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."
The Medici Code
Comedy Mystery by Craig Sodaro
68 pages
6 m, 11 w
When a mysterious old woman named Q slips tickets for a trip to Medici Castle to Lucy Lyons, she feels compelled to go there. Lucy, a classical scholar and cryptologist who is temporarily caring for her nieces and nephew, Emmy, Jess, and Ben, is intrigued by the remote, historical hotel. But the tour group they are with is strange, and soon one of the tourists suddenly disappears. His wife, however, seems more interested in getting a missing parchment back than finding her husband. Q appears and tells Lucy she needs to crack the Medici Code, a dangerous, long...
Liberty Street
Drama by Craig Sodaro
74 pages
12 m, 13 w
Katie O'Brien and her four daughters land in America with plenty of hope and little else. They quickly fall prey to a scheming landlord, but despite this, one of Katie's daughters, Colleen, falls in love with his son -only to realize he may be as conniving as his father. Another daughter, Mary, finds herself torn between helping their desperate neighbors and keeping the trust of her family. The other daughters must cope with schoolmates who hate immigrants and a young bunch of pickpockets. Despite all the hardships, however, each of the newcomers ultimately c...
Lethal Lecture
Comedy Mystery by Craig Sodaro
41 pages
2 m, 4 w
Every time Polly Peabody's in charge of something, it's murder - literally! In this hour-long play, she's program chairperson for Professor Hazelton Crandall's presentation, "Journey Through the Pharaoh's Tomb." Unfortunately, the poor professor needs his own tomb before Act I ends, because he's murdered. Miss Peabody narrows the suspects to four: the professor's estranged wife, who wants to sell the artifacts; the professor's vivacious, if vacuous, girlfriend; his longtime colleague and friend; and a reporter who'd do anything to get a story and keep his job...
Last Gasp at the Last Gulp
Melodrama by Craig Sodaro
59 pages
6 m, 11 w
Doc Robbins, a dentist with a heart of stone, rules the town of Last Gulp with an iron fist. Though folks treat Doc with due respect as their mayor and the only “medical” man in the territory, there’s no shortage of suspects when he dies following a swig of rat-poisoned sarsaparilla. Everybody, it seems, had it in for Doc. Bonnie Vivant wanted to turn her old saloon into a fancy restaurant, but Doc wouldn’t let her. Three old prospectors Crusty, Dusty, and Musty, all resented the fact that Doc had jumped their claims and wondered if he ever struck it rich. Af...
Just Desserts
Comedy Dinner Mystery by Craig Sodaro
41 pages
1 m, 4 w
Judge Reginald P. Cogsworth, a curmudgeon who hates sweets, is judging a charity bakeoff, albeit grudgingly. Countless entries have been whittled down to three: a tart submitted by Lucy "Scooter" Bright, owner of a nail salon; a Depression-era style cake by Edna Mae Carter, the local librarian; and a rich torte created by Margaret Mason, a local society lady. In the middle of tasting all the goodies, the judge falls dead, and it's up to Miss Peabody, the head of the contest, and the audience to determine the murderer. There are clues in the theatre, some hidd...
The Jungle Book
Classic by Craig Sodaro
71 pages
7 m, 9 w, 25 flexible, doubling possible
Adapted from the stories by Rudyard KiplingHere's an energetic dramatization of the classic tale of Mowgli, the man-cub, who was abandoned as a baby in the jungle and raised by wolves. With Baloo, the bear, and Bagheera, the panther, as mentors, the growing boy has no trouble avoiding Shere Khan, the tiger, who wants to eat him. But when his two protectors leave him alone in the jungle to test his mettle, Mowgli suddenly finds he's got more trouble than he knows how to handle. The monkeys kidnap him and haul him off to the Forbidden City. Then two hyenas, who...
Jo White and the 7 Campers
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
20 pages
3 m, 11 w
Take seven inept campers who must win a variety show competition on which the whole camp's reputation is based and what have you got? Instant disaster! Luckily for the campers, Jo White, who would rather sing than whistle while she works, has escaped to their cabin. Hilarity and confusion follow, but the camp's reputation is saved!
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
Mystery by Craig Sodaro
63 pages
7 m, 11 w
Not many people like Sam Slaughter, the world's most successful but most reclusive mystery writer. He's just fired the aging star of his radio mystery show, "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night," and he's two-timing another star with a brainless showgirl. He's also yelled at his butler, his agent, and the show's producer. To make matters worse, a woman from his past shows up with some incriminating evidence. But before Sam can pay off the blackmail she demands, he is kidnapped and shots are fired in the night. It all happens at his isolated mansion where the radio...
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...
The Invisible Man
Classic by Craig Sodaro
55 pages
6 m, 6 w
A mysterious stranger, swathed from head to toe in clothes and dark glasses, seeks a room at a peaceful English inn. He claims to be a scientist. When the curious innkeeper's wife spies upon him, she is terrified to find he has no face. The stranger then reveals he is indeed invisible and proceeds to menace the countryside. A young, handsome doctor must finally stop him. Special effects are no problem. When the Invisible Man speaks but is not seen, he is behind a screen. The fight scenes "between" the Invisible Man and the other lodgers is action your actors ...
House of the Seven Gables
Classic by Craig Sodaro
72 pages
7 m, 11 w, doubling possible
Hawthorne's masterpiece comes vividly alive in this adaptation which begins at the gallows as Colonel Pyncheon greedily steals the land of Matthew Maule to build a magnificent house. But with his dying words, "God will give you blood to drink," Maule curses the Pyncheon family for generations. A hundred and fifty years later, Hepzibah Pyncheon, an aging old maid, is forced to open a cent shop in the now decrepit house to keep herself and her child-like brother from starving. It seems all hope is lost for the family. But that's precisely when pretty, 17-year-o...
House Haunters
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
44 pages
Minimum 2 m, 7 w; maximum 3 m, 12 w, 1 flexible
Getting old feels like the end … especially for Margo. She’s worked hard to build her career and her life with husband Lars. But her 30th birthday isn’t what she planned. Already late to her own party, she and Lars quickly eat the last of the food before greeting guests. In hindsight, the crab salad may have been a little off … Apparently WAY off! Now they must start over in the after-life. But before they can rest in peace they must find a house and help the occupants. With the help of a celestial guide, they view three houses. There’s the far-out beach bung...
High Spirits
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
56 pages
4 m, 6 w
Cliff Rundle accompanies his on-again, off-again girlfriend Jackie to an old Hollywood Hills mansion where she has been hired to kick a few lingering spirits out of the house. While Cliff claims he's gone along for moral support, he's really scouting the place as a potential site for a pilot episode of his TV show, "Mansion Makeover." Jackie has brought along her video man, audio girl, and a psychic to help her banish any ghosts. Unfortunately, the only one who ends up seeing any ghosts is Cliff. He finds film star Natalie Fairchild and four others, a directo...
Here Come the Brides
Melodrama by Craig Sodaro
68 pages
11 m, 12 w, 3 flexible
Soapy Smith, a real outlaw of the West at the turn of the last century, has stolen the deed to Captain Billy's Skagway Saloon and is holding it for ransom. The price? Marriage to Miss Molly May, the daughter of Billy's late partner. The beautiful Miss Molly, in love with Titus Trueheart, the local hero, refuses until the unlikely day Soapy can clean up the town. Soapy asks his Seattle "associate," Venus von Trapp, to haul up a shipment of brides to help civilize the town. But when they turn out to be pickpockets and thieves, Soapy demands that Molly teach the...
Hercules
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
59 pages
45 speaking parts (minimum 7 m, 14 w with doubling)
Modern language and loads of humor make this version of the Greek tale one that today's audience is sure to enjoy. Hercules' girlfriend, Megara, has been poisoned by a jealous Hera and now he must complete eight tasks for Hera or lose Megara's love forever. The problem is, Hercules is a bit of a wimp and it doesn't look as if he will be performing any great feats of strength much less act particularly clever. Yet, he humbles the cocky Stymphalian birds, gets the best of the shady Arcadian stag, resists the Erymanthian Bore, cleans up King Augeus' act and give...