Leslie Corn

Saying farewell to our beloved pets at the end of their lives is one of the hardest things we do. In this monologue, with love and grace, Ellie's human takes her adored 16-year-old cat to her goodbye.

In the bustling North Pole workshop, not long before Christmas, Santa's hardworking elves have had enough of feeling unrecognized and unappreciated, while Santa gets all the credit. And they're taking action.

In a Zoom call, Supervisor Elves, Mo and Tam, confront Santa, who's away on a pre-Christmas flight rehearsal. The entire North Pole Elf Brigade will go on strike at midnight, North Pole Standard Time, if they don't get what they want.

Mrs. Claus has a plan for Santa to set things right. Can appreciation, teamwork, and more cookies save Christmas? And can Santa pull it off? Or, for the first time ever, will Christmas be cancelled?

And will we finally learn Mrs. Claus' first name?

Violet is longing for a dog. But with her 12-hour-a-day job, she can't make a full time commitment. So she contacts Rent-A-Pet, a group that matches dogs with busy people in need of animal companionship, part time. Today, in the final part of her application, Violet has to pass an evaluation with a dog. Miranda the evaluator has come to test her with happy Spud, one of their most popular dogs. But is he really a dog? And does it matter?

LOGLINE:
Unconditional love is a beautiful thing. Even if it involves some confusion about species.

Shy Irene wants to save the world. Somehow. She's sure that the "how" will come to her when she does improv. Hidden in the shadows on All Hallows Eve, she watches students playing zombies in an improv class in the local cemetery. Sylvia’s fed up watching her sister hide. And, to Irene's shock--and the good of the world--Sylvia's going to do something about it.

Grade school teacher Jessie McMahon witnessed the tragedy of a mass shooting. Forever haunted by what she saw and the lives lost, she tells a Senate legislative committee about her experience. It's time, she says, for them to move beyond their need to be reelected and use their power to end gun violence. Now.

In 1908, Frank Woodhull, born Mary Johnson, sails back to America to the challenge of a lifetime. Were names really changed at Ellis Island? This one is. And, in the process, an identity that bravely rejects society's limitations on a woman's gender is, unwillingly, revealed.

Note: Frank Woodhull, originally Mary Johnson, born in 1858, was a real person. The 1908 detention on Ellis Island and unusual circumstances were described in newspaper reports. Portions of Frank's monologues were adapted from interviews in The New York Times and The New York Sun.

In 2005, a hurricane rages in the American South. Morphine is the only medicine left in the nursing home. There's no power, no safe water to drink, no hope of rescue in the abandoned Black neighborhood. In the eye of the storm, the remaining staff, Jack Winter, MD, a transplanted New Yorker looking to escape the trauma of 9/11, and Celeste Savoie, RN, a local devoted to caregiving, face the decision of their lives--and the lives of their semi-paralyzed patients.

Future physicist Jennifer, the family genealogist, has made a terrifying discovery: the family documents changed overnight. Something suddenly shifted in the past and her ancestors never got together. Their descendants, including Jennifer, her sister Gina, and the rest of the family won't exist anymore--unless Jennifer does something fast to stop the change. Can she somehow connect with her great-great-great grandfather Eustis over 120 years earlier and convince him to save the family, before it's too late? Can past, present, and future really meet? Her family's existence depends on it. And Jennifer is determined to try.

After watching her grandmother being ridiculed while struggling to keep her balance standing on a crowed bus, teenager Kate can’t stay silent anymore. She’s got to speak up against the meanness--the same way her grandmother protected Kate's friend against fat shaming. Kate has some eye-opening instructions for her grandmother. And she’s got an idea where her friends and her grandmother’s friends could work together and, maybe, help make the world a better place for everyone.

Bobby is not having a good day: people are rude and nobody’s doing anything about dangerously speeding bikes on the sidewalk. Bobby’s grumping along, walking their dog, when a stranger, with a surprising act of kindness and some wise words, transforms Bobby’s world.

In 1789, President George Washington borrowed a book from the Society Library in New York City, upstairs from his office in Federal Hall—a book that, allegedly, was never returned. Haunted by the jeers of people in the present, George returns to clear his name and pay his fine. That's not so easy for someone who’s dead, invisible, and can’t put his hands on $300,000.

NOTE:
The ending of the play can be general for all libraries, as written,
or, if the play is used to encourage donations for a specific library,
the ending can name that library.
The alternate ending is shown after the end of the script.