Recommended by Arthur M Jolly

  • Several Miles From Nowhere
    21 Aug. 2021
    Intriguing and exciting - this play drew me in gently, like wading into a lake so cold you don't realize until too late that you are out of your depth and swimming in deep, deep waters. There's a fantastic reveal at the end - one that, honestly, left me wanting more, in the best way!
  • Trash
    21 Aug. 2021
    A short but powerful play - with an ending that lands like a cathartic punch, with the wonderful bonus that suddenly the title takes on a whole new meaning. There are lots of deep emotional levels for the actors to explore in this play, for those that are willing to explore them.
  • Up on a Roof
    13 Aug. 2021
    A perfectly drawn moment - the aching, bittersweet knife edge of characters balancing overwhelming emotions and unsure of how they will play out. The role of Robbie is deceptive - seemingly oblivious and facile, there's enough there to make this truly a fantastic exploration of the complex relationship web between all three of the characters. Exceptional.
  • Flying Too High With Some Guy in the Sky (part of the one-minute play series Destination: Wedding)
    13 Aug. 2021
    Deliciously awkward conversation between two guys, forced to sit next to each other after sharing a drunken kiss the night before - with an ending that could be played in a myriad of ways. There is so much to explore in this brief moment! This play is short enough to work on in a scene study class, just as an exercise - with enough depth that it is worth examining thoroughly. And a fun read!
  • Discarded (a monologue)
    13 Aug. 2021
    Poetic, poignant - unexpected. This monologue is a beautiful little surprise!
  • The Sugar Ridge Rag
    11 Aug. 2021
    Touching, engaging - this play reaches deep, and drags us into the world of these twins, so alike and so different - syncopated, like the Ragtime music than runs through the play as a theme. This is a beautifully written play - with the added bonus of several monologues that would serve well for audition pieces.
  • A Requiem For Shermy (a ten minute play)
    10 Aug. 2021
    Funny, poignant, thought-provoking, profound, and ultimately a beautiful meditation - on a cartoon strip. Levine, well known as the maestro of the ten minute play, brings an unexpected level of depth to his trademark humor. This play - with a lovely inside nod to "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern" - really does manage, in ten exquisitely crafted minutes, to take two minor characters from a major work and have them question their existence and their roles in a new and impressive way. And it's about Peanuts!
  • Visitation
    7 Aug. 2021
    This play was written for zoom production - but transcends it beautifully, and uses the inherent isolation between characters on zoom to the play's benefit. That said, I think this would work even better on stage in a more traditional format, and hope that it gets produced when theatre has fully opened up again. It is a powerful, moving expression of the complicated family dynamic between siblings coping with addiction, incarceration - and growing up, in all kinds of ways - and is beautifully written.
  • Eight Drafts of a Letter Never Sent (Ten Minute Play)
    6 Aug. 2021
    For me, the best ten minute plays are the ones that delve into a complex and emotionally charged situation, and manage to crystallize it and distill it; to portray - in a brief moment - something immense and meaningful. This play achieves that so beautifully, so (apparently) effortlessly - just a husband and wife, talking about her trying to write a difficult letter... and it captures the complex web of emotional ties and raises profound questions. This is a play with deep emotional resonance.
  • YULETIDE TRADITIONS
    25 Jul. 2021
    Absolutely charming - a sweet, first-Christmas together for a couple trying to figure out their new relationship, and clashing over whose traditions will be carried forwards and whose will get left behind! Easy to stage, and a sure-fired crowd pleaser!

Pages