76 pages
5 m, 5 w
A magazine reporter interviewing 95-year-old Caddy Miller expects to hear the story of a woman who tended house and stood by her man while they homesteaded. Instead, the reporter finds a real pioneer who carved a place for herself in the Wyoming Territory in the 1880s. In flashbacks we see how young Caddy arrives out West with her dour husband. All they have to do is make three improvements to the land and it is theirs, but Caddy finds her new life increasingly difficult. A local rancher resents the "nesters" moving in and resorts to killing their stock while...
57 pages
2 m, 6 w, 1 flexible
Darby is a senior in high school, editor of the school newspaper, and dating the homecoming queen. Everything in his life is wonderful with one secret exception. Darby has been HIV positive since a blood transfusion he received as a child. His friends learn how to deal first with the news of his infection and then with his death when the virus progresses into AIDS. Full of the humor and romance typical of people their ages, the play ends with a dramatic scene that has garnered standing ovations in prior productions. Interior set.
48 pages
18 flexible parts, doubling possible
The play takes place during a graveyard shift in a big city police booking room where alleged criminals' mug shots are taken by two cops, a hardened veteran and a rookie on her first night. Some of the "criminals" include an African-American graduate student who infiltrated a meeting of the Klan; a drunken driver who caused a fatal accident; a pistol-packing pizza delivery woman; a husband who helped his dying wife commit suicide; a raving husband obsessed with the talk-show host who has influenced his newly liberated wife; and others. Pathetically, tragicall...
24 pages
5 m, 3 w, and ensemble
Hassan works as a scholar in the House of Wisdom specializing in translating legends. She spends her days alongside her father and twin. Together they are all living a dangerous secret. It is 13th century Bagdad at the height of Islamic civilization and women are forbidden in the House of Wisdom, so Hassan and her sister are posing as men. The daughters are living a protected and peaceful life, yet Hassan dreams of travelling the world. The arrival of a new scholar expands Hassan’s horizons, but will he jeopardize her secret identity as well as her future? Wh...
47 pages
1 m, 1 w
Two teenagers, an African-American urban girl and a white rural boy, confront their racial prejudices when they meet at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Looking for clues into their fathers' pasts, they discover more about themselves and each other and are changed forever. About 60 mins. Winner of the 1994 AATE Distinguished Play Award. Ideal for Black History month observances.
16 pages
3 m, 3 w
Shelby has been feeling depressed and seeing her grandmother in constant pain has upset her even more. Finally, she decides to steal two bottles of her grandmother's pain pills and commit suicide. But Grandma finds the pills and confronts Shelby - admitting that her age and illness have caused her to consider overdosing on the pills herself. Horrified, Shelby realizes she has her whole life ahead of her and both recommit to life.