Joe Musso

Joe Musso

Joe Musso's plays have been presented in numerous theatres and have won several awards, including the Great Plains Theatre Conference Holland New Voices Award, the MTWorks Excellence in Playwriting Award, the HRC Showcase Theatre W. Keith Hedrick Playwriting Award, and the Gloria Ann Barnell Peter Playwright Competition. Detroit Repertory Theatre will produce his newest full-length play "Aubrey"...
Joe Musso's plays have been presented in numerous theatres and have won several awards, including the Great Plains Theatre Conference Holland New Voices Award, the MTWorks Excellence in Playwriting Award, the HRC Showcase Theatre W. Keith Hedrick Playwriting Award, and the Gloria Ann Barnell Peter Playwright Competition. Detroit Repertory Theatre will produce his newest full-length play "Aubrey" from March 28-May 19, 2019, in Detroit, Michigan. Santa Fe Playhouse presented a reading of "Aubrey" on October 14 and October 20, 2018, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as part of The Different Festival. On July 13, 2018, the Berkshire Theatre Group presented a reading of "Aubrey" as part of its No Boundaries In Art reading series at the Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. "Aubrey" is published and licensed by Dramatic Publishing. His full-length play "Treehouse" is a winner of the American Association of Community Theatre's 2018 NewPlayFest, the winner of Centre Stage South Carolina's 15th Annual New Play Festival, and the winner of the 2017 Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award. On August 10-26, 2018, "Treehouse" received its world premiere at Cottage Theatre in Cottage Grove, Oregon. "Treehouse" will also be produced in Centre Stage's Fringe Series in its 2018-2019 season in Greenville, South Carolina. Dramatic Publishing will license "Treehouse" and publish the play as an individual acting edition and in the anthology "American Association of Community Theatre AACT NewPlayFest Winning Plays: Volume 3 (2018)." In 2019, Smith & Kraus Publishers will publish his short monologue "P*NG" in "Monologues for Headspace Theatre: Radical Thinking Inside a Box." His full-length play "Conk and Bone" was published in the "2012 Great Plains Theatre Conference Reader," and his ten-minute play "The Rollercoaster of Love" was published in Smith & Kraus' "The Best 10-Minute Plays 2012." Many of Joe's plays for young actors are published and licensed through Brooklyn Publishers and Heuer Publishing, and Applause Theatre & Cinema Books included his play "Bam! Ka-Pow!" in its anthology "25 Ten-Minute Plays for Teens."

Plays

  • JACK DONNE by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: assisted suicide, poetry + 3 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: assisted suicide, poetry, Donne, Death Metal, Vermont
    Poet and retired real estate magnate Jack Donne has moved from L.A. to Bennington, Vermont, the hometown of his youth. He is desperate for his daughter Anna, a death metal icon, to reconcile with Phoebe, her estranged mother and his “ex.” Time is running out. Phoebe is terminally ill and has chosen to end her life with dignity at sunset.
  • AUBREY by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: opioid crisis, opioid addiction + 8 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: opioid crisis, opioid addiction, opioids, addiction, rehabilitation, redemption, overdose, Drugs, heroin, fentanyl
    Haunted by her role in her lover’s drug overdose death, Aubrey Gagnier, a heroin addict, seeks out Ivan Stillman, a grave digger and coffin maker. Aubrey believes Ivan can speak with the dead, which he denies. Regardless of his denial, Aubrey implores Ivan to speak with her deceased lover. After Aubrey’s addiction creates chaos in Ivan’s orderly world, Ivan reveals his tragic past. They soon become each other’s...
    Haunted by her role in her lover’s drug overdose death, Aubrey Gagnier, a heroin addict, seeks out Ivan Stillman, a grave digger and coffin maker. Aubrey believes Ivan can speak with the dead, which he denies. Regardless of his denial, Aubrey implores Ivan to speak with her deceased lover. After Aubrey’s addiction creates chaos in Ivan’s orderly world, Ivan reveals his tragic past. They soon become each other’s best hope not just to survive, but to live.
  • TREEHOUSE by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: Shakespeare, alcoholism + 1 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: Shakespeare, alcoholism, suicide
    Johnny and his pals Oliver and Ben could be typical 17-year-old boys, hanging out in Johnny’s treehouse and dreaming of talking to the beautiful Alana, were it not for Johnny's insistence that he has the mind of a 53-year-old. Johnny’s mom is a little worried. Out-of-the-blue her son is suddenly pulling straight A's, keeping his room immaculate, and reading Shakespeare. As Johnny persists in his claim...
    Johnny and his pals Oliver and Ben could be typical 17-year-old boys, hanging out in Johnny’s treehouse and dreaming of talking to the beautiful Alana, were it not for Johnny's insistence that he has the mind of a 53-year-old. Johnny’s mom is a little worried. Out-of-the-blue her son is suddenly pulling straight A's, keeping his room immaculate, and reading Shakespeare. As Johnny persists in his claim that he's an old man in a teenager's body, and conversations in the treehouse become increasingly peppered by the words of the Bard, Johnny grapples simultaneously with adolescence, love, and the mind's ability to heal from great loss. Through his budding friendship with Alana, Johnny comes to realize the life-affirming power of "the eternal summer that shall not fade."
  • ABSINTHE by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama, tragedy
    ·
    Keyword: New Orleans, race riot + 6 more
    Genre: drama, tragedy
    Keyword: New Orleans, race riot, slavery, lynching, Race, race relations, American Civil War, The Civil War
    It's July 1900, and a race riot has engulfed New Orleans, sparked by a black man killing two white policemen. At first, the violence on the streets is far removed from the genteel parlor of Grace Newman, a blind white woman cared for by her house servant, Curtis, a former slave owned by Grace's father. Grace and Curtis's relationship is forged by respect and compassion. However, their true...
    It's July 1900, and a race riot has engulfed New Orleans, sparked by a black man killing two white policemen. At first, the violence on the streets is far removed from the genteel parlor of Grace Newman, a blind white woman cared for by her house servant, Curtis, a former slave owned by Grace's father. Grace and Curtis's relationship is forged by respect and compassion. However, their true feelings for each other must remain hidden from Grace's racist brother Henry, a Civil War vet who fought for the South and who is hell-bent on bringing justice to a black man who killed two white policemen. As a race riot in the streets unfolds, Grace and Curtis's relationship unravels.
  • CONK AND BONE by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, experimental + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: magical realism, Greek mythology + 2 more
    Genre: dark comedy, experimental, tragedy
    Keyword: magical realism, Greek mythology, Louisiana, New Orleans
    Death hires Conk and Bone--two hapless men from New Orleans--to prepare the slain Greek warrior Achilles and a murdered young woman to meet Charon, the boatman who ferries the dead to Hades. All goes awry when Conk and Bone fall asleep on the job. Achilles obtains a battle sword, and the young woman turns up missing. When Conk and Bone awake, Death comes knocking.
  • BLOOD WATER by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama, tragedy
    ·
    Keyword: New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina + 2 more
    Genre: drama, tragedy
    Keyword: New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, French Quarter, Salome
    Set in New Orleans in 2005 during the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, BLOOD WATER opens with a homeless street preacher branded "The Prophet" publicly condemning the lifestyle of Greta, an exotic dancer. Enraged by The Prophet's tirades, Greta implores her husband Rod, a fencer of stolen goods, to kill him. After Greta captures The Prophet, Rod sympathizes with him and desires to set him free....
    Set in New Orleans in 2005 during the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, BLOOD WATER opens with a homeless street preacher branded "The Prophet" publicly condemning the lifestyle of Greta, an exotic dancer. Enraged by The Prophet's tirades, Greta implores her husband Rod, a fencer of stolen goods, to kill him. After Greta captures The Prophet, Rod sympathizes with him and desires to set him free. Celie, Greta's daughter and Rod's stepdaughter, desires the same. After learning of Rod's decision to free the Prophet, Greta tricks Celie into believing The Prophet can only be saved if Celie seduces her stepfather with dance. Greta then secures an oath from Rod that he will give Celie anything in exchange for that dance. Celie dances, and Greta lies to Rod that Celie wants The Prophet to die. Rod doesn't buy it and pays with his own life trying to save him.
  • VOODOO TODAY HERE NOW 5 by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina + 2 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, French Quarter, Voodoo
    After Hurricane Katrina, Sylvia and Etienne return to a French Quarter littered with discarded refrigerators, each bearing graffiti "Voodoo Today Here Now 5." Anxious to know its meaning, they invite a young couple, John and Marie, who never evacuated from New Orleans, to a cocktail party on their balcony. John and Marie have their own motivation in accepting the invitation.
  • REPUBLIC COUNTY by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, farce + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Farce, Walt Whitman + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, farce, political
    Keyword: Farce, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, Lizzie Borden, Government Cheese, murder
    The unemployment rate for Republic County is at an all-time high, and the poets are to blame. The only solution is to kill them. With a wink and a nod to Plato's Republic, this dark comedy—set in a government employment office—features Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry David Thoreau in their quest to obtain free government cheese.
  • THE LOGOPHILE by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    ·
    Keyword: New Orleans, bookstore + 5 more
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: New Orleans, bookstore, Shakespeare, French Quarter, Mardi Gras, Voodoo, ghosts
    "The Logophile" takes place in New Orleans in a French Quarter bookstore owned and operated by Robert, who inherited the business from his father, the world's greatest bookseller. When he was a teenager, Robert and the pretty girl next door, Julie, publically performed the balcony scene in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" as a way for Robert's father to sell more books. Robert...
    "The Logophile" takes place in New Orleans in a French Quarter bookstore owned and operated by Robert, who inherited the business from his father, the world's greatest bookseller. When he was a teenager, Robert and the pretty girl next door, Julie, publically performed the balcony scene in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" as a way for Robert's father to sell more books. Robert fell deeply love with Julie, but, alas, only from afar. Julie grew up and moved to Paris. Robert never left the bookstore. It is twenty years later, and the adult Robert, a logophile − a lover of words − doesn’t get out much. Instead, he buries his head in dictionaries at night as his heart pines for Julie. Even Jane, a gorgeous librarian and fellow logophile, cannot arouse his passion. Still, life is not entirely boring for Robert, because his bookstore is haunted by Cyrus, a sharp-tongued Civil War Union Army soldier who died in 1864. Cyrus promised Robert’s father that he would not stop haunting the bookstore until Robert found happiness. Miss Sally, a New Orleans ghost tour operator, also drops in occasionally. And then one day, a day like any other, Julie walks in the bookstore. She reveals that she loved Robert all along and that she is actually the goddess Erato, the muse of lyric poetry. Unfortunately, Robert is not the writer Erato thought he would grow up to be. To complicate matters even more, Erato’s stalker, Phineas Endor, the bastard son of famous 16th Century necromancer Henrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, has turned up in New Orleans with a zombie in tow.
  • ELECTRA ORLEANS by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: drama, tragedy
    ·
    Keyword: Electra, Greek tragedy + 2 more
    Genre: drama, tragedy
    Keyword: Electra, Greek tragedy, New Orleans, French Quarter
    Jacques, the stranger in the red suit, is ultimately revealed to be Mary and Sarah's brother. He has come to avenge the axe-murder of his father, in this play inspired by the Greek tragedy "Electra." It all plays out in present day New Orleans.
  • WHITE PEARL IN RED DRAGON'S MOUTH by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: London, roses + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: London, roses, poet, adultery
    A famous American poet vacationing in England is determined to end her ruinous marriage on her own terms.
  • ROMA by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: Rome, Florence + 2 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: Rome, Florence, Italy, Kidnapping
    Jill, a literary scholar seeking a career boost, travels to Florence, Italy, where, with the unwilling help of her husband Tom, she kidnaps renowned fiction writer Peter Walsh. She intends to steal the short story that Peter, who is terminally ill, vows will be his last. Trouble is, Peter is writing the story slower than he's dying and his mind keeps wondering to Rome and the Cemetery of Capuchins. To...
    Jill, a literary scholar seeking a career boost, travels to Florence, Italy, where, with the unwilling help of her husband Tom, she kidnaps renowned fiction writer Peter Walsh. She intends to steal the short story that Peter, who is terminally ill, vows will be his last. Trouble is, Peter is writing the story slower than he's dying and his mind keeps wondering to Rome and the Cemetery of Capuchins. To motivate him to finish the story in time, Jill resorts to threats and violence. Tom is Peter's only hope.
  • THREE SISTERS TORTURE COMPANY by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    9
    ·
    Genre: comedy, farce + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: blood, Farce
    Genre: comedy, farce, horror, romantic comedy
    Keyword: blood, Farce
    Three sisters - Joan, Annie, and Elizabeth - operate a for-profit torture chamber aptly named Three Sisters Torture Company. Business is slow, but with a new king seizing the thrown after a violent coup, a fresh batch of political prisoners are in need of torture. If it can win the new king's favor, Three Sisters Torture Company stands to gain a lucrative contract. Annie, the self-proclaimed brains of the...
    Three sisters - Joan, Annie, and Elizabeth - operate a for-profit torture chamber aptly named Three Sisters Torture Company. Business is slow, but with a new king seizing the thrown after a violent coup, a fresh batch of political prisoners are in need of torture. If it can win the new king's favor, Three Sisters Torture Company stands to gain a lucrative contract. Annie, the self-proclaimed brains of the business, leads the charge for the king's attention. She wastes no time highlighting that Joan is a torturer par excellence! And it's true, for Joan torture is an art form. While the new king is impressed with Joan's skills, it is Elizabeth who most interests him. As a young prince, he loved Elizabeth and wanted to marry her, but his older brother, the king, forbade it. Now with his brother out of the way, compliments of fratricide, i.e., the coup, the new king wants to rekindle the flames of passion with Elizabeth. Much to Annie's dismay, though, Elizabeth isn't interested in anything other than writing poetry and a strong desire to murder the new king. If Annie and Joan can't convince Elizabeth to fall in love with the new king, Three Sisters Torture Company might not survive.
  • SCARAB by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    10
    ·
    Genre: drama, experimental + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Mental Health, Schizophrenia + 4 more
    Genre: drama, experimental, tragedy
    Keyword: Mental Health, Schizophrenia, mythology, minotaur, cutting, abuse
    "Scarab" explores both the real and hallucinatory world of Doris, a schizophrenic patient in a mental institution. Her hallucinatory world consists of disjointed pieces of her past intertwined with an imagination spun from the pages of mythology books. Her real world, however, is consumed by prescription psychiatry, pills fed to her to stop the hallucinations. However, Doris does not want the...
    "Scarab" explores both the real and hallucinatory world of Doris, a schizophrenic patient in a mental institution. Her hallucinatory world consists of disjointed pieces of her past intertwined with an imagination spun from the pages of mythology books. Her real world, however, is consumed by prescription psychiatry, pills fed to her to stop the hallucinations. However, Doris does not want the hallucinations to stop, at least not all of them, because in a psychotic state, even when blood spills, she feels more alive.
  • THE ROLLERCOASTER OF LOVE by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, experimental + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: love, friendship + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, experimental, romantic comedy
    Keyword: love, friendship, sound, rollercoaster, chairs, Relationships
    A play about love, sound, and a rollercoaster ride.
  • BAM! KA-POW! by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy, farce
    ·
    Keyword: comic books, superhero + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, farce
    Keyword: comic books, superhero, love, twist
    Until Rebecca puts on a cape and mask, she’s just mean to Tom. After she puts on a cape and mask, she transforms into superhero sidekick Banana Pepper Girl, and Tom falls madly in love with her.
  • BURIED AT SEA by Joe Musso
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: Staten Island Ferry, scattering ashes
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: Staten Island Ferry, scattering ashes
    Al wants someone to scatter his ashes over the side of the Staten Island Ferry after he dies. He convinces his life-long friend Tom to do the job.