Judd Lear Silverman

An office break-room becomes the site of confession, consultation, and cover-up after a secretary’s
response to an unwanted advance leads to unexpected results.

Marie has hired Vincente as a guide to lead her to the fabled “healing trees” (arbres à loques), a journey
that has more significance than either of them realize.

As they bid goodbye to their passengers, Noah and his wife reflect on their experiences on the Ark and moving forward with their lives--but also wondering at the differences in their perspectives, how they may choose to view themselves given a re-start after such a worldwide cataclysm, and if God's covenant with them is really so ironclad.

In late May 2018, a traffic jam that persisted for three days on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Expressway made the headlines, not because of the pileup itself but its cause—a party or pride of peacocks marching down the side of the highway, escapees from the nearby Philadelphia Zoo. The four birds kept successfully evading capture, despite the efforts of zoo officials and state police. In the end, two exhausted birds were finally returned to the zoo, with one other found hit by a car and the remaining bird, the youngest of them . . . well, we don’t know quite where he turned up or if he ever will.
The fascination of this story, combined with my interests in the last few years about animal rights and climate change, has resulted in this play—these remarkable birds weren’t wandering aimlessly but were marching with purpose, on a top-secret mission. While that mission is ordinarily unknowable to us as humans, I have my theories of how they view things—and so here is my suggested take on what happened to them from their point of view.

Two ladies are just rescued from a burning church, where they had gone to practice their duet for Sunday's service. Shaken and a bit shocked, they try to answer Fireman Bill's questions as best they can, while the Fireman tries to figure out what happened to start the blaze -- and to find any possible remaining survivors.

Wendy, a lively, life-embracing young woman in love brings her boyfriend James up to the rooftop to see her favorite view of the world—during a lightning and thunderstorm. James, smitten, is trying to listen and be sympathetic but is also scared out of his wits. We get a lesson in life, love, and the intentional randomness of nature.

Inspired by the many spirits of revolt and recent stories of educational intimidation— specifically, the cutting of student athlete Andrew Johnson’s dreadlocks at a New Jersey wrestling tournament—students at a rather pricey private school stage a protest and follow their idol Colin Kaepernick’s example during the National Anthem, resulting in stern repercussions—and a friendship threatened.

Customer satisfaction is guaranteed at Maximillion’s – until it is not. How customer service problems will possibly go in the future.

Warding off unwanted advances, ROSE rides shotgun, surveying land and sea—but still is unsure how to handle BEAU, a young man with a piece of chocolate.

With Grandpa gone and Grandma now permanently in a nursing home, Maureen their daughter is putting the house on the market and granddaughters Lore and Sherry are helping clean things our in preparation. When the girls find the wedding dress-up things that they used to play with in the attic, they can’t help but be tickled—both by the outfits and the odd picture they had always known about but not previously considered.

Having determined they would issue a takeover when human activities caused a major rise in ocean temperatures, it is time for the Dolphins to declare a takeover, as leaders and occupants of over 70% of the world’s surface space. But is their some possible waffling and politics afoot as the grab for power arises?

A young man and his uncle, both storm chasers, sit in their friend’s truck, waiting to chase a possible twister or funnel cloud and talking about the friend who’s not with them, along the way piecing together how their lives and this moment came to be as they are. Some truths are revealed, others are only floated on the air . . . and sometimes trees are planted only to be unplanted again.

A newscaster pays a televised visit to the open-air Annual William Tell Archery Celebration, where people test their marksmanship with the people they love--literally! There are upsets—and then there are upsets!

A twelve-step program for folks with a particular, peculiar kind of addiction and how they try to help each other.

Alfonso, the hairdresser, is working on the hair of a new customer, an attractive and presumably well-to-do woman name Sigrid who came at the recommendation of one of her friends. All is business as usual—until Alfonso finds something unusual about this patron and her head.

A young boy named Donald seems to have disregards for all "lights out" rules, despite his mother's determination to make him an upstanding young man--a harbinger, perhaps of what is to come. (If only she'd been successful . . .)

A peculiar drawing room comedy that intentionally does all the things you're not supposed to do for good theater--in short, a comedy. In a grand traditional style, two wealthy young gentlemen take tea with some assistance of the butler,
Giles, and with an additional tea guest who just happens to be a mummy.

Based VERY loosely on a true news item, wherein a ventriloquist’s dummy was found after a small-time robbery attempt, two brothers (Donny and Lloyd) end up with a rather disappointing haul from their attempt at crime, save for a wooden doll that seems to have a mind of its own.

It is the latest meeting—and possibly the last—of the American Ladies Wing Walkers Association, at which those in attendance come to grips with some difficult facts.

Inside the dining room, all is celebratory for a wedding rehearsal dinner--or so we think, because we are outside the dining room, watching the vestibule by the rest rooms where total chaos is happening before our eyes. Panic ensues as we find out that not everyone is correctly matched with who they should be and the secrets are disintegrating rapidly. A comedy of mismatched lovers and friends, all with a history to them!

In a small town, two teen guys visit the local tattoo parlor, with one of them feeling a need to declare his love for his girlfriend. Meanwhile, two of their female classmates go to the same parlor, based on a bet. The play examines love, sense of identification, and peer pressure in a humorous fashion.

HEART is a black comedy, seemingly about an artificial heart recipient, but ultimately it is about all affairs of the heart. Robert Bixler, a plumbing contractor who dreams of being a tap dancer, has actually been tap dancing around his life until he brings on a massive heart attack. Now continually drugged for pain, his body lies in repose (as people talk over and around him) while his mind (played by a separate actor) fantasizes about his present and future while ruefully re-examining his past. Family and friends visit while the medical community treats him as their guinea pig. In the first act, the decision is whether or not to be the recipient of the artificial heart. In the second, the results of the “experiment” kick in, along with the side-effects and aftermath. Along the way, numerous questions are raised: if one could extend one's natural time, should one? What are our obligations to our families and friends? And what, ultimately is our true heart?

Influenced by numerous biographies and writings, LEAVING CHARLESTON is a fantasy about the Bloomsbury Group, sparked by the death of its last remaining survivor, writer and painter Angelica Bell Garnett. The daughter of artist Vanessa Bell and the niece of Virginia Woolf, Angelica led a rarefied childhood among the great minds of the early 20th century, only to discover a confusing truth about her real parentage and experience an equally confusing marriage with the flamboyant writer David Garnett. An older Angelica believes she has come to close up the family summer home, Charleston House, in order to donate it to a trust, but in truth she has come home to settle with the ghosts of her past for reasons unknown even to her. This non-linear tale explores the love and sexual freedom extolled by the Bloomsbury circle that strongly affected modern society.

Originally begun as an exercise in replicating Moliere's structure, a devilish sense of humor a la Joe Orton came into play, along with a realization: if we can be accepted in this new age, shouldn't we also be able to make fun of ourselves? If for thousands of years people have been satirizing the process of marriage, is it not as likely that gay marriages would be just as fraught with plots and counter-plots, a subject for satire and entertainment? JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED is a gleeful multi-offender, making fun of many groups and conventions while still celebrating the silliness of life, romance, and marriage plans.

Somewhere in Middle America, a young boy nicknamed Buddy struggles with both math homework and more important self-esteem issues. His mother bolsters his confidence by revealing to him the circumstances of his birth—he was found in a clearing after an egg-shaped crafted landed on earth, and it is thought that he has special “gifts,” possibly befitting someone commonly considered a superhero. (His father is no longer in the picture to verify this and the story sounds vaguely like one in the boy’s favorite comic books.) After receiving this challenging and rather exciting info, Buddy quickly solves his homework conundrum and proceeds to ponder his future. A few decades later in the Big City, the boy (now going by his given name, Stan) is an overloaded social worker dealing with numerous clients who are rather demanding of his time and his emotions. (Bridget, a client with a crush on him, particularly demands his attention.) While In the middle of doing his customary caring job, he is interrupted first by a co-worker, Sherree, with a client on the line, and then by his supervisor, Vaughn, who informs him that due to “capacity building” and the need to serve more clients quickly (if not well), he is being laid off. Stan then enters on an epic weekend of misadventures and fantasies as he grapples with the thought of being unemployed and useless to anyone. He questions whether or not he indeed has any special “gifts.” At a local bar, he meets both a former teacher, Beth, and a psychotherapist, Dave—both of whom end up going home with Stan for evenings of “discovery.” After each “exploration,” his Mother (in the form of ghost or vision) attempts to help him process his experience, much to his chagrin. He is also visited by phone messages from Sherree who continues to try to involve him in office problems and by e-mails and images of the loving but needy Bridget. He also runs into his ex-boss Vaughn at the bar, who tells him the divide between the well-meaning do-gooders looking to soothe their consciences and the more hard-scramble guys such as Vaughn. Altruism versus self-interest is the battle, with Vaughn contending self-interest will always win. Stan finally fantasizes a superhero test where he goes to rescue someone, as all of the play’s characters circulate in his head. He realizes he’s not quite sure who needs saving and if he’s up to the job. All leave but his mother, who reveals that, superhero or not, he has to take things as they come and take care of himself first. The following day, answering what he thinks is a call for help from Sherree, he ends up receiving a short-term employment offer from the agency who laid him off. Rather than stand on principal, he chooses the practical, which is either the start of his selling-out or alternatively his practical salvation.

Two people, both in search of jobs, meet at a bus stop and inadvertently find out past connections to each other they might never have known.