Craig Sodaro
Craig Sodaro is one of Eldridge Publishing's most popular and prolific playwrights with over 60 titles currently in print. Most of his work is ideal for children's theatre and school performances, and several plays have been turned into musicals. His audience participation plays are extremely well received. For community theatre plays he writes under the pen name of Sam Craig. Mr. Sodaro taught for 33 years in public schools, but now writes full time. He and his wife Sue have four grown daughters. Here he speaks in his own words about his love of writing. "I always wanted to write. From the first time I read my first full-fledged book - a long-forgotten mystery - I wanted to be an author. I've always had an imagination that runs overtime. My mind has always been more interested in the possibilities of what if two times two equaled five rather than four. "I grew up in Chicago, but I don't think the Midwest has had a great deal of influence on my writing. I was fortunate enough to travel as a youngster, and the places we visited - the West, East, and South, all seemed steeped in atmosphere and dramatic possibilities. Eventually, I traveled to Alaska, Europe, and Africa, and each experience planted seeds for future stories. "I wrote my first play in high school - an anti-administration absurdist comedy performed in my last period art class. Our teacher turned a deaf ear to the proceedings, but we all caught her laughing. I liked this idea of audience response, and during college, I entered a playwriting contest. I won the fifty dollar prize and saw my characters come to life under the blue, red, and amber stage lights. I knew that this was the direction my writing obsession would have to take. "Success on stage would have to wait for a number of years, however, since I married, began teaching, and had four children and received many, many rejections slips. Eventually I found a formula that worked: large cast mystery with mainly female parts, one setting, and a lot of one-liners. Since then, I've written a hundred and thirty plays, many of which have been published and/or produced. I've had the thrill of walking down 54th Street in New York to a flag-adorned theater where one of my plays premiered. I've received terrific letters from kids who have had parts in the plays I've written, and I've found myself in Amazon.com. "Once in a while people ask me how I write so fast. I guess it’s that I have a lot of stories to tell. And idea will grab me, and then for quite some time—even while working on another script—I’ll keep thinking about the characters and develop the major plot points in my imagination. Once I sit down to the computer to write, the characters really tell the story almost too quickly for me to write down what they’re saying. And that's what I think playwriting is all about. It's telling a story in the simplest but most dramatic way possible. There's a ninety minute or so limit on reaching the climax, and for literature that's quick. I write fast simply so I can find out what's going to happen at the end, just like anybody who watches the play."
A Tale of Two Cities
Classic by Craig Sodaro
78 pages
14 m, 16 w, 10 flexible, much doubling possible
Adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens. One of Dickens' most unforgettable stories is now achievable for the high school stage. Lucy Manette, half-English, half-French, rescues her father after he has spent years in prison in France. They want to live simply and quietly in England, but the long, bloody hand of the French Revolution reaches out to them, thrusting them into ever-increasing danger. The story's essence - love, loyalty, friendship, patriotism, and the human spirit - from the mindless, mob-driven depths to the highest, most noble peak of Sydney...
The Poisoned Pen
Farce by Craig Sodaro
61 pages
4 m, 10 w
When movie mogul Mandrake Masterfiend, producer of the schlockiest horror movies in history, invites some of Hollywood's craziest characters to his birthday party, the evening's a killer--literally. That's because he also invites Rona LaMona, the most vicious gossip columnist in the business who writes weekly under the title "The Poisoned Pen," to stir up the pot a bit. Though the actors, designers, and directors of some of Masterfiend's greatest successes enthusiastically reenact some great scenes from his movies, they suddenly find themselves playing suspec...
Nuptialknots.com
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
64 pages
7 m, 10 w
Rhoda Raines desperately needs money to pay the rent on her beauty parlor, so she decides to check out a computer dating service in hopes of finding a rich man to marry her spoiled daughter Olive. She logs on to www.nuptialknots.com., and no sooner than Rhoda can say, "Wash, rinse, and set," prospective grooms are dropping in all over the place. There's a "British aristocrat"; a Hollywood producer; a guy who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt; an old codger; and even an undercover cop. Mix in Ronnie Harper, the owner of the local Kwiki Mart (who really loves Olive),...
Monster Park
Fantasy by Craig Sodaro
64 pages
9 m, 12 w, 2 flexible parts
Professor Boris Conklin can now revitalize DNA samples from anyone (or anything!) in history, returning that person to life. Unfortunately, those who invested in Conklin's work want him to revitalize world-class monsters like Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy, and others to serve as attractions at his estate turned into an amusement park - Monster Park. But the Professor's down-and-out niece, Marlene, wants the estate for herself and plots to have her uncle hauled off to a sanitarium. She chooses the very weekend a test family is due to get a sneak preview of ...
Is There a Doctor in the House
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
70 pages
7 m, 15 w, 6 or more flexible, doubling possible
Nurse Betty has been bumped off because somebody at County General doesn't want the world to read her novel "ER Confidential." But whose secret has she uncovered? Surely not the two candy stripers who earn extra money by smuggling in fast food to the patients. Maybe it's bossy Nurse Rackett, who longs for the good old days. Or could it be Dr. Nan Jeffries, hoping to escape her mother's clutches and marry Orderly Dan...the guy who once had a fling with Nurse Betty. What about Will Bates, the multigazillionaire computer genius who's supposed to be recovering up...
Half Frozen
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
48 pages
3 m, 7 w, 2 flex
Poor King Augustus and Queen Regina! Their kingdom is half frozen because of a curse placed on their daughter, Princess Mirabelle, and nobody seems to know how to break the spell. When the Princess’s latest suitor, Prince Tomaso from a neighboring kingdom, is frozen by her touch, matters are no long inconvenient—they’re downright dangerous. Tomaso’s father threatens war if his son is not returned safely. As a last resort, the Queen texts a writer who gives advice in her “Leave It to Lilith” daily column. Lilith says the easiest way to break the curse is to go...
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Colosseum
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
71 pages
7 m, 16 w, 2 flexible
When Simplcuss, a naive Swiss farmer, heads for Rome to follow his dream of becoming a stand-up comedian, little does he know what adventures are in store for him. Stumbling into the house of General Spurius Sillius in search for food and water, he's mistaken for the dreaded gladiator, Terribilus, who is due to fight in the Colosseum the following day. Not only does Simplcuss have to figure out how to save himself, but he's overheard the General's wife, Drusilla, and Senator Publius Piscious plotting to kill the Emperor's daughter and the Emperor himself! Mat...
Dressed to Kill
Comedy Mystery by Craig Sodaro
64 pages
6 m, 12 w
Life isn't easy for a fashion designer who can't needle her way into a designing job. Alexandra Daniels, better known as Lexie, is stuck stitching at the famous House of Van Gore, where her friend, Mona, works in the stockroom yearning for her big break on Broadway. Although the fashion shows they work on are colorful, their lives are dull - until the late Mr. Van Gore makes a "spirit's visit" asking the two to help solve his murder. They only half-heartedly agree until Miss Rushton, the house's secretary, turns up dead in the workroom. Now, Lexie and Mona, w...
Disco Fever
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
69 pages
9 m, 16 w, and extras
Wealthy but ditzy Patricia Smitherton-Smatherton and her granddaughters realize something is very wrong when movers begin to repossess the furniture. Perkins, the perfect butler, tries to tell madam the problem lies with Stan D. Mann, her unscrupulous business manager. They don't believe him until they learn Stan plans to sell their house to a flashy Hollywood producer. The girls decide the only way to come up with the mortgage money is to send their grandmother away and turn the mansion into "Disco Dawg." They decorate the place in the current "groovy" `70s style, and everyone who's any...
Dickens of a Mystery
Comedy Mystery by Craig Sodaro
63 pages
5 m, 7 w
World-famous author Charles Dickens falls asleep during an interview with London Times reporter Edwina Drood. He dreams a variety of his characters as passengers aboard a ship heading to England, but they are now in a future he doesn't quiet understand. Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella are luring Uriah Heep into a trap. Mr. McCawber is running from Madame Defarge, to whom he owes money. Captain Fagin tries to avoid the crewman Oliver Twist, who has become very adept at pickpocketing. Nancy, the barkeep, and Belle, the barmaid, are hiding secrets...
Cat's Tale
Classic by Craig Sodaro
44 pages
8 m, 12 w, 18 flexible parts
Colorful and exciting human and animal roles make this children's tale a delight. A young, orphaned boy, Dick Whittington, saves a cat, Whiskers, from a dangerous dog. Later, when Dick finds work in a manor house in London but is forced to sleep on the floor with the rats, Whiskers shows up in the nick of time to save him. Dick keeps Whiskers a secret until the master's ship sets sail. Tradition says Dick must give his master something of value so good luck follows the voyage. Since Whiskers is the only thing Dick owns, he sadly gives the cat. Life seems hope...
Catering to Murder
Mystery by Craig Sodaro
65 pages
5 m, 9 w
Joanna Garner, a caterer, has good reason for being over-protective of her 16-year-old daughter Holly - reasons she has told no one. As guests begin to arrive at an exclusive party which Joanna is catering with Holly's help, there's a phone call. A hideous, disguised voice tells Joanna she must do exactly as she's told or Holly will die. Joanna desperately tries to get Holly out of the mansion, but another call from the voice reveals her every move and gives her further instructions about adding cyanide into the food she is preparing. Which one of the wealthy...