Lisa Attanasio

[ONE ACT] Frank Griff is an investor who’s brokered a great deal, renting out the family home for a week to wealthy golf enthusiasts to attend a nearby tournament. Frank has convinced his wife Tilda to get on board with the plan and they’re on their way to easy money, until their 41-year-old freeloading son Burkhardt decides to throw a wrench in the works.

[Full Length] Life hasn’t been easy for twenty-year-old Carmela, scratching to survive after the death of her mother, but her struggles intensify when the estranged father she’s still getting to know becomes a person of interest in a murder investigation where the primary evidence is the result of facial recognition technology. When her father disappears, Carmela must decide if she will abandon him the way he once abandoned her, or take on the Herculean task of bringing him home.
A tense investigation of our conceptions of guilt and innocence, and the forces that mobilize technology against us. Themes of generational trauma/transfer, the dangers of a blind faith in technology, and the effects of the police state on the disadvantaged.

[SHORT] Kimberly is a senior citizen who has recently taken up the oboe after an epiphanous dream. She is thrilled to have won a spot in the local women’s orchestra, until two orchestra members visit her with an urgent request.

[SHORT] Orphaned sisters navigate the new rules of life during Civil War Part 2.

Sweet Elysium takes place in the very possible near future, where the second civil war has engulfed America. Two sisters, Harper and Sophia, are attempting to adjust to life under the tyrannical regime. Their mother is dead and their father is off fighting the war, and the girls are at home, in a town where the only jobs permitted to those in their designated “class” are working in the Amazon warehouse. The girls gush over a beautiful influencer who happens to be an elderly woman; they cosplay being old themselves and “reminisce” over their lives of careers, homes and families, because their future has been stolen from them and they will likely never get to live out those dreams. Just as they get lost in their fantasies, the unthinkable happens. Again.
The play offers an alternate reality in that it depicts a world where old age is revered and glamorized. It also offers really great roles for two young women. It requires no real set and a few simple props.

[ONE ACT] Winslow and Mercer are isolated in a small cabin in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. A wildfire bears down on their home, which they are reluctant to abandon, but the real threat to their lives has yet to reveal itself.

Full Synopsis:

Mercer and Winslow are two middle-aged men trapped in an isolated cabin. They’re each facing a personal crisis: Mercer is convinced there’s a wildfire bearing down on their home, but although Winslow seems to humor him, the tension between them grows and seems likely to pitch into violence.

Their clumsy attempt to deal with the ‘crisis’, reveals more about their long-standing relationship: that the men didn’t always live in seclusion, that Mercer is afraid to leave the home and hasn’t for years; that Winslow, who at one time aspired to be a psychologist, has attempted to keep them afloat with a home-based business that has now failed. It begins to become clear that while their relationship is characterized by tragic manipulation and desperate push and pull, there’s real love between them.

In a last-ditch attempt to calm their nerves, Mercer makes an appeal to his partner’s former ambitions, suggesting that they do a visualization exercise together. But far from contributing to the healing process, Winslow uses it to push Mercer to his breaking point, at which point there’s a knock at the door. It’s a woman looking for Richard Winslow. Who is she? And what does she want?

The game is up, the true threat to their home begins to be revealed: not the fantasy wildfire, but something much more mundane. A final decision must be made: give in to reality or stand by each other.

The play is dark, gripping and intense. It requires only three actors and a simple set that does not change. Thematically it addresses delusion, in particular, those delusions necessary for our survival and how far we’ll go to protect them. A tale of passion, desperation and real estate lending gone wrong!

Approximate run time: 40 minutes

[FULL LENGTH] An accident on a dark country road, as a young couple hit an elderly man as he wanders the streets late at night. The couple involved, Nick and Natasha, struggle to regain control of their lives, ultimately illuminating a crisis over their impending parenthood, as well as leading to a confrontation between the accident victim and his adult daughter over allegations of childhood abuse.

[SHORT] Mimsy the cat has gone missing! Or has he? His owners, Dick and Jane, grapple with the situation, and with each other.

[SHORT] An arrogant entrepreneur and a humble accountant jockey for position in a doctor's waiting room. A comedy about capitalism, toxic masculinity and pointless competition. . .in the most unlikely of places!

[SHORT] After meeting on a dating app, two hopeful romantics are forced to confront the true
natures they’ve desperately concealed.

[SHORT] They've got each other; if only words could save them.

Three characters in a small room. They've heard that some internment camps have been spotted nearby, but that couldn't be true, could it? And who are the camps intended for? As they search for information, they both struggle against and support each other, but words alone will not prevent the disaster that lies ahead.

This play requires just three actors and a simple set that does not change (a table and two chairs). It is perfect for small theatres and Zoom productions. Approximate run time: 8 minutes