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."
Every Baby-Sitter's Nightmare
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
60 pages
7 m, 10 w
Baby-sitting the three Taylor kids isn't a job, it's a matter of survival of the fittest. They delight in terrorizing their newest sitter, explaining their secluded home is haunted by a ghost, and that an "ax murderer" has just escaped from jail and is heading their way. Adding confusion is a dizzy aunt, who pays a surprise visit; the dad's boss, whom the kids knock out thinking he is the escaped convict; the boss' domineering mother; and the sitter's offbeat boyfriend, who wants to "rescue" her. The kids lay a trap for the convict and bring about a hilarious...
Don't Unlock the Door
Mystery by Craig Sodaro
65 pages
2 m, 2 w
State Senator Tyson Avery, candidate for governor, has received numerous death threats, presumably related to his years as district attorney. As the pursuer draws closer, Avery and his wife, Charlotte, escape to a mountain cabin owned by the family of the Senator's top aide, Clayton Carlson. Once at the cabin, Avery learns Charlotte intends to divorce him after 15 less-than-blissful years of marriage. Such news this close to the election could ruin the his chances of winning. Tension builds when a dead rat with a note attached shows that the stalker clearly k...
Once Upon Camelot
Fantasy by Craig Sodaro
56 pages
14 m, 14 w, 2 flexible
All the luck in Camelot has been bad lately, and the Brotherhood of Peasants, Serfs and City Scum expect King Arthur to do something about it or else! Merlin has become a fly, and Morgan LeFey and her minions waste no time in turning Arthur's three most loyal knights, Sir Tin, Sir Loin and Sir Cuss, into a frog, a rock, and a grasshopper. Not even Queen Guinevere nor her ladies of the court can fight the king's evil half-sister. It takes Threadbare, a lowly weaver, to turn the tables on Morgan in this hilarious romp through a Camelot that never was. Additiona...
Tune In to Murder
Mystery by Craig Sodaro
66 pages
7 m, 13 w, plus 5-8 radio callers
Radio station manager Clay Davis learns that an heiress was poisoned at the secluded island resort where his girlfriend works. He goes to warn her but is trapped there with all the other guests. Then, not only does an elegant Countess disappear, but so does a withdrawn, mysterious maid. Murder suspects include the annoying neighbor who wants the island sold out to developers; the grouchy, inept handyman; and the burly, brainless new pool man. And who will be the next victim? Will it be the over-eager staff dietician; the unpublished mystery writer; the once-f...
Broadway Lullaby
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
57 pages
10 m, 18 w, 4 flexible, doubling possible
It's 1927 and the 42nd Street Orphanage for Girls in New York is a bleak place. The McGrew Sisters, who head the orphanage, are mean and stingy to the teenage girls in their charge. Enter a new orphan, young Ginny Hobbs, with a trunk full of "magic" -- costumes and props from the vaudevillian circuit her late parents used to work. As the girls perform a few skits, two con artists form a plan. They'll get the girls to do an original show called "Broadway Lullaby," get it fully insured, and when it flops, collect all the money. But the girls have other plans! T...
Aladdin
Classic by Craig Sodaro
59 pages
Approx. 37 parts, doubling possible
Romance, mystery, and more fun than a magic carpet ride - that's what makes this richly imaginative version of the story of Aladdin such a winner. You'll love all the colorful characters, including Yahoo and his pet snake, who serve as narrators; the evil magician, El Kahsid; the beautiful Princess Celestia; the spoiled, obnoxious Gorgan, who wants to marry the Princess; the lamp and ring Genies and their "wish-granting associates"; the poetic cave creeps; and finally Aladdin himself, who starts out as a lazy, insolent boy but proves himself to be a prince. T...
Scariest Play -- Ever!
Comedy by Craig Sodaro
67 pages
Widely flexible cast (5 -14 m, 9 - 31 w)
Horror movies can be lots of fun! Join producer C.C. Bellows as he meets five directors whose movie pitches come alive onstage. Of course, C.C. knows that audiences only really like what they’ve seen before, so each of the directors has tweaked a famous horror film. “The Calamityville Horror” tells the story of a family who move into a house that’s haunted by circus animals. In “Saturday the 14th,” a group of college kids hope to find the famous ghost, Jacob Voorbees, a hockey player who fell through thin ice. In “The Extortionist,” a young girl is possessed ...
Murder, Ahoy!
Comedy Mystery by Craig Sodaro
50 pages
3 m, 3 w, extras as desired
Ahoy, mystery fans! Book passage on the Titan, a cruise ship headed for the grave of the Titanic, where it hopes to bring up artifacts for auction. But when romance goes sour and the very wealthy and demanding Blake Witherspoon is murdered, a new course must be chartered. The social director tries to steer passengers back to having fun, but Tara Dawn DePue, a detective and antique dealer, decides to solve the crime. With the captain too sick to help, the audience and crew must try to find out who killed Witherspoon before the killer strikes again. Audience me...
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...