Patrick Thomas McCarthy ptmc

When a devastating viral plague shuts down civilization, Prosper Prince gathers those closest to him and retreats to a remote bunker. Fully supplied and staffed, the plan is to ride out the storm in a series of cabaret entertainments. It is Halloween. Go ahead ... sing for your supper. Spun from Edgar Allen Poe's The MASQUE of the RED DEATH. MASQUE: a musical revel of unexpected consequence.

John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925), the most successful portrait painter of his era, lays bare his thorny relationships with models Thomas McKeller, Wilhelm Kamp & patroness Isabella Stewart Gardner while desperately seeking non-portraiture as his legacy.

On a Sunday in June 1921, a poststroke, wheelchair bound Isabella Gardner appears at Sargent’s studio with chauffeur, a former model & assistant of Sargent, in tow asking for Sargent to give her the many sketches he has promised her or reproduce them while she watches. She also seeks to see the painting of McKeller never shown to any but Sargent’s inner circle. Will the heat of the day and of the moment provide a flow of emotional fireworks? Will Isabella finally see “Thomas McKeller” & receive her sketches? Will Tom McKeller make a stand? Will “the chauffeur”, Will, redeem himself? And will Old Master Sargent find the respect he seeks, creating civic commissions and ridding himself forever of portraiture?

McKeller became Sargent’s most "useful" life drawing model, standing in for men, women, the politically powerful, all forms of gods, goddesses and white people. The portrait of a totally uncovered Thomas McKeller, was only displayed "discretely & infrequently" to Sargent's closest friends, never publicly during Sargent’s lifetime. It was "unseen" for nearly 100 years finally exhibited in 2020 at Boston's Gardner Museum.

Combining spoken text, life drawing, immersive imagery, and historical fact & fiction, BOSTON APOLLO invites you, to meet the artist, his patroness and his most “useful” models.

Aaron’s Revenger’s Tragedy: A Feast of Blood
© 2019 By Patrick Thomas McCarthy ptmc

Cast: 8 Men 3 or 4 Woman
Synopsis
Mashing up Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy and the “Penny Dreadful” String of Pearls a.k.a. Sweeney Todd, to provide enough vengeance, mayhem and bloodshed to fill a banquet hall of horror. Aaron becomes the central character in this barbaric tripleheader, gaining his freedom, his vengeance & child’s legacy on the bloody way.

Traditionally, Todd, now Titus Todd, is a barber who dispatches his victims by pulling a lever as they sit in his barber chair. His victims fall backward down a revolving trap door into the basement of his shop, generally causing them to break their necks or skulls. In case they are alive, Todd goes to the basement and "polishes them off" (slitting their throats with his straight razor). Mrs. Tamara Gothic Dread, his partner in crime, assists him in disposing of the bodies by baking their flesh into meat pies and selling them to the unsuspecting customers of her pie shop.

Running Time Estimated 110 minutes + Intermission (70 pages publishing format, 12 pt type)

CONFESSIONS ... a sacramental primer. American Catholicism's late 20th century experience arcs from baptismal font, to rectory, to classroom, to school basement, to weddings, funerals & last rites. Seven actors play multiple roles in an extended family's extended confessional. Even the statuary has something to confess....

CUSTODY © 2017 By Patrick Thomas McCarthy ptmc In CUSTODY, a gay comedy of 1990s manners-lessness, three men, pursue one woman, and each other, for CUSTODY of their children, memories & photo albums. Covering Shannon’s 40th, 41st & 42nd birthdays in 1994, 1995, & 1996, CUSTODY features the issues & fashions of that era, including straight women who love gay men & the straight men who love them and try to be more like gay men to get women to love them back. CUSTODY is truly a sub-urban comedy set in a semi-tasteful apartment with four exits & one closet. By asking who’s going out & who’s coming in, CUSTODY pays tribute to rom-com-ishness, boulevard farce and even HandToGod, without the profanity. And in an effort to provide something for everyone, CUSTODY even includes America’s only child with Dutch Elm Disease.

https://www.pinterest.com/ptmcptmc9442/custody/
http://www.ptmcplaywriting.com/default.html
http://custodybyptmc.weebly.com/

Characters
Brendan: late 30's/early 40's, straight looking, an English teacher
Shannon: her 40th, 41st & 42nd birthdays, an English teacher
Peter: dull, dependable, straight, 40's
Ted: 20's/30’s/40's, he keeps his promises, Brendan’s too understanding boyfriend

Scene A comfortable apartment furnished semi-tastefully with three exits & one closet. All action takes place on the single set. Timeframe 1994 to 1996.

What if Ray Cooney, Georges Feydeau, & Shakespeare had a baby?
Midnight's Dream might come out...

SYNOPSIS: In the outer halls of the U.S. Congress, two congresspeople, Theseus O'Baron and Hippolyta "Polly" Blackbottom, have congress regarding their own sexlife and that of a constituent’s daughter, while four congressional staffers including Mz. Bette Bottom and Quin Quince are enlisted to provide entertainment, The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisby, for a fundraiser at the Kennedy Center, or will financial constraints force them to move to the Alexandria Little Theatre? All involved end up at Camp Weekend Transgressions in the Woods of Merryland where the lovers have fled to escape D.C. madness, and everyone goes to rehearse the madness that ensues. A pageant in a dungeon and miscues with an air mattress and pup tent feed the farce of young and old love gone amiss. A rather fanciful/ farcical/ somewhat faithful contemporary adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

CAST 7 Men & 5 Women
Congressman Theseus O’Baron
Congresswoman Hippolyta Blackbottom/ Polly/ Titania Whipmaster
Colonel Edgeus Edge
Mr. Phineas Puck / Congressional Chief of Staff
Demetrius Demigoggins / Demitri
Sandy Lysander Lackluster / Sandy
Hermia Edge / The Edger /Daughter of Colonel Edge
Helena Jane Hathaway / The Congressman's secretary
Mz. Bette Bottom / Midnight / Congressional Staffer / Pyramus
Quin Quince / Congressional Staffer / Turd Blossom / Wall / Moonshine / Dog
Frankie Flute / Francis / Congressional Staffer / Mustard Seed / Thisby
Ms. Snug Robin-Starvling / Congressional Staffer / Peace Blossom / Lion

https://patrickmcc2449.wixsite.com/ptmcplaywriting/midnight-s-dream

What if Shakespeare felt "maker's remorse" in presenting HENRY VI's Joan of Arc, & TROILUS & CRESSIDA's Pandarus, & enlists the patronage of Queen Elizabeth to assist him in giving both Pandarus & Joan d’Arc makeovers? Perhaps change history in the process? Achilles, Patroclus, Mistress Overdone, Anne Hathaway, Mrs. Aphra Behn, Edward DeVere and even a Gallant Stool join in the fray. And what’s that underlying thrum regarding authorship?

Characters 5W 6M (in order of appearance)

Pandarus – (1200 B.C.E.) from Troilus & Cressida
Joan la Pucelle – (1412-1431 A.D.) from Henry VI Part 1
Will Shakespeare – (1564-1616 A.D.) the playwright
Queen Elizabeth I – (1533-1558-1603 A.D.) the Queen, Shakespeare’s patron
Mistress Overdone (16th Century) from Measure for Measure
Gallant Stool – (21st Century) planted cast member
Achilles – (1200 B.C.E.) from Troilus & Cressida
Patroclus – (1200 B.C.E.) from Troilus & Cressida
Edward de Vere – (1550-1604 A.D.) 17th Earl of Oxford
Mrs. Aphra Behn – (1640-1689 A.D.) – playwright/novelist/poet/spy
Anne Hathaway – (1556 – 1623 A.D.) Mrs. William Shakespeare

​

PRIDE RIVER CROSSING ... Anchored in the heartland, PRIDE RIVER CROSSING channels Edgar Lee Masters' SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY otherwordly voices to comment on contemporary LGBTQ+ life in America, featuring 49 characters, 40 interconnecting monologues, and 13 connecting scenes.
[3Men, 3Women] 60 pages [Running time: 116 minutes with 10 minute intermission]

http://priderivercrossing.weebly.com/
http://www.fireislandsun.com/pride-river-crossing.html [Review 2012 AllOutArts Showcase]

Reeking of Indiscretion: Madame X's Allerton ... The Chicago Tribune’s Madame X, society doyenne Caroline Kirkland (1865-1930) declared Robert Allerton (1873–1964) Chicago’s most eligible bachelor in 1906. His personal relationship with Caroline Kirkland, and his intimate relationship with John Wyatt Gregg Allerton (1899-1986), his longtime companion, and adopted-as-an-adult son, are best imagined by inventing what their correspondence might have been. Bridging two centuries, what words might have passed between these three brightly shining stars that helped shape the course of art, landscape architecture, the future of celebrity journalism and LGBTQ issues that were only imagined in the early 20th century. An epistolary intrigue of historical truth and fiction and LGTBQ issues for two men and one woman.
Staging
Like A. R. Gurney’s Love Letters, Madame X’s Allerton can be staged very simply, with the three actors sitting at a writing table where they simply read the script. Using projections of the news items, locations, and people in the stories would certainly enhance the storytelling but is not essential.

Cast: 2 Men 1 Woman

Robert Henry Allerton / Bob – reads his imagined letters to Caroline Kirkland / Madame X & John G.
Madame X / Caroline Kirkland / X – reads her imagined correspondence to Robert Allerton and feature stories about him
John Wyatt Gregg / John G. – reads imagined correspondence to Robert Allerton & Caroline Kirkland/Aunt Carrie

https://www.pinterest.com/ptmcptmc9442/madame-xs-allerton/

New Title ... Reeking With Indiscretion: Madame X's Allerton Jan. 1, 2019

sExtOrtiOn, A lonely outcast hatches a scheme that draws his entire high school and its Middle American community into the harrowing world of teen sexting. Posing as a girl on a social media site, he entices his classmates to send him compromising photos and videos, then “sextorts” them into physical encounters with the threat of exposure. Suggested by an actual teen “sexting” and extortion scandal, sExtOrtiOn digs beneath the superficial and sensationalistic treatments in national media accounts to explore the roots of adolescents’ fluid sexual identity, experimentation, and recklessness, plus the consequences of bullying, pack behavior, and hidden violence. sExtOrtiOn takes place over a year during which none of the “sextorted” boys reveals what is happening until the central character inexplicably turns himself in. Over the course of the play’s 90 minutes, the nine characters of sExtOrtiOn struggle to make sense of the story’s myriad unanswered questions & to disguise what is actually happening.

RE: sExtOrtiOn The underlying story of this fictionalization made national news in 2009 & actually happened at a school where I formerly taught in the 70s. The central character is now serving a 20 year prison sentence, tried as an adult for what he did as a minor. Its storyline involves the desperation of "otherness" that drives young men to acts of violence, and the community response that denies the very existence of the problems that fuel them. The gay subterfuge of the sexting [a boy posing as a girl to solicit naked pix & video from other boys] makes it unique. Although fielding elements of high comedy & the absurdity of teenage life, the hard questions the play poses regarding sexual assault and extortion, are difficult to process.
Characters
The Boys: [in their 20’s to play teens]
Donny Doirko: DD, small, dark, a troubled loner.
Buck Cummings: BC, jock, control issues.
Bennett Benjamin: BB, jock, tallest & biggest of the boys, object of desire.
Bradley Michael White: the BMW, golden boy athlete, promised to Brenda.
Brent Dodge: BD, average teen, marching band geek, Britany’s boyfriend.
Quin Quimby: QQ, out gay male teen.
The Girls: [in their 20’s to play teens]
Brenda Fenton Flair: BFF, cheerleader, promised to Brad.
Britany Gray: BG, cool girl, office monitor, Brent’s girlfriend.
The Adult: Mr. Zee: the administrator, also voices Quin’s offstage dad.
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes without intermission, 53 pages text [12 pt type]
http://sextortion.weebly.com/

SLIPPERY: A Wintry Tale (C) 2017 by ptmc Spun from Shakespeare’s THE WINTER’s TALE, SLIPPERY unspools a tale of intolerance, jealousy, family dysfunction and finally redemption. Set in a late 20th century American red state, a wife, Mia [Hermione] and gay son, Monty, [Montgomery Leon Tase] are publicly disowned by businessman Lee [Leon Montgomery Tase], with the suggestion that a gay friend of the family, Beau, [Beauregard Pollard Xavier Innes] with family of his own, is the cause of the disposal of what Lee considers his property. With the birth of a second son, Max, and the first son finding refuge with those that would “shepherd” him to greatness, family lines are redrawn. Sixteen years pass, as the two newly formed families see their children grow, find new relationships and prosper. Finally when stars align after 16 years, Mia resurrects herself & her two families in reconciliation with her now, post stroke, wheelchair bound husband Lee.

http://slipperyawintrytale.weebly.com/
https://www.pinterest.com/ptmcptmc9442/slippery-a-wintry-tale/

TEMPEST © 2018 by Patrick Thomas McCarthy pTmC;
SETTING: A survivalist enclave TIME: A post-apocalyptic future
SYNOPSIS: Suggested by The TEMPEST by William Shakespeare, this TEMPEST finds itself in a post-apocalyptic world, where survivalist father, Pero, captures two Atrian strangers he will groom to give as gifts to two of his three children, his pups, Miranda, Ariel & Cal. Will the Atrian strangers civilize his children or compound their savagery? “Oh, brave new world” that has the other in’t.
Touching on themes of parenting, maternal death in childbirth, a shrinking pool of human existence, slavery, LGBTQ issues, the wizardry of love, and survival itself, TEMPEST centers on the idea of free will as central to the very idea of being human. Will any or all our characters discover that, brave new world, that has the other in’t….
WEBSITE: https://patrickmcc2449.wixsite.com/ptmcplaywriting/tempest
https://www.pinterest.com/ptmcptmc9442/tempest/

The LEARS: Fools of Fortune Suggested by Shakespeare's KING LEAR, this contemporary American telling has an Alzheimers addled Captain of Industry, Edgar Reginald Lehman Lear, gathering those closest to him for an advance reading of his last will & testament at Thanksgiving dinner. He has sold the family estate, and will go to live with those that love him best. Will his daughters Anneril and Reagan retain the family wealth & to what lengths will they go to do so? Will disinherited gay son Cord, reappear as home health care nurse, Cordelia Learson? And will the Storr family, Glen Storr Esquire, Edmond "Monty" Storr, and Edgar "Ned" Storr find their way into the tangle? Homicide, a blinding, poisonings, betrayal, abuse, sibling rivalries, cross dressing, arm wrestling and even loyalty, redemption & love find their way into the turbulent mix.
Characters: 5 men 2 women

Mr. Edgar Reginald Lehman Lear – patriarch, man of business

Ms. Anneril Lehman Lear – oldest daughter

Ms. Reagan Lehman Lear – the other daughter

Mr. Cord Lehman Lear/ Ms. Cordelia Learson – youngest child

Mr. Glen Storr, Esquire – business partner, family attorney

Mr. Edgar “Ned” Storr/ Ned o’ Bedlam – primary son, not straight

Mr. Edmond “Monty” Storr – bastard son, personal trainer, escort, straight

Settings: Homes of wealth on the heath, two locations on the heath

Scene 1: Thanksgiving – Lear’s Dining Room
Scene 2: Breaking Promises – Cord & Ned’s Bedroom - The Storr House
Scene 3: Arm Wrestling – Lear’s Bedroom
Scene 4: Help Me Get Dressed – Cord & Ned’s Bedroom - The Storr House
Scene 5: Cordelia’s Here - Lear’s Bedroom
Scene 6: We Will See the Sisters – Cord & Ned’s Bedroom –The Storr House
Scene 7: The Sister’s Lair – The Family Room - Reagan’s Home on the Heath

Scene 8: Blow Winds The Heath
Scene 9: Another Half of the Heath The Heath
Scene 10: The Foreclosed Family Room – Reagan’s Home on the Heath
Scene 11: The Eternal Flame - The Heath
Scene 12: The Foreclosed Family Room – Reagan’s Home on the Heath
Scene 13: Nine Months to One Year Later - The Storr House

Running Time: 92 minutes [No Intermission]

http://thelears.weebly.com/

12th NIGHTed: On the 12th day of Christmas, your true love brings to me, many kinds of pasta, brazen butlers braying, and one golden ring. Updated to 1960’s Little Italy, NYC, this 12th NIGHTed is shot out of a Shakespearean confetti cannon of sexual confusion, double sets of twins, and families trying to stick or get back together. A farce of epic proportions mirroring the Bard's TWELFTH NIGHT.

Characters 5 men 3 women

Orson Argento: middle aged businessman, Cesario is his personal assistant, Antonio Alberto Argento is his twin brother, one actor should play both Argentos.

Antonio “Tony” Alberto Argento: middle aged businessman, Vito is his muse, Orson Argento is his twin brother, wears glasses, one actor should play both Argentos.

Viola/Cesario Vitale: has a brother twin, Vito, androgynous, Viola/Cesario is Orson’s personal assistant disguised as a man.

Vito Vitale: Viola's twin brother, wears identical wig as Viola/Cesario, wears identical costume as Viola /Cesario, same height as Viola/Cesario, wears glasses, Antonio's muse.

Olivia Ruttate Earnrighto: middle aged entrepreneur, head of the family, widow grieving for her dead husband Earnesto.

Francesco “Frankie” Assisi: personal assistant to Olivia Ruttate Earnrighto.

Toby Ruttate: the black sheep of the family, Olivia's brother.

Maria Theresa D’Assolvere: the Italian maid.

Mel Volio: the butler, handler of personal correspondence.

SETTINGs: 1960’s Little Italy, New York City, Orson’s office, Olivia’s Palazzo, Antonio’s Studio Apt/Office, the streets of Little Italy

RUNNING TIME: 123 minutes 85 pages

NOW PUBLISHED by https://www.smithscripts.co.uk/product/12th-nighted-by-patrick-thomas-m…

http://12thnighted.weebly.com/
http://www.pinterest.com/ptmcptmc9442/12th-nighted/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWPKU-H46WE
http://www.theatrereviews.com/off-broadway-review-12th-nighted-and-fire…

VARIED LIVES, a MERRY WIVES of WINDSOR for six men, features Milwaukee brewing magnate Mr. Donald John Falstaff, striving for more than just a quiet weekend in the country, & throwing Mr. Fenton Philip Ford's estate, Ford Farms, and its all male cast of characters into chaos. Set in a time when gay marriage wasn’t even a topic for discussion and adoption the only legal recourse, VARIED LIVES examines the relationships of 6 men who opt for the only solutions available to them. "Modelled" upon Shakespeare’s MERRY WIVES of WINDSOR, VARIED LIVES is set in the 1930s American Midwest and loosely based on the life & times of American philanthropist Robert Allerton and Allerton Park.

SETTING: A country estate’s kitchen in the American Heartland
TIME FRAME: Autumn 1930
RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes in 3 acts with no intermissions
http://variedlives.weebly.com/
https://www.pinterest.com/ptmcptmc9442/varied-lives/

Characters 6 men
Modell ‘Moddy’ Tyrone Smith – 20’s
Mr. Teddy Turner – the butler – 40’s/50’s
Satchel Jefferson– 20’s
Mr. Fenton Philip Ford – 40s/50’s
Mr. Princeton Percival Page – 40s/50’s
Mr. Donald John Falstaff – a brewer from Milwaukee – 40’s/50’s
Off stage characters/voices – Cook, Gardener, Knockers, Pullman, Poolman, Nickels, Knuckles