“M.L.K.” portrays the personal side of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., exploring his spirituality and commitment to nonviolence, as well as his doubts, insecurities, and infidelities. The play traces his development through a combination of monologues by his wife and parents, sermons he preaches, and portrayals of key events such as the Montgomery bus boycott and the campaign to desegregate Birmingham.

Though Dr. King is the main character, the play is called “M.L.K.” because it is about both Dr. King and his father, Martin Luther King, Sr., who was known as Daddy King. Daddy King was a remarkable man in his own right, and he opens and closes the play with monologues. Along the way, we hear about incidents in his early life and his struggles against overwhelming challenges. In fact, one of the themes of this piece is that of endurance, showing how the King family overcame a multitude of barriers and endured devastating tragedies without losing touch with the values that inspired them.

We see how Martin, Jr., relied on his wife, Coretta, to be the foundation of his world, and how that relationship was rocked by the demands of Martin’s involvement in civil rights and his unfaithfulness. We see Mama King as Martin’s confidant and support as he faced one struggle after another. Finally, we see father and son as they work together, clash, and argue, but through it all maintain their admiration and love for each other.

“M.L.K.” explores the dynamics of prejudice, the impact of nonviolence, the split between one’s public persona and personal sense of self, the tendency of the public to raise up and tear down its heroes, and the moral dilemmas inherent in civil disobedience. Through it all we see Martin battle his public enemies and private demons. The play follows the trajectory of Martin from his days of doubting his ability to lead a bus boycott to his grand desire to transform America’s values.

California, 1873. Captain Jack, chief of the Modocs, is a man of wisdom who wants only peace. Hooker Jim is a bitter warrior who can never be at peace. The Modocs have left the reservation they were put on and are returning to their homeland. The United States Army has come to take them back, but due to the cold-hearted bigotry and short temper of Major Scott, violence erupts.

After the soldiers kill an old woman and a little boy, Hooker Jim goes on a rampage against the white settlers, killing one of Captain Jack's best friends. Captain Jack seethes with fury towards Hooker Jim. He could save the tribe by surrendering Hooker Jim, but cannot bring himself to betray his own men to be hanged.

Enter General Canby, a self-appointed "man of God" who seeks to civilize the Modocs. Canby's blustering arrogance and broken promises put Captain Jack in one impossible dilemma after another. The peace commissioner, Meacham, is an old friend of the Modocs, and though he tries to advise Captain Jack and advocate for the Modoc cause, General Canby has little use for anyone telling him how to run his campaign.

Captain Jack tries repeatedly to avoid violence, but the warriors are hungry for blood: “either kill Canby, or we will kill you.” Captain Jack must choose between his integrity and his life as he faces ultimate betrayal.

The suspense builds through a series of showdowns between Captain Jack, General Canby, Hooker Jim, and a woman who surpasses them all in courage.

This play follows the reign of Mary Queen of Scots, focusing on the three primary male figures in her life: her half-brother who was born a bastard; her second husband, who murdered her personal secretary and conspired against her; and her third husband, who murdered her second husband and claimed the kingship. Mary struggles to find a path between her personal desires and wise governance, alternating between being a victim of others’ malice and being her own worst enemy. She grows from an innocent teenage girl who misses her luxurious childhood in France, to a bitter and vengeful queen who insists on her prerogative to rule as she sees fit and damn the consequences.

Queen Elizabeth I was an anomaly in history—a woman who ruled a nation. This play follows two strands of her reign. First, it explores the intersection of love, politics, and her ambivalence about marriage. Second, it portrays her struggles regarding Mary, Queen of Scots. The two queens were cousins who ruled competing kingdoms on the same island. Mary’s ambitions forced Elizabeth to take actions against the counsel of her advisers, and sometimes against her own desires, culminating in Mary’s execution for treason.

The play consists of three scenes. First, Wordsworth meets with Henry Robinson, who is enlisted by Wordsworth as a negotiator to make peace with Coleridge by clearing up the misunderstanding that has interrupted their friendship. Robinson, puzzled by Wordsworth’s cold comments and attitude, seeks to understand Wordsworth’s position. In response, Wordsworth rhapsodizes about his history with Coleridge, and how his idealization of his friend disintegrated.

Robinson then visits Coleridge and presents Wordsworth's case. Coleridge is a maelstrom of emotions—desperate for Wordsworth’s friendship, guilt-ridden for his habits that shattered their relationship, yet angry at Wordsworth for his condescending attitude toward him. He waxes eloquent over the glory of their past friendship and his confusion over how they have sunk so low.

In the final scene, Robinson reports that he has worked out a document that Coleridge has signed that ostensibly ends the conflict. As Wordsworth is congratulating Robinson, Coleridge unexpectedly arrives. Robinson, against Wordsworth’s wishes, quickly excuses himself. Despite initial efforts to remain cordial, Coleridge and Wordsworth escalate into a heated debate over the many issues that have come between them, with Coleridge descending into self-loathing. Wordsworth, though determined not to be moved by Coleridge’s emotional storms, cannot remain immune to his friend’s plight.

“The Lament of the Magic Child” portrays Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his grown son, Hartley, as they each reflect on their lives and their broken relationship. Samuel expresses his sense of failure as a father and his guilt for not giving Hartley a proper upbringing, while Hartley combines self-loathing with admiration for his father. The play explores the tragedy of their father-son relationship, with each man being convinced he has failed the other.

This play portrays a classic father-son drama in the context of historical figures. The script presents Percy Shelley, the brilliant British Romantic poet, at the age of nineteen when he is essentially an unknown radical and political activist. He is meeting with his conservative, aristocratic father, Sir Timothy Shelley, in an attempt to arrive at a financial arrangement to his liking. In the course of their conversation, the two men argue about religion, money, work, and morality. At the heart of the matter, however, is Percy's sense that he was never accepted and loved by his father, and Timothy's sense that despite his best efforts, Percy was an impossible child to raise.

This script is adapted from a Scottish folk-tale recorded by William Sharp (the story is in the public domain). Morag is an indomitable young woman with a fierce father. When Morag’s sister becomes pregnant by the son of the English lord who is about to displace the family from its ancestral land, the father erupts in fury. When the sister dies by her own hand, Morag sees that the lord’s son does not escape justice. Morag’s mother and father struggle with guilt about their daughter’s death and the darkness that has shadowed their love for each other.

Benjamin Haydon was a nineteenth-century historical painter, and the friend of Keats, Wordsworth, and other luminaries of the age. This script shows him struggling against the shallowness and crassness of the aristocracy who patronize him and the preference of the public for entertainment rather than art that captures humanity’s highest strivings and most noble moments. After devoting his life to the highest ideals of art, he finds he can no longer go on.