Samuel French Journal of Plays and Musicals 2018-2019 by Samuel French

2018-2019

SAMUEL FRENCH

CONTENTS

Journal of Plays and Musicals 2018-2019

Plays 10

We’re pleased to share this latest curated collection of popular plays and musicals. Inside you’ll find the newest shows from Broadway, Off-Broadway, the West End, and beyond, plus some of the best dramatic writing in contemporary American theatre. Within the - now annual - Samuel French Journal, you can explore our most recent acquisitions, find the titles you’ve been looking to license, and discover productions for your next season. Halfway through 2018, it’s already proven to be year of change and exciting initiatives here at Samuel French. In the spring, we launched our new website: a complete restructuring of the way we present titles for retail and licensing. Our goal was to make the customer experience simple and enjoyable, and the discovery of new titles effortless. We’ll be continuing to update with new features throughout the year.

Recent Acquisitions

Musicals 84 Resources

126

Index

128

132

FEATURES Design, Development & Dedication: Creating Samuel French’s New Website by Courtney Kochuba

The Dynamics of Character in 23 Joshua Harmon’s Work by Jeremy Weschler Playwright Lauren Yee: 30 From SCR’s Crossroads Project to the Cambodian Rock Band world premiere by Beth Fhaner

Around the same time, we were thrilled to reopen our Samuel French Bookshop in London, now housed and in partnership with the Royal Court Theatre. The Bookshop has always been an important part of the London theatre community, and we’re delighted to have found it a new home at the Royal Court.

Fun for the Whole Gang Family Friendly Shows by Nikki Przasnyski

Hannah Moscovitch Premier Canadian Playwright by Ben Coleman

As we continue through the year and look to the next theatre season, we’re interested to learn how we may better serve you, our producing partners. Please feel free to share your thoughts about a particular title or our new website with your Licensing Representative. You can also leave comments along with your licensing request, or share a customer experience on our website.

Producing Vietgone: 68 Five perspectives from San Diego REP by Lauren King Thompson It Takes Two Great Small Band Musicals by Nikki Przasnyski

We look forward to helping you find your next production and plan your next season. — Samuel French

Telling The Story Through Set Design: Tuck Everlasting at Hale Centre Theatre by Kacey Udy

Think Small Great Small Band Musicals by Nikki Przasnyski

110

Runaways: 114 A conversation with Jeanine Tesori and Sam Pinkleton by Lawrence Haynes

Cover: The cast of War Paint on Broadway, 2017 (Joan Marcus).

A Toast to Samuel French at the Royal Court

124

DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT & DEDICATION:

Creating Samuel French’s New Website

n late winter 2018, Samuel French unveiled a project that was two years in the making: a brand-new website. With over 25,000 products and the dual goals of licensing and selling scripts, the sheer size of redesigning such a site could appear daunting. Add in the company’s new objectives to elevate more titles and create the best customer experience possible, and the term re-design suddenly changes to revisualize – a mammoth task. But the Samuel French team, partnered with Vancouver-based digital consultant and design agency Engine Digital, tackled the project with vigor, expertise, and above all, dedication. Our Breaking Character Magazine Editor sat down with Samuel French’s Marketing Director and one of Engine Digital’s Interactive Designers to talk about the drive

behind building a new website, how it’s designed for their vast variety of customers, and more.

my work centers on our branding identity, graphic design, title promotion planning, and so on.

Courtney Kochuba, Breaking Character Magazine Editor: Okay, I have to begin by saying: the new website is simply incredible.

Courtney: And Simonne, you work for Engine Digital as an Interactive Designer. Could you explain what that means?

Simonne Brown, Engine Digital Interactive Designer: Thank you so much! Courtney: Before we dig into your thoughts about design and development, let’s do some introductions. Ryan, how would you sum up what you do? Ryan Pointer, Samuel French’s Director of Marketing: I lead the marketing team here, which is responsible for promoting titles, authors, and special projects within the company. Day-to-day,

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Simonne: We work alongside our user experience and engineering teams, focusing on overall design strategy, elevating our client’s brand, and working collaboratively with the rest of the team to create our final solution. Courtney: Terrific. Now, let’s start with this: you’re both sitting here today with this massive website project (phase one, at least) being completed. How does that feel? Simonne: For us, it’s amazing to see it live. It was over a year of work on our end, and it was such a huge

accomplishment on both our side and Samuel French’s side. I think we’re all pretty proud of where it ended up, for sure. Ryan: I would definitely concur. It’s weird to think that we worked on it for a year – a year and a month, actually. What’s really amazing for me is that it was a personal goal, one that I had on my list since I started working at Samuel French nearly five years ago. So, when we were actually able to flip the switch was a big day. Courtney: This is a bit of a huge question, but what prompted the need for a new website? Ryan: That is a big question. But, from a marketing perspective at least, it was recognizing that we are lucky enough to represent a lot of titles. We wanted a site that allowed for the taste, opinions, and expertise of our staff – many of whom are theatre makers themselves – to bring titles forward. We want our customers to find a variety of titles, that was a big goal. Simonne can actually talk more about that point. Simonne: Definitely. We really wanted to streamline the customer journey from beginning to end, no matter if they were looking for a specific script or just exploring. We wanted to facilitate that for everyone. Courtney: Would you say that bettering the customer experience was the main goal for the new website? Ryan: I think it’s not so much just one goal. Our site needs to achieve multiple goals since we serve such a variety of our customers. You’ll see that our website header has been split into four sections: Perform, Shop, Authors, and our Resource pages. Even more clearly, and I’ll let Simonne talk about the

logic of this, we basically give you a giant search bar, and the choice of either: do you want to perform a show or do you want to buy a script.

quick questions about where you’re putting on the show, the cost of tickets, how many performances, and so on. We’re then able to give you a baseline estimate of what the license will cost.

...we wanted to make sure that we were able to serve all those different types of customers. Directors who already know what they’re looking for can type in the title, get right to the Perform page, and then use the license estimator or go ahead and apply. Or, perhaps there is a middle school drama teacher who doesn’t exactly know what they want, they can use that search function to find recommended titles.

Courtney: Definitely helpful for anyone trying to plan a budget. Would you say that’s one of your favorite new features of the site?

Simonne: Right off the bat we wanted to make sure that we were able to serve all those different types of customers. Directors who already know what they’re looking for can type in the title, get right to the Perform page, and then use the license estimator or go ahead and apply. Or, perhaps there is a middle school drama teacher who doesn’t exactly know what they want, they can use that search function to find recommended titles. Courtney: You just mentioned the License Estimator, one of my favorite new features. Can you explain what it does? Simonne: It’s a really awesome feature, and something that a lot of customers were hoping to see, based on our research. It’s a few

Simonne: I think we’re all really excited about the upcoming Show Search tool. It’s going to help customers discover new titles using a suggestive search – different from the current search tools on the site. You answer a few basic questions about what you’re looking for, and you’ll be given a bunch of titles that suit your needs. Hopefully some that weren’t on your radar before, which relates back to one of our main goals of elevating titles. Ryan: Yes, absolutely. I’d have to add that my favorite feature is the fact that there is a separate landing page for authors. It’s not necessarily only for authors themselves, but it’s basically an entry point into our catalog through the authors. You can explore the plays of Sarah Ruhl, or you can see up-and-coming contemporary playwrights. As a company that tries to be “artists first” in everything that we do, it’s a great place for customers, and authors themselves, to explore a catalog by the people who actually wrote the plays and musicals. Courtney: In addition to authors, you’re also highlighting productions in a sense, correct? Ryan: Yes. Our visual identity as a company is to draw as much attention as possible to the work itself. The widgets on the homepage, Shop, or Perform page are pretty great at exhibiting production photography from

premier productions of these shows. Or, author photography. Or, the types of graphic assets that are part of our brand.

Courtney: Now, what about the future? There are still some future updates on the horizon, right?

Courtney: Switching gears a bit, can you talk about the new way to review titles?

I think the final product is a great representation of what our company is: a very large catalog that is able to give each title and author the unique and individualized attention that it deserves – and that’s pretty terrific.

Ryan: We call them community experiences now. There’s so many different opinions about shows, whether you performed in it, directed it, taught it at school, and so on. When you log into the website, you can now talk about the show from your perspective. If someone is visiting the new website for the first time, this is something they shouldn’t miss. Courtney: Anything else you want to highlight for visitors? Ryan: On both the UK and US homepages, the main header space is reserved for our core company values. Phrases like Make Theatre Happen, Have Fun, Celebrate Creativity. Those appear at the very top of the homepage to reiterate one of our main objectives: to celebrate people who make theatre happen. Courtney: Any other areas you two would like to mention? Simonne: We were really focused on accessibility throughout the whole design of the website. We wanted to make sure that people of all accessibility levels would be able to use the site, and that nothing was held back from them. So it was a lot of thinking about flexibility in terms of colors, typography, and interactive elements. Ryan: I would also add that the site works beautifully on all devices, big and small. Completely functional across all devices, which I think is really great.

Ryan: Yes. We have the road map for the future of the site, including the front end and back end. Over time, users should expect to see new features, including the Show Search tool, in the next month or two. But additional features across all aspects of the site will continue to grow, so keep an eye out.

and we’re all super happy with the way it ended up. Simonne: I think what we learned most from this process is the value of collaboration. Working with a team that comes from different backgrounds and different experiences enables us to create the best experience possible. Ryan: Absolutely. And for me, this website has turned into one of the most amazing ones in our industry. I think the final product is a great representation of what our company is: a very large catalog that is able to give each title and author the unique and individualized attention that it deserves – and that’s pretty terrific.

Courtney: Definitely looking forward to those. As we wrap up, anything else to add? Ryan: We had a great team working on this project. Tyler Mullen and Coryn Carson, to be specific, have been in the trenches every day. They’ve been managing the process from the Samuel French side and done amazing work. So absolutely big shout-outs to them for the work that made this all fit together. Simonne: We had a lot of people touch this project as well, but our core team was Roxanne Henschke, who is our user experience strategist; David Look, our content strategist; and Ehren Graber, Michael LaRoy, and Andrew Huang, who’ve been our engineers. That whole team has been dedicated on this project for a year,

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

This article originally appeared on Breaking Character Magazine in June, 2018.

RECENT ACQUISITIONS Our newest plays and musicals acquired over the past six months. You’ll find more throughout the journal. Some of these titles are so new, they may be restricted or not yet available. Contact your Licensing Representative if you have questions about a specific title.

Amy and the Orphans by Lindsey Ferrentino

Native Gardens by Karen Zacarias

“Ms. Ferrentino possesses a muscular empathy which seeks to enter the minds of people for whom life is often a struggle of heroic proportions. It was Ms. Ferrentino who insisted that an actress with Down syndrome be cast as Amy in her latest play. Insightful. Defiant. Remarkable.” — The New York Times

“A true breath of comic fresh air. A biting, perceptive, and ultimately hopeful sendup to our fraught relationships with those around us – even right next door. ” — DC Theatre Scene Pablo and his very pregnant wife, Tania have just purchased a home next to Frank and Virginia, a wellestablished D.C. couple with a prize-worthy English garden. But an impending barbeque for Pablo’s colleagues and a delicate disagreement over a long-standing fence line soon spirals into an all-out border dispute, exposing both couples’ notions of race, taste, class and privilege. A brilliant new comedy where cultures and gardens clash, turning well-intentioned neighbors into feuding enemies.

After their father’s death, two unhinged siblings reunite with Amy, their movie-loving sister who has Down syndrome. Together, they careen down the Great American Long Island Expressway, navigating traffic jams and some serious (and not-so-serious) family drama. An unexpected turn reveals the moment that changed their lives, and the fact that Amy may be the only one who knows her own mind.

2m, 2f, 2m or f | 90 minutes | Comedy

2m, 4f | 105 minutes | Drama

Imogen Says Nothing by Aditi Brennan Kapil

Wolf ’s Blood by Jethro Compton “Captivating! A blaze of political passions and mythic intensity. A poetic, feminist western!” — The Times

“This is not just about women who have been left out of the canon. Nor is it just a poetic rebuttal to the overwhelming male-ness of Western history. It’s also about the whitewashing on feminism and the LGBT movement.” — New Haven Independent

1898. Canada. After the massacre of her tribe, a child is rescued by an old huntsman. Torn from centuries of tradition, struggling to find her path in the world, she soon discovers hope in the friendship of an abandoned wolf – swiftly learning the customs of her ancestors, becoming skilled in the ways of the wild. But when the time comes, will these skills be enough to survive?

A revisionist comedy in verse and prose featuring Imogen, a character who only appears in the first folio of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, speaks no lines, and is probably a typo. A feminist hijacking of the Bard that investigates the voices that have been absented from our canon, and the consequences of cutting them.

4m, 3f | 120 minutes | Drama

7m, 2f | 105 minutes | Comedy Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Recent Acquisitions

This Flat Earth by Lindsey Ferrentino

The Curvy Widow

book by Bobby Goldman music & lyrics by Drew Brody

“There is no denying the urgency of this work. [Ferrentino] is bravely attempting to contextualize 21stcentury horrors within the sort of existential framework in which Thornton Wilder and Edward Albee specialized.” — The New York Times

“A frothy jaunt over the hill and between the sheets. It’s like Sex and the City: The Golden Years!” — TheaterMania

At a middle school in this seaside town, the unthinkable has happened, placing a bewildered community in the national spotlight. Stuck at home in a state of shocked limbo, Julie and Zander, two thirteen-year-olds, try to make sense of the chaos they witnessed, their awkward crushes, and an infinitely more complicated future – but the grown-ups are no help at all. A startling and deeply felt story of growing up in our confounding world, and an urgent response to our times.

This sassy and witty musical follows the exploits of a feisty fifty-something whose adventures inspire laughter in the least expected places. From surviving hilarious first dates, to her intimate conquests, this widow navigates her way through it all with humor and perseverance. Featuring an ensemble of best friends, a myriad of potential suitors, and a dead husband – Curvy learns the hard way what it means to start life over in the modern age.

3m, 2f | 90 minutes | Drama

5m, 5f | 90 minutes | Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Contemporary Broadway

Lillian by David Cale

Luther by Ethan Lipton

“Lillian is a luminous embodiment of the ineffable in life, a reminder that even the most mundane existence is shaped by currents beyond comprehension.” — The New York Times

CRITIC’S PICK! “The play oozes with a moral ambiguity that will stick to your bones and your conscience long after you’ve left the theater.” — The New York Times

Lillian, a bookish, British middle-aged woman, falls for Jimmy, a man half her age. She divorces her husband, remarries the young man, and buys a flower shop to support his desire to be a gardener. What she doesn’t know is that Jimmy has a heart condition, and that his restless energy is because he doesn’t have long to live. An exploration of two lonely, very different people and how their energies and histories intersect to change their lives. Lillian is part of the Audible Collection at Samuel French.

The world is a hard place for a returning war-vet. Lucky for Luther, he’s been adopted by a couple of caring urbanites like Walter and Marjorie. A darkly comic examination of America’s uneasy relationship with our veterans which begs the question: Who is more detached from reality, the soldier or those he is protecting? 4m, 1f, 1m or f | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy

1f | 75 minutes | Drama

Two of Us by Ross Howard

The Glitter Girls by Mark Dunn

“Provides a thought-provoking psychedelic-infused look into the assassination of John Lennon.” — Washington Square News

A meeting of the North Georgia women’s social club, “The Glitter Girls,” is convened by its richest member – one Trudy Tromaine – who is supposedly at death’s door and wishing to bequeath some of her millions to one lucky “Sister of the Gleam and Sparkle.” Steel Magnolias meets Survivor with a big dose of quirky Mark Dunn humor thrown in for good measure.

Flashing between Honolulu and New York City, Two of Us shines a spotlight on Mark David Chapman and the social and domestic pressures leading up to his assassination of John Lennon in December 1980. A showdown between the real and the fantastic, this dark comedy addresses issues of economic hardship, gender equality, mental health, celebrity culture, and gun violence.

3m, 7f | Full Length Play | Comedy

2m, 3f | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

The Merry Widower by Johnnie Mortimer, Brian Cooke, and Simon Moss

Reared by John Fitzpatrick “Swings between all-out farce and truth-telling drama... [Fitzpatrick] is a master at narrative surprise.” — The Guardian Eileen has a full-time job, a fifteen-year-old daughter with a lot of secrets, a mother-in-law who’s showing signs of dementia, a baby on the way, and a husband who doesn’t want to deal with any of it. As she tries to clear the way for the new baby, the family push each other’s buttons in the way only families know how. There isn’t enough room for everybody, but no one is leaving without a struggle. A dark comedy about overcoming family history and fighting for a seat at the table.

Richard never really got on with his mother, and after her death his dad decides to pay him and his wife a rare visit. Not thrilled with the idea of him coming to stay, Richard is taken aback when his father discusses the contents of his mother’s will. It’s not what he wants to hear. Coupled with his father’s bad habits and womanizing, tension mounts. Meanwhile, his father has embraced his life as a merry widower. Based on the British sitcom Tom, Dick & Harriet.

2m, 3f | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy

2m, 4f | 90 minutes | Comedy

Porcelain by Margaret Perry

Red Handed Otter by Ethan Lipton

“A meaty new play... with the ambition and vision of the best Irish writers.” — The Irish Independent

“Wonderfully quirky and surprisingly profound.” — The Chicago Sun-Times Not long ago, Paul had a girlfriend, a cat, and few complaints. Now? Well, at least he’s got his health. In between shifts at their security guard posts, Paul’s work buddies try to cheer him up. But you know what they say about the best intentions... In this quirky comedy, Paul’s friends’ awkward (and hilarious) attempts to console him prove that some comforts only come on four legs.

Tipperary, 1895. Bridget Cleary’s not feeling quite herself. Her husband believes she has been taken by fairies and a changeling left in her place, with devastating consequences. London, 2017. Hat is a new mother. She has a great life, so why does she want to disappear? In the parallel stories of two Irish women, past and present, myth and fact are woven together, providing a harrowing backdrop for a modern-day thriller.

3m, 2f | 90 minutes | Romantic Comedy

3m, 2f, 1m or f | Full Length Play | Drama

The Rembrandt by Jessica Dickey

Everything is Wonderful by Chelsea Marcantel

“A play well stocked...with great truths about happiness and grief, art and reality, life and death.” — The Chicago Tribune

“Thought-provoking, often beautiful, and in a quiet way, inspiring… It should not be missed.” — Broadway World

In a modern-day art museum, three individuals yearn to experience first-hand the wonder and glory of Rembrandt’s work. When a museum guard decides to touch a famous Rembrandt painting, a remarkable journey across the ages ensues. With shimmering portraits of Rembrandt, Homer, and those who protect the art we cherish, The Rembrandt is a moving exploration of the power of creative expression and the sacrifices we make in the pursuit of love and beauty.

When an Amish couple’s two sons are killed in a car accident, they struggle to maintain their faith and cling to their way of life. In an act of unfathomable forgiveness, they take in Eric, the wayward young driver of the car, but his presence cracks open the family’s dark history. Without a way forward, this insular community must seek to heal the deep wounds of the past, forcing everyone into a new kind of reckoning.

4m, 1f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

3m, 3f | 120 minutes | Drama

Recent Acquisitions

Chariots of Fire by Mike Bartlett

The Arsonists by Jacqueline Goldfinger

“Even this grumpy Olymposceptic was brought to actual tears, moved to empathy and understanding by the fabulous theatricality of it.” — The Times

“Haunting, and atmospheric...not your usual family piece...nor is it anything like a conventional ghost story.” — Philadelphia Inquirer

1924. The Paris Olympic Games. A devout Scottish Christian runs for the glory of God. The son of an immigrant Lithuanian Jew runs to overcome prejudice. Two young athletes who live for the beautiful purity of running and who prevail in the face of overwhelming odds. Based on an extraordinary true story comes this Olympic tale of hope, honor, and belief.

A lyrical Southern Gothic story inspired by the classic Greek tale of Electra about a father-daughter arson team who escapes to the Florida Everglades. A provocative journey from grief to redemption, delving into the primal bond between parent and child, and questioning if that bond can ever truly be broken.

32m, 2f, 2b, 7m or f, Flexible Casting | More than 120 minutes Drama

1m, 1f | 75 minutes | Drama

Still Alice adapted by Christine Mary Dunford from the book by Lisa Genova

Orange by Aditi Brennan Kapil “Kapil’s writing is hip, sharp and surprising. But Orange also has quieter moments of refined lyricism...a unique, sympathetic portrait of a teenage girl on the autism spectrum.” — Star Tribune

“Devastating, brilliantly realized. At once devastating and enthralling. Riveting from first second to last.” — The Chicago Sun-Times

An adventure through Orange County told from the point of view of a young woman on the autism spectrum. 1m, 2f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Alice Howland is a university professor at the height of her career when she is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Fiercely independent, with a husband and two children, Alice strives to make sense of her changing world as her memory begins to fail.

Something Fishy by Douglas E. Hughes and Marcia Kash

3m, 4f | Full Length Play | Drama

Katrina by Rob Florence

“Authors Douglas E. Hughes and Marcia Kash completely unleashed their wit and disdain for politics with Something Fishy. A great catch!” — Simcoe Reformer

“Katrina provides a feel-good docudrama with vivid characters and a welcoming and ultimately hopeful spirit” — Chicago Critic

Local hero Raymond Bream is running in the federal election, and has come back to his hometown of Port Walmsley to make a major campaign announcement that just might put him over the top. Meanwhile, the incumbent he’s running against has sent a couple of henchmen to town to prevent Raymond from making that announcement, by any means necessary.

What happens when five Katrina survivors gather to retrace their footsteps? Experience the heartbreak, humanity, and yes, comedy through the journeys of these New Orleanians’ stories about their hardships and moments of community during Hurricane Katrina.

3m, 2f | Full Length Play | Comedy, Farce

4m, 2f | 120 minutes | Drama, Docudrama/Historic

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

Pilgrims by Claire Kiechel

Tumacho by Ethan Lipton

“[Kiechel is] an exceptionally fine story-spinner who can move seamlessly from mystery, to satire, to tragedy. You are advised to book a ticket for this journey.” — Chicago Sun Times

“An impeccably inane horse opera...the platonic theatrical version of the artfully anarchic, shrewdly mindless comedies we wait for every summer to hit movie theaters, often in vain.” — The New York Times

On a ship to colonize a newly discovered planet, a soldier and a teenage girl find themselves quarantined together in a cabin and forced to explore their own traumatic pasts and roles in a dying society.

Somewhere out in the great wide expanse of the Wild West, the mayor of a desert town is desperate to save his few remaining townfolk from a ruthless outlaw who won’t stop killing them. Worse than that, omens appear that suggest the evil demon Tumacho is returning soon to ravage them all. Can a mysterious woman from out the desert destroy the demon, vanquish the outlaw, and quench her thirst for vengeance? A satirical Spaghetti Western, with songs.

1m, 2f | 90 minutes | Drama

Johnny Manhattan music by Dan Goggin book & lyrics by Robert Lorick

6m, 3f | 90 minutes | Comedy, Play with Music

The Revlon Girl by Neil Anthony Docking

“A musical with heart and soul. A pleasure to watch!” — Oakland Press An exciting new musical set in a New York City nightclub when places like the Copacabana, the Latin Quarter, and El Morocco were filled with socialites and glamorous showgirls. It’s 1958 and Johnny, the owner of Johnny Manhattan’s, has invited his closest friends to a private party for a surprise announcement. Unexpected surprises abound as relationships clash and secrets are revealed.

“I shall never forget what I saw that day on television… Now I shall never forget the play.” — The Observer Set eight months following the Aberfan Disaster of 1966, The Revlon Girl tells the real-life story of a group of bereaved mothers who met every week above a local hotel to talk, cry, and even laugh without feeling guilty. At one of their meetings, the women look at each other and admit how much they’ve let themselves go. So, afraid that people would think them frivolous, they secretly arrange for a representative from Revlon to come and give them a talk on beauty tips.

7m, 7f | 90 minutes | Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

The Earth is Flat by Todd Almond

5f | 90 minutes | Drama, Docudrama/Historic

DISCOVER MORE We have new work from Antoinette Nwandu, Tracy Letts, Lauren Yee, Doug Wright, Kirsten Childs, Duncan Sheik, Steve Martin, and more! Find other new plays and musicals by exploring the journal.

“Clear, funny, and naturalistic. It creates a space that blends the mundane and exciting life of college with the mystical. It slips between the life of the moment and whatever comes after.” — League of Cincinnati Theatre Reviews A new musical that tackles the universal awkwardness of the American college experience. Purple-haired college freshman Ethan takes his first tentative steps toward selfknowledge. Day on,e he meets his new college roommate, Derek: popular, social, and seems to have it all together. Day two, Ethan’s brother dies in an accident, sending Ethan back home to deal with his ambitious sister and his pill-addicted mother. Will college life ever be“normal?” 4m, 3f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Recent Acquisitions

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

PLAYS

Jon Michael Hill and Namir Smallwood in Pass Over at LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater, 2018 (Jeremy Daniel). Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

PASS OVER

by Antoinette Nwandu

“Potent and promising...the language in the work is thrilling, poetical.”

— Chicago Tribune

Moses and Kitch stand around on the corner – talking shit, passing the time, and hoping that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space with his own agenda and derails their plans. Emotional and lyrical, Pass Over crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, exposing the unquestionable human spirit of young men stuck in a cycle just looking for a way out. A provocative riff on Waiting for Godot, Pass Over is a rare piece of politically charged theatre by a bold new American voice.

3m | 75 minutes | Drama

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Tiny Beautiful Things by Nia Vardalos “Should be a sought-after title for other venues looking for a theatrical hug in turbulent times.” — Variety When a struggling writer is asked to take over the unpaid anonymous position of an advice columnist, her inherent empathy helps those seeking guidance for obstacles both large and small. A play about reaching when you’re stuck, healing when you’re broken, and finding the courage to take on the questions that have no answers. Based on the best-selling book by Cheryl Strayed. 3m, 2f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Wakey, Wakey by Will Eno “Glowingly dark, profoundly moving...Wakey, Wakey retains a Beckettian sense of human existence as an absurdist vaudeville, a slapstick of failing and falling, despite all aspirations to dignity.” — The New York Times “Is it now? I thought I had more time.” These first words in Will Eno’s play are spoken by Guy, a man who knows he is about to die. The play questions why we are here and the journeys that everyone takes to eventually get to the same place. Eno challenges what is worth celebrating in life and what is worth treasuring in this funny and touching play. 1m, 1f | 75 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday by Sarah Ruhl “Ruhl expertly weaves heavy topics with elements of childhood whimsy to touching effect.” — WFPL Playing Peter Pan at her hometown children’s theater is one of Ann’s fondest memories. Now, 50 years later, Neverland calls again, casting her and her siblings back to this faraway dreamscape where the refusal to grow up confronts the inevitability of growing old. Written as a gift for her mother, Sarah Ruhl’s play is a tender and loving look at a family contending with death, life, and the allure of never growing up. 4m, 2f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Sideways by Rex Pickett “Pickett’s dialogue sparkles with wit.” — The San Diego Union Tribune When a neurotic author, who is writing his way into a midlife-crisis, and an actor, who is marrying his way out of his, head out to Santa Barbara for a week of wine tastings, they find out that there’s more to be savored in California than a few new bottles. A stage adaptation by the writer of the acclaimed novel, turned into the 2004 Oscar-winning screenplay. 3m, 4f | Full Length Play | Dramatic Comedy

Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau “Pipeline confirms Dominique Morisseau’s reputation as a playwright of piercing eloquence.” — The New York Times Nya, an inner-city public high school teacher, is committed to her students but desperate to give her only son, Omari, opportunities they’ll never have. When a controversial incident at his upstate private school threatens to get him expelled, Nya must confront his rage and her own choices as a parent. But will she be able to reach him before a world beyond her control pulls him away? With profound compassion and lyricism, Pipeline brings an urgent conversation powerfully to the fore.

A Life by Adam Bock “Exquisite in detail and throws a jaw-dropping curveball.” — Time Out New York Nate Martin is hopelessly single. When his most recent breakup, another in a lifelong string of ill-fated matches, casts him into a funk, he turns to the only source of wisdom he trusts: the stars. In this disarming new play, the answer he receives, when it comes, is shockingly obvious – and totally unpredictable. 2m, 3f | 85 minutes | Dark Comedy

3m, 3f | 90 minutes | Drama

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

MARY JANE by Amy Herzog

“Mary Jane is Herzog’s most satisfying work to date because it has verisimilitude that many contemporary realistic plays don’t: it’s truthful because the story and situations are truthful in the way that Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is... Like Wilder, Herzog has made theatre that shines from her characters’ inner life first.” — The New Yorker As Mary Jane navigates the mundane and unfathomable realities of caring for Alex, her chronically ill young son, she finds herself building a community of women from many walks of life. Mary Jane is Pulitzer Prize-finalist Amy Herzog’s remarkably powerful and compassionate portrait of a contemporary American woman striving for grace. 5f | 100 minutes | Drama

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Liza Colon-Zayas and Carrie Coon in Mary Jane at New York Theatre Workshop, 2017 (Joan Marcus).

PARADISE BLUE by Dominique Morisseau

“A juicy and resonant piece of writing, filled to the brim with complex, empathetic characters struggling and infighting as part of a community living under extreme duress. It is not hard to become involved with their choices and worry about their futures.” — Chicago Tribune A gifted trumpeter contemplates selling his once-vibrant jazz club in Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood to shake free the demons of his past and better his life. But where does that leave his devoted Pumpkin, who has dreams of her own? And what does it mean for the club’s bebop band? A dynamic, musically-infused drama about the challenges of building a future on the foundation of what our predecessors have left us. 3m, 2f | 120 minutes | Drama

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

J. Alphonse Nicholson and Kristolyn Lloyd in Paradise Blue at the Signature Theatre, 2018 (Joan Marcus).

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

The Roommate by Jen Silverman

The Cake by Bekah Brunstetter

“Tugs at the heartstrings as much as it tickles the funny bone.” — Louisville.com

“Explores human conflict from an insightful, slightly offbeat perch with understanding, respect and compassion... and without dumbing down or sentimentalizing its characters.” — The Los Angeles Times

Sharon, in her mid-50s, is newly divorced and needs a roommate to share her Iowa home. Robyn, also in her mid-50s, needs a place to hide and a chance to start over. But as Sharon begins to uncover Robyn’s secrets, they encourage her own deep-seated desire to transform her life. A dark comedy about what it takes to re-route your life and what happens when the wheels come off.

Della makes cakes, not judgment calls — those she leaves to her husband, Tim. But when the girl she helped raise comes back home to North Carolina to get married, and the fiancé is actually another fiancée, Della’s life gets turned upside down. She can’t really make a cake for such a wedding, can she? For the first time in her life, Della has to think for herself.

2f | 105 minutes | Dark Comedy

1m, 3f | Full Length Play | Dramatic Comedy

China Doll by David Mamet

All the Fine Boys by Erica Schmidt

“Much of the language is sublime and there are great oneliners along the way.” — The Wrap

“Part romantic comedy, part thriller, with a little bit of an indie-drama vibe.” — The New York Times

A very wealthy businessman purchases a plane to carry his fiancée, a non-US citizen, into Canada. However, an unexpected landing prompts an investigation into the man’s affairs based on his tax payment history, revealing catastrophic secrets thought to be untraceable. As the investigation deepens, the businessman’s future is greatly jeopardized.

Two 14-year-old best friends, Emily and Jenny, are interested in exploring everything from junk food to sex while living in suburban South Carolina in the 80s. Their explorations lead them to two older men; Emily to Adam, a high school senior in the school play, and Jenny to Joseph, her father’s 28-year-old friend from church. All the Fine Boys takes a hard look at the often painful and confusing transition into adulthood.

2m | 120 minutes | Dark Comedy

2m, 2f | 105 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

26 Pebbles by Eric Ulloa

Nat Turner in Jerusalem by Nathan Alan Davis

“A new play that explores the power of community in the face of unimaginable tragedy.” — Playbill On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed twenty-six innocent souls before taking his own life. These deaths, like pebbles thrown into a pond, created ripples that were felt far beyond the initial rings. Similar to the style of The Laramie Project, playwright Eric Ulloa conducted interviews with members of the community in Newtown and crafted them into an exploration of the effects of this horrible event and issues of gun violence.

“The sparse, persuasive two-hander examines America’s racial history, but feels disturbingly close to the present day.” — The Village Voice

2m, 4f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Drama, Docudrama/Historic

In August 1831, Nat Turner led a slave uprising that shook the conscience of the nation. This timely new play imagines Nat Turner’s final night in a jail cell in Jerusalem, Virginia as he reckons with his past and what the dawn will bring. Woven with vivid imagery and indelible lyricism, this is a powerful examination of an individual’s resolute convictions and their seismic reverberations through time. 2m | 90 minutes | Drama, Historical

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Plays

Revolt. She said. Revolt again. by Alice Birch “A series of fragments that recall the form-bending virtuosity of Caryl Churchill…Ms. Birch’s work finds the theatrical exhilaration in civil disobedience.” — The New York Times A wildly experimental and inventive new play that does not behave. Playwright Alice Birch has put together a grouping of vignettes that ask how to revolutionize language, relationships, work, and life in general while bursting at the seams of conformity.

Six Rounds of Vengeance

by Qui Nguyen

“Overflowing with awesome stage combat and imaginative writing, this show packs a huge theatrical punch in just under 90 minutes.” — TheaterMania In a post-apocalyptic “Lost Vegas,” a young gunslinger named Jess December enlists the help of a mysterious samurai cowboy to help avenge the murder of her sister. However, the gang they’ll be going against has powers that go way beyond just gunpowder and steel. To get revenge, they may have to become just as bloodthirsty as the monsters they’re facing. 3m, 2f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy

Flexible Casting | 75 minutes | Experimental

Somewhere Fun by Jenny Schwartz “Imperiously funny, talented and excellent! Ms. Schwartz pours forth dizzying streams of language that often delight with their quirky poetry and looping humor.” — The New York Times Rosemary and Evelyn met “a hundred thousand years ago” in Central Park when their children were barely born. Somewhere Fun reunites the two women 35 years later. With their children now grown and the world changing rapidly before (what’s left of ) their eyes, each finds herself face to face with the terrors, joys, and surprises of life and time.

The Captain’s Tiger by Athol Fugard “A sweetly autobiographical memory play… Probing into his past with illuminating insight, the playwright has crafted a reflective journey, laced with flights of fantasy, poetic imagery and a bracing touch of humor.” — Variety Onboard the SS Graigaur, a young sailor pens his first novel. Assisted by his muse, a portrait of his mother come to life, and supported by the illiterate ship’s mechanic, he struggles to balance romance and reality. This most personal of Athol Fugard’s works is strictly autobiographical; at 20 he abandoned his education, hitchhiked up Africa, and ended up on a tramp steamer. 2m, 1f | 90 minutes | Drama, Biography

2m, 5f, 1b, 1g | 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

House Rules by A. Rey Pamatmat “Mr. Pamatmat has compelling ideas about human psychology and dramatic structure…flashes of surprising truth, particularly in the sibling interactions.” — The New York Times Rod thinks the game is fixed. Momo’s still learning the rules. Twee doesn’t think winning is enough. JJ hates his hand. And why the hell is Henry still playing? Two families (and some guy named Henry) panic with hilarious and heartbreaking results when they realize their parents won’t be around forever. Can anybody prepare for the inevitable moment when they’re the ones left holding all the cards?

Rancho Viejo by Dan LeFranc CRITIC’S PICK! “Sweet, hypnotic, and very funny...Mr. LeFranc is fast positioning himself as a new-fashioned bard of an old-fashioned American genre, in which small, homey lives are played out against the backdrop of a cosmic infinity.” — The New York Times Set in the fictional suburb of Rancho Viejo, a couple can’t bear the thought of their son and daughter-in-law’s marriage troubles. No more than they can bear their awkward neighbors, or life in general. Dan LeFranc’s anxious comedy ponders life’s big questions while his characters try to avoid existential exhaustion. 5m, 4f | More than 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

4m, 3f | 105 minutes | Dramatic Comedy Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN by Jack Thorne based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist

“Will wring your heart while scaring the mortal stuffing out of you...both the bleakest and most compassionate of vampire stories.”

— The New York Times

Oskar is a bullied, lonely teenage boy living with his mother on a housing estate at the edge of town when a spate of sinister killings rock the neighborhood. Eli is the young girl who has just moved in next door. She doesn’t go to school and never leaves the flat by day. Sensing in each other a kindred spirit, the two become devoted friends. What Oskar doesn’t know is that Eli has been a teenager for a very long time. An enchanting, brutal vampire myth and coming-of-age love story, adapted from the best-selling novel and award-winning film.

6m, 3f | 120 minutes Drama, Mystery/Thriller Rebecca Benson in Let The Right One In at the National Theatre of Scotland, 2013 (Tristram Kenton). Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

IS GOD IS by Aleshea Harris

“A snarly new master of high-octane carnage has risen into view. And she – yes, she – is putting her own audacious stamp on that most venerable of pop genres.” — The New York Times WINNER! 2016 Relentless Award A modern myth about twin sisters who sojourn from the Dirty South to the California desert to exact righteous revenge. Playwright Aleshea Harris collides the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, and the Afropunk in this darkly funny and unapologetic new play. 7m, 2f | 120 minutes | Dark Comedy

Dame-Jasmine Hughes and Alfie Fuller in Is God Is at SohoRep, 2018 (Julieta Cervantes).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

Dontrell, Colossal by Andrew Hinderaker Who Kissed the Sea by Nathan Alan Davis “It truly is colossal …an exciting 65 minutes of innovative theatre.” — Talkin’ Broadway

CRITIC’S PICK “A mesmerizing blend of magical realism and poetic social comment…” — The Los Angeles Times

The beauty and brutality of football seduce Mike to stray from the path his father had mapped out for him, but when a snap decision results in a career-ending injury, Mike must tackle the past and make peace with the man he dreamed he would be. Played in four quarters with a half-time show, dance company, and a drumline, Colossal’s explosive theatrical storytelling and full-contact physicality carries this unmissable summer event all the way to the end zone.

Eighteen-year-old Dontrell Jones III decides that it is his duty and destiny to venture into the Atlantic Ocean in search of an ancestor lost during the Middle Passage. But his family is not at all ready to abandon its prized son to the waters of a mysterious and haunting past. Blending poetry, humor, wordplay, and ritual, Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea is a present-day hero’s quest exploring the lengths and depths we must go to redeem history’s wrongs.

15m, Flexible Casting | 75 minutes | Drama

3m, 4f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Tomorrow in the Battle by Kieron Barry

The Tomb of King Tot by Olivia Dufault

“A solemn erotic lyricism I haven’t encountered since Damage.” — The New York Times Simon, a heart surgeon, takes increasing risks with his health, marriage, and career as he pursues a desperate relationship. Meanwhile, his wife, Anna, a scientist at the Ministry of Defense, contrives a deception of her own in the renewal of the country’s nuclear arsenal. Tomorrow in the Battle paints a searing portrait of loyalty and lust, honor and honesty, and duty and desire. 1m, 2f | Full Length Play | Drama

Vérité by Nick Jones

“Sweet and spiky new tragicomedy…this production makes a case for whimsy as a filter both for shutting out and eventually coming to terms with an unforgiving world and one’s unforgivable self.” — The New York Times Jane Haley is the punny voice of the comic strip King Tot, a three-panel strip about a nine-year-old pharaoh in Ancient Egypt. All seems to be going well until bleak news strikes in the Haley household. As Jane tries to hide her coping by working extensively on her comics, her art suffers as her main character tries to find a way through the Land of the Dead to find her “mummy.” 2m, 3f | 75 minutes | Dark Comedy

“Mr. Jones deftly satirizes the mania for memoirs.” — The New York Times Struggling writer Jo has been given the opportunity to write her own memoir. Her publishers explicitly ask only that she write about her life truthfully and that it be as exciting as possible. Forced to re-examine her rather dull life, strange events begin to occur, and Jo has to decide if her life is worth writing about or worth living.

The Moors by Jen Silverman

“Acerbic, funny…brilliant stuff. The Moors is first-rate entertainment.” — New Haven Review Two sisters and a dog live out their lives on the bleak English moors, and dream of love and power. The arrival of a hapless governess and a moorhen set all three on a strange and dangerous path. A dark comedy about love, desperation, and visibility.

4m, 2f, 1b | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy

1m, 5f | 105 minutes | Dark Comedy

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Plays

“Astonishing and daring. An extraordinarily useful and excruciating satire - of the left, by the left, for the left - for today.”

ADMISSIONS by Joshua Harmon

— The New York Times

From Joshua Harmon (Bad Jews, Significant Other) comes a new play that explodes the ideals and contradictions of liberal white America. Sherri Rosen-Mason is head of the admissions department at a New England prep school, fighting to diversify the student body. Alongside her husband, the school’s Headmaster, they’ve largely succeeded in bringing a stodgy institution into the twenty-first century. But when their only son sets his sights on an Ivy League university, personal ambition collides with progressive values, with convulsive results. At the time of publication this title was not yet available to license.

2m, 3f | 105 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Jessica Hecht and Ben Edelman in Admissions at Lincoln Center Theater, 2018 (Jeremy Daniel).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

THE DYNAMICS OF CHARACTER IN JOSHUA HARMON’S WORK by Jeremy Weschler

hen I read Joshua Harmon’s first play, Bad Jews, before it was picked up at Roundabout Theatre for what would later prove to be a regional theatre hit of 2015, I had two thoughts: 1) Theater Wit will absolutely produce this play. 2) 90% of this play’s impact depends on the casting of the lead character. After we produced Bad Jews, which played to over 20,000 audience members over an eight month run, I read Significant Other and had the same two identical thoughts. Obviously, producing any play requires serious attention to casting, but I believe that, at its core, Harmon’s work is centered on exploiting specific audience ambiguities to function. His plays situate themselves adjacent to well-worn dramatic ground, demanding new responses from

that altered perspective point. Harmon robs the audience’s comfort in easy character identification and forces us to reexamine the situation and the weight of our cultural biases.

Harmon’s work is centered on exploiting specific audience ambiguities to function. In Bad Jews, Harmon conjures Daphna – certainly one of the most divisive characters audiences have confronted here at Theater Wit. Manipulative, cunning, insecure, and aggressive, Daphna (played beautifully in Chicago by Laura Lapidus) simultaneously attracts and repels. She is hard to be around but speaks absolute truths, even if she says them

for the wrong reasons. We are constantly forced to reevaluate our relationship with the character as a series of structural shifts that perfectly mirror the complexity of the relationship between Millennial Jews and their religion. The complexity of the relationship between audience and character is an essential narrative and thematic construct in the play. Significant Other launches from a different perceptual shift, centering our attention on the fun gay sidekick in countless romcoms. What does it mean to be Jordan as all his best girlfriends move on with their lives? What does the reality of gay marriage mean to people who never contemplated that option as they were growing up? As the play progresses, Jordan gains dramatic weight. His quips in Scene One are revealed as

covers for serious social anxieties. Jordan is by turns obsessive, kind, selfish, cruel, and loving. He’s unbelievably needy and remarkably generous. In one scene, he immolates his oldest and dearest friendship out of jealousy. In another, he stalks a co-worker. In a third, he gives his best friend all the validation and support she could ask for. He fears the future and yearns for it simultaneously. But we have to invest in him; we have to understand why Jordan is incapable of establishing a romantic relationship while finding him worthy of love ourselves. At its heart, Significant Other is a play about the cataclysmic personal growth that happens in our twenties. From my 46-year-old reading perspective, I remember thinking how difficult that decade was and how thrilling it was and how I would never want to go through it again.

Alex Weisman, a young actor who had already proven his ability to navigate complex roles (Hand of God, History Boys) and who had a strong personal identification with Jordan. I’d admired Alex’s work for years. I knew Alex loved the play, and the director, Keira Fromm, was one of his best friends. Perfect, right?

Significant Other is a play about the cataclysmic personal growth that happens in our twenties... I remember thinking how difficult that decade was and how thrilling it was and how I would never want to go through it again.

If Bad Jews is a play about our relationship to a culture, Significant Other is about our relationship to ourselves in our twenties. At that stage of life, we constantly demolish ourselves to find out who we really are. And we do this in the middle of a series of insanely consequential life choices about careers and marriage. How can we love ourselves in the future, the play asks, if we don’t even know ourselves in the present? Jordan is not to be admired or pitied; he’s a doorway to our own internal life from a specific temporal perspective.

Well, almost. In July, we got the rights finalized and I scheduled the show for the Spring of 2018. Also in July, I found out that Alex had just gotten cast in a little production called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and was moving to New York at the end of 2017. But, casting is everything in these plays, right? So Wit’s coproducer, About Face Theatre, and I moved the show to November to accommodate Alex’s schedule - in July, which was a goofily short amount of time to make this happen.

If the emotional impact of Harmon’s work is to recreate the kinesthetic sense of anxiety, joy, possibility, and confusion of that time, we needed an actor who could engender a deep-seated trust in the audience while being free enough to burn those bridges behind him. Specifically, I wanted

Alex’s portrayal of Jordan proved worth three months of frantic reorganization. I watched audiences night after night step into the expectations that Joshua Harmon lays out in the first scene: “I know this play. Funny gay best friend, marriage comedy” give way to faint surprise as the play pivots

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

to focus on Jordan. They laughed helplessly and painfully as Jordan struggles at the top of Act II not to send a disastrous email. I could regularly see people weeping at the end. I can’t tell you how many people came up to me and told me how much the play reminded them of themselves – gay, straight, male, female… It didn’t matter because the writing gave them the space they needed to build themselves into the experience. And that is the power of ambiguity. It’s why work like Significant Other is so subtly important. In a time when we regularly slot and categorize our responses to events based on a set of cultural assumptions, Harmon’s writing opens up new perspectives that we cannot anticipate. It finds our hearts by structurally freeing our minds. And in the theatre, if we cannot make easy choices, we must make the hard ones

Photo on previous page: Alex Weisman and Amanda Drinkall in Significant Other at Theater Wit, 2017 (Michael Brosilow). Photo courtesy of Theater Wit. This article originally appeared on Breaking Character Magazine in April 2018. Reprinted with permission from Theater Wit.

Marie and Rosetta by George Brant

Wonderland Wives by Buddy Thomas

“A spectacular show. It takes us into the evolution of a musical collaboration and friendship that is part of rock and roll legend!” — Newsday

“Playwright Thomas bends and turns with merry zaniness the familiar story as he transforms normally upstanding characters to create chaotic silliness.” — Curtain Up Phoenix

A huge influence on Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jimi Hendrix, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a legend in her time, bringing fierce guitar playing and swing to gospel music. Tharpe was the queen of “race records” in the 30s and 40s, performing mornings at churches and evenings at the Cotton Club. This celebratory and thoughtful new play imagines her first rehearsal with young protégée Marie Knight as they prepare to embark on a tour that would establish them as one of the great duet teams in musical history.

Cinderella’s Prince Charming is serving ten years in the pen, Belle’s house is overrun with little monsters, Alice has been hitting the caterpillar’s pipe a little too hard lately, and Snow White’s husband has shacked up with the three little pigs. When Briar Rose comes home from rehab with the face of a beauty and Charming returns from prison with the libido of a beast, the desperate housewives of the magical kingdom are forced to grapple with princely infidelity, poison apples, and Cindy’s appetite for creamy poofs and brutal revenge.

2f | 90 minutes | Historical Drama, Play with Music

1m, 5f, Flexible Casting | Full Length Play | Comedy, Fantasy

The Four of Us by Itamar Moses

Dear Elizabeth by Sarah Ruhl

“Extremely clever and enjoyable study of friendship. Funny, touching, and wickedly smart.” — Time Out New York What if all your dreams came true...for your best friend? Ben’s first novel vaults him into literary stardom, and his friend David, a struggling playwright, is thrilled by Ben’s success...and crushed by it. From the dreams of aspiring youth to the realities of adulthood, this poignant two-man comedy explores friendship and memory, the gap between our hopes and our lives, and the struggles between our egos and our capacity to love. 2m | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

“The language in the piece often soars, with the writing of even routine missives achieving a, yes, poetic quality. — The Hollywood Reporter Based on the compiled letters of poets Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, Sarah Ruhl expresses the beauty in simple correspondence. Brought to life by reading Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, Ruhl maps the relationship of the two poets from first meeting to an abbreviated affair, and the turmoil of their lives in between. 1m, 1f, 1m or f | 105 minutes | Drama

Single Black Female by Lisa B. Thompson

Significant Other by Joshua Harmon

“A socially significant and very entertaining two-woman show that manages to be simultaneously self-deprecating and proud.” — The New York Times

“A tenderly unromantic romantic comedy, as richly funny as it is ultimately heart-stirring.” — The New York Times

A two-woman show with rapid-fire comic vignettes that explore the lives of thirty-something African American middle-class women in urban America as they search for love, clothes, and dignity in a world that fails to recognize them amongst a parade of stereotypical images. SBF 1 and SBF 2 keep each other balanced as they face their fears of rejection, hopes for romance, and reminisce about black girlhood wounds.

A play about friendship, courtship, and discovering you’re the last man standing. Jordan is a single gay man in his late 20s, and finding Mr. Right seems easier said than done. When his three best girlfriends get married one by one, Jordan becomes increasingly aware of – and desperate about – his singleness. Sometimes the only thing harder than looking for love is supporting the loved ones around you.

2f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy, Play with Music

3m, 4f | 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Plays

Among the Dead by Hansol Jung

August Wilson’s Jitney

CRITIC’S PICK! “With this outraged, deeply compassionate play, Ms. Jung is kicking, and expanding our understanding.” — The New York Times

“A transport of delight! So vividly written …it keeps you steadily amused, concerned and moved.” — New York Magazine

Ana is a Korean American who travels to Seoul in 1975 to retrieve her deceased father’s ashes. Luke is a young American soldier fighting in the jungles of Myanmar in 1944. Number Four is the name of a Korean comfort woman camping out on a bridge in Seoul in 1950, waiting for the return of the young American soldier who fathered her daughter. Three separate time periods collide in a small hotel room in Korea. A dark comedy about a family finding each other through SPAM, journals, and Jesus.

WINNER! 2017 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play

1m, 2f, 1m or f | 90 minutes | Drama

Set in the early 1970s, this richly textured piece follows a group of men trying to eke out a living by driving unlicensed cabs, or jitneys. When the city threatens to board up the business and the boss’ son returns from prison, tempers flare, potent secrets are revealed, and the fragile threads binding these people together may come undone at last. 8m, 1f | More than 120 minutes | Drama

Goodnight Mister Tom Table Settings by Dan LeFranc by David Wood from the book by Michelle Magorian

“Thoroughly engaging.” — Time Magazine

“If you are looking for a family show with real emotional depth and staying power, David Wood’s remarkably appealing stage adaptation of the 1981 children’s classic is just the ticket.” — The Independent The play follows sad William Beech, who is evacuated to the idyllic English countryside and builds a remarkable and moving friendship with the elderly recluse Tom Oakley. All seems perfect until William is summoned by his mother back to London... 4m, 6f, 1m or f | 120 minutes | Drama

God’s Ear by Jenny Schwartz “A triumph! An adventurous, arresting new play!” — The New York Times WINNER! 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize A husband and wife have trouble coping with the loss of their son, they find themselves speaking in clichés. The husband travels to forget. The wife stays with their daughter and the tooth fairy and tries to figure out how to cope from home.

A wildly funny comedy about three generations of a Jewish family. All the fast-paced action takes place around an all-purpose dining table; sometimes a restaurant table, and other times the dining table of a Jewish mother to end all Jewish mothers. A highlyacclaimed and hilarious look at an American family.

3m, 3f, 1g, 1b | 90 minutes | Comedy

Flyovers by Jeffrey Sweet “Startling explosions and bursts of heartbreaking insight. Beautifully mixes laughs and lessons.” — Chicago Tribune It’s 1998 and the economic troubles that will later engulf the rest of the country are offering a preview of coming attractions in Ohio. Oliver, a movie critic on a TV show, returns for a high school reunion unaware that his current identification as a Jewish New Yorker can’t help but trigger a reaction. An invitation from Ted, the bully who used to plague him, and the addition of Ted’s unstable wife Lianne and the provocative Iris bring things to a boil in a play that is by turns funny and wrenching. 2m, 2f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

3m, 4f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Drama Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

Everything You Touch by Sheila Callaghan “A brash, even commercial elaboration of [Callaghan’s] universal themes in their most complex and daredevil manifestations yet.” — The Hollywood Reporter Victor is a ruthless fashion designer in the 1970s at the top of his game. Esme, his glamorous protégé and muse, is pushed aside when an ordinary Midwestern woman inspires Victor to make his artistry accessible to the masses. A generation later, a woman grappling with a healthy dose of self-loathing must wrestle her own family demons to find her way through the world of fashion that won’t give a woman her size a second look.

NEENA BEBER

2m, 6f | 120 minutes | Dark Comedy

A Common Vision

El Nogalar by Tanya Saracho

Six lives collide around a transcendent vision in the night sky. Dolores’ private anguish becomes a matter of public debate when a respected psychologist convinces her she was abducted by aliens. And to think, she thought it was all because she got dumped by some guy. A hilarious collision of one woman’s crisis of faith hitting a larger cultural phenomenon.

“El Nogalar lives both in Chekhov’s world and Saracho’s world where class pressure and social turmoil threatens traditional families’ land and lifestyle in contemporary Mexico.” — Chicago Critic Set in modern-day Northern Mexico, the Galvan family, led by Matriarch Maite, have come back to their pecan orchard to reclaim their land after Maite has squandered away their money. In the time they’ve been away, however, the Mexico they once knew has slowly been taken over by a drug war. Will these women choose to adapt to the world around them or get left behind?

3m, 3f | 105 minutes | Comedy

Tomorrowland

Anna has left graduate school to join the real world as a writer on a children’s television show in Orlando, Florida, she finds that world to be more surreal and absurd than anything she’s left behind. A darkly comic look at death, Disney, and the search for meaning in a world that worships the young and the fake.

1m, 4f | 105 minutes | Drama

Homos, or Everyone in America by Jordan Seavey

3m, 4f | 120 minutes | Dark Comedy

The Dew Point

“A daringly frank, funny and affecting new play… Mr. Seavey’s portrait of young gay New Yorkers negotiating the sometimes thorny nature of love and intimacy has an arresting, even bruising honesty.” — The New York Times

Can a woman be friends with a womanizer, even if she once dated him herself? And if your best friend wants to date the guy, do you stand in her way? A play about love and marriage, sex and friendship, authenticity and blackmail...and the lies we tell in order to stay honest.

“Love is love” — but is navigating it any less complicated today? Told through interweaving glimpses into the life of an everyday couple unexpectedly confronted by a vicious crime, this is a fearless, funny, heart-on-its-sleeve examination of the moments that can bring two people together — or pull them apart.

2m, 3f | Full Length Play | Dramatic Comedy

3m, 1f | 105 minutes | Drama Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Plays

Skeleton Crew On the Exhale by Martín Zimmerman by Dominique Morisseau

“A carefully wrought study of a mother undone by loss... On the Exhale approaches the subject of American gun violence from a startlingly original perspective.” — The New York Times When a senseless act of violence changes her life forever, a liberal college professor finds herself inexplicably drawn to the very weapon used to perpetrate the crime – and to the irresistible feeling of power that comes from holding life and death in her hands. Peering down the barrel of a uniquely American crisis, she begins to suspect that when it comes to gun violence, we’re all part of the problem. 1f | 60 minutes | Drama

“Characters who don’t merely speak, they sing with the vernacular of their community. Rarely has dialogue ever felt so much like eavesdropping on an actual conversation.” — TheaterMania At the start of the Great Recession, one of the last auto stamping plants in Detroit is on shaky ground. Each of the workers has to make choices on how to move forward. Loyalties are tested and power dynamics shift as their manager, Reggie, is torn between doing right by his work family and by the red tape in his office. 2m, 2f | 120 minutes | Drama

Kingdom Come by Jenny Rachel Weiner “This unconventional romantic comedy is a testament to playwright Jenny Rachel Weiner’s inventiveness.” — The Hollywood Reporter Samantha is lonely and confined to bed. Layne is shy and too afraid of the world to journey out. But when these two thirty-somethings connect through an online dating site, they fall for each other fast and hard. What could go wrong? Considering that they’re both pretending to be someone else: everything. The new, digital world is upended in this blisteringly funny play.

The Flick by Annie Baker WINNER! 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama In a run-down movie theater in central Massachusetts, three underpaid employees mop the floors and attend to one of the last 35mm film projectors in the state. Their tiny battles and not-so-tiny heartbreaks play out in the empty aisles, becoming more gripping than the lackluster, secondrun movies on screen. With keen insight and a finely-tuned comic eye, The Flick is a hilarious and heartrending cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world. 3m, 1f | More than 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

1m, 4f | 105 minutes | Comedy

The Royale by Marco Ramirez “A well-constructed drama that captures both the beautiful frenzy of boxing and the (sadly still relevant) volatile state of race relations in America.” — The Telegraph Jay “The Sport” Jackson dreams of being the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. But it’s 1905, and in the racially segregated world of boxing, his chances are as good as knocked out. Loosely based on real events, this is an explosive look at the sights and sounds of the early twentieth century boxing circuit, and the ultimate fight for a place in history. 4m, 1f | 90 Minutes | Drama

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Hannah and the Dread Gazebo by Jiehae Park “If you’re keen to have your mind expanded by an evening of theater that is not going to be comparable to anything you’ll see anytime soon, Hannah and the Dread Gazebo is a good place to start.” — Mail Tribune Inside the FedEx box are two things: a 100% bona-fideheart’s-desire-level wish and a suicide note. Hannah tracks the package back to Korea, where her grandmother recently jumped from the roof of the Sunrise Dewdrop Apartment City for Senior Living onto the wrong side of the Demilitarized Zone. Oops. 2m, 2f | 90 minutes | Comedy

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“Harry Clarke is slyly seductive and quietly creepy! David Cale’s vivid details and imagery and tightly calibrated narrative gives the play its own distinction.”

HARRY CLARKE by David Cale

— New York Daily News

A shy midwestern man feels more himself when adopting the persona of a cocky Londoner, Harry Clarke. Moving to New York and presenting himself as an Englishman, he charms his way into a wealthy family’s life, romancing two family members as the seductive and sexually precocious Harry, with more on his mind than love. With his spellbinding and emotionally nuanced storytelling, David Cale has created a riveting story of a man leading an outrageous double life. Harry Clarke is part of the Audible Collection at Samuel French.

1m | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy Billy Crudup in Harry Clarke at the Vineyard Theatre, 2017 (Carol Rosegg).

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PLAYWRIGHT LAUREN YEE: From SCR’s CrossRoads Project to the Cambodian Rock Band world premiere by Beth Fhaner

auren Yee is a playwright to watch. Her play King of the Yees debuted last season to rave reviews, and with upcoming premieres scheduled from coast to coast, including the muchanticipated Cambodian Rock Band, Yee is in great demand. We recently caught up with this rising star of the theatre world to learn more about her thrilling new play, which has been described as part comedy, part mystery, and part rock concert.

How did the band Dengue Fever’s music serve as a source of inspiration for Cambodian Rock Band? Dengue Fever was my gateway to Cambodia’s wild musical past. When I was in grad school in San Diego, a good friend dragged me to a music festival to see one of her favorite bands, Dengue Fever. As soon as I heard their music,

what I describe as psychedelic surf rock, I was hooked. It felt fresh, electric, but also, so very familiar. I immediately went home to delve into their catalog and discovered the actual Cambodian oldies of the ’60s and ’70s their music draws inspiration from. And with this music, I learned not only about Cambodia’s incredible music scene, but also the tragic fate of so many of those musicians once Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge took over the country for four terrifying years.

I knew this history all added up to a play, but for years, I had no idea of how to do this. Even then, I knew this history all added up to a play, but for years, I had no idea of how to do this.

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

You wrote this play as part of SCR’s CrossRoads Commissioning Project. Tell us about your CrossRoads experience. About two and a half years ago, I got commissioned by South Coast Rep as part of its CrossRoads program. My job was to write any play I wanted but, before then, I was invited to spend 10 days in Orange County and research absolutely anything I wanted. This is total writer catnip and something that has completely changed the way I embark on new projects. What followed was 10 days in which I got to indulge in all my nerdiest fantasies. How do malls operate? What is Pageant of the Masters? Who can I talk to about OC’s gaming community? I was literally dragging the SCR literary staff around Orange County from morning to night.

But over and over, it was the Cambodian music scene that emerged as the clear winner of the trip. I just happened to be in town the same time as Dengue Fever was playing in Long Beach (so we met them), just as the Cambodian Music Festival was happening in Anaheim (we went), just as the annual Cambodia Town fundraiser was happening (we may or may not have crashed it). This incredible confluence of events was really what contributed to the piece you see here. What kind of research did you have to do for this play? I’ve been more or less obsessed with the Cambodian music scene and the history around the Khmer Rouge years since the first time I heard Dengue Fever play and have been gradually absorbing information on the history since then. Shortly after seeing the band play for the first time, I visited Cambodia, which is still recovering from the scars of the Khmer Rouge genocide. But a lot of the research has been done as I’ve written the play. I’ll run into stumbling blocks in the writing and then have to go back into the research to help me figure out how a scene should feel or what a character might have encountered in the country during Pol Pot’s reign of terror. What were some of the surprises you encountered while writing Cambodian Rock Band? I didn’t know it would be a play with music and a live band. That discovery came organically. I first thought the play would be about music and so maybe we’d play a couple Dengue Fever songs over the sound system during transitions or intermission. But then, while workshopping

the play at Berkeley Repertory’s Ground Floor, I happened to cast actors who were already incredible musicians. They brought in instruments and the whole play opened up. And I realized how much the act of playing music live was crucial to the play. Cambodian Rock Band is about the survival of Cambodia’s musical past. It’s about radical acts of defiance and it’s why music and art is critical to sustaining us as human beings. And having that live music makes that message so much clearer.

I start with no idea of what the play is about, but as long as I can tap into strong character voices, my instincts as a writer can take me the rest of the way. What’s your writing process like? I start with no idea of what the play is about, but as long as I can tap into strong character voices, my instincts as a writer can take me the rest of the way. Which means that I can very quickly discover what the pieces of the play are, but I also spend a lot of the time trying to figure out how those pieces are supposed to fit together. I can write it quickly but it takes me a very long time to make it good. Congrats on being named a 20182019 Hodder Fellow at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University. Tell us about it. It really is the ultimate gift of “studious leisure” (as the Lewis Center calls it). Along with four other fellows, I get a stipend of $81,000 and incredible access to

Princeton University’s resources in support of whatever projects I’m working on during the year. It’s an immense honor and will really help someone like me whose work has become much more researchheavy in recent years. I can’t wait. I miss university libraries. What’s next for you as a playwright? My other new play of the year, The Great Leap (based on my father’s early basketball career and the first trip he ever took to China), heads to New York’s Atlantic Theater Company, following the world premiere at the Denver Center and Seattle Repertory Theatre. That play has been its own delightful rabbit hole of research, and I’m so happy to get to see it up again. What can audiences expect when they attend the world premiere of Cambodian Rock Band? Incredible live music. Untold, unbelievable history. A funny, fraught father/daughter relationship that anyone who loves (and is driven crazy by) their family will relate to. Also a dangerous, electric emcee with a pitch-black sense of humor who guides us through this journey back into Cambodia’s musical past.

Photo on opposite page: Joe Ngo and Brooke Ishibashi in the world premiere production of Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee, South Coast Repertory, 2018 (Tania Thompson/SCR). This article originally appeared on Breaking Character Magazine in April 2018. Reprinted with permission from South Coast Repertory.

New plays from

LAUREN YEE Cambodian Rock Band featuring songs by Dengue Fever “A fierce, gorgeous, heartwarming, comedic fairy tale set against one of history’s grisliest mass extinctions. Yee has made her characters so joyfully and ridiculously human that it’s impossible not to identify with them.” — Los Angeles Times In 1978, Chum fled Cambodia and narrowly escaped the murderous Khmer Rouge regime. Thirty years later, he returns in search of his wayward daughter and is forced to finally face the music. A play with horror, humor, pathos … and songs by the best unknown rock band in Cambodia! 3m, 1f, 1 m or f | More than 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy, Play with Music

The Great Leap “A beautiful play with vibrant characters and rich history crackling with fresh dialog.” — Broadway World When an American college basketball team travels to Beijing for a “friendship” game in the post-Cultural Revolution 1980s, both countries try to tease out the politics behind this newly popular sport. Cultures clash as the Chinese coach tries to pick up moves from the Americans and Chinese American player Manford spies on his opponents. 3m, 2f | 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

King of the Yees “It is a delightfully disorderly entertainment, as sprawling and silly as it is unexpectedly moving.” — Los Angeles Times When her father goes missing, playwright Lauren Yee must plunge into the rabbit hole of San Francisco Chinatown and confront a world both foreign and familiar. At once bitingly hilarious and heartbreakingly honest, King of the Yees is an epic joyride across cultural, national, and familial borders that explores what it means to truly be a Yee. 3m, 2f | 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

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Peerless by Jiehae Park

Title and Deed by Will Eno

“With its staccato rhythms, short scenes, and farcical characters...it’s hard to know how to characterize this play, except to say that it’s unexpectedly wonderful.” — The Arts Fuse

“Leaves you happily word-drunk! Gorgeously and inventively wrought. Haunting and often fiercely funny.” — The New York Times

Asian American twins M and L have given up everything to get into The College. So when D, a 1/16th Native American classmate, gets “their” spot instead, they figure they’ve got only one option: kill. A deliciously dark and funny take on Shakespeare’s Macbeth exploring the very ambitious and cut-throat world of high school during college admissions. 2m, 3f | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy

Behold the newest nobody of the funniest century yet. He’s almost Christ-like, from a distance, in terms of height and weight. Listen closely or drift off uncontrollably, as he speaks to you directly about the notion of home, about the notion of the world. All of it delivered with the authority that is the special province of the unsure and the un-homed, which is a word he made up accidentally. A stunning monologue that is a haunting and often fiercely funny meditation on life as a state of permanent exile. 1m | 75 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Fiction by Steven Dietz

Seminar by Theresa Rebeck

“Everything about the play has an elegance and richness our theater sees too seldom.” — New York Daily News Linda and Michael Waterman are both successful writers, happily married to each other. They thrive on the give and take of their unusually honest and candid relationship. When they decide to share their diaries with each other, the boundaries between past and present, fact and fiction, trust and betrayal begin to break down. No life, as it turns out, is an open book. 1m, 2f | Full Length Play | Drama

“Sexy, savvy and uproarious!” — Time Out New York Four aspiring young novelists sign up for private writing classes with Leonard, an international literary figure. Under his recklessly brilliant and unorthodox instruction, some thrive and others flounder, alliances are made and broken, sex is used as a weapon, and hearts are unmoored. The wordplay is not the only thing that turns vicious as innocence collides with experience in this biting Broadway comedy. 3m, 2f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol by Ken Ludwig and Jack Ludwig

Seven Spots on the Sun by Martín Zimmerman “Startling and visceral, Martín Zimmerman’s fable-like play...explores the brutalities of war and the confusions of recovery.” — The New Yorker

“A gift you’ll be totally glad you received.” — MD Theatre Guide

The village of San Isidro has been without its doctor for eighteen months. Moisés has remained a recluse, refusing to even look at a patient since the army took his wife away during the civil war. When a mysterious plague begins to ravage the countryside, the local parish priest convinces Moisés to take action, and he discovers the miraculous power to heal this plague with the touch of his hand. But among the thousands of pilgrims who flock to San Isidro, Moisés is forced to confront his past and the violence that tore San Isidro apart.

Tiny Tim hatches a plan to get his father home for Christmas Day. With the help of some kindly sellers at the market and his friend Charlotte, Tim stages a spectacle filled with ghosts and Christmas cheer to convince Scrooge to give his father the day off. It all seems to be going according to plan until a little bit of real Christmas magic catches everyone by surprise. 5m, 3f, Flexible Casting | 40 minutes | Holiday, TYA

3m, 2f, 3m or f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Drama Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Plays

August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned co-conceived by Todd Kreidler “Wilson’s pride, humor, eloquence, anger, storytelling gifts, and general eagerness to soak up experience: It’s all there.” — The Boston Globe From Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson comes a one-man show that chronicles his life as a black artist in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. From stories about first jobs and first loves to his experiences with racism, Wilson recounts his life from his roots to the completion of the American Century Cycle. How I Learned What I Learned gives an inside look into one of the most celebrated playwriting voices of the 20th century. 1m | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy, Biography

Blacktop Sky by Christina Anderson “As compelling and persuasive as it is adroit.” — San Diego Story Klass, a homeless black man, sets up residence in the courtyard of the projects where Ida lives. Triggered by a confrontation between a street vendor and the police, Klass and Ida quickly develop a precarious bond. An examination of the intersection of violence and seduction inspired by the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan. 5m, 1f | 90 minutes | Drama

Bull in a China Shop by Bryna Turner “A pugnacious, tender and gloriously funny new play. Bryna Turner makes an immensely auspicious professional playwriting debut.” — The New York Times Inspired by the real letters between Mary Woolley and Jeannette Marks spanning from 1899 to 1937, a fastpaced comedy asking: What is revolution? What does it mean to be at odds with the world? How do we fulfill our potential? And how the hell do we grow old together? 5f | 90 minutes | Comedy Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

10 Out of 12 by Anne Washburn “A strange and ecstatic vision…a wholly original love song to the maddening art of the theater.” — The New York Times An entertaining, eye-opening look into the daunting process of tech rehearsals. The audience is placed amongst sound designers who mix cues, stage managers who gossip about actors, and one director who struggles to pull it all together. A glimpse into life on the other side of the footlights. 8m, 6f | More than 120 minutes | Comedy/Experimental

The Untold Yippie Project by Becca Schlossberg “Fascinating and provocative…The Untold Yippie Project is fast-moving, exciting and truly fascinating.” — The Huffington Post On August 6, 1970, a group of Yippies planned an invasion of Disneyland and forced the park to close early. But who were the Yippies? How did they leave such a mark on Disney history? In this docudrama-style retelling, Shirley Bowlby, a research historian, documents Terry Altman, a wild but weary leader of the Yippies, as he organizes the protest in Disneyland. 3m, 1f, 5m or f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy, Docudrama/Historic

Mama’s Boy by Rob Urbinati

“[Mama’s Boy] finds in the past that which is human and timeless. The result is a moving and compassionate portrait of lives regularly flattened out and simplified by history’s narrative.” — New Jersey Star Ledger

The riveting story of Lee Harvey Oswald and his complex relationship with his overbearing mother Marguerite, Mama’s Boy follows Marguerite’s reckless attempts to reunite her family, from Lee’s return to the US from Russia, through the assassination of Kennedy, to her son’s own murder and her defense of his innocence in the months that follow. A fascinating examination of family dynamics and obsessive maternal devotion played out in the shadow of history 2m, 1f | 120 minutes | Drama

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

THE ANTIPODES by Annie Baker

“In-all-ways fabulous...Ms. Baker delivers a complete and confident narrative...The Antipodes is also deeply funny, but it’s naturally funny, and if it’s a satire, it’s an organic one. This playwright doesn’t need to exaggerate to elicit what’s absurd in the human condition.”

— The New York Times

A play about people telling stories about telling stories. The Antipodes dissects that most ancient of art forms and dares to ponder if there are any stories left to tell. 7m, 2f | 120 minutes | Dark Comedy Josh Hamilton in The Antipodes at Signature Theatre, 2017 (Joan Marcus).

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Plays

“Deeply moving. You feel an intense desire for more scenes, more time in your seat, a deeper dive into the life, times and fate of the protagonist you are watching.”

— Chicago Tribune

Mary Page Marlowe leads an unremarkable life. As an accountant in Ohio with two children, few would expect her life to be inordinately intricate or moving. However, it is choices, both mundane and gripping, and where those choices have taken her that make her life so intimate and surprisingly complicated. A piece about the fragility of a moment and its effects on one’s identity.

MARY PAGE MARLOWE by Tracy Letts 6m, 11f, 1g | 90 minutes | Drama

Carrie Coon and Gary Wilmes in Mary Page Marlowe at Steppenwolf, 2016 (Michael Brosilow).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

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TRACY LETTS The Minutes “A simmering satire of a small-town city council meeting that evolves — or devolves — into something of a horror tale.” — Variety FINALIST! 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama A scathing new comedy about small-town politics and real-world power. Tracy Letts exposes the ugliness behind some of our most closely-held American narratives while asking what we would do to keep from becoming history’s losers. 8m, 3f | 105 minutes | Comedy

Linda Vista “Might just be Mr. Letts’ best play yet” — Wall Street Journal Wheeler is 50. His marriage is over, his job is mundane, and the best years of his life appear to be behind him. A move from the cot in his ex-wife’s garage to his own apartment opens up new possibilities for love and sex‑complicated, painful, and hilarious. Full of opinions, yet short on self-examination, Wheeler must reconcile the man he has become with the man he wants to be. 3m, 4f | More than 120 | Drama

At the time of publication this title was not available to license. Check with your Licensing Rep for information.

Killer Joe “Revels in its white trash stereotypes, and gives you permission to do the same. It’s slick, it’s well constructed, it knows exactly where it’s going.” — New York Daily News Hired by the dissolute Smith family to murder their matriarch for insurance money, Killer Joe takes the daughter to bed as a retainer against his final payoff, which sets in motion a bloody aftermath as the “hit man” meets his match. 3m, 2f | 120 minutes | Drama Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Plays

The Open House by Will Eno

Perfect Arrangement by Topher Payne

“Will Eno’s work combines studied banality, sneaky weirdness and formal ingenuity.” — Time Out New York

“[A] clever canapé of a comedy…Mr. Payne is a deft and witty writer.” — The New York Times

People have been born into families since people started getting born at all. Playwrights have been trying to write Family Plays for a long time, too. And typically these plays try to answer endlessly complicated questions of blood and duty and inheritance and responsibility. They try to answer the question, “Can things really change?” People have been trying nobly for years and years to have plays solve in two hours what hasn’t been solved in many lifetimes. This has to stop.

It’s 1950 and two State Department employees, Bob and Norma, have been tasked with identifying sexual deviants within their ranks. There’s just one problem: both are gay, and have married each other’s partners as a cover. Inspired by the earliest stirrings of the American gay rights movement, madcap classic sitcom-style laughs give way to provocative drama as two couples are forced to stare down the closet door.

3m, 2f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

The Village Bike by Penelope Skinner “Skinner is addressing a difficult theme head-on, often with wit and verbal authenticity.” — Vulture Becky is pregnant and friskier than ever. But she can’t seem to get the attention of her husband, who is more interested in the baby manual than her new underwear. As her husband prepares for the baby’s months-away arrival, Becky takes matters into her own hands. In the heat of the summer, she sets out on an adventure that starts with the purchase of a used bike from a man in town and takes her further than she ever expected. 3m, 3f | 120 minutes | Dark Comedy

Travesties by Tom Stoppard “Stoppard has spun out a fantastically elaborate web to snare his three giants in the same play.” — The London Times The twentieth century’s most crucial revolutionaries — James Joyce, the Dadaist founder Tristan Tzara, and Lenin — were all living in Zurich. Also living in Zurich at this time was a British consul official called Henry Carr, a man acquainted with Joyce through the theater and later through a lawsuit concerning a pair of trousers. A speculative portrait of what could have been the meeting of these profoundly influential men in a germinal Europe as seen through the lucid, lurid, faulty, and wholly riveting memory of an aging Henry Carr. 5m, 3f | More than 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

3m, 4f | 120 minutes | Comedy

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by James Goss and Arvind Ethan David based on the novel by Douglas Adams Dirk Gently finds himself on the trail of a gruesome murderer who is somehow involved with the works of Coleridge, quantum physics, the enigmatic study of the Cambridge Professor of Chronology, and the fate of life on Earth. Confused? Don’t be — everything is connected. 10m, 4f | Full Length Play | Comedy

Bellwether by Steve Yockey “Audacious, entertaining and chilling, Steve Yockey’s Bellwether goes where few plays dare to tread... Was it funny? Scary? Moving? Yes. Bellwether is, in short, fantastic. In every sense of the word.” — Theatre Dogs Bellwether was a nice, safe place to live. Bad things didn’t happen there. That was until six-year-old Amy Draft went missing. As the investigation progresses, speculation in the media and the neighborhood turns on Amy’s parents, Alan and Jackie Draft. But the young girl’s disappearance is not what it seems, and it is only a glimpse of what lurks below the community’s perfection. 3m, 7f | 105 minutes | Drama

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

YEN

by Anna Jordan

“Though it appears fairly modest, the dynamic range of Jordan’s writing is extraordinary. It’s rare for a play to encompass such extremes of violence and tenderness.” — The Guardian Hench is 16, Bobbie is 13. They live alone with their dog, Taliban, playing Playstation, watching porn, surviving. Sometimes their chaotic mum, Maggie, visits, occasionally she passes out on the front lawn. But when Jenny knocks on the door, the boys discover a world far beyond what they know, a world full of love, possibility, and danger. 2m, 2f, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Drama

Lucas Hedges, Ari Graynor, and Justice Smith in Yen at MCC at the Lucille Lortel Theatre 2017 (Joan Marcus).

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Ken Ludwig’s

SHERWOOD: THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD

“Whether you relish swashbuckling adventure, amorous exploits, or good triumphing over evil, you’ll find what you’re looking for here. The humor consistently hits the mark.” — KSDS Jazz 88 From comic genius Ken Ludwig comes this epic adventure for the stage. Packed with thrills, romance, laughs, and great characters like Little John, Friar Tuck, and Maid Marian, Sherwood tells the timeless story of a hero of the people who takes on the powers that be. Get ready to duck a quarterstaff or two – you won’t want to miss a moment of the swashbuckling fun! 6m, 2f, Flexible Casting | 105 minutes | Comedy, Adventure The cast of Ken Ludwig’s Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood at The Old Globe, 2017 (Jim Cox).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

FUN FOR THE WHOLE GANG Family Friendly Shows by Nikki Przasnyski Need a show the kids, grandma and grandpa can all enjoy? These seven family-friendly plays and musicals are just as fun for grown-ups as they are for kids; and are perfect for adding some variety to your yearly holiday slot.

Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol by Ken Ludwig and Jack Ludwig (pg 33) Written by real-life father and son team Ken and Jack Ludwig, this comedic spin on a holiday classic finds a teenage Tiny Tim scheming to get his father home for Christmas day. With the help of some market vendors and his good friend Charlotte, Tiny Tim stages a ghost-filled spectacle to convince Scrooge to give into the Christmas spirit. Big Nate: The Musical by Christopher Youstra, Jason Loewith, and Lincoln Peirce (pg 118)

In this rock ‘n’ roll musical adaptation of the well-loved graphic novel series, Nate Wright, a detention-riddled sixth grader hopes to capture beautiful Jenny’s heart by winning first prize in his school’s Battle of the Bands. With songs like “Rock Star” and “Love is a Four-Letter Word,” Big Nate is a raucous treat for the moody sixth-grader in all of us.

The Magic Finger by David Wood and Roald Dahl (pg 65) When Lucy senses injustice, she gets angry, and when she gets angry, her Magic Finger heats up; and then ANYTHING can happen. Lucy’s indignation puts the powerless in charge and teaches the powerful a very big lesson. David Wood’s adaptations of the works of Roald Dahl have delighted audiences for years, and with The Magic Finger, another Dahl story comes to life on stage. Neil Simon’s Musical Fools by Neil Simon, Ron West and Phil Swann (pg 111)

In this musical based on Neil Simon’s classic farce, Fools, scholar Leon Tolinchinsky arrives in a small village in the Ukraine to work as a tutor, only to find the town cursed, rendering every resident as dumb as a bag of rocks. After falling in love with his student, Sophia Zubritsky, Leon finds that must educate the entire town in 24 hours or fall prey to the curse himself.

Uncle Pirate, The Musical by Ben H. Winters and Drew Fornarola (pg 113)

This musical adaptation of the classic children’s book takes us on the adventure of a lifetime when Wilson finds out his uncle is a REAL PIRATE! With help from Uncle Pirate and his faithful talking penguin, Wilson just might be able to survive the fourth grade.

Goodnight Mister Tom by David Wood (pg 26)

Based on Michelle Magorian’s classic, award-winning novel, Good Night Mister Tom is set during the dark and dangerous build-up to the Second World War. The play follows sad William Beech, who is evacuated to the idyllic English countryside and builds a remarkable and moving friendship with elderly recluse Tom Oakley.

Really Rosie by Maurice Sendak and Carole King (pg 106)

In this beloved musical classic, Caldecott award-winning author Maurice Sendak and Grammy award-winning composer Carole King team up to tell the tale of Rosie, the sassiest kid on her block of Brooklyn’s Avenue P, as she entertains her friends and family by acting out her showbiz fantasies.

Frontières Sans Frontières by Phillip Howze “Intelligent, unruly...there is much beauty in this abundance, and something deeply unsettling, too.” — The New York Times

EDUARDO MACHADO Crocodile Eyes

Inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba. As Lorca’s famous widow traps her daughters in their house to mourn their father, Machado shows us what’s happening just outside those doors. The local men linger, waiting for a glimpse of the enigmatic daughters or some viable work, all the while getting caught up in the empty promises of Franco’s fascism. 7m, 3f | Full Length Play | Drama

Kissing Fidel

In an upscale Miami funeral home, a CubanAmerican family has gathered for its matriarch’s final rights. The black sheep of the family, a successful novelist who has used his relatives as the source material for his books, much to their horror and pride, unexpectedly returns, announcing that he plans to return to Cuba to kiss and forgive Fidel Castro. 4m, 2f | 120 minutes | Comedy

Havana Journal

In the mid-1990s, Ruth, a disillusioned writer and radical, leaves the halls of American academia to travel to Cuba. She hopes to find people there who share her beliefs and validate her struggle. It’s not until her return to Columbia University that she is confronted by the realities of sacrifice and idealism. 3m, 1f | 90 minutes | Drama

At the corner of a country that feels both foreign and familiar, three orphaned, stateless youth have built a simple life out of recreation and mischief-making. Their world is suddenly rocked as a parade of immodest strangers slowly invade, offering gifts of language, medicine, art, and commerce. As the lure of development blurs their beliefs, life and landscape mutate, threatening their long-held values, community, and humanity. 4m, 4f, Flexible Casting | 120 Minutes | Satire, Experimental

Taking Care of Baby by Dennis Kelly “A crafty little play… [Mr. Kelly] deftly scrambles both our sympathies for, and our trust in, this play’s characters.” — The New York Times This tale of a mother accused and convicted of the deaths of her two young babies is horrific yet powerful. By adopting a form commonly associated with verbatim theatre, the subject is imbued with a clarity that is at once both unrelenting and utterly engaging, as it slowly emerges that these events are not truth at all. What unfolds is a bleak yet tender exploration of grief, exploitation, and the innate hypocrisies of reportage. 7m, 6f, Flexible Casting | Full Length Play | Drama

Antlia Pneumatica by Anne Washburn “A sheer joy, elegantly weird and wonderfully vivid with ghost stories and songs!” — Time Out New York In a ranch house deep in Texas Hill Country, a once tight-knit group of friends reunites to bury one of their own. When they look backward through their lives, it becomes clear they’ve lost more than just an old pal. In this haunting play, the boundaries between then and now grow disarmingly blurry as these friends must confront a slippery past. 2m, 4f | 105 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

“Ms. Gurira weaves issues of cultural identity and displacement, generational frictions, and other meaty matters into dialogue that flows utterly naturally.”

FAMILIAR by Danai Gurira

— The New York Times

In the middle of a Minnesota winter, a Zimbabwean American family prepares for the wedding of their eldest daughter. When the bride invites her aunt to perform a traditional African marriage ritual, the family’s delicate balance of Zimbabwean culture and American lifestyle is put to the test. Tensions flare and long-buried secrets surface, forcing everyone to confront where they come from and where they want to be. Gurira’s heartfelt and poignant comedy is a lively, refreshing take on the familiar struggle to find balance between tradition and modernity.

3m, 5f | 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy Ito Aghayere in Familiar at Playwrights Horizons, 2016 (Joan Marcus).

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THE HARVEST by Samuel D. Hunter

“Engrossing and suspenseful… The Harvest takes place in a jammed intersection of religion, family, sexuality and poverty, which the playwright maps out in evocative detail.” — Time Out New York In the basement of a small evangelical church in Southeastern Idaho, a group of young missionaries is preparing to go to the Middle East. One of them — a young man who has recently lost his father — has bought a one-way ticket. But his plans are complicated when his estranged sister returns home and makes it her mission to keep him there. 4m, 3f | 105 minutes | Drama

Madeline Martin and Christopher Sears in The Harvest at LCT3, Claire Tow Theater, Lincoln Center, 2017 (Jeremy Daniel).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie adapted for the stage by Sarah Punshon and Johann Hari

Blood at the Root by Dominique Morisseau “Morisseau knows where the truth lies, and it is rarely on solid ground.” — The New York Times A striking new ensemble drama based on the Jena Six, six black students who were initially charged with attempted murder for a school fight after being provoked with nooses hanging from a tree on campus.

“A brilliant show not just for fans of Agatha Christie, but also for those who have never picked up one of her books… will send audiences out with a 1920s spring in their step.” — The Reviews Hub

3m, 3f | 105 minutes | Drama

Christie’s famous detective duo, Tommy and Tuppence, are introduced in this adaptation of their first mystery. Flat-broke and unemployed, they embark on a daring business scheme, “The Young Adventurers Limited.” Their first assignment plunges them into more danger than they ever imagined, and they quickly find themselves sucked into a perilous world of political intrigue and criminal conspiracy. An inventive, fast-paced comedy peppered with murder, mayhem, and a dash of romance.

Peter by Stacy Sobieski “An elegant depiction of the impact of 15 minutes of fame in a pre-tabloid world.” — The Reviews Hub Peter Llewelyn Davies was just an infant when he served as the inspiration for J.M. Barrie’s most famous creation, Peter Pan. With the story proving to be a smash hit, a reluctant Peter was thrust into the spotlight. Then one day, Peter did the unthinkable: he grew up. As he enters adulthood, Peter struggles to separate himself from the “terrible masterpiece” and spirals into a deep depression. Based on a true story, Peter presents another side to one of the world’s most beloved tales.

4m, 4f | Full Length Play | Dark Comedy, Play with Music

Se Llama Cristina by Octavio Solis “Solis’s ear for details, for the small things that make one broken romance unlike another, make the dialogue pop.” — San Jose Mercury News,

3m, 4f, 3b | Full Length Play | Drama, Biography

Charles Busch’s

A man and woman awake from an apparent drugging night to find their baby missing. They relive their history in order to remember the way back to their child and to try and set things right. This haunting, poetic journey moves through time from past to present to future, and from darkness and doubt to a glimmer of light.

Olive and the Bitter Herbs

2m, 2f | 90 minutes | Drama

“A colorful, sweet-and-sour Busch dish, laced with plenty of laughs.” — The Associated Press Olive Fisher is an elderly character actress whose claim to fame were the iconic “Gimme the Sausage” commercials of the 1980s. She is a classic New York curmudgeon, at war with the world and in particular her nextdoor neighbors. Her closed-off life is shaken by the appearance of a spectral male figure viewed through her living room mirror. A series of strange and outrageous coincidences reveals that the man in the mirror has intimate links to everyone in Olive’s world and most revealingly to Olive, encouraging her that it’s never too late to change one’s life. 3m, 2f |120 minutes | Comedy

That Which Isn’t by Matthew Freeman “A graceful psychodrama, clear-eyed writing, savvy.” — The Village Voice Helen meets with James in a quiet field somewhere far from the city. Years later, she meets with Marcus in a crowded restaurant in Los Angeles. These two goodbyes explore the process of losing the people we love, and how we remember the people we don’t. 2m, 1f, Flexible Casting | 105 minutes | Drama

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Plays

The cast of Agatha Christieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Murder on the Orient Express, Hartford Stage, 2018 (T. Charles Erickson).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

“Will wring your heart while scaring the mortal stuffing out of you...both the bleakest and most compassionate of vampire stories.”

— The New York Times

Agatha Christie’s

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer – in case he or she decides to strike again. At the time of publication this title was not yet available to license.

adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig

5m, 5f | More than 120 minutes Dramatic Comedy, Mystery/Thriller

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Plays

Dot by Colman Domingo “A thoroughly entertaining comedy-drama! An impressive advance for Colman Domingo.” — The New York Times The holidays are always a wild family affair at the Shealy house. This year, Dotty and her three grown children gather with more than exchanging presents on their minds. As Dotty struggles to hold on to her memory, her children must fight to balance care for their mother and care for themselves. This twisted and hilarious new play grapples unflinchingly with aging parents, midlife crises, and the heart of a West Philly neighborhood. 4m, 3f | 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

The Happy Ones by Julie Marie Myatt WINNER! 2009 Ted Schmitt Award for the World Premiere of an Outstanding New Play Orange County, California, 1975. For Walter Wells, it’s the happiest place on earth, until fate strikes a devastating blow, leaving Walter with no reason to put the pieces of his life back together. He resists help, especially the unexpected — and unwanted — offer from a Vietnamese refugee named Bao Ngo, who bears his own sadness. Then, across a cultural divide, Walter and Bao find a game to share, a song, a meal, and then a way back. 3m, 1f | 105 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling by Adam Rapp “Rapp writes funny lines for scary people. That’s not a shabby talent and it’s on smart display...” — Variety Bertram and Sandra Cabot invite longtime friends Dirk and Celeste Von Stofenberg to their beautiful Connecticut home in honor of James, the Von Stofenberg’s son, who has recently been released from a psychiatric hospital. When Sandra enlists Dirk to help her change the course of her life, the sky turns, Canadian geese start crashing into the bay window, and the fate of the evening tilts toward a conclusion that promises to change the lives of all who came to dinner. 3m, 4f | 90 minutes | Drama

The Light Years by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen developed by Oliver Butler “A theatrical cabinet of wonders. A wistful, cockeyed play that celebrates American dreamers.” — Time Out New York Behold the Spectatorium: an audacious, visionary 12,000-seat theater designed for the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 by Steele MacKaye, the now-forgotten theatrical impresario around whom this haunted, 40-year love story spins. An epic, intimate tale of two families struggling to meet their future, and a spectacular tribute to man’s indomitable spirit of invention. 4m, 1f, 1b | 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

The Substance of Bliss by Tony Glazer “A sympathetic study of suburban despair…” — The New York Times Paul and Donna wait during the late night for their troubled 15-year-old son to come home. As they wait for him, they keep their minds occupied by cleaning and discussing potential renovations to the house, and the conversation slowly veers toward their decision to marry and have a child that is causing them so much angst. 1m, 1f | 90 minutes | Drama

Last Dance by Marsha Norman “Pretty women, pretty men, pretty words...a play that suggests that if loveliness is not next to godliness, it is at least kind of divine.” — The New York Times Claiming that she is tired of love, an aging but still beautiful poet from the American South who now lives on the coast of France has decided to give away her young lover. But how can this be? This bittersweet comedy of manners is a tribute to the grandeur of Southern style and a musing on what a smart woman might really want toward the end of her life. 2m, 2f | 90 minutes | Comedy

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

GNIT

by Will Eno

“Gnit is wickedly funny, relentlessly intelligent and very well-executed.”

— WFPL

Watch closely as Peter, a funny-enough but so-so specimen of humanity, makes a lifetime of bad decisions on the search for his True Self. A rollicking and very cautionary tale about, among other things, how the opposite of love is laziness. A faithful, unfaithful, and willfully American misreading of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, a 19th century Norwegian play which is famous for all the wrong reasons, written by someone who has never stepped foot in Norway. 3m, 3f, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy Dan Waller and Kate Eastwood Norris in Gnit at the 2013 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville (Kathy R. Preher).

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George A. Romero’s

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD LIVE

written by Christopher Bond, Dale Boyer, and Trevor Martin created by Christopher Harrison and Phil Pattison

“Spooky, sophisticated, and silly in equal measures…so recommended it hurts.” — Fangoria Magazine A comedic tribute to the historic 1968 film and the official authorized stage production of the film. The play lovingly examines the film, the period it was made in, and its undying influence on the horror genre. All the iconic moments from the film are hilariously re-visited, along with an entirely new journey for our beloved characters from the farmhouse. Packed with effects, music, and gore, Night of the Living Dead LiveTM skirts the line between horrific and hysterical! 4m, 2f, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Dark Comedy, Parody The cast of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead LiveTM, Theatre Passe Muraille, 2013 (Christos Kalohoridis Photography).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

This Much (or an Act of Violence Towards the Institution of Marriage)

by John Fitzpatrick “A probing piece comfortable in the ambiguities it raises.” — Fest Gar can’t decide between the man who plays games and the man on one knee with a ring. In fact, Gar can’t decide on anything because every choice seems like a compromise. Everyone wants answers, but nothing lives up to the image he has in his head. Facades start crumbling as his world implodes around him, but Gar just wants to dance with his friends. 3m, 3m or f | 75 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

“A madcap send up of what you might hold dear about that Doyle classic, done up in the style of The 39 Steps.” — D.C. Theatre Scene The male heirs of the Baskerville line are being dispatched one by one. To find their ingenious killer, Holmes and Watson must brave the desolate moors before a family curse dooms its newest heir. Watch as our intrepid investigators try to escape a dizzying web of clues, silly accents, disguises, and deceit as five actors deftly portray more than 40 characters. Join the fun and see how far from elementary the truth can be. Don your deerstalker cap! The play’s afoot! 4m, 1f, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Comedy, Farce

Saving Jason by Peter Quilter

Water & Power by Richard Montoya

“The play manages to tackle serious issues through the absurd and ridiculous due to quick wit and strong performances... It is a fantastic interpretation of an age old situation.” — The Upcoming

“[A] unique blend of Chicano-inflected, spoken-worderupting performance art ... Water & Power daringly tries to bundle these elements into a theatrical experience that veers inevitably toward tragedy.” — The Los Angeles Times

Trevor and Linda have been struggling with their rebellious teenage son, Jason. In a moment of madness, they hatch a plan to create his own funeral in their living room, hoping he will be confronted by his own mortality and motivated to re-think his life. Jason’s aunt and uncle join in but arrive loaded with their own baggage, and the whole scenario descends into chaos very quickly.

A hard working immigrant father wants better for his sons, twins named Water and Power. Now, everything the brothers stand for hangs in the balance as they meet in room #13 at the Motel Paradise on the eastern edge of Sunset Boulevard. Water & Power is a modern noir. What emerges from the long shadows of a rainy night is as mysterious as what will never see the light of day. Nothing is concrete in L.A. except the river.

3m, 3f | 105 minutes | Comedy

7m | 120 minutes | Drama

The Realistic Joneses by Will Eno “Mr. Eno’s voice may be the most singular of his generation, but it’s humane, literate and slyly hilarious.” — The New York Times Bob and Jennifer, and their new neighbors John and Pony are two suburban couples who have even more in common than their identical homes and their shared last names. As their relationships begin to irrevocably intertwine, the Joneses must decide between their idyllic fantasies and their imperfect realities.

A Feminine Ending by Sarah Treem “Appealingly outlandish humor.” — The New York Times Having recently graduated from a major conservatory, and with a rocker boyfriend on the brink of stardom, Amanda Blue’s “extraordinary life” seems to be all mapped out. But when she’s called home to answer her mother’s distress call, Amanda’s grand plan starts to unravel. A bittersweet play about dreams deferred, loves lost, and learning to trust a woman’s voice in a man’s world.

2m, 2f | 90 Minutes | Dramatic Comedy

3m, 2f | 90 minutes | Romantic Comedy Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Plays

Angry Fags by Topher Payne “Payne gives us two likable killer queens whose road to domestic terrorism is paved with Paula Deen jokes.” — Out Magazine Bennett recently broke up with his boyfriend and moved in with his best friend, Cooper. It’s election season, and he’s the speechwriter for Georgia’s only gay state senator, engaged in a bloody campaign against a conservative darling. Then Bennett’s ex is attacked in the parking lot of a gay bar. Bennett and Cooper are informed that the assault can’t be classified as a hate crime – because in Georgia, hate crimes against homosexuals don’t legally exist. Their frustration and fear eventually turn to rage as they realize “acceptance” simply isn’t enough. 3m, 4f | 120 minutes | Dark Comedy

Important Hats of the Twentieth Century by Nick Jones “Part sci-fi parody, part Ayn Rand spoof and 100% screwball comedy, Important Hats…leaves no punchline unpunched.” — The Wall Street Journal Sam Greevy is the toast of 1920s women’s apparel, until the maverick fashion designer Sam Roms springs his radical creations on the world: The Sweatshirt, The Track Suit, and Skater Pants. The clothes he comes up with are as if from another dimension, and maybe they are. As Greevy tries to adapt to rapidly changing fashions, a parallel drama unfolds in Albany, circa 1998: a teenage stoner keeps losing articles of clothing, because a man keeps bursting out of his closet and taking them. 8m, 1f, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Comedy

Palestine, New Mexico by Richard Montoya “Outrageous imagery and serious subtext … a gallery of pungent and often moving character portraits.” — Variety US Army Captain Catherine Siler journeys to the New Mexico reservation home of Private First Class Raymond Birdsong on a search for answers. The questionable circumstances surrounding Ray’s death in Afghanistan create a crisis of conscience for the captain, giving her no choice but to re-examine her own life along the way. A play about America’s constantly shifting political landscape exploring loss, identit,y and the notion of occupied homelands. 7m, 6f | 90 minutes | Drama

Secrets of the Trade by Jonathan Tolins “This bittersweet valentine to the world of theater...nicely balances a light-hearted humor with moments of tension and drama.” — TheatreMania In show business, it’s all about who you know. Or is it? Andy Lipman, a smart, ambitious kid from Long Island dreams of a career on Broadway and hopes that his idol, theater legend Martin Kerner, can give it to him. Will Kerner open Andy’s door to success, or will their complicated relationship force him to question a life in the theatre? 4m, 1f | 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Milk Like Sugar by Kirsten Greenidge “A distinctive view of a matter of vital currency, crisply delineated characters who reveal more layers as the play proceeds, richly funny vernacular dialogue… symbolic imagery.” — The Associated Press Before the end of her sixteenth birthday is over, Annie and her friends enter into a life-altering pact. When Annie tries to make good on her promise to her friends, she is forced to take a good look at the world that surrounds her. In the end, Annie’s choices propel her onto an irreversible path in a story that combines wit, poetry, and hope. 2m, 5f | 90 minutes | Drama Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Stunning by David Adjmi “Careening courageously, but never recklessly, between satire and melodrama — and ultimately tragedy. Astonishingly provocative.” — Curtain Up Sixteen-year-old Lily knows nothing beyond the Syrian-Jewish community in Brooklyn where she lives a cloistered life with her much older husband. Soon an unlikely relationship with her enigmatic African American maid opens Lily’s world to new possibilities, but at a huge price. Shifting from caustic satire to violent drama, this stirring drama exposes the ways we invent and defend our identities in the melting-pot of America. 2m, 4f | 120 minutes | Drama

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

HANNAH MOSCOVITCH Premier Canadian Playwright by Ben Coleman

amuel French is America’s oldest dramatic publishing company; but we do not draw the line with exclusively American pieces of theatre. Hardly! Our catalog contains a variety of works across the western world, and today we are delighted to share an interview with one of Canada’s most sought-after playwrights, Hannah Moscovitch. Some of Hannah’s plays include Bunny, East of Berlin, and This is War. We are thrilled to count her among the brilliant playwrights we publish, and we are eager to let our Breaking Character Magazine readers know more about this daring writer and some of her work. Where are you from (originally and currently)? I grew up in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. I heard recently that the American Ambassador to Canada

receives hardship pay for living in my hometown because of the cold. I lived in Toronto for most of my professional life. Now I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I also spend a lot of time on the road. Most of my theatre commissions and TV contracts require me to be in Toronto and most of my opera

I felt reluctant to call myself a writer for a long time. work is in the States. When was the first moment you considered yourself a playwright/ writer? I felt reluctant to call myself a writer for a long time. It felt hard to claim something so glamorous. And I think, in the end, it ended up being incremental. My first

professional production at Tarragon Theater in 2007 was a sea change. I got a call from Richard Rose, the artistic director, and he agreed to produce my play East of Berlin and invited me to be in residence. I had admired the work going up at Tarragon Theater my whole life so I was euphoric. And in fact, I am still a playwrightin-residence there, and the support of Tarragon remains the bedrock of my theatre career and of my identification as a playwright. What are you most interested in exploring through your playwriting right now? These days, I’m in the middle of writing a couple of confessional projects. I have a project coming up at the Theatre Centre in Toronto with a performer named Maev Beaty – a close friend of mine – in which she plays “Hannah Moscovitch.” I’ve always

admired confessional writers like Sylvia Plath and Sheila Heti, and lately I’ve started to think I can be just like my heroes, because why not? Also, womanhood fascinates me nonstop these days and I want to get at it by writing very directly about myself. Conversely, I’ve agreed with a theatre company that I’ll write one piece under a (male) pseudonym because I’ve also become interested in not being myself at all. Can you talk more about what it’s like for you to write about womanhood from a confessional perspective? I’m definitely out of my comfort zone, in terms of how I work, because I do not like to expose myself very much. And I know it. I knew that about myself. But I’m willing to do it in this case, because I think that I’m sort of fascinated by being a woman. It just felt like the right way to get at that was very directly by speaking about my own experience, because there’s something about the truth that has a light shining on it. It’s just irrefutable to speak from absolute authentic truth. But it’s pushing me. It’s not comfortable. How would you describe your play(s)? East of Berlin is about a teenager growing up in an ex-pat German community in Paraguay. When he realizes his father was a Nazi, he rebels. His rebellion takes a number of bizarre forms, including sex with a man and a romantic attachment to a Jewish woman. I wanted to write about how we live in the shadow of history: how large the past looms in our lives. This is War is set in 2007, Panjwaii, Afghanistan, and it follows the stories of four Canadian soldiers in the 24 hours around a war crime; it shows

both their innocence and their complicity. It shows the audience how decisions get made in war. I spent about five years, on and off, interviewing soldiers who were returning from tours in

We have very little commercial theatre in Canada...there is a de-emphasis on the commercial value of theatre... Our theatre does tend towards ambiguity and complexity, for lack of a better term. Those things can backfire and be really boring to watch, but they can also be really moving and beautiful. Afghanistan in order to be able to write it. Bunny is the story of a woman who is struggling with old ideas about womanhood. I borrowed from the structure of Victorian novels (in which the only thing women tend to do is choose between two men) to show how that traditional Victorian structure still has power over us and about how entrenched old ideas about femininity are in our literature. So you have these three plays, two of which are about war, while Bunny and your upcoming work are driven by themes of womanhood. Do you see a thread connecting them? I have a branding issue! I don’t know what the organizing principle is, actually. I think it might be extreme periods in history and transformation within the psychology of people that often

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

links my work. Extreme changes in psychology are interesting to me, and people who are up against the wall with large shifts and breaks in their paradigm of the world. I think that takes you right across women who are transforming into different kinds of women than they already were, and that takes you to people that are in war who are facing the actual inability to be moral in a war zone. Where did you draw artistic inspiration from for your play? I don’t know. I can talk about structure and vision, but I can’t talk about inspiration. I don’t know where I get my ideas. Any favorite plays or playwrights? I am a big fan of Daniel MacIvor, Judith Thompson, John Mighton, George F Walker, Michel Trembley, Michel Wajdi Mouawad, Michel Marc Bouchard, and Robert LePage. They are my heroes. I like the work of my colleagues in Canada: Jordan Tannahill, Anusree Roy, Nicolas Billon, David Paquette, Olivier Choiniere, Haley McGee and Jordi Mand. And I have eclectic tastes. I follow the work of a number of playwrights and theatre makers all doing different kinds of work and living in the UK, Germany, Poland, America. What differences do you observe between the American and Canadian theatre scene? Honestly, in America, you guys have a long tradition of theatre. You have dead playwrights. We don’t. Any Canadian playwright you can think of is still alive. So in a weird way, in Canada, we’re operating without a legacy. And, well, we have very little commercial theatre in Canada. There are good things about that. There are less avenues for

success for playwrights, probably, in Canada. But I do think, also, there is a de-emphasis on the commercial value of theatre, and that it does mean … Our theatre does tend towards ambiguity and complexity, for lack of a better term. Those things can backfire and be really boring to watch, but they can also be really moving and beautiful. I always think that in America there’s a kind of bravura and confidence to tell really uplifting stories, and in Canada we’re always like, “incest on the prairie!” Our theatre can get pretty dark and gothic in Canada.

When you’re not wearing your playwright hat, how do you spend your time? I have a son, Elijah. He’s two years old. I write from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. daily, and the rest of the time I am in the backyard (tomatoes, flowers, grapes, mint) or by the ocean with my family. Were there any theatrical influences in your life growing up? My parents are real social activists, radical DeMarxists. I wasn’t allowed to watch television or eat candy. I was allowed to see

theatre. The stuff I saw growing up was indescribably weird. My parents were also really involved in the founding of Great Canadian Theatre Company, in Ottawa, where I grew up. But they’re both researcher academics in the social sciences and not actually involved in theatre, just real believers in the importance of theatre and Canada having its own. So, I guess I got tricked into it by my parents.

This article originally appeared on Breaking Character Magazine in January 2018.

Plays by

HANNAH MOSCOVITCH East of Berlin

As a teenager, Rudi discovers his father was a doctor at Auschwitz. Questioning redemption, love, guilt and the sins of his father, East of Berlin follows Rudi’s emotional upheaval as he confronts and comes to terms with a frightening past that was never his own. 2m, 1f | 90 minutes | Drama

This is War

Master Corporal Tanya Young, Sergeant Stephen Hughes, Private Jonny Henderson, and Sergeant Chris Anders have lived through an atrocity while holding one of the most volatile regions in Afghanistan. As each of them is interviewed by an unseen broadcasting organization, they recount versions of events leading up to the incident with painful, relenting replies. What begins to form is a picture of the effects of guilt and the toll of violence in a war where the enemy is sometimes indiscernible. 3m, 1f | 90 minutes | Drama, Docudrama/Historic

Bunny

Sorrel doesn’t fit the strict societal norms of her small-town high school. She enters college as a self-proclaimed loser with no friends until she meets Maggie, whose support, loyalty, and unwavering friendship bring forward Sorrel’s moral questions and sexuality. As the two women grow older, Maggie is diagnosed with cancer, and Sorrel must choose between raw feeling and devotion. 3m, 4f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy, Romantic Comedy

“Patrick Barlow’s small-scale take on this epic tale is a palpable hit.”

BEN HUR

by Patrick Barlow

— Evening Standard

Based on one of the best-selling books of the 19th century comes this stage adaptation with four actors. The story follows an amateur theatre troupe as they produce the massive tale of the fictional Jewish prince and merchant Judah Ben-Hur. He falls to galley slave and rises to champion charioteer within Jerusalem during the life of Jesus Christ, while the actors struggle along through the piece as rivalries form and offstage romances interfere. Complete with chariot race, sea battle, and stage combat, Patrick Barlow weaves his compressed style popularized by The 39 Steps into one of the largest stories ever told.

3m, 1f | 105 minutes | Comedy, Parody

Alix Dunmore and John Hopkins in Ben Hur at the Tricycle Theatre, London, 2016 (Tristram Kenton).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

Father Comes Home From The Wars

The Albatross 3rd & Main by Simon David Eden

(Parts 1, 2 & 3)

by Suzan-Lori Parks

“An excellent comedy that is rich, dark, well designed and acted…loaded with wit, wisdom and the courage to examine some important themes.” — Fringe Review

“The finest work from this gifted writer. At once an epic poem, a moving personal drama about one man’s soul struggle, and a seriocomic meditation on liberty, loyalty, and identity.” — The New York Times

Gene Lacy, a former lobster boat fisherman and proprietor of Lacy’s General Store, is down on his luck, big time: he’s ducking creditors, huge gambling debts, and an ex-wife with very expensive tastes. So when Spider walks into his store with a golden lottery ticket in the shape of a rare and valuable dead bird, Gene has a choice to make.

FINALIST! 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Offered his freedom if he joins his master in the ranks of the Confederacy, Hero, a slave, must choose to leave the woman and people he loves for what may be yet another empty promise. Filled with music, wit, and great lyricism, this is a dramatic exploration of the mess of war, the cost of freedom, and the heartbreak of love.

3m | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy

Charles Busch’s The Tribute Artist

8m, 2f | More than 120 minutes | Drama

A Lifetime Burning by Cusi Cram

CRITIC’S PICK! “Sheer joy!” — The New York Times

“The dialogue crackles with snappy sarcasms.” — The New York Times If you had the power to revise your past, what would you change? Who would you be? Trust fund darling Emma imagines what her life would have been like had she come from a less privileged background. Trouble is, she chronicles her alternate life in a new tell-all “memoir,” sold for a hefty advance. When Emma is exposed, will her sister, Tess, stand by her? Or will Emma’s deceit destroy their already fractured relationship? 1m, 3f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

When his elderly landlady dies in her sleep, an out-ofwork female impersonator takes on her identity in order to hang onto her valuable Greenwich Village townhouse. This “perfect” scheme goes awry and leads to a wild path of twists and reversals plotted by an eccentric rogues’ gallery of outrageous schemers. 2m, 4f | 120 minutes | Comedy, Farce

The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan “Deftly presents senility as an exaggerated state of the natural human condition…Deeply theatrical and often deeply funny.” — The New York Times

Prayer For My Enemy by Craig Lucas

FINALIST! 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Gladys, the elderly matriarch of the Green family, has run an art gallery in a small Greenwich Village hotel for years. The management wants to replace her less-than-thriving gallery with a coffee shop. Always irascible but now increasingly erratic, Gladys is a cause of concern to her daughter, her son-in-law, and her grandson, from whose point of view this poignant memory play is told. A wacky and heartrending look at the effect of senility on a family.

“A newly-minted classic.” — The New York Times Two middle-class families in suburban New York State confront their private demons against the public backdrop of the American incursion into Iraq. As their paths cross in ways that are both comic and terrifying, lies and secrets are at last exposed and an honest, hardearned redemption is achieved for both.

3m, 2f | More than 120 minutes | Comedy

3m, 3f | 105 Minutes | Drama

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Plays

How to Survive an Apocalypse by Jordan Hall “Disaster prep is the new porn supplement for this generation, and Hall has tapped into a powerful modern undercurrent.” — Daily Hive Vancouver A young and successful urban couple become convinced that their lifestyle is coming to an end. They become “preppers,” hoarding supplies and learning to hunt. But their obsession takes its toll, and they are both forced to imagine the apocalypse without the love of their life. A romantic comedy about the end of days.

Advance Man: Part One

of The Honeycomb Trilogy

by Mac Rogers

CRITIC’S PICK! “This effectual first part thrives in its persuasive entangling of science fiction with straightforward domestic drama.” — Backstage Astronaut Bill Cooke returns from the first manned mission to Mars bearing secrets and illicit cargo. Now his wife and teenage children are all that stand between Bill and a shocking action that will alter not only their lives but also all of humanity. 5m, 5f | More than 120 minutes | Drama

2m, 2f | 120 minutes | Dark Comedy

End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter “Sensational — in every sense of the word.” — The New York Times With a six-week booking at London’s Talk of the Town, it looks like Judy Garland is set firmly on the comeback trail. At 46 and with new flame Mickey Deans at her side, she seems determined to carry it off and recapture her magic. But lasting happiness always eludes some people, and there was never any answer to the question with which Judy ended every show, “If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why, oh, why, can’t I?” 3m, 1f | 120 minutes | Drama, Biography, Play with Music

Blast Radius: Part Two

of The Honeycomb Trilogy

by Mac Rogers

CRITIC’S PICK! “It’s a credit to the propulsive plotting that amid debates about dissent, love and honesty, the question Blast Radius most frequently prompts is simply: What happens next?” — The New York Times Twelve years after the events of Advance Man, a sister and brother are at mortal odds on an Earth changed by an alien occupation. Ronnie leads a desperate human insurgency that might have finally found the weapon that will turn the tide. Meanwhile, Abbie has allied himself with the conquering alien race and may have found a chilling solution that will end human resistance for good. 5m, 7f | More than 120 minutes | Drama

The Anarchist by David Mamet “Mr. Mamet has always been preoccupied with words both as power tools and as camouflage. That’s true whether the language is lowdown or high-flown” — The New York Times Cathy, who murdered two police officers 35 years ago as a member of a Weather Underground-type movement, must convince her parole officer she deserves to be released from prison. With a nod to his mentor, Harold Pinter, Mamet once again employs his signature verbal jousting in this battle of two women over freedom, power, money, religion, and the lack thereof. 2f | 75 minutes | Drama

Sovereign: Part Three

of The Honeycomb Trilogy

by Mac Rogers

CRITIC’S PICK! “Mr. Rogers displays an impressive control over his sprawling material... and a sneaky theatrical intelligence.” — The New York Times The alien race that ruled the Earth has fallen. Ronnie is now the governor of what used to be Florida, and her brother Abbie is the world’s greatest war criminal, now captured. As Ronnie grapples with an awful decision about what to do with her brother, Abbie makes one last desperate move, forcing a confrontation that will forever change the future of the human race. 5m, 4f | More than 120 minutes | Drama

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

THE WOLVES by Sarah DeLappe

“DeLappe has created an ensemble of distinct female characters without leaning on romantic partners or traditional feminine tropes to define them.” — TheaterMania FINALIST! 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Left quad. Right quad. Lunge. A girls indoor soccer team warms up. From the safety of their suburban stretch circle, the team navigates big questions and wages tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors. A portrait of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for nine American girls who just want to score some goals. 10f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy The cast of The Wolves at The Playwrights Realm, 2016 (Daniel J. Vasquez).

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SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard adapted for the stage by Lee Hall

“An absolute joy from beginning to end!” — Daily Express Young Will Shakespeare has writer’s block. The deadline for his new play is fast approaching. He’s in desperate need of inspiration. And then he finds his muse, Viola. This beautiful young woman is Will’s greatest admirer and will stop at nothing — including breaking the law — to appear in his next play. Against a bustling background of mistaken identity, ruthless scheming, and backstage theatrics, Will’s love for Viola quickly blossoms and inspires him to write his greatest masterpiece. 18m, 6f, Flexible Casting | More than 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy Original West End cast, Shakespeare In Love (Johan Persson).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

John by Annie Baker

Fade by Tanya Saracho

“So good on so many levels that it casts a unique and brilliant light.” — The New Yorker

“Saracho’s writing is so sharp, full lives take shape with an economy of words… A powerful piece with a fresh voice and a bright future.” — Denver Post

The week after Thanksgiving. A bed & breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A cheerful innkeeper. A young couple struggling to stay together. Thousands of inanimate objects, watching. In this quiet tale, Annie Baker’s hyper-realism meets the eerily supernatural, and actors and audiences alike delve into ideas of self, mortality, and the solitude of human experience.

When Lucia, a Mexican-born novelist, gets her first TVwriting job, she feels a bit out of place on the white maledominated set. Lucia quickly becomes friends with the only other Latino around, a janitor named Abel. As Abel shares his stories with Lucia, similar plots begin to find their way into the TV scripts that Lucia writes. Fade is a play about class and race within the Latino community, as well as at large, and how status does not change who you are at your core.

1m, 3f | 120 minutes | Drama

1m, 1f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Shoot/Get Treasure/ Repeat by Mark Ravenhill

Marian, or The True Tale of Robin Hood by Adam Szymkowicz

“Ravenhill writes tales that hold a gun to your heart and shoot you in the soul, but leave you alive so you can feel every last drop of pain.” — The Austin Chronicle

“Szymkowicz has delivered a swashbuckling story of what it takes to make change, and the networks and chosen families that keep that revolutionary spirit alive.” — New York Theatre Review

An epic cycle of 16 short plays examining the personal and political effect of war on modern life. A child talks to a headless man; a woman is afflicted with mysterious intestinal pain; a couple talks about their garden bench; a soldier demands love from a woman whose country he has liberated. Each new play is a fragment of suffering, and a fierce, sardonic attack on the war on terror. Though lightly connected, the scenes can be performed in any combination or order.

Robin Hood is (and has always been) Maid Marian in disguise, and leads a motley group of Merry Men (few of whom are actually men) against the greedy Prince John. As the poor get poorer and the rich get richer, who will stand for the vulnerable if not Robin? What is the cost of revealing your true self in a time of trouble?

Flexible Casting | Sketches | Satire

4m, 4f, 6m or f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Comedy, Adventure

Smart People by Lydia R. Diamond

Pocatello by Samuel D. Hunter

“…a sexy, serious and very, very funny modern-day comedy of manners.” — Variety

“Hunter evokes a world in which identity itself has come to seem confusingly mass-produced.” — The New York Times

It is the eve of Obama’s first election. Four of Harvard University’s brightest — a surgeon, an actress, a psychologist, and a neuro-psychiatrist are all interested in different aspects of the brain, particularly how it responds to race. But like all smart people, they are also searching for love, success, and identity in their own lives. Lydia Diamond brings these characters together in this sharp, witty play about social and sexual politics.

Eddie manages an Italian chain restaurant in Pocatello — a small, unexceptional American city that is slowly being paved over with strip malls and franchises. But he can’t serve enough Soup, Salad & Breadstick Specials to make his hometown feel like home. Against the harsh backdrop of Samuel D. Hunter’s Idaho, this heartbreaking comedy is a cry for connection in a lonely American landscape.

2m, 2f | More than 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

5m, 5f | 90 minutes | Drama

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Plays

Fish Eye by Lucas Kavner “A keen observer of human behavior… his dialogue is so true to life, it’s like eavesdropping on real people.” — New York Daily News

RACHEL BONDS Swimmers

Coyotes evading police. Billboards predicting the end of the world. It’s been a strange day at the office, and it’s only 9am. Moving floor by floor from the basement up to the roof, scenes in a corporate office between employees explore the angst-ridden relationships between those that people often take most advantage of: their coworkers. 7m, 4f | 105 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Five Mile Lake

Marie and Jamie are stuck in Scranton, Pennsylvania as Mary is working at a bakery while taking care of her brother, and Jamie is taking care of his ill mother. When Jamie’s brother, Rufus, comes to visit with his girlfriend, desires of lives passing by are brought to the surface. A tender, realistic portrayal of relationships between those who leave to the city, those who stay home, and those who feel trapped in their surroundings. 3m, 2f | 90 minutes | Drama

Sundown, Yellow Moon

Ray and Joey, twin sisters, have returned home to their small Southern town to help their father in a moment of crisis. He is recently divorced and has just had an altercation with the administration at the school where he teaches. The family comes together and sees friends from their past, but can’t get over the ennui that is associated with moving on from where they’ve been to where they’re going. 4m, 3f | 90 minutes | Drama

At a bar across from a falafel place, Max and Anna meet again, or is it for the first time? A funny and emotionally raw portrait of a couple struggling to hold on to one another without losing themselves, Fish Eye explodes the traditional chronology of romance and offers a modern take on the exhilaration of love: when nothing means everything and everything means nothing, and the entire world can shrink down to a single moment. 2m, 2f | 90 minutes | Romantic Comedy

How to Get Into Buildings by Trish Harnetiaux “Harnetiaux does some quite sophisticated structural work here, slipstreaming her events in space …and a constantly somersaulting timeline.” — Time Out New York Roger and Lucy meet at a convention. Daphne and Nick break down at a diner. Ethan continues to read compulsively from his new book, The Car Accident. It’s soon apparent that reality is slippery and time is shifting. We join our characters’ struggles with their own discoveries about love, opportunity, and a desire to pause with trepidation. 3m, 3f, Flexible Casting | 75 minutes | Dark Comedy, Experimental

Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties by Jen Silverman “a perfect balance between the really absurd and the absurdly real.” — Broadway World Betty is rich, Betty is lonely, Betty’s working on her truck, Betty wants to talk about love, Betty needs to hit something. And Betty keeps using a small handmirror to stare into parts of herself she’s never examined. Five different women named Betty collide at the intersection of anger, sex, and the “thea-tah.” 5f | 105 minutes | Dark Comedy

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

Plays from

ALAN AYCKBOURN My Wonderful Day

Drowning on Dry Land

Not well enough to go to school, nine-year-old Winnie accompanies her mum to work and settles down to her homework: an essay entitled “My Wonderful Day.” Through the course of the day, the ever-watchful Winnie amasses plenty of material as a variety of adults parade before her. This hilarious and bitter-sweet classic from Alan Ayckbourn is told through the eyes of a child.

Charlie Conrad is a celebrity. His talent? He hasn’t got one; the nation took him’s to their hearts for very publicly being unable to do anything competently. A hilarious examination of celebrity obsession for its own sake and how celebrities can be destroyed as quickly as they are made. 4m, 3f, 2b or g | More than 120 minutes | Comedy

2m, 3f, 1g | 90 minutes | Comedy

If I Were You

Haunting Julia

Waking up one morning, Mal and his wife, Jill, find they have switched personas. With Mal in Jill’s body and Jill in Mal’s, they must continue life “as normal.” Does seeing things from the other side complicate their lives, or is this just what they need in order to save their family?

Julia Lukin, a musical prodigy, committed suicide 12 years ago. Still coming to terms with her death, her father arranges a seance with a psychic and Julia’s former boyfriend. Through this, the story of Julia’s life is gradually revealed, the reality of which is at odds with what each man thought he knew about her.

3m, 2f, 1g | 90 minutes | Drama

3m, 1f | More than 120 minutes | Drama

Improbable Fiction

After a hit and run accident, naive country girl Sasha comes to the aid of ex-villain Val, who is using a bogus identity as an ex-policeman. Sasha befriends Val and welcomes him into her home; overcome by her generosity and childlike innocence, he showers Sasha with lavish gifts whilst his rival, Ashley, knowing of Val’s sordid past, seeks to protect Sasha from this potential danger.

Six aspiring authors meet on a winter’s evening to discuss their work. The chairman, Arnold, attempts to persuade the group to collaborate on a piece of writing, an idea that is quickly dismissed. However, as Arnold is clearing up after the meeting there is a clap of thunder, a blackout — and then the story that would have resulted from the collaboration takes place before his very eyes. Sharp comedy and affectionate satire characterize this zany, imaginative play.

2m, 3f | More than 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

3m, 4f | 120 minutes | Comedy

Sugar Daddies

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HOW TO TRANSCEND A HAPPY MARRIAGE by Sarah Ruhl

“A subversive enchantment. It is part absurd domestic serio-comedy, part erotic magic realism, unflinching about taboos and about questioning that, just maybe, monogamy isn’t enough.” — Newsday At a dinner party in New Jersey, two couples discuss polyamory as brought up by the introduction of a new temp, Pip, in George’s office. When they invite Pip and her two male partners, discussion turns to action, and the exploration of unexplored desire turns animalistic. In Sarah Ruhl’s signature poetic and magical style, How to Transcend explores the boundaries of relationships and monogamy, and examines the connections made between friends, lovers, and strangers. 4m, 4f | 120 minutes | Comedy Omar Metwally, Marisa Tomei, and Lena Hall in How to Transcend a Happy Marriage at Lincoln Center Theater, 2017 (Kyle Froman). Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Ugly Lies the Bone by Lindsey Ferrentino

Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors

“A bracing drama that confronts an achingly topical issue with hardheaded honesty and admirable compassion. A brave playwright and a writer of dauntless conviction.” — The New York Times

“From conception to execution, everything about A Comedy of Tenors hits on all comedic cylinders and, as advertised, is laugh-out-loud funny.” — The News-Herald

Newly discharged soldier Jess has finally returned to her Florida hometown. She brings with her not only vivid memories of Afghanistan, but painful burns that have left her physically and emotionally scarred. Jess soon realizes that things at home have changed even more than she has. Through the use of virtual reality video game therapy, she builds a breathtaking new world where she can escape her pain. As Jess advances further in the game, she begins to restore her relationships, her life, and, slowly, herself.

One hotel suite, four tenors, two wives, three girlfriends, and a soccer stadium filled with screaming fans. What could possibly go wrong? It’s 1930s Paris and the stage is set for the concert of the century — as long as producer Henry Saunders can keep Italian superstar Tito Merelli and his hot-blooded wife, Maria, from causing runaway chaos. An uproarious ride, full of mistaken identities, blissful romance, and madcap delight! 4m, 3f | 120 minutes | Comedy, Farce

2m, 3f | 90 minutes | Drama

The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World by Suzan-Lori Parks

Poor Behavior by Theresa Rebeck “A weekend getaway…provided your idea of a getaway is Napoleon’s retreat from Russia.” — The New York Times A weekend in the country spins out of control when jealous wife Maureen makes a reckless accusation about her husband, Ian, and their old friend Ella. Ella’s husband, Peter, tries and fails to stop the domestic carnage in this fierce and funny story about the unexpected ease of betrayal and the fragility of marriage.

“A smart, poignant and often funny play that sets you up to watch a typically post-modern, woman-centered romantic comedy, only then to subvert and satirize many of the elements of that genre.” — Chicago Tribune A woman tries to feed her husband a fried drumstick. Dragons roam a flat earth. The last black man in the whole entire world dies again. And again. Careening through memory and language, archetypes of Black America are explored and explode with piercing insight and raucous comedy. A riotous theatrical event that hums with the heartbeat of improvisational jazz.

2m, 2f | 120 minutes | Comedy

The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl adapted by David Wood

6m, 5f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Summerland by Arlitia Jones

“The Magic Finger dreams big in every sense of the word, as children should.” — D.C. Theatre Scene

“An engaging and cerebral thriller.” — Cincinnati Enquirer

When Lucy gets upset with her best friend and his family for shooting ducks for sport, she points her Magic Finger at them and turns them all into bird-size people, while the ducks become the size of humans. Lucy’s indignation turns the world into a place where the powerless are in charge and the powerful are taught a big lesson.

In 1869, William H. Mumler, a spirit photographer famous for capturing haunting images of the dead from the world beyond, was at the height of his game. Now Mumler is being investigated by Chief Marshall Joseph Tooker for fraud, and Tooker is uncovering much more than he bargained for in his search for truth.

3m, 2f, 1g, 1b, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Comedy

2m, 1f | 120 minutes | Drama

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Plays

Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond “A polished playwright, creating a cast-full of dynamic characters all sitting uncomfortably on a powder-keg situation.” — The Boston Globe The affluent, African American LeVay family is gathering at their Martha’s Vineyard home, and brothers Kent and Flip have each brought their respective ladies home to meet the parents for the first time. Kent’s fiancée, Taylor, an academic whose absent father was a prominent author, struggles to fit into the LeVay’s upper-crust lifestyle. Kimber, on the other hand, is a self-described WASP who works with inner-city school children. As the two newcomers butt heads over issues of race and privilege, long-standing family tensions bubble under the surface. 3m, 3f | More than 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Charles Busch’s Cleopatra “always smartly campy, often over-the-top, occasionally very raunchy, and always hilarious — with an infinite all-you-can-eat buffet of priceless lines and situations running throughout.” — The Huffington Post The turbulent life of Cleopatra is told through a comic lens, evoking both 1930s Hollywood epics and the grand nineteenth century romantic theatre. This version of the Egyptian queen’s life takes her from her teenage seduction of Julius Caesar through her volatile, tragic romance with Mark Antony and her untimely death. 5m, 3f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Comedy

The Layover by Leslye Headland “Headland’s new play careens between terrific meet-cute humor and the darkest romantic obsessions.” — The Wrap Shellie and Dex meet on a plane during a layover in Chicago. After a quick seduction, each stranger playing a version of themselves, they have a playful yet passionate one-night stand. In the following months, their lives with their respective partners remain the same, but the impact of their liaison invades their psychological landscapes. Their personal dramas unfurl simultaneously, until romantic obsession and intense loneliness drive them toward an inevitable and tragic reunion. 3m, 2f, 1g | 90 minutes | Drama

The Fall of Heaven by Walter Mosley from his novel The Tempest Tales “Mosley possesses a hiply modern ear, a sharply focused, streetwise eye, tremendous wit, and a mischievous mix of unmitigated comic glee and deep ruefulness about the human condition.” — The Chicago Sun-Times Tempest Landry, a street-wise young man from Harlem, unexpectedly finds himself at the Pearly Gates. When Saint Peter orders him to hell, the quick-witted Tempest refuses to go. A technical loophole forces Heaven to send Tempest back to Earth with an angel in tow to keep him out of trouble. The resulting battle of wills takes a unique look at good versus evil and what it means to be human. 3m, 2f |120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Back Back Back by Itamar Moses “No one plays King of the Hill more craftily than Itamar Moses. Taut, beautifully modulated, and riveting.” — Time Out New York Before headlines blazed, before the Mitchell Report and ESPN lit up millions of television screens with the scandals, before congressional jaws dropped, comes the story of three guys making their way in the world of professional baseball — a world too competitive to rely solely on raw talent. What happens is a behind-theheadlines battle for their careers, their legacies, and the future of America’s favorite pastime. 3m | 90 minutes | Drama

Here We Go by Caryl Churchill “A striking memento mori for an age without faith.” — The Guardian A trio of pieces examining the topics of aging and death. In the first part of the play, friends gather at a funeral and discuss, without much feeling, the passing of a friend. The second part is a monologue about the afterlife, and in the third section, a dying man is dressed and undressed by a loving caregiver. 3-8m or f | 45 minutes | Drama

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

VIETGONE by Qui Nguyen

“An unlikely intermingling of family play, history play, sex farce, action flick, and cultural critique. It is overtly rollicking and sneakily moving.” —

The Guardian

An all-American love story about two very new Americans. It’s 1975. Saigon has fallen. He lost his wife. She lost her fiancé. Now in a new land, they just might find each other. Using his unique style that The New York Times calls “culturally savvy comedy – and skipping back and forth from the dramatic evacuation of Saigon to the here and now– playwright Qui Nguyen gets up close and personal to tell the story that led to the creation of…Qui Nguyen. Jon Hoche, Raymond Lee, Paco Tolson, Jennifer Ikeda, and Samantha Quan in Vietgone, Manhattan Theatre Club, 2017 (Carol Rosegg).

3m, 2f, Flexible Casting | More than 120 minutes | Comedy

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

arly this year, San Diego Repertory Theatre produced Qui Nguyen’s play Vietgone, a bold, fresh comedy about three Vietnamese immigrants fleeing war-torn Saigon and heading to America. Told through the eyes of a contemporary young American who loves pop culture, Vietgone is a sexy comedy with a mash-up of comic books, hip-hop, martial arts, and Hollywood action movies. At San Diego REP, our mission is to produce intimate, exotic, and provocative theatre that promotes a more inclusive community and celebrates the multiple voice of our region. Vietgone was an inspiring reflection of The REP’s mission, and a story for the ages – for young and old; for all those who lived through the Vietnam War and the children and grandchildren who were the result of their hopes, dreams, and love. In his piece, Nguyen provides a new perspective on America’s involvement in the War in a way that is not only exuberant and action-packed, but enlightening and deeply personal. At The REP we asked a few members of our staff and the production to share their unique experiences while working on Vietgone.

PRODUCING VIETGONE:

Five Perspectives from San Diego REP by Lauren King Thompson Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Jesca Prudencio Vietgone Director I entered my process directing Vietgone looking through my lens as a second generation Asian American, and how I own our parents’ narratives from the homeland. This point of view helped me and my collaborators create a world that was a filtered, Instagrammed version of our parent’s stories. The deeper I got in rehearsals, the more personal this piece became. My cast and I had an immediate connection to the play, and it only got more complex and personal with every rehearsal.

Through these characters, I found my family, my marriage, and my experience living as an outsider in another country, and I shaped the production through that. Directing is a revealing act. The personal is always universal. That is exactly how Qui wrote this piece, and suddenly we have veterans, refugees, generations of immigrants, and SoCal teens all relating to the production, attending multiple performances. Up until closing night, I’m still standing in the lobby one hour after the final bow listening to audience member’s stories about how they immigrated to America as they hold my hand. I strive for this exchange of humanity in every work I make. Kim Heil Producer and Casting Director As both the Producer and the Casting Director of Vietgone, I think there were more validations of my earlier assumptions than surprises. For instance, I knew this was going to appeal to a wide audience and sell well. I knew I would see a lot of terrific Asian talent and that it would be tough to make casting decisions. That’s why I am still very surprised (and sometimes taken aback) by the idea that there isn’t a pool of Asian American talent. That was a comment I heard a few times from talkbacks and panel discussions – “I didn’t realize there was enough talent out there to tell this story!” Oh yes, there is. And it’s getting bigger every day. I think that is one of the more important aspects of producing Vietgone – the more you put the Asian American experience on stage, the more people feel represented, and the more demand there is to tell other stories like it. It offers an invitation to Asian American artists, writers, and actors to share their own unique stories. And it lets everyone else discover, just as people discovered through watching Vietgone, that

these stories are just as American as anything else.

I think that is one of the more important aspects of producing Vietgone – the more you put the Asian American experience on stage, the more people feel represented, and the more demand there is to tell other stories like it. It offers an invitation to Asian American artists, writers and actors to share their own unique stories. Shaun Tuazon Vietgone Actor: Playwright, Bobby, Gaia, Redneck Biker, Hippie Dude Getting the chance to work on Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone with this group of artists at this theatre was nothing short of a magical experience from start to finish and beyond. The amount of love and respect for the script and production from audience members has been extraordinary even after the production has ended. From the first reading, I knew what an incredible journey I, the cast, and the production team was about to embark on. The story that Qui Nguyen so beautifully crafted is unlike any other I have ever read. The script really has something for everyone, in terms of style/genre, plus an incredible amount of heart. Our cast, along with our director, Jesca Prudencio, had a tremendous time exploring each character while we played within the world that was written. It was both a wonderful joy and a refreshing challenge to breathe life into every character

I got to portray. There are so few opportunities in which an actor gets to run the gamut of emotional journeys in one play, let alone an opportunity like that for an actor of color. I am so thankful that this play exists and that I was given the chance to be a small piece of its history. Matt Graber Director of Marketing & Communication From a marketing and public relations perspective Vietgone was a resounding success on every front. The show finished 126% to its single and group sales goal and, if it was possible to do so, I would have argued for the show’s extension. The final weekend we had to turn patrons away. The production garnered universally positive reviews from the media and patrons alike. The statistic that was the most encouraging was the diversity of Vietgone’s audiences; our survey data shows that typically 3% of The REP’s audiences report as Asian/Pacific Islander. For Vietgone we saw that number increase to 15%. Sal Cicalese House Manager Vietgone’s love story is a big story that raced around the community to bring in the most broadly diverse audience ever in my 12 years. Our Asian friends embraced the love story they lived. Our non-Asian patrons left the theater startled by the love. All our patrons left with a new perspective of the Vietnam War that is seldom expressed in history books. REP regulars expressed a connection to a community they never had. Photo on opposite page: Lawrence Kao and Ben Levin in Vietgone at San Diego Repertory, 2018 (Daren Scott). Photo courtesy of San Diego REP. This article originally appeared on Breaking Character Magazine in April 2018.

IT TAKES TWO

Two-Person Plays & Musicals to Keep

on Your Radar by Nikki Przasnyski

Whether you’re producing in a 40 seat studio space or a 1,000 seat amphitheatre, you can’t beat the intimacy and intensity of a good two-person show. From edgy, contemporary dramas to classic musical comedies, Samuel French has a little bit of everything to satisfy companies looking for a small-cast vehicle. Below you’ll find a sampling of the great two-handers included in the journal.

Fade by Tanya Saracho (pg 61) When Mexican-born writer Lucia finally lands her dream-job writing for a hit TV show, she befriends Abel, the night janitor and the only other Latino around. Lucia finds herself questioning who she really is and what (or whom) she’s willing to sacrifice to get ahead in Hollywood. The Arsonists by Jacqueline Goldfinger (pg 8) This Electra-inspired Southern gothic takes us deep into the Florida Everglades, where a father and daughter criminalduo sing their way through loss, grief, and beyond the veil of the living and through to the realm of the dead. Barbara’s Blue Kitchen by Lori Fischer (pg 94)

Set in a diner just outside Nashville, this slice-of-life musical follows Barbara-Jean through a day in the life of the hilarious and heartbreaking characters that frequent Barbara’s Blue Kitchen.

The Gulf by Audrey Cefaly (pg 74) On what begins a quiet summer evening on the Alabama Delta, Kendra and Betty’s troll for redfish takes a violent turn. This scorching story of the abyss between two women explores the wounds we inevitably inflict on the people we love Gutenberg! The Musical by Anthony King and Scott Brown (pg 104)

In this side-splitting musical spoof, aspiring playwrights Bud and Doug have one shot to sell their big, splashy and crass musical about printing press-inventor Johann Gutenberg to Broadway producers, and you’re there to witness it…for better or for worse.

Nat Turner in Jerusalem by Nathan Alan Davis (pg 17) This meditation on violence and revolution explores the last night in the life of Nat Turner, leader of the famous Slave Revolt of 1831. In a compelling verbal chess match, Turner defends his devout Christian faith after having killed men, women and children alike in his quest for freedom and retribution. Wakey, Wakey by Will Eno (pg 14)

As everyman, ‘Guy,’ faces down death, he takes the audience through a whimsical guided tour of the mundane, the transcendent, and the elusive question of the value of one man’s life. With his signature linguistic gymnastics, Eno uses humor and pathos to remind us that we all end up in the same place eventually.

Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet and Todd Almond (pg 88) Based on the album by Matthew Sweet, this musical comedy set in 90’s Nebraska follows social outcast Will and popular jock Mike as they ask themselves how, if at all, high school has really prepared them for life and love Muckrakers by Zayd Dohrn

(pg 71) The personal and political collide in this drama as a young female activist and a famous male journalist and hacker expose each other’s secrets as he prepares to spend the night in her Brooklyn apartment.

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Nice Fish by Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins “Mr. Jenkins’s seemingly modest writing, attuned to close observation of everyday experience, contains, beneath its homely surfaces, larger meanings that glide softly into your mind and heart, like those elusive fish swimming beneath the ice.” — The New York Times

ZAYD DOHRN

On a frozen Minnesota lake, the ice is beginning to creak and groan. It’s the end of the fishing season, and two old friends are out on the ice, angling for something big; something down there that is pure need. Something that might just swallow them whole. 4m, 1f | 90 minutes | Drama/Experimental

Outside People

Tinned Goods by Fiona Whitelaw

A dark, comic look at China/US relations: economic, political, and sexual. In modern-day Beijing, a young American guy falls for a Chinese girl and then struggles to understand where she’s coming from. A play about loneliness, culture-shock, language, and trying to make connections across borders.

“Whitelaw explains why it is so important to tell this tale of the miners’ strike from the perspective of the miners’ wives.” — Female Arts

2m, 2f | 105 minutes | Dark Comedy

Sue and Rachel have not spoken since the miners walked out. Under the strain of politics, pickets, and principles, can the women find a voice to save their relationships and their way of life?

Sick

A college professor brings a student home to meet his dysfunctional family – a home so obsessed with cleanliness that the real dirt lurks around every corner and behind every sentence. Toying with post 9/11 phobias, this dark comedy plays upon our fears, both real and imagined.

5f | Full Length Play | Drama

The Healing by Samuel D. Hunter

3m, 2f | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy

“A moving, beautifully acted new drama… Mr. Hunter writes with lively humor and grace.” — The New York Times 25 years ago, a group of kids met at a summer camp where the head counselor taught them that their disabilities could be “cured” through the power of prayer. Today, the old friends gather to mourn the untimely passing of one of their circle. Over the course of the night, old wounds are uncovered, friendships tested, and a troubling truth about their late friend becomes clear. The Healing features a cast of mostly differently abled actors.

Muckrakers

A young female activist brings an older man – a famous political hacker/journalist – home to her Brooklyn apartment to spend the night. But as they start to expose each other’s secrets, personal and political desires collide, testing the limits of privacy in the modern world. 1m, 1f | 75 minutes | Drama

2m, 5f | 90 minutes | Drama

New plays from the

AGATHA CHRISTIE COLLECTION A selection of the newest titles now part of the Queen of Crime’s dramatic collection. Photo courtesy of the Christie Archive Trust.

Towards Zero

with Gerald Verner

When a house party gathers at Gull’s Point, the seaside home of Lady Tressilian, Neville Strange finds himself caught between his old wife, Audrey, and his new flame, Kay. A nail-biting thriller, the play probes the psychology of jealousy in the shadow of a savage and brutal murder. 7m, 4f | More than 120 minutes | Melodrama, Mystery

A different stage version of this story set entirely in the outdoors is also available (8m, 5f).

The Stranger

Enid rejects her fiancé for newcomer Gerald, and moves to a remote cottage with him. There, his sinister intentions are revealed. A small cast, short version adaptation of the story, Philomel Cottage. 2m, 4f | 90 minutes | Melodrama, Mystery

Personal Call

James Brent receives a chilling telephone call seemingly from beyond the grave. His dead wife, Fay, is waiting for him at the very place she met her grisly end. At his new wife’s insistence, they go to meet her as requested, only to discover a terrifying truth. 9m, 5f | 30 minutes | Radio Play, Melodrama

Butter in a Lordly Dish

Sir Luke Enderby, eminent barrister and seasoned womanizer, bites off more than he can chew when the case of a serial killer comes back to haunt him.

3m, 5f | 30 minutes | Radio Play, Melodrama

A Daughter’s a Daughter

Ann Prentice falls in love with Richard Caulfield and hopes for a new life and happiness. But her daughter, Sarah, takes an instant dislike to him. Resentment slowly corrodes their relationship as each seeks comfort in the formidable and knowing Dame Laura Whitstable, who remarks, “The trouble with sacrifice is that once it’s made, it’s not over and done with.” 4m, 5f | More than 120 minutes | Melodrama

Yellow Iris

A distressed phone call from a mystery woman brings Hercule Poirot to the Hotel Jardin des Cygnes, where a man commemorates the four-year anniversary of his wife’s death. Gathered is everyone present on that fateful night. Now, Poirot must find a killer in the midst, before they strike again. 7m, 2f | 30 minutes | Radio Play, Melodrama

The Wasp’s Nest

Hercule Poirot comes between a bitter triangle of lovers to prevent a murder before it can take place. 3m, 1f | 30 minutes | Melodrama

A Poirot Double Bill

A full evening’s entertainment with this double bill of short Poirot plays: The Wasp’s Nest and Yellow Iris.

Murder in the Studio

A collection of three radio plays for live stage performance comprised of Personal Call, The Wasp’s Nest, and Butter in a Lordly Dish.

Find all of the newest plays in the Agatha Christie Collection at samfren.ch/agathachristie Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

No More Sad Things by Hansol Jung

Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison

“Jordan Harrison’s elegant drama keeps developing in your head, like a photographic negative, long after you have seen it.” — The New York Times

A girl catches a last-minute flight to Maui. A boy finds girl on the shores of Ka’anapali. Something strange and something familiar pulls them closer. They have sex on the beach. They are surprised. They spend the week together. But eventually girl catches the flight back home to Akron, Ohio. The girl is 32. The boy is 15.

85-year-old Marjorie — a jumble of disparate, fading memories — has a handsome new companion who’s programmed to feed the story of her life back to her. What would we remember, and what would we forget, if given the chance? A spare and wondrous exploration of the mysteries of human identity and the limits of what technology can replace.

2m, 1f | 75 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

2m, 2f | 90 minutes | Drama

Edward Albee’s Occupant

A Great Wilderness by Samuel D. Hunter

“Occupant bows its head in awe and gratitude before the mysterious force of will that allows great artists to be.” — The New York Sun

“Hunter, an Idaho-bred playwright of growing prominence, tunes into a high frequency of empathy for isolated social fringe-dwellers.” — The Seattle Times

The public accomplishments and private conflicts of flamboyant sculptor Louise Nevelson are thoroughly examined by an unnamed interviewer who questions the posthumous artist with unabashed scrutiny. From her unique vantage point beyond the grave, Nevelson answers queries with a clarity born of the distance provided by death. A touching, humorous tribute to a woman who was a pioneer for free-thinking females everywhere.

After decades as the gentle-natured leader of a Christian retreat that endeavors to “cure” gay teens, Walt is packing up his life and preparing for a reluctant retirement. But when his final client quietly disappears into the remote Idaho wilderness, Walt discovers that his previously unwavering moral compass no longer points the way. With profound humanity and subtlety, A Great Wilderness navigates complex moral terrain, exploring the shifting motives and inconstant strength of our personal convictions.

1m, 1f | 75 minutes | Dramatic Comedy, Biography

3m, 3f | 120 minutes | Drama

The Judas Kiss by David Hare “The dialogue is urbane, stylish and frequently imbued with Oscar-like flashes of humor and purplish poetic resonance. But the main thrust is for character and situation: a mood portrait of a fall from grace.” — New York Post A compelling depiction of Oscar Wilde just before and after his imprisonment. Act One captures him in 1895 on the eve of his arrest. In Act Two, Wilde is in Naples more than two years later, after his release from Reading Gaol. In exile, he is drawn to a reunion with his unworthy lover and a final betrayal.

Dusty and the Big Bad World by Cusi Cram “Dusty raises passionate and polarizing questions about the role of public TV in the education of our children. That’s a battle for both hearts and minds.” — Denver Post Based on an actual incident from 2005, Dusty and the Big Bad World is a very funny, no-holds-barred yet evenhanded look at PBS, government bias, gay marriage, the right to privacy, children’s allergies, and the ability to survive in a small-minded world.

6m, 1f | More than 120 minutes | Historical Drama

1m, 3f, 1g | 120 minutes | Comedy

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Plays

You Got Older by Clare Barron

Wonderful Tennessee by Brian Friel

WINNER! 2015 Obie Awards for Playwriting and Performance

“This mythic journey into a world of ambiguous ritual, classical references and commonplace miseries has something of the magical, yes, almost wordless resonance of a Yeats poem.” — New York Post

Mae returns home to help take care of Dad (and maybe a little herself ). A tender and darkly comic new play about family, illness, cowboys, and how to remain standing when everything comes crashing down around you. 4m, 3f | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy

Blood Play by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen developed by Oliver Butler “[A] theatrical cocktail, as tasty as it is esoteric. Fix us another round.” — The Village Voice A tranquil suburban evening in the early 1950s, where a string of coincidences leads to a spontaneous grownup party in the basement of a new ranch house. Exotic cocktails are imbibed, raucous games are played, and new friends are made, but much is happening that no one is talking about. Something is stirring underground. A darkly comic thriller created by New York’s criticallylauded The Debate Society. 3m, 3f | 75 minutes | Dark Comedy

OOHRAH! by Bekah Brunstetter “The young scribe’s talent and potential are obvious in this Southern-basted dramatic comedy…” — Variety Ron is back from his final tour in Iraq, and his wife Sara is excited to restart their life together. When a young marine visits the family, life is turned upside down. A disarmingly funny and candid drama that raises challenging questions about what it means when the military is woven into the fabric of a family and service is far more than just a job.

A haunting play by this celebrated Irish writer finds three couples on a deserted pier in Ballybeg, Ireland. There to celebrate Terry’s birthday, they are waiting for a boat that will take them to a mystical island, rumored to be the site of sacrificial rituals, which Terry claims to have bought. Drunken hilarity gives way to reflection as the couples play games, tell stories, and sing songs to pass the time. 3m, 3f | 120 minutes | Drama

The Gulf by Audrey Cefaly WINNER! 2016 Edgerton New American Play Award The divide between Kendra and Betty mimics the very world that devours them: a vast and polarizing abyss. On a quiet summer evening down in the Alabama Delta, Kendra and Betty troll the flats looking for red fish. After Betty begins diagnosing Kendra’s dead-end life with career picks from What Color is Your Parachute, their routine fishing excursion takes a violent turn. The fulllength version of the 2015 OOB-selected short play. 2f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

To Die For by Caroline Smith “Harlequin meets Frankenstein: romance and creepiness.” — The Richmond Review Best-selling historical romance writer Carla Woods lives in a Gothic mansion and enjoys playing dangerous mind games with her secretaries. One dark and stormy night, a man shows up at her door. Could this be payback from a disgruntled employee, or could it be love’s destiny? A twisting, turning comedy-thriller with two very intelligent and charismatic female combatants. And one devastatingly handsome man. 1m, 2f | Full Length Play | Comedy, Thriller

4m, 3f | 105 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

THE OLDEST BOY: A PLAY IN THREE CEREMONIES by Sarah Ruhl

“Among the most easily accessible [dramas] from this poetic, venturesome playwright...marked by inquisitive intelligence, cleanlined eloquence and spiky humor.” — The New York Times

An American mother and a Tibetan father have a three-year-old son believed to be the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama. When a Tibetan lama and a monk come to their home unexpectedly, asking to take their child away for a life of spiritual training, the parents must make a life-altering choice and test their strength, their marriage, and their hearts. A richly emotional journey filled with music, dance, puppetry, ritual, and laughter. This meditation on attachment and unconditional love is Sarah Ruhl at her imaginative best.

Ernest Abuba in The Oldest Boy at Lincoln Center Theater, 2014 (T. Charles Erickson).

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

4m, 1f | 120 minutes | Drama

For over 40 years, the Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival has highlighted the best in short-form playwriting from emerging writers. From an initial pool of thousands of submissions, 30 short plays are chosen to be performed during the week-long festival in New York City. Six plays are then selected by Samuel French to receive publication and licensing representation.

Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 41st Series (2016) Risen from the Dough

clarity

In a small, rustic Brooklyn bakery previously hit with several code violations, two sisters prepare for their next health inspection. As the two sisters bake and bicker, they eventually come to terms with grief, identity, and the complicated realities of immigrant life. 2f | Drama

Cameron enjoys rough sex. Which is fine. However, in the final moments leading up to his wedding, one particular sexual encounter with his fiancé demands he question his marriage, racial identity, and sexual preferences altogether. 1m | Drama

After a hate crime shocks their community, newly-instated Rabbi Gold tries to help Grandpa widen his worl view. This ain’t gonna be easy. 2m | Comedy

Wedding Bash

The Cleaners

Monsoon Season

Lower East Side. Right now. It’s Rita and Jerry’s job to clean up the stuff no one else will: death. 1m, 1f | Comedy

It’s monsoon season in Phoenix, and Danny hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks. Between his recent divorce, his mind-numbing job in technical support, and the neon sign from the strip club that glows through his window all night, his grasp of reality is slipping. 1m | Drama

by France-Luce Benson

by Lindsey Kraft and Andrew Leeds

When a newly-married couple invites their two friends over for a post-wedding rehash, things get tense when it becomes clear that some people didn’t love the wedding as much as they said they did. 2m, 2f | Comedy

by Korde Arrington Tuttle

by Lindsay Joy

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Grandpa and the Gay Rabbi

by Jonathan Josephson

by Lizzie Vieh

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

The Samuel French Off Off Broadway

SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL Plays from the Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival may be licensed individually or in combinations of titles. These plays represent the best of our festival and are perfect for competitions, play festivals, and evenings of short plays. For more information about the festival, visit oobfestival.com.

Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 42nd Series (2017) SIR.

What Happened at the Dolphin Show

Jack & Jill

Heidi, a distraught pubescent lesbian, wrestles with her greatest fear: looking at women at the Friday night dolphin show. 5f, Flexible Casting | Comedy Play with Music

Jack and Jill are identical, inseparable, made-for-each-other best friends, but then Jack falls in love with Jill, which is a problem. A ten-minute musical about climbing hills, breaking eggs, and the perils of growing up. 1m, 1f | Dramatic Comedy Piano Only | Moderate Vocals Classic Broadway

this movie

Breakfast Scene

Square Footage

Thanksgiving Day. 11:45am. Stuart and Joanie are at the morning matinée. There’s popcorn and Mike ‘n’ Ike’s, plus some other treats. Will they go home for their annual family dinners? Or will they sneak into other movies. All. Day? 1m, 1f | Dramatic Comedy

Rene and Georgette Magritte are making breakfast. Outside their kitchen is a cowboy, slowly approaching. Over a few dozen cups of coffee, husband and wife try to avoid discussing their recent infidelities. 2m, 1f | Dark Comedy

Nate and Maggie love each other… right? So they should move in together…right? Was this apartment always that small? But Nate and Maggie still love each other….right? 1m, 1f, Flexible Casting | Comedy

by Jahna Ferron-Smith

Leila and Chris navigate the intricacies of BDSM in an interracial relationship. 1m, 1f | Dramatic Comedy

by Amanda Keating

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

by Miranda Rose Hall

by Eric Marlin

by Sarah Hammond and Emily Goldman

by Jessica Moss

JACUZZI

by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen developed by Oliver Butler

“A slow, killing pace appropriate to a Japanese horror movie. The tension is off the charts!” — Variety “Exquisitely rendered […] Jacuzzi holds you rapt!” — Time Out New York The newest play from The Debate Society. In the Marshall family’s peacefully remote Colorado ski chalet, Erik and Helene are making themselves very much at home. So at home, they just might stay for good. At the edge of civilization, the lifestyles of the rich collide with the lifestyles of the aimless in the bubbling waters of a hot tub....but beware what lurks beneath. 3m, 1f | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy/Thriller Paul Thureen and Chris Lowell in Jacuzzi, Ars Nova, 2014 (Ben Arons).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

Doris to Darlene by Jordan Harrison “Mr. Harrison’s play has an affectionate, music-loving heart.” — The New York Times In the 1960s, biracial schoolgirl Doris is molded into pop star Darlene by a whiz-kid record producer who culls a top-ten hit out of Richard Wagner’s “Liebestod.” Rewind to the 1860s, where Wagner is writing the melody that will become Darlene’s hit song. Fast-forward to the present, where a teenager obsesses over Darlene’s music — and his music teacher. Dissonant decades merge into an unlikely harmony in this time-jumping pop fairy tale. 4m, 2f | 105 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

Future Thinking by Eliza Clark “What begins as a play about how people’s fantasies can get in the way of their reality turns into a play in which people’s reality can also screw up their fantasies.” — OCweekly.com Middle-aged super fan Peter finds himself in a makeshift interrogation room at the mercy of Comic Con security. Meanwhile, spoiled starlet Chiara is holed up in a hotel suite with her stage mom and bodyguard. And Peter is determined to fulfill his destiny: to deliver an important and mysterious message. Everyone has a fantasy, and soon they’ll collide with each other, and with reality. 3m, 3f | 120 minutes | Comedy

Grand Concourse by Heidi Schreck

“Heidi Schreck’s beautiful tragicomedy of life…reminds you of why you go to the theater in the first place.” — Chicago Sun Times Having dedicated her life to religious service, Shelley runs a Bronx soup kitchen with unsentimental efficiency, but lately her heart’s not quite in it. Her brisk nature masks an unsettling fear that her efforts are meaningless. When Emma, an idealistic but confused college dropout, arrives to volunteer, her reckless mix of generosity and selfinvolvement pushes Shelley to the breaking point. 2m, 2f | 90 minutes | Drama

BOO KILLEBREW Romance Novels for Dummies

Southern sisters Bernie and Liz are different in a number of ways. Liz is a stay-at-home mother, while her sister, Bernie, enjoys every bit of life and vice of New York City. When Liz’s husband dies, she goes to live with Bernie and adjusts accordingly. After going on a series of internet dates, Bernie challenges what makes Liz’s idea of the perfect life perfect. 2m, 3f, 1g | 105 minutes | Dramatic Comedy

The Play About My Dad

A look at Larry Killebrew through the eyes of his playwright daughter, Boo. His words, his family, his job as an emergency room surgeon, his community of Gulfport, Mississippi — and Hurricane Katrina, which almost turned Gulfport into a coral reef. As Larry tries acting and Boo adds new scenes, they discover how hard it is to tell the story the true way. 4m, 4f, 1b | 90 minutes | Drama, Biography

Rat Court

Initiation into a high school sorority tests three young women -- and their friendship -- to the breaking point. Meanwhile, a young man struggles to chart his own future, or believe he’s worthy of one. A part of the collection, Keen Teens Volume 5. 2m, 8f | 30 minutes | Drama

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Plays

Plays by

ARTHUR MILLER “I’m a writer, and everything I write is both a confession and a struggle to understand things about myself and this world in which I live. This is what everyone’s work should be – whether you dance or paint or sing. It is a confession, a baring of your soul, your faults, those things you simply cannot or will not understand or accept. You stumble forward, confused, and you share. If you’re lucky, you learn something.” © Inge Morath/Magnum Photos Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

Incident at Vichy

After the Fall

“Arthur Miller has written a moving play, a searching play, one of the most important plays of our time.” — The New York Times

“Rejoice that Arthur Miller is back with a play worthy of his mettle.” — The New York Times

In the detention room of a Vichy police station in 1942, eight men have been picked up for questioning. It soon develops that all of them are either Jews or are suspected to be. An intense and meaningful play that examines the burden of guilt which all men must share.

A powerful and moving study of a contemporary man struggling to come to terms with himself and his world by probing back into the revealing and often painful events of his past. A quasi-biographical account of Miller’s marriage to and divorce from Marilyn Monroe. 12m, 11f | Full Length Play | Drama

21m | Full Length Play | Drama

The American Clock

The Price

“Miller is back in touch with his best subject, the failure of the American dream, and back on top of his talent.” — The New York Times

“One of the most engrossing and entertaining plays that Miller has ever written. It is superbly, even flamboyantly theatrical…” — The New York Times

In this unique work from Miller, performers portray 52 characters in a series of vignettes, some funny and some poignant, that capture the sense and substance of America in the throes of the Great Depression. A deeply affecting evocation both of a tortured time in American history and of the indomitable spirit of the people who survived and prevailed in the face of adversity.

This play examines with compassion, humor, and rare insight, the relationship of two long-estranged brothers who meet after many years to dispose of their late father’s belongings. 3m, 1f | Full Length Play | Drama

15m, 9f | Full Length Play | Drama

The Creation of the World and Other Business “…the sparkle, intellectual bite and stimulating impact that a new dissertation on an ageless subject should have.” — Variety With eloquence and humor, Miller explores the roots of human guilt and responsibility: the Biblical struggle between God and Lucifer; with Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel as their pawns. A parable for our time and all time, rich with philosophic insights and alive with theatricality.

Up From Paradise music by Stanley Silverman “Delightful score, ranging from Handel to Weill, and with all sorts of entertaining stops in between.” — New York Daily News A musical version of The Creation of the World and Other Business. 8m, 1f | Full Length Play | Dramatic Comedy, Faith Based

8m, 1f | Full Length Play | Dramatic Comedy, Faith Based

Some Kind of Love Story

Elegy For a Lady

“Mr. Miller’s impassioned beliefs pour forth.” — The New York Times

“Absorbing and moving to watch.” — What’s On Stage Two strangers are grateful for the small miracle which, if only for a brief moment, has let them share closeness always hoped for but seldom achieved. A haunting and evocative study of loss, and the pain of love and rejection, by one of the theatre’s master writers.

Angela, a hard-bitten call-girl, is visited by Tom, a private detective of long acquaintance, who is convinced that she can supply information about a murder case which, some years earlier, resulted in a miscarriage of justice. 1m, 1f | Short Play | Drama

1m, 1f | Short Play | Drama

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Keegan Michael Key, Jeremy Shamos, Amy Schumer, and Laura Benanti in Meteor Shower on Broadway, 2017 (Matthew Murphy). Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

METEOR SHOWER

“Mr. Martin is peerless at crafting tiny wit bombs, and always has been...It’s definitely funny!”

by Steve Martin

— The New York Times

Corky and Norm are excited to host Gerald and Laura at their home in the valley outside Los Angeles to watch a once-in-a-lifetime meteor shower. But as the stars come out and the conversation gets rolling, it becomes clear that Gerald and Laura might not be all that they appear to be. Over the course of a crazy, starlit dinner party, the wildly unexpected occurs. The couples begin to flirt and insanity reigns. Martin, using his trademark absurdist humor, bends the fluid nature of time and reality to create a surprising and unforgettably funny new play.

2m, 2f | 90 minutes | Comedy

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

MUSICALS

The cast of War Paint on Broadway, 2017 (Joan Marcus).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

WAR PAINT

book by Doug Wright music by Scott Frankel lyrics by Michael Korie

“Thoroughly compelling and masterfully entertaining! An intelligent character-driven musical.”

— New York Magazine

Brilliant innovators and self-made businesswomen, Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden built cosmetic empires that established beauty standards for much of the 20th century. They were also each other’s most bitter rival, motivated as much by fierce competition as their own talents. With a decadesspanning book by Doug Wright, lush score by Scott Frankel, and evocative lyrics by Michael Korie, War Paint tells the epic story of these two women who rose from humble beginnings to shatter glass ceilings, and a legendary rivalry that created an industry.

5m, 10f, Chorus More than 120 minutes | Drama Large Orchestra | Moderate Vocals Classic Broadway

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

The View UpStairs by Max Vernon

“Vernon’s score, which draws from the period’s disco, soft rock and glam sounds, is solid. Highly theatrical, unexpected, and marvelous... channels a vintage camp that is all too rare nowadays.” — The New York Times When Wes buys an abandoned building in the French Quarter of New Orleans, he finds himself transported to the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant 70s gay bar. As this forgotten community comes to life, Wes embarks on an exhilarating journey of self-exploration spanning two generations of queer history. A new musical that asks what has been gained and lost in the fight for equality, and how the past can help guide all of us through an uncertain future. 8m, 2f | 105 minutes | Drama Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals Pop/Rock, Contemporary Broadway

Hands on a Hardbody book by Doug Wright lyrics by Amanda Green music by Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green

“You can hear the sound of America singing in this daring new musical!” — The New York Times For 10 hard-luck Texans, a new lease on life is so close they can touch it. Under a scorching sun for days on end, armed with nothing but hope, humor, and ambition, they’ll fight to keep at least one hand on a brand-new truck in order to win it. In the hilarious, hard-fought contest, only one winner can drive away with the American Dream. Inspired by the true events of the acclaimed 1997 documentary of the same name by S.R. Bindler, produced by Kevin Morris and Bindler. 9m, 6f | 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy Medium Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock, Country

Blue Wizard / Black Wizard Girlfriend by Eliza Bent and Dave book by Todd Almond Malloy music & lyrics by “Nerdtastic ... a musical with spell-casting, twenty-sided dice, metaphysical arguments, Dunkin’ Donuts and live trombonist. After Great Comet, Dave Malloy confirms his status as top composer.” — The New York Post Two referees adjudicate the proceedings as the Black and Blue Wizards battle to save themselves and humanity from the Great Mediocrity. Warping the conventions of musical theatre and classical art song to intersect with the sensibilities of electronic music, Blue Wizard / Black Wizard is a pop culture smash-up of fantasy language and contemporary parlance. What unfolds is a ritualistic sporting event, the likes of which audiences have never seen. 8m or f | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy, Fantasy Small/Combo Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Matthew Sweet

“Those who can enter the rhythm of the musical may find themselves returning to some epic emotions from their youth.” — The Los Angeles Times Nebraska in the 90s. Will, a bit of a social outcast, and Mike, a popular football player, figure out there’s more to life than what high school has taught them. Days after graduation, they explore their relationship and begin to ask themselves where their lives begin. Based on the album by Matthew Sweet, this pop/rock musical is for anyone who’s lived in a small town and feels for their first love. 2m | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

TUCK EVERLASTING book by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle music by Chris Miller lyrics by Nathan Tysen based on the book by Natalie Babbitt

“A warm-spirited and piercingly touching musical!” — The New York Times 11-year-old Winnie Foster yearns for a life of adventure beyond her white picket fence. When she becomes unexpectedly entwined with the Tuck family and learns of the magic behind their unending youth, she must fight to protect them from those who would do anything for a chance at eternal life. A magical, thought-provoking musical adapted from Natalie Babbitt’s best-selling children’s classic by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle and featuring a soaring score from Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen. 6m, 3f, 1g, Ensemble | 120 minutes | Comedy | Medium Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Folk, Contemporary Broadway Sarah Charles Lewis in Tuck Everlasting on Broadway, 2016 (Joan Marcus). Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

TELLING THE STORY THROUGH SET DESIGN:

Tuck Everlasting at Hale Centre Theatre by Kacey Udy

ale Centre Theatre is Utah’s leading professional family theater. Their mission is to provide high-quality, family-friendly entertainment, and the theater has done so for nearly forty years. Having recently opened a new, world-class Mountain America Performing Arts Centre in Sandy, Utah, Hale Centre Theatre has invigorated Tuck Everlasting with spectacular set designs, charming period costuming, and strong performances on HCT’s new Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage. During the opening of the play in early April, Kacey Udy, who serves as HCT’s production designer and resident scenic designer, discussed how he reimagined the stage production of the charming children’s tale after its run on Broadway. When I learned that Hale Centre Theatre would be producing Tuck

Everlasting, I was ecstatic that the theater would be the first to premiere the timeless show in the West. I had followed this show heavily during its initial run on Broadway and had plans to see it on a trip to New York, but the show had sadly closed just days before.

I remember reading the book in middle school, and how the question it asks about living forever has stuck with me ever since. I believe this story speaks to every generation and feel it will connect strongly with audiences everywhere.

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

However, I had followed the progress of the production enough to know that Tuck Everlasting was a special show that deserved to see the light of day. I knew it would be a perfect fit for Hale Centre Theatre’s family-friendly audience and that it would resonate with the thousands of students invited to see the production through Hale’s Student Matinée Program. It may be a lesser-known production now, but the book and story have been read by generations of students in schools. I remember reading the book in middle school, and how the question it asks about living forever has stuck with me ever since. I believe this story speaks to every generation and feel it will connect strongly with audiences everywhere. Creating imaginative sets with subtle meanings behind them is what I enjoy most about being a scenic designer, and producing

sets for Tuck Everlasting has re-emphasized that for me. I love that each production is different and unique, regardless of how many times it has been produced. While the book and music are the same as they were on Broadway, I’ve used my own interpretation for Tuck Everlasting by creating a different onstage world for the characters to live in. I love that in theatre, everyone gets the opportunity to tell their own version of a story. The Broadway production featured beautiful design work by one of my heroes, Walt Spangler, who I think perfectly told the Broadway version in a magical way. To honor Spangler, I paid tribute to his original design during moments of the show, but have reinvented most of the set pieces for a unique and personal feel. I welcomed Tuck Everlasting as a production that was new to many, because it gave me the opportunity to be one of the first to visually establish the setting for the show. To gain inspiration for the set, I reread the original book by Natalie Babbitt and used the fantastic descriptions that she creates as the base for my design. I wanted to capture the magic and nostalgia that I personally have for the story in an extremely visual way. I wanted to mimic the beauty and simplicity of the story through the set and took an artistic approach to the design. The base for the design is a large lattice structure that creates three large, curved portals over the stage. Standing at 24 feet tall, the wooden structure weighs in at over 8,000 pounds. It was important to create the idea that sometimes, a single person can feel small within the largeness of the world. The rest of the set is constructed almost completely out of ladders and wooden crates. The theme of

the show questions immortality and the constant circle of life. The wood portals create the immensity of the circle, and the ladders remind us that everything has a progressive beginning and end. The hundreds of wooden crates are a visual representation of how we collect our memories and stories throughout our lives.

I reread the original book by Natalie Babbitt and used the fantastic descriptions that she creates as the base for my design. I wanted to capture the magic and nostalgia that I personally have for the story in an extremely visual way. I wanted to mimic the beauty and simplicity of the story through the set... I say this with a laugh, because I don’t expect these metaphors to be something that the audience thinks about too deeply. However, I do feel the overall visual will be something remarkably beautiful and I hope that is what the audience sees and feels. This production will be something that our patrons have visually never seen on our stages before and it’s very exciting. Together with the lighting designer and props designer, we’ve had the overall goal to create the most beautiful picture possible for every scene, and that has made this a memorable project. The conflict in the story is over the question, “If given the chance, would you choose to live forever?” I think this is an easy answer at

first, but when presented with the reality of living a life without end, the question becomes debatable. This theme allows for heavy discussion among our theatre patrons of all ages. The themes of dealing with love, life, and loss are something we all deal with daily. Tuck Everlasting is a show that entertains yet stays with you and becomes a source of post-show discussion. The story reminds you to take a moment to treasure the relationships around you and reflect on the great aspects of every stage of life.

Photo on opposite page: Tuck Everlasting at Hale Centre Theatre, 2018. Photo courtesy of Hale Centre Theatre. This article originally appeared on Breaking Character Magazine in May 2018.

SOUTHERN COMFORT book & lyrics by Dan Collins music by Julianne Wick Davis

CRITIC’S PICK! “A sweetheart of a musical.” — The New York Times “Beautiful and heartfelt show...bring the family.” — Deadline Based on the 2001 Sundance Film Festival documentary, Southern Comfort follows the last year of Robert Eads, a transgender man in Georgia who is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. He surrounds himself with his chosen family, who are predominantly transgender, as they share monthly potluck meals. Like any family, they have their trials and tribulations, but ultimately seek acceptance for who they are in their own skin. 3m, 3f, Ensemble | 120 minutes | Drama | Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Folk, Contemporary Broadway

Annette O’Toole in Southern Comfort at the Public Theater, 2016 (Carol Rosegg). Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

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Raisin

Me and My Girl

WINNER! 1974 Tony Award for Best Musical

“A winner! A gem of a musical!” — The New York Times

Lorraine Hansberry’s classic is transformed into a soulful, inspiring musical as a proud African American family’s quest for a better life explodes in song, dance, and incisive human drama.

A grand old musical from the 1930s, updated and revived for a three-year Broadway run in 1986! The late Viscount Hareford had a youthful, unfortunate marriage — and kept discreetly out of sight was a son and heir, Bill Snibson. Now, the Hareford family is despondent when their solicitor finds the legitimate heir in the less than desirable Lambeth area of London. When Bill is brought to Hareford Hall, he is forced to decide if he should fit in with high society and give up his Cockney roots.

book & lyrics by L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber book revised by Stephen Fry with contributions by Mike Ockrent music by Noel Gay

based on Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun book by Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg music by Judd Woldin lyrics by Robert Brittan

9m, 6f, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Drama Large Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

11m, 8f, Ensemble | Full Length Musical | Romantic Comedy Medium Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

Side Show

book & lyrics by Bill Russell music by Henry Krieger additional book material by Bill Condon

LMNOP music by Paul Loesel book & lyrics by Scott Burkell

“The musical burrows deep into your spirit… It’s just wonderful!” — The New York Times Based on the true story of conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton, who became stars during the Depression. A moving portrait of two women joined at the hip whose extraordinary bondage brings them fame but denies them love. Told almost entirely through song, the show follows their progression from England to America, from the vaudeville circuit to Hollywood. With a new book and songs, the 2014 revival delves deeper into their backstory, fleshing out characters and situations and offering more sophistication and truth to the story.

Chaos arises when letters begin to fall from a town monument and government officials ban them one by one. The community depends on the strength of a determined teenage girl to fight for their freedom of speech. Adapted from Mark Dunn’s 2001 award-winning debut novel Ella Minnow Pea, this unique musical is part romance, part clever word game, and part adult fable that reminds us of how precious our liberties are and how important it is to have the courage to stand up for what we believe. 6m, 7f | Full Length Musical | Comedy, Satire

14m, 7f, Flexible Casting | More than 120 minutes | Drama, Biography Large Orchestra | Difficult Vocals | Classic Broadway, Pop/Rock Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Musicals

Fly By Night

conceived by Kim Rosenstock written by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick, and Kim Rosenstock “Its unabashed emotionalism could turn it into more than a hit. It could turn it into a cult phenomenon.” — New York Post A star-crossed prophecy. A lot of music. Just not a lot of light. In this darkly-comic rock-fable, a melancholy sandwich maker’s humdrum life is intersected by two entrancing sisters. A sweeping ode to young love set against the backdrop of the Northeast Blackout of 1965. A tale about making your way and discovering hope in a world beset by darkness. 5m, 2f | More than 120 minutes | Dark Comedy Small Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway, Pop/Rock

Love, Noël: The Letters and Songs of Noël Coward

an entertainment devised by Barry Day “An endearing pastiche of Noël Coward’s intimate correspondence with a generous helping of his immortal songs.” — The Hollywood Reporter A dramatic staging of the letters and correspondence of the playwright, director, actor, composer, and singer. Coward’s letters span several decades and give insight to some of his relationships with everyone from George Bernard Shaw to Edna Ferber, from the Queen Mother to his own mother, and of course, his constant collaborator, Gertrude Lawrence. A loving portrait of one of the theatre’s most influential minds.

Kudzu: A Southern Musical

book, music & lyrics by Jack Herrick, Doug Marlette, and Bland Simpson based on the comic strip by Doug Marlette “A joyous musical score and delicious satire.” — The Boston Globe The story of a boy who comes of age against the changing face of the American South. Like the comic strip from which it is adapted, this musical celebrates the values, humor, and original characters still found in disappearing rural America. 11m, 3f, Flexible Casting | Full Length Musical | Comedy Medium Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock, Country

Barbara’s Blue Kitchen book, music & lyrics by Lori Fischer

“In fact, it’s a perfectly judged balance of flavors — exactly what you’d hope for in theatrical comfort food.” — Time Out New York Set in a small town just outside of Nashville, this sliceof-life comedic play with music is a genuine look into the hearts of everyday people. As the proprietor, Barbara Jean, tries to figure out, “When is it courageous and when is it just plain crazy to hang on to love,” her customers come in and take a load off by sharing their funny, heartbreaking humanity. 1m, 1f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Country, Folk

1m, 1f | 90 minutes | Musical Revue/Cabaret Piano Only | Easy Vocals | Classic Broadway

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

“A sparkling musical and an enchanting act of theatrical reinvention”

— The Los Angeles Times

From the beloved film comes the inspiring tale of Amélie, an imaginative young woman who lives quietly in the world, but loudly in her mind. She covertly improvises small, but surprising acts of kindness that bring joy and mayhem. When a chance at love comes her way Amelie realizes that to find happiness she’ll have to risk everything to say what’s in her heart.

AMÉLIE

book by Craig Lucas music by Daniel Messé lyrics by Nathan Tysen and Daniel Messé based on the motion picture by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant

Philippa Soo and Savvy Crawford in Amélie on Broadway, 2017 (Joan Marcus).

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Magically adapted for the stage by Craig Lucas, Amélie is a whimsical, modernday fairytale, with a romantic score by Daniel Messé, and touching lyrics by Messé and Nathan Tysen.

7m, 5f, 1g | Full Length Musical Romantic Comedy Medium Orchestra | Moderate Vocals Contemporary Broadway

Benjamin Walker and the cast of American Psycho on Broadway, 2016 (Jeremy Daniel). Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

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AMERICAN PSYCHO

book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa music & lyrics by Duncan Sheik

“So smooth, so rich, so ruthless. A carnal carnival of song and dance.”

— The New York Times

Set in 1980s Manhattan, American Psycho tells the story of Patrick Bateman, a young and handsome Wall Street banker with impeccable taste and unquenchable desires. Patrick and his elite group of friends spend their days in chic restaurants, exclusive clubs, and designer labels. But at night, Patrick takes part in a darker indulgence, and his mask of sanity is starting to slip… A brand-new musical based on the bestselling novel by Bret Easton Ellis, set in the epicenter of excess.

8m, 8f | More than 120 minutes Dark Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals Pop/Rock

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“Rock of Ages is the power-ballad decade in all its glory, tricked out with big perms, bigger dreams, and the kind of operatic ecstasy you read about only in bathroom stalls.”

ROCK OF AGES book by Chris D’Arienzo music by A Bunch of Really Sweet 80s Bands

— Entertainment Weekly

Set in L.A.’s infamous Sunset Strip in 1987, Rock of Ages tells the story of Drew, a city boy from South Detroit, and Sherrie, a smalltown girl, both in L.A. to chase their dreams of making it big and falling in love. Rock of Ages takes you back to the time of big bands with big egos, playing big guitar solos, and sporting even bigger hair!

7m, 10f | 120 minutes | Comedy Small/Combo Band | Difficult Vocals Pop/Rock

Constantine Maroulis and the cast of Rock of Ages on Broadway, 2009 (Joan Marcus).

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

Leader of the Pack: The Ellie Greenwich Musical

Fugitive Songs

music by Chris Miller lyrics by Nathan Tysen

book by Anne Beatts music & lyrics by Ellie Greenwich and friends based on a play by Melanie Mintz additional material by Jack Heifner

“A powerful yearning weaves through the tunes…a song cycle tailored to anyone who has ever thought of shucking his job, his mate or his life to start anew.” — Variety An innovative song cycle, conceived as half-musical/halfhootenanny, spotlights people on the run: a disgruntled Subway sandwich employee, a jilted ex-cheerleader, a pair of Patty Hearst fanatics, and others. Blending traditional folk music with contemporary pop and gospel, this eclectic score provides material for a wide range of experienced singers and delivers poignant and thoughtful lyrics that capture each character’s “reasons to run.” 3m, 3f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Song Cycle Small/Combo Band | Difficult Vocals | Pop/Rock, Country, Folk

“A happy, high spirited, foot stomping romp. I never realized the songs of the sixties could sound so good.” — WNBC Radio This hit Broadway musical retrospective celebrates the life and times of Ellie Greenwich, whose doo-wop sounds skyrocketed to the top of the sixties charts. The story of Ellie’s rise to fame and fortune is punctuated with the virtual Hit Parade of her music: “Chapel of Love,” “Da Do Ron Ron,” “Be My Baby,” and of course, the title song, “Leader of the Pack.”

Pump Boys and Dinettes

by John Foley, Mark

Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel, and Jim Wann

4m, 10f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Comedy, Biography Large Orchestra | Easy Vocals | Pop/Rock

“Both musically and theatrically, a triumph of ensemble playing. It doesn’t merely celebrate the value of friendship and life’s simple pleasures, it embodies them.” — The New York Times

Gorilla Man

by Kyle Jarrow

The “Pump Boys” sell high octane on Highway 57 in Grand Ole Opry country, and the “Dinettes,” Prudie and Rhetta Cupp, run the Double Cupp diner next door. Together they fashion an evening of country western songs that received raves on and off Broadway. With heartbreak and hilarity, they perform on guitar, piano, bass, and yes, kitchen utensils.

“Big, bloody, ridiculous theatricality… There’s a unity of vision and insanity that’s exciting.” — The New York Sun Waking one morning to find thick fur growing on the backs of his hands, young Billy discovers the awful truth his mother has been hiding from him for fourteen years: he’s destined to grow up into a murderous monster. Cast from his home, he sets out on a journey to find his father, the legendary Gorilla Man. A darkly comic coming-ofage tale filled with bombastic pop songs and peopled with lonely freaks. Puberty is hard enough without the insatiable thirst for blood!

4m, 2f | 105 minutes | Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock, Country

3m, 2f, 2m or f | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy Piano Only | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Musicals

Jasper in Deadland

book by Hunter Foster book, music & lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver “Foster and Oliver unleash their cleverness in this playful, energetic and wide-ranging new musical.” — The New York Times

The Tap Dance Kid

book by Charles Blackwell music by Henry Krieger lyrics by Robert Lorick

When you’re failing classes, kicked off the swim team, and your family is on the skids, life can feel like it’s going to hell. Yet, in all the disappointment, Jasper has his best friend, Agnes. In one night of teenage passion, Jasper and Agnes consummate a years-long friendship. But in the morning Agnes is gone, telling Jasper to meet her at their cliff. When he arrives there’s no sign of his best friend, only a swirling vortex to another world in the water below. Jasper dives into Deadland.

A wonderful cornucopia of music, drama, comedy, and above all, tap dancing. The story concerns a 10-year-old African American child named Willie who doesn’t want to be a lawyer like his stern father; he just has to dance, like his uncle, an aspiring Broadway choreographer who is very much Willie’s mentor. And dance he does!

5m, 4f, Flexible Casting | More than 120 minutes | Dark Comedy Medium Orchestra | Difficult Vocals | Pop/Rock

5m, 6f | Full Length Musical | Dramatic Comedy Large Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway, Jazz

See Rock City & Other Destinations

“Stunning, warm hearted new musical comedy.” — Christian Science Monitor

American Tales

music by Brad Alexander book & lyrics by Ken Stone book & lyrics by music by Jan Powell Adam Matthias “An excellent and moving new musical... It’s also beautiful, it’s hopeful, and it’s — in the best sense of the word — sweet.” — The New York Observer A wanderer believes his destiny is written on rooftops along the North Carolina Interstate. A young man yearns to connect with intelligent life in Roswell, New Mexico. A woman at the Alamo takes a chance on love. Three estranged sisters cruise to Glacier Bay to scatter their father’s ashes. A terrified bride-to-be ponders taking the leap...over Niagara Falls. With a book full of humor and humanity and a score that incorporates pop, rock, folk, and more, this is a musical about connections missed and made at tourist destinations across America.

“Extraordinary...skillful and unusually thoughtful... succeeds brilliantly.” — Variety Two classic American stories brought to life. The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton from Mark Twain’s story of two people falling in love with the aid of that brand-new invention: the telephone. Bartleby, the Scrivener is dramatized from Herman Melville’s slyly funny but ultimately tragic story. A dark take on the theme of human connections made and missed 4m, 1f, Flexible Casting | Full Length Musical | Dramatic Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

4m, 3f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock, Folk

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

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Musicals from

MAURY YESTON Phantom book by Arthur Kopit from the novel by Gaston Leroux This mesmerizing Phantom is traditional musical theatre in the finest sense. The Tony Award-winning authors of Nine have transformed Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera into a sensation that enraptures audiences and critics with beautiful songs and an expertly crafted book. It is constructed around characters more richly developed than in any other version, including the original novel. 30m, 7f | Full Length Musical | Drama | Medium Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Operetta

Nine book by Arthur Kopit adapted from the Italian by Mario Fratti WINNER! 1982 Tony Award for Best Musical and 2003 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical The story of a celebrated film director, Guido Contini, and his attempts to come up with a plot for his next film as he is pursued by hordes of beautiful women, all clamoring to be loved by him and him alone. Flashbacks reveal the substance of his life which will become the material for his next film: a musical version of the Casanova story. 1m, 22f, 4b, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Drama | Large Orchestra | Difficult Vocals | Classic Broadway

Death Takes A Holiday book by Thomas Meehan and Peter Stone based on the play by Alberto Cassella It’s just after World War I and Death, the loneliest of souls, arrives at an Italian villa disguised as a handsome young Prince. For the first time, he experiences the joys and heartbreaks of life. Based on the play by Alberto Cassella, and later made into a 1934 film starring Fredric March and a 1998 film starring Brad Pitt. 7m, 7f | More than 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy | Medium Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

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NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 by Dave Malloy

“The most innovative and the best new musical to open on Broadway since Hamilton!”— The New York Times Young and impulsive, Natasha Rostova arrives in Moscow to await the return of her fiancé from the front lines. When she falls under the spell of the roguish Anatole, it is up to Pierre, a family friend in the middle of an existential crisis, to pick up the pieces of her shattered reputation. With daring score and bold storytelling, this award-winning musical brings to life a scandalous slice of a classic Russian epic. 5m, 5f, Ensemble, Flexible Casting | More than 120 minutes | Drama | Medium Orchestra | Difficult Vocals | Pop/Rock, Folk, Operetta

This title is currently unavailable for licensing. The cast of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway, 2016 (Chad Batka). Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

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Dames at Sea

Iowa

“A winner! A gem of a musical!” — The New York Times

“Smart, off-angle pop art songs add to the abundance of pleasures.” — Time Out New York

book & lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller music by Jim Wise

book & lyrics by Jenny Schwartz music & lyrics by Todd Almond

It’s big-time New York City, into which sweet little Ruby from faraway Hometown, USA has come to make it big on Broadway. Who should she chance to meet but another boy from Hometown, USA, Dick, a sailor who also has ambitions as a songwriter. Ruby begins in the chorus, and by the end of the day, in true Hollywood fashion, Dick saves her doomed Broadway show with a smash tune, as Ruby becomes a star on the deck of a battleship which just happens to be passing by.

When Becca’s mom finds her soulmate on Facebook, she must leave the unusual pleasantries of her hometown and teenage life to venture to Iowa as her mother seeks a new beginning. But no amount of Facebook chatting can prepare them for their new life in the lonely Midwest. This daring piece successfully melds absurdism and musical theatre into a genre-bending romp about the relationships that connect us in a disconnected world.

4m, 3f | Full Length Musical | Comedy Medium Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

1m, 6f, 1g | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock

A Tale of Two Cities, A Musical

La Cage aux Folles

book, music & lyrics by Jill Santoriello based on the novel by Charles Dickens

music & lyrics by Jerry Herman book by Harvey Fierstein based on the play by Jean Poiret

“The return to the era of big blockbusters such as Les Miserables, Phantom, and Miss Saigon.” — The Associated Press

“Jerry Herman’s best musical yet…happier, more assertive, more buoyant than Hello Dolly! or Mame.” — New York Post

Two men in love with the same woman. Two cities swept up in revolution. One last chance for a man to redeem his wasted life and change the world. Based on Charles Dickens’ masterpiece, A Tale of Two Cities is a musical that focuses on the love triangle between young beauty Lucie Manette, French aristocrat Charles Darnay, and drunken English cynic Sydney Carton — all caught in the clutches of the bloody French Revolution.

Georges and Albin, two men partnered for-better-orworse, get a bit of both when Georges’ son announces his impending marriage to the daughter of a bigoted, rightwing politician. Further complicating the situation is the family business: Albin and Georges run a drag nightclub in St. Tropez, where Albin is the star performer, Zaza. Georges reluctantly agrees to masquerade as “normal” when he meets the family of the bride-to-be. But Albin has other plans, with hilarious results.

7m, 3f, 1g, Ensemble | 120 minutes | Drama Large Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway, Operetta

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

7m, 3f, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Comedy Large Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

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Musicals

Gutenberg! The Musical!

by Anthony King and Scott Brown “A smashing success!” — The New York Times In this two-man musical spoof, a pair of aspiring playwrights perform a backers’ audition for their new project — a big, splashy musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg. With a huge supply of enthusiasm, Bud and Doug sing all the songs and play all the parts in their crass historical epic, with the hope that one of the producers in attendance will give them a Broadway contract. 2m | 90 minutes | Comedy Piano Only | Easy Vocals | Classic Broadway, Pop/Rock

The Secret Garden

book & lyrics by Marsha Norman music by Lucy Simon from the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett “Revels in theatrical imagination [and] achieves the irresistible appeal that moves audiences to standing ovations.”— Christian Science Monitor A stunning musical that brings to life the haunting beauty of this beloved literary classic. Orphaned in India, 11-yearold Mary Lennox is sent to a Yorkshire manor to live with relatives she’s never met. Left to her own devices, Mary’s personality blossoms as she and a young gardener restore a neglected garden — bringing new life to the manor, and ultimately healing her sickly cousin and uncle. Evocative music dramatizes The Secret Garden’s compelling tale of forgiveness and renewal. 12m, 10f, 1b, 1g | 120 minutes | Drama Large Orchestra | Difficult Vocals Classic Broadway

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

The Wiz

adapted from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum book by William F. Brown music & lyrics by Charlie Smalls “Radiates so much energy you can hardly sit in your seat…great fun.” — New York Post A beloved Broadway gem, The Wiz infuses L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with a dazzling mix of rock, gospel, and soul music. This timeless tale of Dorothy’s adventures through the Land of Oz is a fun, family-friendly, modern musical and one of the most popular shows in the Samuel French catalog. A magical, high-energy show, appropriate for theaters at all levels. 6m, 5f, 4m or f, Flexible Casting | Full Length Musical | Comedy Large Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock, Jazz

ReWrite

by Joe Iconis “Beneath Iconis’s quirkiness lies a talented dramatist who knows how to create a nicely integrated musical.” — CurtainUp ReWrite, a musical comedy triple feature, is comprised of three wild musicals that connect in surprising and dangerous ways. Nelson Rocks! is a pop/rock show about a young dude who needs to fix his life before the “You better get to class” bell rings. Miss Marzipan is a dizzy musical about the life-changing preparation that goes into a highstakes dinner party. The Process deals with a writer. With a deadline. As the Dunkin’ Donuts fills with the voices in his head, the writer must conquer his writer’s block and finish his musical. 3m, 3f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Comedy Piano Only | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock

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Musicals by

KOOMAN & DIMOND Judge Jackie:

Disorder in the Court “This jury of one finds in favor of the creators and cast for inciting lighthearted laughter.” — Pittsburgh Tribune Review Judge Jackie Justice rules her reality television courtroom with an iron fist, presiding over a three-ring circus of America’s most chaotic civil cases. But, when a drop in ratings brings her face-to-face with the liability of her own love life, the judge must learn to navigate the ludicrous laws of love in this over-the-top courtroom comedy. 3m, 2f, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway, Pop/Rock

Dani Girl

“I have not seen anything so creatively imaginative, powerful, and moving for a long time.” — AussieTheatre.com When Dani, a precocious nine-year-old, loses her hair to leukemia, she embarks on a magical journey to get it back. Simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking, Dani Girl is a tale of life in the face of death, hope in the face of despair, and the indomitable power of the human imagination. 2m, 2f | 90 minutes | Dramatic Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway, Pop/Rock

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Chicago

Whenever

book by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb music by John Kander lyrics by Fred Ebb script adaptation by David Thompson

book by Alan Ayckbourn music by Denis King “Something to savor. A historical-futuristicfarcical-grown-up-romantic musical adventure.” — The Guardian Beginning in 1886, this historical-futuristic musical finds Emily’s good Uncle Martin inventing a time-machine that wicked Uncle Lucas wants to get his hands on. So Emily must journey to the end of time to ensure evil does not prevail. Emily picks up three traveling companions from various eras (1940, 2010) along the way — a chipper Cockney, a sensitive android, and a friendly Yeti.

“One of the few musicals that provide[s] the viewer with something to think about the next day.” — The New York Times In Roaring Twenties Chicago, chorine Roxie Hart murders a faithless lover and convinces her hapless husband, Amos, to take the rap — until he finds out he’s been duped and turns on Roxie. Convicted and sent to death row, Roxie and another “Merry Murderess,” Velma Kelly, vie for the spotlight and the headlines, ultimately joining forces in search of the “American Dream”: fame, fortune, and acquittal. 9m, 10f, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Comedy Large Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway, Jazz

Really Rosie

book & lyrics by Maurice Sendak music by Carole King “There is such juicy vitality, such insouciant grace, such frolicking exploration of the waist-high jungle of childhood.” — New York Magazine Rosie, the sassiest kid on her block of Brooklyn’s Avenue P, entertains herself and her friends by acting out show biz fantasies, notably directing and starring in an “Oscarwinning movie.” From Sendak, the author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are and other popular children’s books, and acclaimed singer/songwriter Carole King, Really Rosie is a jewel for children and adults. 4m, 2f, Ensemble| Full Length Musical | Comedy Small/Combo Band | Easy Vocals | Classic Broadway

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

5m, 4f, Flexible Casting | Full Length Musical | Comedy Piano Only | Easy Vocals | Classic Broadway

Adding Machine: A Musical

composed by Joshua Schmidt libretto by Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt based on the play by Elmer Rice “A brilliant musical! A superb libretto by Loewith and Schmidt and music that gets under your skin and stays there.” — The New York Times A darkly-comic and heartbreakingly beautiful musical adaptation of Rice’s incendiary 1923 play. Mr. Zero, after 25 years of service to his company, is replaced by a mechanical adding machine. Enraged, he murders his boss. An eclectic score gives memorable voice to this stylish and stylized show, following Zero’s journey to the afterlife, where he is met with one last chance for romance and redemption. 5m, 4f, Flexible Casting | 105 minutes | Drama Small/Combo Band | Difficult Vocals | Operetta

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ANNE OF GREEN GABLES: THE MUSICAL

book & lyrics by Donald Harron music & lyrics by Norman Campbell additional lyrics by Mavor Moore and Elaine Campbell

“A neatly packaged family show, sentimental, tuneful and blending gentle bucolic humor with old world pathos.” — The Stage Based on L.M. Montgomery’s classic story of orphan girl Anne Shirley, who arrives unexpectedly in the small Prince Edward Island community of Avonlea. This comical and heartwarming musical follows the feisty and precocious Anne as she captures the hearts and minds of the small farming community — and her new-found family — simply by virtue of her pluck and personality. 12m, 17f , Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Comedy | Medium Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

The cast of Anne of Green Gables: The Musical™ at the 2017 Charlottetown Festival(Louise Vessey).

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107

Corey Cott, Joe Carroll, Laura Osnes, Brandon James Ellis, Alex Bender, James Nathan Hopkns, and Geoff Packard in Bandstand on Broadway, 2017 (Jeremy Daniel). Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

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“An open-hearted musical that will have you clapping your hands and clenching your fists, tapping your toes and blinking back tears.”

— The New York Times

It’s 1945. As soldiers return home to tickertape parades and happy families, Donny dreams of rebuilding his life.

BANDSTAND

book & lyrics by Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor music by Richard Oberacker Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

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When a competition to find the next swing band sensation is announced, Donny joins forces with a motley crew of fellow veterans. Complicated relationships and the lingering effects of war test each of the band’s members. But when new singer Julia joins, Donny may have found the perfect harmony that can take the band all the way. Victory will require all the talent, stamina, and raw nerve that these musicians possess.

6m, 2f, Ensemble More than 120 minutes | Drama Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals Jazz, Contemporary Broadway

THINK SMALL

Great Small Band Musicals by Nikki Przasnyski Who says that good things can’t come in small packages? Whether you’re looking for an existential missive or late-night, experiential gut-busting comedy, this eclectic mix of small-orchestra musicals offers something for every audience.

Judge Jackie: Disorder in the Court by Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond (pg 105)

When a drop in her show’s ratings brings the iron-fisted Judge Jackie Justice face to face with her own personal life, she must learn to navigate the ludicrous laws of love in this over-the-top audience-interactive courtroom comedy.

Adding Machine: A Musical by Elmer Rice, Joshua Schmidt, Jason Loewith (pg 106)

Based on Elmer Rice’s incendiary 1923 play, this passionate musical tells the story of Mr. Zero’s vengeful rage after he is replaced by a mechanical adding machine after 25 years of service to his company. The haunting, award-winning score also highlights Zero’s subsequent journey to the afterlife and his last chance for redemption.

Iowa by Jenny Schwartz and Todd Almond (pg 103) In this fanciful, absurdist, intoxicating musical, teenaged Becca reluctantly says goodbye to her beloved math teacher, bulimic best friend, neighborhood pony and follows her wayward mother to a new, uncharted beginning in Iowa. American Tales by Jan Powell and Ken Stone (pg 100) This award-winning musical features classic American stories by Mark Twain and Herman Mellville, including the darkly comic Bartleby the Scrivener, and a touching story of 19th century long-distance relationship during the dawn of the telephone. 35 mm: A Musical Exhibition by Ryan Scott Oliver (pg 111) A picture is worth 1,000 words — what about a song? This stunning multimedia musical challenges the traditional notion of what the modern American musical can be, featuring intricately woven stories told via picture and song. Love Noël, The Love Songs of Noël Coward by Noel Coward and Barry Day (pg 94)

This loving portrait brings to life and song decades of correspondence from one of the theatre’s most influential minds, exploring Noel Coward’s relationships with everyone from George Bernard Shaw to Edna Ferber, and from the Queen Mother to his own mother.

Ruthless! by Joel Paley and Marvin Laird (pg 111)

A hilarious camp send-up of films like The Bad Seed and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Eight-year-old Tina Denmark knows she was born to play Pippi Longstocking, and she will do anything to win the part in her school musical. Anything includes murdering the leading lady!

Melancholy Play: a chamber musical by Sarah Ruhl and Todd Almond (pg 111)

An intimate musical version of Sarah Ruhl’s poetically romantic, contemporary farce. Tilly’s melancholy is of an exquisite quality. She turns her melancholy into a sexy thing, and every stranger she meets falls in love with her.

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Neil Simon’s Musical Fools

Melancholy Play:

a chamber musical book & lyrics by Sarah Ruhl music by Todd Almond

book & lyrics by Neil Simon music & lyrics by Phil Swann and Ron West adapted from the play Fools by Neil Simon

“Could turn out to be quite a central pillar of the Ruhl canon… The music adds to the considerable sensuality, and the notable wit, of the piece.” — The Chicago Tribune

1893. After a harrowing journey, Leon Tolinchinsky arrives in Kulyenchikov, Ukraine to tutor Sophia Zubritsky, 19. Her parents, Nickolai and Leyna, inform him the village is cursed, rendering every resident as dumb as a bag of rocks. Leon must educate Sophia in 24 hours or fall victim to the curse himself. Teaching her, her parents, or anyone else about anything is just about impossible. To complicate matters, Leon and Sophia fall in love, infuriating Count Gregor, her longtime suitor. But Leon will risk everything to break the curse and rescue the village. 7m, 7f, Flexible Casting | Full Length Musical | Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

Ruthless!

book & lyrics by Joel Paley music by Marvin Laird

3m, 3f | 120 minutes | Dramatic Comedy Small/Combo Band | Difficult Vocals | Classic Broadway, Folk

35mm:

A Musical Exhibition music & lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver based on photographs by Matthew Murphy “When theater pundits talk about the future of Broadway and the new generation of composers, they’re talking about artists like Ryan Scott Oliver…a major new voice in musical theater.” — Entertainment Weekly

“A spoof that has enough absurd plot twists and multiple identities to fill several old movies…The fun comes from the sheer brazenness!” — The New York Times Eight-year-old Tina Denmark knows she was born to play Pippi Longstocking, and she will do anything to win the part in her school musical. Anything includes murdering the leading lady! 1m, 6f | Full Length Musical | Comedy/Farce Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

Tilly’s melancholy is of an exquisite quality. She turns her melancholy into a sexy thing, and every stranger she meets falls in love with her. One day, inexplicably, Tilly becomes happy, and wreaks havoc on the lives of her paramours. Frances, Tilly’s hairdresser, becomes so melancholy that she turns into an almond. It is up to Tilly to get her back.

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A picture is worth 1,000 words — what about a song? Can a picture inspire a song or 15? In 35mm, each photo creates a unique song, moments frozen in time; a glimmer of a life unfolding, a glimpse of something happening. A stunning new multimedia musical that re-imagines what the modern American musical can be. 3m, 2f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Song Cycle Small/Combo Band or Medium Orchestra | Difficult Vocals Classic Broadway, Pop/Rock, Country

Musicals

FUN HOME

music by Jeanine Tesori book & lyrics by Lisa Kron based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel

“The Best Broadway Musical in years, with the finest score in a decade.”

— The Huffington Post

WINNER! 2015 Tony Award for Best Musical Moving between past and present, graphic novelist Alison Bechdel relives her unique childhood playing at the family’s Bechdel Funeral Home; her growing understanding of her own sexuality; and the looming, unanswerable questions about her father’s hidden desires. A refreshingly honest, wholly original musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes. 2m, 4f, 2b, 1g | 90 minutes | Drama | Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway, Pop/Rock Emily Skeggs in Fun Home on Broadway, 2015 (Joan Marcus).

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Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

Scrooge!

book, music & lyrics by Leslie Bricusse “Here is a musical on a grand scale. A rollicking frolicking feast of entertainment!” — The Country Border News In 1970, renowned writer-composer-lyricist Leslie Bricusse adapted the classic Charles Dickens tale A Christmas Carol into the hit screen musical Scrooge! Now it’s a charming stage musical. Ring in the holidays with this theatrical, musical celebration of the season. A surefire audience pleaser!

They’re Playing Our Song book by Neil Simon music by Marvin Hamlisch lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager “Neil Simon was at the top of his playwright-crafting game when he wrote the book for They’re Playing Our Song.” — Laude News

10m or f, Flexible Casting | Full Length Musical | Dramatic Comedy, Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

A funny, romantic show about an established composer and his relationship with an aspiring young female lyricist, not unlike Carole Bayer Sager. Professionally, their relationship works beautifully but ultimately leads to conflict on the home front. Of course, there’s a happy ending.

The Spitfire Grill

book & music by James Valcq book & lyrics by Fred Alley based on the film by Lee David Zlotoff

1m, 1f, Flexible Casting, Chorus | 105 minutes | Romantic Comedy Large Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

Uncle Pirate

book by Ben H. Winters music & lyrics by Drew Fornarola based on the book Uncle Pirate by Douglas Rees

“Soulful…The amiable country flavored tunes and lyrics are rendered with the kind of conviction and expertise that make them transcendent.” — New York Magazine A feisty parolee follows her dreams, based on a page from an old travel book, to a small town in Wisconsin and finds a place for herself working at Hannah’s Spitfire Grill. It is for sale, but there are no takers for the only eatery in the depressed town, so newcomer Percy suggests to Hannah that she raffle it off. Entry fees are 100 dollars, and the best essay on why you want the grill wins. Soon, mail is arriving by the wheelbarrow-full and things are definitely cookin’.

“A whimsical adaptation of the eponymous kids’ book is Jolly Roger fun.” — Time Out New York Wilson is just your average kid. Then one day he finds out his uncle is a pirate. Like, a REAL pirate! With help from Uncle Pirate and his faithful talking penguin, maybe, just maybe, Wilson can survive the fourth grade. Grab yer eye patches and pirate hats, mateys! The adventure begins now!

3m, 4f | Full Length Musical | Drama Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Folk

1m, 1f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Country, Folk

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

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Musicals

RUNAWAYS

A conversation with Jeanine Tesori and Sam Pinkleton by Lawrence Haynes

efore Rent, Spring Awakening, Hamilton, or Bring in ’da Noise, Bring In ’da Funk, there was Runaways. The writer/ director Elizabeth Swados, driven by her love for musicals and giving a voice to those who lack one, was a passionate advocate for true contemporary musical theatre. Theatre, she once noted, should reflect “how and what we are now.” The embodiment of this artistic and activist spirit is urgently captured in Runaways, a transformative and unique musical based on true-life interviews with young people living on the street. This revolutionary work originated at the Public Theater’s Cabaret, and eventually found itself leaving an indelible mark on Broadway. In celebration of the musical’s 40th anniversary, we sat down with composer, arranger, pianist, conductor, and producer Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home;

Violet; Caroline, or Change) and choreographer and director Sam Pinkleton (Runaways; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812; Significant Other) to discuss the memories and lessons of working with Liz and the enduring legacy of Runaways. Lawrence Haynes, Samuel French’s Musical Marketing Coordinator: I would love to know what your first experience with Liz was like. When and how did you meet her? What struck you about her? Sam Pinkleton: We have very different answers to this, I think. I met Liz as a 19-year-old musical theatre student at [New York University (NYU)]. My biggest dream in the world was to be a chorus boy, upstage right, in a summer stock production of 42nd Street. And Liz, who I knew nothing about, taught an elective class that was called “Adaptation”

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— whatever that means — which I took because it worked with my schedule. I walked in and learned that it was a class where this lady with crazy hair, a giant jean jacket, and keys coming out of her pocket forced people to write, direct, and perform their own work, something I had never considered. On the first day of class, she said, “You’re not a f ***ing chorus boy. You’re an artist. Make some goddamned work. Shut your mouth! You’re not dropping this class!” It scared the hell out of me, and it absolutely altered the course of my life. I never looked back. It was amazing and challenging. A creative breeding ground where Liz took no s**t and forced all of these bright-eyed NYU students to really interrogate the world around them, as well as value themselves as more than just musical theatre

robots. I truly would not be doing anything that I’m doing now had I not had that chance encounter. Jeanine Tesori: I was introduced to Liz’s work a while before I met her. I was 19 and a pre-med student at Barnard. I went and taught at Stagedoor Manor where they were performing and studying Runaways. It’s interesting to hear Sam’s story because I knew nothing about theatre. I did not want to go into theatre, I did not understand anything about theatre, or why anybody did it. At that point, I’d maybe seen two musicals in my life. But, I walked into Stagedoor Manor and thought, this is what I should be doing. I went back, switched my major to music at Columbia, told my parents, and dealt with the fallout! I then met Liz many years later when she was doing Books Cook! at Scholastic. By then, I was so aware of her work, and by the time I had started the Encores! OffCenter program, I was obsessed. Runaways was one of the top ten shows I wanted to do. I celebrate everything about it — the way it was made, and the rigor and the heart with which she made it. For my final season at Encores! OffCenter I said to Liz that I wanted to present Runaways, but I wanted one of her ex-students to direct it, and that’s how Sam and I met. Liz connected a lot of us through her teaching, her heart, and her work. Lawrence: That’s actually a great segue to my next question. Runaways was made as a generative work. Do you think the process through which she created it was emblematic of her writing style, her creative spirit? Sam: Absolutely, I think it was in two major ways. Number one, I think that Liz had no real interest in making what she thought

people wanted. She had an interest in making what she thought people needed, and gave voice to conversations that were not being had, not only in theatre but out in the world. She put ideas in front of people that they didn’t necessarily want to think about, but should. It was a thematic quest that she was on her whole life, and she was often quite unpopular because of it.

I think that Liz had no real interest in making what she thought people wanted. She had an interest in making what she thought people needed, and gave voice to conversations that were not being had, not only in theatre but out in the world. Number two, the way the show was made. The mythology of it is that a 26-year-old Liz marched into Joe Papp’s office with this big idea, and she got a room at The Public for a year. She went out on the street, she talked to people, she brought it back to the theater, and she sculpted it. But, in my experience making shows with her, I think Runaways was very unique. It’s about the thing, in its entirety, rather than its form. Jeanine: Liz lives on, not just through her work, but through her methodology for making the work. It’s one thing for us to do Runaways, but it’s another for people to understand how to make their own work. Runaways produces generations of generative artists who don’t obey other people’s work, but create work

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they’d want to see. I know so many wonderful people whose work is creating a difference, but I know very few who make sure that they also take their machetes out and widen the path for other people to walk through the jungle. Sam: Yes, and to Jeanine’s point, I don’t think that Liz — and I don’t want to put words in her mouth, because she’s not here to tell us — ever thought that a single one of her shows was finished. I think that she believed in moving a conversation forward in a way that adapted to the world, current events, and the temperature in the room. There are stories from the original Runaways production on Broadway where they would design new things, put new words in, or switch songs. When we were making a show with Liz and there was a horrible thing in the headlines, the next day there would be a new song about that thing. Lawrence: Expanding on Liz’s responsiveness to the news cycle while on Broadway, how do you think Runaways continues to be relevant today? Jeanine: It brings the world into the theater. I think that sometimes musical theatre can get so formal and trite, I know because I’ve written some of those things! But, to me, theatre is the world, it’s a reflection of behavior, of psychology. With Runaways, Liz went out to Union Square, got real people and said, “This belongs to you.” She said, “If we’re going to call this theater ‘The Public Theater,’ I’m going to get the public into the theater, and get them on the stage.” Today, we see the struggles of transgender and non-binary youth. They don’t run away per se, but

their parents are running from them. That’s a real twist on what I thought a runaway was. For me, growing up, it was a counterculture thing of “I don’t accept your generation, so I’m leaving.” Now I see a generation of young people who aren’t allowed to stay home because they don’t carry the “values” of their community or their parents. Like a blooming onion, the show just keeps unveiling these riches. Sam: I’m really glad you said that. Liz wrote a show called Runaways. She didn’t write a show called “homeless kids.” It is a much broader idea than that. Runaways asks: What are we running from? What are we afraid to talk about? What would happen if we removed the adult perspective and listened to young people who didn’t always agree with each other nor always agree with us? What if rather than making it some kind of community project and putting it in the church basement, you put it on our grandest stages? And what if you put it in front of an audience who isn’t necessarily used to encountering conversations that way? And what would happen if, rather than saying, “Watch something you can easily digest and get to your parking on time,” we said you’re actually going to meet us where we are? For these 90 minutes, I’m asking you to consider what would happen if you were only this nice to young people and all of their complications, and what you learn from that, and how the world might look a little bit different if we took that moment to listen. Because we are in a moment where activism, as we know it, is being pulled forward by 17-year-olds. It is remarkable, and I don’t think that we would be thinking about gun violence in the same way were it not for these amazing teenagers.

For me, it is incredible to look up and see kids onstage who look like our city, not just a musical theatre version, and it should look like whichever city [in which] Runaways is performed. The show is the unspoken stories of teenagers from any community.

Liz lives on, not just through her work, but through her methodology for making the work. It’s one thing for us to do Runaways, but it’s another for people to understand how to make their own work. Lawrence: I’d like to finish this with talking about Liz in more personal terms. What did she leave you with? Jeanine: We had the premiere last night of Soft Power [a new musical from David Henry Hwang and Jeanine]. I was sitting next to someone, and they said, “You seem nervous.” I responded, “What are you talking about? I’m a wreck.” He said, “You’re so cool on the surface, but it just occurred to me that you’re just as vulnerable as anyone.” I realized that I tend to package myself to look a certain way, but I’m a lot. Liz was a lot, too. I think of her often, with her crazy hair and her jackets — it’s very Liz. It’s like she’s saying, “I take up space, I have ideas, I’m here.” I learned that you don’t have to shrink-wrap yourself down for someone. Sam: Liz left me with a lot of fire. She left me thinking that rage is useful. She blessed me by demanding to try harder, to not

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accept how theatre is “supposed to be.” She taught me that theatre is not about me, it’s about the world. It’s about amplifying people who don’t have access to the things I have. Liz would go deeper, try harder, and not shy away from uncomfortable things, or pat herself on the back for doing something a little political. She taught that we should dig in the same way that we would if we were full-time activists. She taught me to ask what singing and dancing do that is effective for human transformation, for change, as opposed to having a lovely time seeing Brigadoon. She hated that s**t. But, she loved razzle dazzle. There’s a sad mythology that people attribute to Liz, that “she was the angry political person that hated theatre.” She wasn’t. She f ***ing loved Broadway. She loved it, like she loved Hair, that’s why she wrote a song mocking it. She was the idea that you can be both a citizen of the world and do it through singing and dancing. It is a dizzying challenge that is a life’s work. I think a lot of people who come from her “tree” feel that duty and a way to make a life in musical theatre. There’s a way to be bolder. There’s a way to have more teeth and more fire.

Photo on previous page: The cast of Runaways at New York City Center Encores!, 2016 (Joan Marcus). This article originally appeared on Breaking Character Magazine in June 2018.

Musicals from

ELIZABETH SWADOS Runaways “It’s enthralling - a fast and furious, poignant and disturbing eighty minutes.” — AM New York A collection of songs, dances, and spoken word pieces performed by children who have run away from their homes. Initially created from interviews with homeless children and those in orphanages, Liz Swados weaves songs about personal struggle and the world at large through the eyes of youth in New York City in the ’70s. The show blends different musical styles, from pop to hip-hop and jazz to reggae, while asking why children can’t remain children. 11m, 9f, Chorus | 90 minutes | Drama | Small/Combo Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock

The Red Sneaks “Remarkably clear, unsentimental and disturbing... A gritty little musical that combines pop and rock with more traditional musical comedy.” — The New York Times The allegorical montage of songs, scenes, and monologues centers around a welfare hotel resident who is persuaded by a mysterious young drifter to accept a pair of glittery red sneakers. Whoever is wearing them may wish for anything – and every wish comes true, but the easy way out turns out to be a fast trip to an early death. 4m, 4f | Full Length Musical | Drama | Piano Only | Pop/Rock

Alice in Concert (Alice at the Palace) “ [Swados] magnificently catches most of Carroll’s divine nuttiness.” — The New York Post

This “music hall” version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass was originally produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theatre, starring a young Meryl Streep. An imaginative rendering of the Lewis Carroll classic is performed concert-style on a bare stage, the actors in modern rehearsal clothes. With music ranging from rock to country western to calypso, as the outlandish characters of Wonderland are reinterpreted in this “story theatre”-type setting. 6m, 6f | Full Length Musical |Drama | Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

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Falsettos

music & lyrics by William Finn book by William Finn and James Lapine WINNER! 1992 Tony Awards, Best Book and Best Score A seamless pairing of March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, two acclaimed Off-Broadway musicals written nearly a decade apart. It is the tale of Marvin, who leaves his wife and young son to live with another man. His ex-wife marries his psychiatrist, and Marvin ends up alone. Two years later, Marvin is reunited with his lover on the eve of his son’s bar mitzvah, just as AIDS is beginning its insidious spread. 3m, 3f, 1b | More than 120 minutes | Drama Small/Combo Band | Difficult Vocals | Classic Broadway, Pop/Rock

Big Nate: The Musical book by Jason Loewith and Lincoln Peirce music by Christopher Youstra lyrics by Jason Loewith and Christopher Youstra based on the cartoons & books by Lincoln Peirce “Bursting with energy and fun music! A rocking fresh bundle of raucous fun.” — D.C. Theatre Scene Nate Wright, a detention-riddled sixth-grader (and drummer for the greatest garage band in the history of the galaxy, Enslave the Mollusk!), hopes to capture beautiful Jenny’s heart by winning “The Nicholodeon,” the first prize in his school’s Battle of the Bands. But when Artur and Jenny team up with Nate’s arch-rival, Gina, to form the sap-pop band Rainbows and Ponies, he’s gotta take his game to an all-star level.

The Behavior of Broadus

by Carolyn Almos, Matt Almos, Jon Beauregard, Albert Dayan, and Brendan Millburn “As delightfully self-assured as it is comically selfreferential, made up of equal parts whimsy, wacky, profane and profound, this cracked experiment in satirical musical development is a wickedly entertaining watershed.” — The Los Angeles Times The incredible sort-of-true story of John Broadus Watson, father of Behaviorism and modern advertising. He has the power to control your brain. Indeed, we suspect he’s making you read this right now. This Mad Men-esque dark comedy puts the origins of our pop-culture consumerist society under a satirical magnifying glass. 7m, 3f, Flexible Casting | More than 120 minutes | Satire Medium Orchestra | Easy Vocals | Classic Broadway

Adrift in Macao

book & lyrics by Christopher Durang music by Peter Melnick “A drop-dead funny book…shamefully silly lyrics…and lethally catchy music.” — Broadway World Everyone that comes to Macao is waiting for something, though none of them know exactly what that is. There’s Laureena, the curvaceous blonde; Rick Shaw, the cynical surf-and-turf casino owner; and don’t forget about Mitch, the American who has just been framed for murder by the mysterious villain McGuffin. With songs and quips, puns and farcical shenanigans, this musical parody of noir films will please audiences of all ages. 4m, 3f | 100 minutes | Comedy/Parody Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

4m, 3f | 75 minutes | TYA Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway, Pop/Rock

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Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

Trey Parker’s Cannibal! The Musical

Kiss of the Spider Woman

book, music & lyrics by Trey Parker

“It’s finger-licking good! It will take a truly jaded soul to push away from the table before this often hilarious meal is over. Bon appetit!” — San Francisco Examiner The true story of the only person convicted of cannibalism in America, Alferd Packer. The sole survivor of an ill-fated trip to the Colorado Territory, he tells his side of the harrowing tale to news reporter Polly Pry as he awaits his execution. And his story goes like this: While searching for gold and love in the Colorado Territory, he and his companions lost their way and resorted to unthinkable horrors, including toe-tapping songs! 10m, 2f, Flexible Casting | 105 minutes | Comedy Piano Only | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

book by Terrence McNally music by John Kander lyrics by Fred Ebb based on the novel by Manuel Puig originally directed by Harold Prince WINNER! 1993 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score Cellmates in a Latin American prison, Valentin is a tough revolutionary undergoing torture, and Molina is an unabashed homosexual serving eight years for deviant behavior. Escaping from the reality of prison life, Molina shares with Valentin fantasies about an actress, Aurora. He loves her in all roles, but one scares him: the Spider Woman, who kills with a kiss.

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas book by Larry L. King and Peter Masterson music & lyrics by Carol Hall based on a story by Larry L. King

15m, 3f | More than 120 minutes | Drama Large Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson

“A font of fun and friendliness, engagingly rich in regional nostalgia and spiced with delicate bawdry. The country and western score is a delight.” — Time This happy-go-lucky view of small-town vice and statewide political side-stepping recounts the good times and the demise of the Chicken Ranch, known since the 1850s as one of the better pleasure palaces in all of Texas. Governors, senators, mayors, and even victorious college football teams frequent Miss Mona’s cozy bordello, until that puritan nemesis Watchdog focuses his television cameras and his righteous indignation on the institution.

“Hurts and exhilarates in just the right proportions.” — New York Magazine The time is 1959. The place is a seedy bar in Philadelphia. The audience is about to witness one of Billie Holiday’s last performances, given four months before her death. More than a dozen musical numbers are interlaced with salty, often humorous reminiscences to project a riveting portrait of the lady and her music. 1m, 1f | 90 minutes | Drama Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Jazz

13m, 14f, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Comedy Medium Orchestra | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway, Country

Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

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Musicals

Heathers The Musical book, music & lyrics by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe based on the film by Daniel Waters “Ingenious, naughty and very funny. Heathers still cliques.” — New York Post Are you in, or are you out? Veronica Sawyer, a brainy, beautiful teenage misfit, hustles her way into the most powerful and ruthless clique at Westerberg High: The Heathers. Before she can get too comfortable atop the high school food chain, Veronica falls in love with the dangerously sexy new kid, J.D. When Heather Chandler, the Almighty, kicks her out of the group, Veronica decides to bite the bullet and kiss Heather’s aerobicized ass…but J.D. has another plan for that bullet. 8m, 9f, Flexible Casting | 120 minutes | Dark Comedy Medium Orchestra | Difficult Vocals | Pop/Rock

Pageant

book & lyrics by Frank Kelly and Bill Russell music by Albert Evans conceived by Robert Longbottom “Screamingly funny!” — The New York Times Pageant is a pageant, with its six contestants competing for the title of Miss Glamouresse. Judges selected from the audience actually vote and determine the winner who, therefore, may be different at each performance. The show takes its shots not by mocking the pageant from the outside, but by being one. 7m | 90 minutes | Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Classic Broadway, Pop/Rock

Journal of Plays and Musicals | 2018-2019

Richard O’Brien’s

The Rocky Horror Show “A musical that deals with mutating identity and time warps becomes one of the most mutated, time-warped phenomena in show business.” — The New York Times An over-the-top tribute to science fiction and B movies, this cult classic tells the story of a newly engaged couple getting caught in a storm and coming to the home of a mad transvestite scientist unveiling his new creation: an artificially made, fully grown, physically perfect muscle man named Rocky Horror. Complete with sass from the audience, cascading toilet paper, and an array of other audience participation props, this deliberately kitschy rock ’n’ roll gothic musical is more fun than ever. 7m, 3f, Flexible Casting | 90 minutes | Dark Comedy Small/Combo Band | Moderate Vocals | Pop/Rock

Chess

music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus lyrics by Tim Rice based on an idea by Tim Rice book by Richard Nelson “One of the best rock scores ever produced. This is an angry, difficult, demanding and rewarding show.” — Time The pawns in this drama form a love triangle: the loutish American chess star, the earnest Russian champion, and a Hungarian American female assistant who arrives at the international chess match with the American but falls for the Russian. From Bangkok to Budapest, the players, lovers, politicians, and spies manipulate and are manipulated to the pulse of a monumental rock score. The game becomes a metaphor for romantic rivalries, competitive gamesmanship, super power politics, and international intrigues. 9m, 2f, 1b or g | More than 120 minutes | Drama Large Orchestra | Difficult Vocals | Pop/Rock, Classic Broadway

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Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

“It’s the real deal. Everyone really should be talking, singing, shouting about Jamie!”

— The Times

Supported by his brilliant, loving mum and surrounded by his friends, 16-yearold Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies, and steps out of the darkness into the spotlight.

EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE

book & lyrics by Tom MacRae music by Dan Gillespie Sells based on an idea by Jonathan Butterell The cast of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie on the West End, 2017 (Alastair Muir). Photo courtesy of Jamie London Ltd. Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

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Based on a true story, with an exuberant and memorable poprock score from Dan Gillespie Sells and humorous and heartfelt book and lyrics from Tom MacRae, this award-winning West End sensation is truly a musical for today. At the time of publication this title was not yet available to license.

10m, 8f | 120 minutes Dramatic Comedy Medium Orchestra | Moderate Vocals Pop/Rock

Ashley D. Kelley in Bella: An American Tall Tale at Playwrights Horizons Theatre, 2017 (Joan Marcus).

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Restrictions may apply to certain titles.

“With Kirsten Childs’ versatility as a composer, this story turns social tragedy into comedy.”

— The New York Times

Set in the Old West, this musical comedy tells the tale of Isabella “Bella” Patterson, a young black woman in late 19th Century America. When Bella boards a train west to reunite with her Buffalo soldier sweetheart, she encounters the most colorful and lively characters ever to roam the Western plains. Bullets and fists will fly, heads and hearts will break, but – blessed with a big heart, and a voluptuous figure – Bella will breeze on through it all.

BELLA: AN AMERICAN TALL TALE

book, music & lyrics by Kirsten Childs Apply for a license at samuelfrench.com.

7m, 5f, Flexible Casting More than 120 minutes Comedy | Small/Combo Orchestra Moderate Vocals Classic Broadway, Country/Western

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A TOAST TO SAMUEL FRENCH AT THE ROYAL COURT O

n Friday, March 16, Samuel French’s London Bookshop officially opened at the Royal Court Theatre. Douglas Schatz, Managing Director of Samuel French Ltd, toasted the Bookshop and its creation during the evening’s event. Below, you’ll find his inspiring remarks. The idea for Samuel French to open a bookshop at the iconic Royal Court Theatre in London’s Sloane Square came from a wonderful coincidence of vision with Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director, and Lucy Davies, Executive Producer at the Royal Court, when they confessed that they had been imagining exactly the same thing: a bookshop in the under-used space in their Balcony Bar that would offer visitors somewhere to stop and spend time reading plays, lingering over coffee, listening to playwrights talk about their work, and meeting other passionate theatre people.

One of the motivations that we had in common was the shared belief that bookshops and the printed word are essential to the whole ecosystem of theatre, if not to our culture most widely. During this first fateful conversation with Vicky and Lucy, we identified that one of the motivations we had in common was the shared belief that bookshops and the printed word are essential to the whole ecosystem of theatre, if not to our culture most widely. We all know that we can do just about anything online, including of course buy

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play texts, even from Samuel French. However, when we closed our previous shop in Fitzroy Street last April, we were overwhelmed by an outpouring of support and sadness from former customers. Many of them told similar stories about the first time that they visited the shop as young drama students, actors, playwrights, directors, or producers, and how they had loved spending hours sitting around our table or on the floor pouring over texts, looking for just the right monologu or the next play to program, or just inspiration. Bookshops represent more than just retail opportunities. They are places where you can carve out some precious, very personal time in your life to pursue your passions or profession, discover new directions or dreams, and interact with others who share the interests that are important to you.

It was this deep personal and social meaning that Vicky, Lucy and we recognised can only be found in real places – places like the theatre, or this new bookshop. We have been thrilled to work with the Royal Court and our professional design team over the past nine months to create the new bookshop in the balcony space. Katy Marks from Citizens Design Bureau, Roger Watts from Haworth Tompkins who recently designed the new Bridge Theatre in London, and Lars Wagner who has handcrafted the furniture have created a beautiful shop. We are also delighted to welcome back our incomparable Shop Manager Simon Ellison to helm the new shop. Simon ran our previous London bookshop for 17 years. When we announced that he was returning to our new shop, he was rightly described by a customer on social media as

our very own “stalwart hero play boffin!”

[Bookshops] are places where you can carve out some precious, very personal time in your life to pursue your passions or profession, discover new directions or dreams, and interact with others who share the interests that are important to you. We have now opened the doors of the new shop, and I’m delighted to say that we have seen everything happening just as we’d envisioned and hoped: theatre lovers of all

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kinds sitting at the table or on the steps engrossed in plays, chatting over coffee, and finally of course buying piles of books to take away to continue their own education and life stories. This is just what we and the Royal Court had in mind – a fruitful partnership between the Writers’ Theatre and the Theatre Bookshop.

Photos from left: The Samuel French Bookshop at the Royal Court Theatre; Bookshop Manager Simon Ellison, 2018 (Helen Murray). This article originally appeared on Breaking Character Magazine in March 2018.

RESOURCES Licensing

Head to the product page of any play or musical on samuelfrench.com and begin the licensing process by clicking the Request License button. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll do our best to respond to requests within 24 to 48 hours. Newer and popular titles may take longer as we work directly with authors and their agents to process the request. We recommend applying for rights at least four weeks in advance of your pre-production process or any internal deadlines you have for season planning. Applications can be accepted as early as 18 months in advance of your production dates (and the sooner you submit, the better). A play or musical may be unavailable or restricted due to a current first class production or a national tour. You may also be in a region in which rights are currently withheld. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking for recommendations, want more information about a specific title, or have questions about the licensing process, contact a member of our Licensing Team at 866-598-8449. Literary Amy Rose Marsh, Literary Director Professional Licensing David Kimple, Director of Licensing Theresa Posorske, Licensing Representative Zach Kaufer, Licensing Representative College Licensing Rebecca Schlossberg, Licensing Representative International Licensing Buddy Thomas, Director of International Licensing

Looking for more? The Samuel French website is a great resource for show information, the latest play and musical scripts, and tools to assist you with your next production. Visit samuelfrench.com or samuelfrench.co.uk to see our entire catalog of plays and musicals.

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Abbott

Abbott is Samuel French’s digital platform for play reading. With Abbott, you can explore over 1,500 digital plays and musicals on your mobile device, tablet, or computer. Whether reading for fun, for school, or for the stage, Abbott puts the world’s best scripts at your fingertips. Visit samuelfrench.com/abbott.

Breaking Character Magazine

Breaking Character Magazine was created for theatremakers across the nation and provides the latest industry news, access to your favorite playwrights and composers, engaging content, and more. Visit breakingcharactermagazine.com.

Playwrights Welcome

Developed for the members of the Dramatists Guild of America, Playwrights Welcome is a national ticketing initiative created by Samuel French along with the other major licensing houses. The program provides free access to theatre for playwrights, composers, and lyricists around the country. For more information on how your theater can participate, visit samuelfrench.com/playwrightswelcome.

Vocal Selections & Sheet Music

Samuel French is proud to be the first theatrical publishing and licensing company to offer sheet music and vocal selection books for our titles. Find vocal selections and sheet music from great Samuel French titles such as Fun Home, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, and Heathers The Musical. See all the musicals available in hard copies and digital downloads at samuelfrench.com/sheetmusic.

Owning Their Words

Samuel French is passionate about protecting the rights of our playwrights and composers. Visit samuelfrench.com/whitepaper to learn about the work Samuel French is doing to educate the community on these important issues. You’ll find information on anti-piracy rules, how artists can legally use intellectual property, royalties, and more. You can also download a copy of our published white paper: OWNING THEIR WORDS: Understanding the Playwright, Protecting Their Work & How You Can Help. This document serves as an introduction into ownership and how artists are paid for the work they produce.

Visit Our Bookshops

If you’re in Los Angeles or London, visit the Samuel French bookshops. The Samuel French Film & Theatre Bookshop (7623 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, CA) has served the industry for over 65 years with a wide range of plays and musicals, vocal selections, memorabilia, and gifts. The newly opened Samuel French Bookshop at the Royal Court Theatre (Sloane Square Chelsea, London, UK) continues the tradition of a Samuel French bookshop in London dating back to the 1830s. A haven for play lovers and theatre makers alike, the bookshop is an ideal place to purchase a selection of theatrical titles, peruse Royal Court play texts, or simply sit and relax with a coffee and your favorite play.

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TITLES 10 out of 12 — 34 26 Pebbles — 17 35mm: A Musical Exhibition — 110, 111 Adding Machine: A Musical — 106, 110 Admissions — 22 Adrift in Macao — 118 Advance Man: Part One of The Honeycomb Trilogy — 58 After The Fall — 81 Albatross 3rd and Main, The — 57 Alice in Concert (Alice at the Palace) — 117 All the Fine Boys — 17 Amélie — 95 Amy and the Orphans — 5 American Clock, The — 81 American Psycho — 96-97 American Tales— 100, 110 Among the Dead — 26 Anarchist, The — 58 Angry Fags — 52 Anne of Green Gables: The Musical — 107 Antipodes, The — 35 Antlia Pneumatica — 42 Arsonists, The — 8, 70 Back Back Back — 66 Bandstand — 108-109 Barbara’s Blue Kitchen — 70, 94 Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Ken Ludwig’s — 51 Behavior of Broadus, The — 118 Bella: An American Tall Tale — 122-123 Bellwether — 38 Ben Hur — 56 Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The — 119 Big Nate: The Musical — 41, 118 Blacktop Sky — 34 Blast Radius: Part Two of The Honeycomb Trilogy — 58 Blood at the Root — 45 Blood Play — 74 Blue Wizard / Black Wizard — 88 Breakfast Scene — 77 Bull in a China Shop — 34 Bunny — 55 Butter in a Lordly Dish — 72 Cake, The — 17 Cambodian Rock Band — 30-31, 32 Captain’s Tiger, The — 18 Chariots of Fire — 8 Chess — 120 Chicago — 106 China Doll — 17 clarity — 76 Cleaners, The — 76 Cleopatra, Charles Busch’s — 66

Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties — 62 Colossal — 21 Comedy of Tenors, Ken Ludwig’s A — 65 Common Vision, A — 27 Creation of the World and Other Business, The — 81 Crocodile Eyes — 42 Curvy Widow, The — 6 Dames at Sea — 103 Dani Girl — 105 Daughter’s a Daughter, A — 72 Dear Elizabeth — 25 Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, The — 65 Death Takes A Holiday — 101 Dew Point, The — 27 Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency — 38 Disassembly — Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea — 21 Doris to Darlene — 79 Dot — 48 Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling — 48 Drowning on Dry Land — 63 Dusty and the Big Bad World — 73 Earth is Flat, The — 9 East of Berlin — 55 El Nogalar — 27 Elegy for a Lady — 81 End of the Rainbow — 58 Everybody’s Talking About Jamie — 121 Everything is Wonderful — 7 Everything You Touch — 27 Fade — 61, 70 Fall of Heaven, The — 66 Falsettos — 118 Familiar — 43 Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) — 57 Feminine Ending, A — 51 Fiction — 33 Fish Eye — 62 Five Mile Lake — 62 Flick, The — 28 Fly By Night — 94 Flyovers — 26 For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday — 14 Four of Us, The — 25 Frontières Sans Frontières — 42 Fugitive Songs — 99 Fun Home — 112 Future Thinking — 79 George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead Live — 50

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Girlfriend — 70, 88 Glitter Girls, The — 6 Gnit — 49 God’s Ear — 26 Goodnight Mister Tom — 26, 41 Gorilla Man — 99 Grand Concourse — 79 Grandpa and the Gay Rabbi — 76 Great Leap, The — 32 Great Wilderness, A — 73 Gulf, The — 70, 74 Gutenberg! The Musical! — 70, 104 Hands On A Hardbody — 88 Hannah and the Dread Gazebo — 28 Happy Ones, The — 48 Harry Clarke — 29 Harvest, The — 44 Haunting Julia — 63 Havana Journal — 42 Healing, The — 71 Heathers the Musical — 120 Here We Go — 66 Homos, or Everyone in America — 27 House Rules — 18 How I Learned What I Learned, August Wilson’s — 34 How to Get Into Buildings — 62 How to Survive an Apocalypse — 58 How to Transcend a Happy Marriage — 64 If I Were You — 63 Imogen Says Nothing — 5 Important Hats of the 20th Century —52 Improbably Fiction — 63 Incident at Vichy — 81 Iowa — 103, 110 Is God Is — 20 Jack & Jill — 77 Jacuzzi — 78 Jasper in Deadland — 100 Jitney, August Wilson’s — 26 John — 61 Johnny Manhattan — 9 Judas Kiss, The — 73 Judge Jackie: Disorder in the Court — 105, 110 Katrina — 8 Killer Joe — 37 King of the Yees — 32 Kingdom Come — 28 Kiss of the Spider Woman — 119 Kissing Fidel — 42 Kudzu: A Southern Musical — 94 La Cage aux Folles — 103 Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill — 119 Last Dance — 48

Layover, The — 66 Leader of the Pack: The Ellie Greenwich Musical — 99 Let the Right One in — 19 Life, A — 14 Lifetime Burning, A — 57 Light Years, The — 48 Lillian — 6 Linda Vista — 37 LMNOP — 93 Love, Noël: The Love Songs of Noël Coward — 94, 110 Luther — 6 Magic Finger, The — 41, 65 Mama’s Boy — 34 Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood — 61 Marie and Rosetta — 25 Marjorie Prime — 73 Mary Jane — 15 Mary Page Marlowe — 36 Me and My Girl — 93 Melancholy Play: a chamber musical — 110, 111 Merry Widower, The — 7 Meteor Shower — 82-83 Milk Like Sugar — 52 Minutes, The — 37 Monsoon Season — 76 Moors, The — 21 Muckrakers — 70, 71 Murder in the Studio — 72 Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie’s — 47 My Wonderful Day — 63 Nat Turner in Jerusalem — 17, 70 Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 — 102 Native Gardens — 5 Neil Simon’s Musical Fools — 41, 111 Nice Fish — 71 Nine — 101 No More Sad Things — 73 Occupant, Edward Albee’s — 73 Oldest Boy: A Play in Three Ceremonies, The — 75 Olive and the Bitter Herbs, Charles Busch’s — 45 On The Exhale — 28 OOHRAH! — 74 Open House, The — 38 Orange — 8 Outside People — 71 Pageant — 120 Palestine, New Mexico — 52 Paradise Blue — 16 Pass Over — 12-13 Peerless — 33 Perfect Arrangement — 38 Personal Call — 72 Peter — 45 Phantom — 101

Pilgrims — 9 Pipeline — 14 Play About My Dad, The — 79 Pocatello — 61 Poirot Double Bill, A — 72 Poor Behavior — 65 Porcelain — 7 Prayer for My Enemy — 57 Price, The — 81 Pump Boys and Dinettes — 99 Raisin — 93 Rancho Viejo — 18 Rat Court — 79 Realistic Joneses, The — 51 Really Rosie — 41, 106 Reared — 7 Red Handed Otter — 7 Red Sneaks, The — 117 Rembrandt, The — 7 Revlon Girl, The — 9 Revolt. She said. Revolt again. — 18 ReWrite — 104 Risen From the Dough — 76 Rock of Ages — 98 Rocky Horror Show, Richard O’Brien’s The — 120 Romance Novels for Dummies — 79 Roommate, The — 17 Royale, The — 28 Runaways — 114-116, 117 Ruthless — 110, 111 Saving Jason — 51 Scrooge! — 113 Se Llama Cristina — 45 Secret Adversary, The — 45 Secret Garden — 104 Secrets of the Trade — 52 See Rock City & Other Destinations — 100 Seminar — 33 Seven Spots on the Sun — 33 Shakespeare in Love — 60 Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Ken Ludwig’s — 40 Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat — 61 Sick — 71 Side Show — 93 Sideways — 14 Significant Other —23-24, 25 Single Black Female — 25 SIR. — 77 Six Rounds of Vengeance — 18 Skeleton Crew — 28 Smart People — 61 Some Kind of Love Story — 81 Something Fishy — 8 Somewhere Fun — 18 Southern Comfort — 92 Sovereign: Part Three of The Honeycomb Trilogy — 58 Spitfire Grill, The — 113 Square Footage — 77

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Stick Fly — 66 Still Alice — 8 Stranger, The — 72 Stunning — 52 Substance of Bliss, The — 48 Sugar Daddies — 63 Summerland — 65 Sundown, Yellow Moon — 62 Swimmers — 62 Table Settings — 26 Taking Care of Baby — 42 Tale of Two Cities, A Musical, A — 103 Tap Dance Kid, The — 100 That Which Isn’t — 45 They’re Playing Our Song — 113 This Flat Earth — 6 This Is War — 55 this movie — 77 This Much — 51 Tinned Goods — 71 Tiny Beautiful Things — 14 Title and Deed — 33 Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol — 33, 41 To Die For — 74 Tomb of King Tot, The — 21 Tomorrow in the Battle — 21 Tomorrowland — 27 Towards Zero — 72 Travesties — 38 Trey Parker’s Cannibal! The Musical — 119 Tribute Artist, Charles Busch’s The — 57 Tuck Everlasting — 89, 90-91 Tumacho — 9 Two of Us — 6 Ugly Lies the Bone — 65 Uncle Pirate — 41, 113 Untold Yippie Project, The — 34 Up From Paradise — 81 Vérité — 21 Vietgone — 67, 68-69 View UpStairs, The — 88 Village Bike, The — 38 Wakey, Wakey — 14, 70 War Paint — 86-87 Wasp’s Nest, The — 72 Water and Power — 51 Waverly Gallery, The — 57 Wedding Bash — 76 What Happened at the Dolphin Show — 77 Whenever — 106 Wiz, The — 104 Wolf ’s Blood — 5 Wolves, The — 59 Wonderful Tennessee — 74 Wonderland Wives — 25 Yellow Iris — 72 Yen — 39 You Got Older — 74

AUTHORS Adjmi, David — 52 Aguirre-Sacasa, Roberto — 96-97 Albee, Edward — 73 Alexander, Brad — 100 Alley, Fred — 113 Almond, Todd — 9, 70, 88, 103, 110, 111 Almos, Carolyn — 118 Almos, Matt — 118 Anastasio, Trey — 88 Anderson, Christina — 34 Andersson, Benny — 120 Ayckbourn, Alan — 63, 106 Baker, Annie — 28, 35, 61 Barlow, Patrick — 56 Barron, Clare — 74 Barry, Kieron — 21 Bartlett, Mike — 8 Beauregard, Jon — 118 Beatts, Anne — 99 Bechdel, Alison — 112 Beber, Neena — 27 Benson, France-Luce — 76 Bent, Eliza — 88 Birch, Alice — 18 Blackwell, Charles — 100 Bock, Adam — 14 Bond, Christopher — 50 Bonds, Rachel — 62 Bos, Hannah — 48, 74, 78 Boyer, Dale — 50 Brant, George — 25 Bricusse, Leslie — 113 Brittan, Robert — 93 Brody, Drew — 6 Brown, Scott — 70, 104 Brown, William F. — 104 Brunstetter, Bekah — 17, 74 Burkell, Scott — 93 Busch, Charles — 45, 57, 66 Butler, Oliver — 48, 74, 78 Butterell, Jonathan — 121 Cale, David — 6, 29 Callaghan, Sheila — 27 Campbell, Elaine — 107 Campbell, Norman — 107 Cassella, Alberto — 101 Cefaly, Audrey — 70, 74 Childs, Kirsten — 122-123 Christie, Agatha — 45, 46-47, 72 Churchill, Caryl — 66 Clark, Eliza — 79 Collins, Dan — 92 Compton, Jethro — 5 Condon, Bill — 93 Connolly, Will — 94 Cooke, Brian — 7 Coward, Noël — 94, 110

Cram, Cusi — 57, 73 D’Arienzo, Chris — 98 David, Arvind Ethan — 38 Davis, Julianne Wick — 82 Davis, Nathan Alan — 17, 21, 70 Day, Barry — 94, 110 Dayan, Albert — 118 DeLappe, Sarah — 59 Diamond, Lydia R. — 61, 66 Dickey, Jessica — 7 Dietz, Steven — 33 Dimond, Chris — 105, 110 Docking, Neil Anthony — 9 Dohrn, Zayd — 70, 71 Domingo, Colman — 48 Dorhn, Zayd — 70, 71 Dufault, Olivia — 21 Dunford, Christine Mary — 8 Dunn, Mark — 6 Durang, Christopher — 118 Ebb, Fred — 106, 119 Eden, Simon David — 57 Eno, Will — 14, 33, 38,49, 51, 70 Evans, Albert — 120 Federle, Tim — 89 Ferrentino, Lindsey — 5, 6, 65 Ferron-Smith, Jahna — 77 Fierstein, Harvey — 103 Finn, William — 118 Fischer, Lori — 70, 94 Fitzpatrick, John — 7, 51 Florence, Rob — 8 Foley, John — 99 Fornarola, Drew — 41, 113 Fosse, Bob — 106 Foster, Hunter — 100 Frankel, Scott — 86-87 Fratti, Mario — 101 Freeman, Matthew — 45 Friel, Brian — 74 Fry, Stephen — 93 Fugard, Athol — 18 Furber, Douglas — 93 Gay, Noel — 93 Glazer, Tony — 48 Goldfinger, Jacqueline — 8, 70 Goldman, Bobby — 6 Goldman, Emily — 77 Goggin, Dan — 9 Goss, James — 38 Green, Amanda — 88 Greenidge, Kirsten — 52 Greenwich, Ellie — 99 Gurira, Danai — 43 Haimsohn, George — 103 Hall, Carol — 119 Hall, Jordan — 58

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Hall, Lee — 60 Hall, Miranda Rose — 77 Hamlisch, Marvin — 113 Hammond, Sarah — 77 Hansberry, Lorraine — 93 Hardwick, Mark — 99 Hari, Johann — 45 Hare, David — 73 Harmon, Joshua — 22, 23-24, 25 Harnetiaux, Trish — 62 Harris, Aleshea — 20 Harrison, Christopher — 50 Harrison, Jordan — 73, 79 Harron, Donald — 107 Headland, Leslye — 66 Heifner, Jack — 99 Herman, Jerry — 103 Herrick, Jack — 94 Herzog, Amy — 15 Hinderaker, Andrew — 21 Howard, Ross — 6 Howze, Philip — 42 Hughes, Douglas E. — 8 Hunter, Samuel D. — 44, 61, 71, 73 Iconis, Joe — 104 Jarrow, Kyle — 99 Jenkins, Louis — 71 Jones, Arlitia — 65 Jones, Nick — 21, 52 Jordan, Anna — 39 Josephson, Jonathan — 76 Joy, Lindsay — 76 Jung, Hansol — 26, 73 Kander, John — 106, 119 Kapil, Aditi Brennan — 5, 8 Kash, Marcia — 8 Kavner, Lucas — 62 Keating, Amanda — 77 Kelly, Dennis — 42 Kelly, Frank — 120 Kiechel, Claire — 9 Killebrew, Boo — 79 King, Anthony — 70, 104 King, Carole — 41, 106 King, Denis — 106 King, Larry L. — 119 Kooman, Michael — 105, 110 Kopit, Arthur — 101 Korie, Michael — 86-87 Kraft, Lindsey — 76 Kreidler, Todd — 34 Krieger, Henry — 93, 100 Kron, Lisa — 112 Laird, Marvin — 110, 111 Lapine, James — 118 Leeds, Andrew — 76 LeFranc, Dan — 18, 26

Letts, Tracy — 36, 37 Lipton, Ethan — 6, 7, 9 Loesel, Paul — 93 Loewith, Jason — 41, 106, 110, 118 Lonergan, Kenneth — 57 Longbottom, Robert — 120 Lorick, Robert — 9, 100 Lucas, Craig — 57, 95 Ludwig, Jack — 33, 41 Ludwig, Ken — 33, 40, 41, 46-47, 51, 65 Machado, Eduardo — 42 MacRae, Tom — 121 Malloy, Dave — 88, 102 Mamet, David — 17, 58 Marcantel, Chelsea — 7 Marlette, Doug — 94 Marlin, Eric — 77 Martin, Steve — 82-83 Martin, Trevor — 50 Masterson, Peter — 119 Matthias, Adam — 100 McNally, Terrence — 119 Meehan, Thomas — 101 Melnick, Peter — 118 Messé, Daniel — 95 Millburn, Brendan — 118 Miller, Arthur — 80-81 Miller, Chris — 89, 99 Miller, Robin — 103 Mintz, Melanie — 99 Mitnick, Michael — 94 Monk, Debra — 99 Montoya, Richard — 51, 52 Moore, Mavor — 107 Morgan, Cass — 99 Morisseau, Dominique — 14, 16, 28, 45 Mortimer, Johnnie — 7 Moscovitch, Hannah — 53-55, 55 Moses, Itamar — 25, 66 Mosley, Walter — 66 Moss, Jessica — 77 Moss, Simon — 7 Murphy, Kevin — 120 Murphy, Matthew — 111 Myatt, Julie Marie — 48 Nelson, Richard — 120 Nemiroff, Robert — 93 Nguyen, Qui — 18, 67, 68-69 Norman, Marc — 60 Norman, Marsha — 48, 104 Nwandu, Antoinette — 12-13 Oberacker, Richard — 108-109 O’Brien, Richard — 120 Ockrent, Mike — 93 O’Keefe, Laurence — 120 Oliver, Ryan Scott — 100, 110, 111 Paley, Joel —110, 111 Pamatmat, A. Rey — 18 Park, Jiehae — 28, 33 Parker, Trey — 119 Parks, Suzan-Lori — 57, 65

Pattison, Phil — 50 Payne, Topher — 38, 52 Peirce, Lincoln — 118 Perry, Margaret — 7 Peirce, Lincoln — 41, 118 Pickett, Rex — 14 Poiret, Jean — 103 Powell, Jan — 100, 110 Prince, Harold — 119 Punshon, Sarah — 45 Quilter, Peter — 51, 58 Ramirez, Marco — 28 Rapp, Adam — 48 Ravenhill, Mark — 61 Rebeck, Theresa — 33, 65 Rice, Elmer — 106, 110 Rice, Tim — 120 Robertson, Lanie — 119 Rogers, Mac — 58 Romero, George A. — 50 Rose, Arthur L. — 93 Rosenstock, Kim — 94 Ruhl, Sarah — 14, 25, 64, 75, 110, 111 Russell, Bill — 93, 120 Rylance, Mark — 71 Santoriello, Jill — 103 Saracho, Tanya — 27, 61, 70 Sager, Carole Bayer — 113 Schimmel, John — 99 Schlossberg, Rebecca — 34 Schmidt, Erica — 17 Schmidt, Joshua — 106, 110 Schreck, Heidi — 79 Schwartz, Jenny — 18, 26, 103, 110 Seavey, Jordan — 27 Sendak, Maurice — 41, 106 Sells, Dan Gillespie — 121 Shear, Claudia — 89 Sheik, Duncan — 96-97 Silverman, Jen — 17, 21, 62 Simon, Lucy — 104 Simon, Neil — 41, 111, 113 Simpson, Bland — 94 Skinner, Penelope — 38 Smalls, Charlie — 104 Smith, Caroline — 74 Sobieski, Stacy — 45 Solis, Octavio — 45 Stone, Ken — 100, 110 Stone, Peter — 101 Stoppard, Tom — 38, 60 Swados, Elizabeth — 114-116, 117 Swann, Phil — 41, 111 Sweet, Jeffrey — 26 Sweet, Matthew — 70, 88 Szymkowicz, Adam — 61 Taylor, Robert — 108-109 Tesori, Jeanine — 112 Thomas, Buddy — 25 Thompson, David — 106 Thompson, Lisa B. — 25

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Thorne, Jack — 19 Thureen, Paul — 48, 74, 78 Tolins, Jonathan — 52 Treem, Sarah — 51 Turner, Bryna — 34 Tuttle, Korde Arrington — 76 Tysen, Nathan — 89, 95, 99 Ulloa, Eric — 17 Ulvaeus, BjÖrn — 120 Urbinati, Rob — 34 Valcq, James — 113 Vardalos, Nia — 14 Verner, Gerald — 72 Vernon, Max — 88 Vieh, Lizzie — 76 Wann, Jim — 99 Washburn, Anne — 34, 42 Weiner, Jenny Rachel — 28 West, Ron — 41, 111 Whitelaw, Fiona — 71 Wilson, August — 26, 34 Winters, Ben H. — 41, 113 Wise, Jim — 103 Woldin, Judd — 93 Wood, David — 26, 41, 65 Wright, Doug — 86-87, 88 Yee, Lauren — 30-31, 32 Yeston, Maury — 101 Yockey, Steve — 38 Youstra, Christopher — 41, 118 Zacarias, Karen — 5 Zaltzberg, Charlotte — 93 Zimmerman, Martín — 28, 33

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STAFF (US) Accounting Charles Graytok, CPA Chief Financial Office Nehal Kumar Accounting Manager Andy Lian Staff Accountant Jonah Rosen Royalty Administrator Henry Sedeno Accounts Receivable Associate Marilin Matos Accounting Assistant Business Affairs Lori Thimsen Director of Licensing Compliance Ali Tesluk Business Affairs Associate Rachel Smith Business Affairs Associate Corporate Communications Abbie Van Nostrand Director of Corporate Communications Alejandra Venancio Corporate Communications Administrator

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Operations Casey McLain Director of Operations Tyler Mullen Systems Manager Elizabeth Minski Office Supervisor Jose Rondon, Jr. Office Administrator Samuel French Bookshop (L.A.) Joyce Mehess Bookstore Manager Kristen Springer Book Buyer/Floor Supervisor Trevor Reece Bookstore Associate Brittny Roberts Events Coordinator Adam Steinbrenner Bookstore Associate Alfred Contreras Order Department/Shipping Manager Bruce Lazarus Executive Director Nathan Collins President

SAMUEL FRENCH Samuel French is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading publisher and licensor of plays and musicals. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s catalog features some of the most acclaimed work ever written for the stage and titles by writers at the forefront of contemporary drama. Samuel French is proud to serve as a leader in theatrical publishing and licensing, and is committed to the future by championing playwrights, innovating the industry, and celebrating all those who make theatre happen around the world.

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