Dwayne Lee Yancey
Dwayne Yancey can still remember all the lines from his debut performance on stage - both of them. In eighth grade. Many decades later, he is a journalist by profession but a playwright by avocation. By day (and sometimes by night), he is a senior editor at The Roanoke Times in Roanoke, Va. On the side, he writes plays. Many of his scripts reflect his interest in Shakespeare and bringing Shakespeare to the masses, even if that does mean a few, um, script changes for a modern audience. Yancey comes from a theatre family. His wife acts and directs in community theatre and both his children are stage veterans. They live in Fincastle, Va.
Wright Sisters.Other Important
i-Scene by Dwayne Lee Yancey
3 pages
By Dwayne Yancey
The Wright Sisters and Other Important Figures From Herstory By Dwayne Yancey 1 m, 3 w Christina Columbus, Ora and Wilma Wright, Alberta Einstein? You bet, when it's Women's History Month. A teacher wants her female students to have positive role models, so all the girls are presenting reports on famous women in history. Like all boys, Jeremy, the lone male student in class, isn't any good in math or science, so his talk will be on Michelle Angelo.
Zoe, The Office Hero
i-Scene by Dwayne Lee Yancey
6 pages
By Dwayne Yancey
Zoe, an office assistant, quickly fixes the copier without calling in for repairs, enabling the report to get finished on time, rescuing the important project and ultimately saving the whole company! Not only can she fix a copier, but she knows everyone's passwords, pass codes, account numbers -- and sometimes even the dates of their anniversaries. She's Zoe, office superhero!
Hit the Books
Comedy by Dwayne Lee Yancey
24 pages
1 m, 4 w
Molly, a college student studying for exams, becomes so frustrated she hits herself in the head with her art history textbook. Suddenly, she thinks she’s the Mona Lisa. Her roommate, Abby, becomes frantic. A suitemate, Zoë, arrives who thinks the logical thing to do is to hit Abby on the head with another book. Soon, Brittany, an airhead, and Jeremy, Molly’s boyfriend, are on the scene. Throughout, every time someone gets hit in the head with a book, they instantly acquire command of the subject matter: from art history to the laws of physics, from phone book...
Code 40: Verona
Drama by Dwayne Lee Yancey
44 pages
6 m, 2 w, 14 flexible
This play begins at the ending of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" but envisions a modern twist - it's a police drama, in which incompetence and political pressure rule the day. Balthasar and Friar Lawrence still flee the bloody scene in the Capulet family tomb and are apprehended by church security guards. But this time, security calls the police, who proceed to investigate the crime. The police release the friar because they can't imagine how he would be involved and instead try to pin the crime on Balthasar. The mayor, Escalus, is under political pressure ...
Macbeth Goes Hollywood
Comedy by Dwayne Lee Yancey
61 pages
4 m, 4 w, 5-19 flexible, extras
Shakespeare's agent options his script "Macbeth" to a Hollywood producer who wants a "few" changes to make the play more contemporary. The trouble is the producer isn't sure what changes exactly should be made. Soon Shakespeare is casting the poor witches alternately as country singers, rappers, and punk rockers, while Macbeth and Lady Macbeth perform their lines as gangsters, farmers and Goths. A member of the audience is even pulled onstage at one point to help Macbeth rehearse a murder scene. If that's not bad enough, the final showdown between Macbeth and...
Skits 24 / 7
Resource by Dwayne Lee Yancey
69 pages
Resource Book
Here's a collection of 24 skits, 7 of them Shakespeare related, just perfect for the thespians in your class. It doesn't get any funnier than "The Copyright Violation," where Alicia's new cartoon tattoo, done on a somewhat private location of her body, violates Mega Studio's copyright. All the studio requires is that she displays the tattoo whenever they specify! In "Math Is a Killer," a student justifies his incomplete math homework - and fears! - as he relates the fatal outcomes of some of the most famous mathematicians of Ancient Greece. And students will ...