Neal Reynolds

Due to the economy 34-year-old Margie is back living at home and working for minimum wage. One dark night the neighborhood is roused by a blinding white light in the sky that leads the residents toward a mysterious object in a field on the edge of town. Margie is the first to reach it, and appears to be momentarily knocked unconscious.

The following morning the “monolith” has vanished but a TV news reporter, responding to hundreds of calls by the town folk to the station, still comes to investigate the story. She ends up interviewing Margie, live, on the national network evening news broadcast her station is affiliated with.

During this interview Margie announces that the monolith is telepathically teaching her how to restore prosperity to the country, and thus she is going to run for President of the United States.

Taking advantage of this instant celebrity Margie manages to get into a debate, and with her unique but common-sense views on economics and government does so well that soon the polls show her splitting the vote almost evenly with the traditional candidates.

But when the truth behind the monolith is discovered – that is was a desperate gambit by Margie and the dying small town to get a normal working-class person elected President – Margie has to decide whether to give up and go back to her life of just getting by... or do whatever it takes to prevail.

Six software engineers who had been on vacation in Dubai wake up in an isolated house in the desert. When told they will only be allowed to return to the United States if they first write a virus program that will disrupt the missile systems of drones patrolling the Middle East, the lone female programmer, Ada, comes up with a plan that may be their only true hope of survival.

When thirteen-year-old Lori's uncle Brian arrives at her birthday party and attempts to give her a birthday present, Lori's father threatens to call the police... leading to increasingly horrible revelations about the society in which these people live.

An intense, speculative drama (a la "The Twilight Zone") that explores the limits of political correctness.

(NOTE: Produced by Lincoln Square Theatre in Chicago, June 2-24, 2006 [12 performances], as part of an evening of ten-minute plays.)

A playwright is shocked to discover the ramifications of a new law that is about to be passed... including to the play that is currently being performed.

A speculative comedy that illustrates what happens when the law gets too involved in science... or art.

(NOTE: This four-minute "flash play" was produced as part of the "Arts Meets Science At The Theater" evening of short plays produced July 11-13 2014 by Bughouse Theater at Chicago Dramatists.)

During an increasingly intense discussion with her younger sister Diane, Allison realizes that she considers herself responsible for Diane's decision to go into the military... and thus for what happened to her during her first tour overseas.

(NOTE: This play was a finalist in The Women's Theatre Alliance 2014 "Bechdel Test" New Play Development Workshop.)

After a car accident a woman is told she has to choose, for all eternity, between going to heaven by herself... or "the other place" with her husband.

Thinking that the psychologist he is talking to is actually a supercomputer, a man feels he can finally discuss his extremely embarrassing personal problem. But as deep secrets are revealed the drama becomes increasingly intense, climaxing -- when the doctor's indentity is revealed -- in the most cathartic revelation of all.

In a post-"a-geek-alyptic" America, an archeologist attempts to persuade a maverick director to shoot his next movie using a long forgotten -- and now illegal -- medium: film.

(NOTE: This play was a finalist in the competition for the 2014 Los Angeles Science Fiction One-Act Festival.)

While anxiously waiting at a fertility clinic to find out if she is finally pregnant, a woman tries to strike up a conversation with a man who clearly wants to be left alone... until he hears her say she wants to die if she can't get pregnant. Suddenly he is very interested and they begin to bond... making what happens -- something neither of them ever dreamed of -- more than the man can bear.

So that he doesn't have to move back home and get a McJob, a highly intelligent but recently troubled graduate student begs his professor to allow him to re-take the final exam after getting off the anti-depressants he believes caused him to flunk it.

In the home of his friend "Hedge" Masters, bookie "Sax" Goldman tries to collect on a bet from customer Ima Suhker when his beloved hometown football team ("The Stocks") unexpectedly goes down. When Suhker, having bet far more than he could afford to lose, can't pay, the police chief suggests they get the money from an innocent passer-by: hard-working "Tacks" Payer.

A former movie star uses unusual methods of persuasion in his attempt to convince a one-time fellow stage actor to co-star in the upcoming blockbuster crime scene comedy "Dusting for Vomit".

A biting satire that truly does "go to eleven"!

In a post-apocalyptic America, a man desperately tries to convince his increasingly distant wife that the cult that has taken over the town does not have special wisdom or divine powers.

(NOTE: Requires creative staging and, ideally, several extras in robes.)

After Bill's formerly reliable "wing man" Joe blows an opportunity to impress a hot waitress because he didn't know what HoleCoin is, Bill explains to him how it is the hip new way to pay for drinks and food at the best clubs and bars... which leads to severe consequences when Joe figures out the true purpose of the system.

(NOTE: "HoleCoin" was a top-ten finalist in the June 2014 Second City ten-minute play contest.)

Though babysitter Jessica looks oddly familiar, since the neighbors have recommended her so highly Sharon decides it's okay to leave her adopted seven-year-old and baby in Jessica's care for the evening.

(DISCLAIMER: This play, whose purpose is to give voice to the forgotten, is EXTREMELY intense.)

When an angry young man consults an experienced lawyer to confirm that his clever (if blasphemous) plan to burn down a church is indeed legal, the shocked and very religious attorney desperately tries to talk him out of it by getting to the bottom of why he would want to do such a thing.

A "surrealistic economic comedy" about a group of Beckett-ish characters awaiting the arrival of the Great Leader, whose "package" is reportedly big enough to stimulate all of them.

When a dealer attempts to sell non-incandescent light bulbs and other allegedly "green" products to the students on the playground, one skeptical kid makes his life a living hell.

(NOTE: Inspired by the oft-aired 70's anti-drug TV commercial [Public Service Announcement] that always ended with the dealer saying "Sure kid, why do you think they call it dope?")

Lauren is upset when her mother wakes her up at 3:00am and insists that they watch the "fairy tale" wedding of Prince William and Kate together, even though Lauren has made it clear she has no interest in it (and has an important test at school in the morning). An intense argument ensues, leading to profound revelations and, ultimately, to the start of a deeper relationship between them.