken D. Cain investigates the murder of elf matriarch Crystal Kringle, who was run over by a reindeer. Could Rudolph be the murderer? If this were a movie, it would be in black and white.
  • The Vanishing Texter (a Halloween monologue)
    After college student Charlie receives an accidental text from a girl named Cindy, he soon finds himself in a relationship with her via texts and phone calls. When Charlie goes to the home of Cindy's parents on Halloween night, he learns the truth about Cindy.
  • Axed
    When your life feels like one of those television shows in which you speak directly into the camera.
  • Action Figures
    A one-minute play about the role of action figures and real-life superheroes in our lives.
  • Ellis Marsalis
    A one-page monologue that is a tribute to the great jazz musician and teacher Ellis Marsalis. This was included in the Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble's THE COVID MONOLOGUES project, honoring and memorializing those who have passed from COVID-19.
  • The Sweetest Sounds
    In this monologue, a middle-aged gay man named Paul tells of how meeting Bradley for ice cream and a mishap with a hearing aid lead to love.

    This one-minute play was the winner of Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga’s Week 9 Propped contest. Think of it as Chopped for playwrights. The basket of ingredients included ice cream, a hearing aid, and a phone number.
  • How Horny Ends
    So, like, have you ever been so stoned that you don't know how to spell something?
  • Poseidon Adventures
    The publication of Ovid’s Metamorphoses and a claim of sexual assault create an uproar at Poseidon Adventures, the conglomerate that Poseidon and his true love Nerites oversee. Nerites’s sister Nerea calls on Demeter for help. To get to the truth, Demeter brings in Caeneus, a transgender man who was transitioned by Poseidon.
  • Phis, or The True History of Iphis
    When Tillie was pregnant, her husband told her they could not afford to keep a girl. The goddess Isis visited Tillie and told her to keep the child. The child’s sex at birth was female, so Tillie raised Phis as a boy. The day before his wedding to Annie, Phis and Tillie seek out Isis to make what they think is the same request. Phis learns his true history, and Tillie discovers that her child is actually a...
    When Tillie was pregnant, her husband told her they could not afford to keep a girl. The goddess Isis visited Tillie and told her to keep the child. The child’s sex at birth was female, so Tillie raised Phis as a boy. The day before his wedding to Annie, Phis and Tillie seek out Isis to make what they think is the same request. Phis learns his true history, and Tillie discovers that her child is actually a transgender male. Can they get everything sorted, and how will the goddess respond? A modern take on a Roman myth.
  • Bi Bi Blues
    Jimmy’s getting serious about the woman he’s dating, but his mother Rita wants to know how Jimmy’s going to find the perfect man if he’s thinking about marrying a woman. Rita can accept her son as gay but can’t seem to get her head around the fact that he’s bisexual.
  • Witchy Harmony
    Witches Marcia and Jan are cooking up the perfect potion to serve to the two hunks they met on the Witchy Harmony app. But first, they have to deal with Jared, a very annoying customer in their store, Ye Olde Black Magick Shoppe. How will they ever get rid of him?
  • My Pregnant Brother-in-Law
    In this monologue, Liz discusses being pregnant at the same time as her brother-in-law Joe, a transgender man.
  • Pardoning the Turkeys
    For Thanksgiving, Billy brings his girlfriend Kaitlin to his family home, where she witnesses the Gibble family’s very unusual, and increasingly horrifying, holiday tradition. Is there nothing a member of the Gibble family can do that won’t be pardoned?
  • Best Mother-in-Law Ever
    Why did David let Tim talk him into announcing their engagement to David’s mother Sylvia at a busy restaurant? There’s no telling how she’s going to react.
  • Psychic Swipe
    Concerned about her boyfriend Paul, Diana turns to the Psychic Swipe app for help. Diana swipes right on Crystal, a psychic whose insights into Paul’s behavior are very accurate. When they discover that Paul has insights of his own, all three of their lives are changed in ways no one saw coming.
  • The Goats of Christmas Present
    Nana’s out of sorts and threatening to call off the holidays altogether. Her grandson Stephen thinks she’s being a drama queen, but to lift her spirits, he shares a secret that he and his husband have been keeping. But it turns out that Nana has a secret of her own.
  • A Very Queer Christmas
    Newlyweds David and Scotty just wanted a quiet Christmas alone. But the tradition in David's family is for newlyweds to host the family Christmas. David and Scotty's plan to "queer up" Christmas and scare off David's family doesn't seem to be working.
  • Diagnosis: Improv
    Mr. Daigle, who fears he may be dying, just wants the results from tests his doctor ran. However, Dr. Brown has been studying improv with Dr. Green, and their coach puts them through improv exercises before the results can be delivered.
  • The Chiromancer's Complaint
    It’s exciting when chiromancer Celeste reads Mary’s palms. But Paula’s palms are an entirely different story.
  • Waiting for Good Chi
    Firefighter Jake, in pain from stress caused by budget cuts at work, reluctantly visits the office of Mr. Lee, an acupuncturist. Lois, one of Mr. Lee’s patients, explains the importance of chi to Jake and offers to help him with his stress. But Jake discovers that Lois is looking for more than good chi.
  • Road Rageaholics Anonymous
    Rod and Carla aren’t quite feeling the concept of compassionate empathy at a meeting of Road Rageaholics Anonymous. When it turns out that they were in a road rage incident on the way to the meeting, sparks fly and passion may be ignited.
  • Mutts
    Any DNA test will show you that we're all mutts.
  • Human Emoticon
    Do we really need words any longer?
  • What All The Parents Are Doing These Days
    Parents have a way of ruining things, like getting stoned.
  • Normal
    Some family traits, like being a pothead, may skip a generation.
  • Big, Beautiful, Terrifying
    Is it possible to really experience life without a cell phone?
  • Moral Arc
    History is not on the side of homophobic bakers.
  • Mother Christmas
    Mother Christmas is set to become the face of Adult Christmas, and Father Christmas is not pleased. For centuries, he’s been the jolly old elf for all the little snot-faced monsters. He wants to carouse with the adults and leave the skelpie-limmers to Mother Christmas. Can Mother Christmas convince him otherwise? Or would blackmail be better?
  • Waffle Christmas
    Frantic about meeting her mother-in-law Ginny for the first time, Julie is trying to make everything perfect but only creating a mess in the kitchen. Her brother Matt and husband Tim aren’t helping. When Ginny arrives, Julie learns the difference between an awful Christmas and a waffle Christmas.
  • Equally Ridiculous
    Parker is upset about the outrageous wedding reception his husband Jimmy planned with his mother. While the two men argue about whether or not gay weddings should be as equally ridiculous as straight ones, Jimmy grows increasingly worried by the presence of Cousin Frankie. Jimmy and his mother suspect Cousin Frankie of being a mobster, but Frankie and his business partner Marty have a few surprises in store for the newlyweds.
  • What the Dickens?
    The worlds of Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, and H.P. Lovecraft collide. Dickens is launching a new career as a scientist by performing an experiment on a mysterious insect, the bahumbug, which Professor Lindenbrock discovered on his journey to the center of the earth. The bahumbug is from the Cthulhu universe, which does not bode well for the experiment.
  • Swim Man
    Swim Man comes to the rescue when Blue is trying to open a secret cabinet that holds a secret treasure. But what happens when it gets too deep?

    This one-minute play was the winner of Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga’s inaugural Propped contest. Think of it as Chopped for playwrights. The basket of ingredients included a dictionary, crowbar, and swimming goggles.