Plays
ALL CHILDISH THINGS: A comedy. A group of life-long friends & Star Wars enthusiasts attempting to steal a fortune in collectible merchandise. Their meticulous planning falls to chaos as their loyalties are put to the ultimate test. 4M/1W
BLACKWATER BALLAD (co-authored w/ Brian Lillie). A musical retelling of Orpheus & Eurydice set in the bayous of New Orleans. Orlandus Duval returns to his hometown of Blackwater Creek to steal away his long lost love, and becomes entangled in both his own past misdeeds and the supernatural ways of the swamp. 5M/3W + Chorus
CAMPFIRE: A horror play. Marcus Carver has brought his niece and nephew back home, one year since the death of his brother and their father. In the woods behind his farm, around a campfire, the Carvers will tell stories as they have for many generations. But a stranger has entered the dimly-lit circle. Their tales take on a darker tone as the night grows long, and family secrets draw the stranger closer to the Carvers. But these secrets come with a dangerous price. 2M/2W
CHANNEL CAT: A southern gothic. The Cully Shack BBQ Joint has been an institution of Mound Bayou for decades. As Otis Cully and his daughter Ada close up one night, the county sheriff arrives for some fried okra and reminiscing. A buried secret is about to be unearthed, a past sin that Otis and the sheriff both hoped was long behind them. What starts as a cordial sit-down turns into a violent encounter that will change three lives forever. 2M/1W
CHRISTMAS CAROL'D: A Christmas play w/ music.The story of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol reworked to be performed by a small company. 3M/2W
DEAD MAN'S SHOES: A dark comedy w/ music, set in the Wild West. Injun Bill Picote & his new partner Froggy travel the west to right a terrible wrong. Bill's only friend has been killed, skinned & turned into a pair of shoes, and he won't stop until the man responsible pays the ultimate price. Loosely based on actual events. 3M/1W
THE DECADE DANCE: A romance. Roger Weems, recently returned from Vietnam, meets Nina Reynolds, an African American student activist, during a Kent State rally. A one-night stand becomes a ten-year journey as Rog and Nina navigate a relationship against the backdrop of a turbulent decade. Ten scenes set against various social events of the 70s provide a glimpse into a country trying to find itself, and two people trying to find their place in it. 1M/1W
DR. SEWARD'S DRACULA: A Gothic drama. Dr. Seward has cut himself off from the rest of the world after losing his lover and friends to Dracula. He has been contacted by the Irish author Bram Stoker, who wishes to tell his story. Soon, a series of murders occur, very similar to the ones Seward fought to stop. The doctor must face demons both real and imagined to find the answers. 4M/1W
DO NOT DISTURB(ED): A horror play. A pair of podcasters find themselves in the Ravenscroft Hotel...a nearly impossible to find resting place with a storied and bloody history. Their investigations turn into a journey through Ravenscroft's past, spanning 50 years of murders, disappearances, and things even stranger. 3m/2w
EBENEZER: A holiday play. It’s a cold Christmas Eve in London, and Ebenezer Scrooge sits in a hospital room. 15 years have passed since his miraculous transformation by the Ghosts of Christmas. Now renowned for his generosity and selflessness, his spirit still yearns to bring cheer to the world, but his flesh is weak. Such a little thing isn’t likely to stop the old man, though, for he has a plan up his sleeve that he hasn’t shared with his two troubled companions – Miss Poole, the nurse assigned to his care, and Tim Cratchit, recently returned from war in America. Over the course of the evening, these two lost souls bear witness to events they do not fully understand as the spirit of Christmas descends on Ebenezer once again. 2M/1W
FIRST SNOW: A holiday comedy. After disappearing for 10 years, Evan Harris has returned to his home town for a Christmas party. His old High School friends want to know where he’s been, why he left, and if he’s still the same man they loved years ago. Between spiked eggnog, snow storms, and power outages, Evan begins to wonder if there really is such a thing as a homecoming. 2M/3W
THE GRAVEDIGGER: A FRANKENSTEIN PLAY: A gothic drama. Set in the late 1700s, in one of Bavaria’s forgotten cemeteries, a lone gravedigger discovers a hideously scarred man hiding in a fresh grave. What the gravedigger doesn’t know is that the man is none other than the legendary monster created by a mad doctor. What the scarred man doesn’t know is the gravedigger’s hand in his creation. And what neither men know is that they are hunted by their shared past. 3M/1W
HAUNTED: THE GREAT LAKES GHOST PROJECT: A ghost story. In 2016, Michigan playwright Joseph Zettelmaier began a journey across his home state. He set about to collect a wide variety of ghost stories, true otherworldly encounters by Michiganders from Milan to Marquette. From these stories came a devised theatrical piece, weaving tales of the supernatural with one person’s journey to answer the question that has haunted so many of us throughout our lives…Do you believe in ghosts? 1m/3w
ICHABOD: A Gothic drama. It's a blustery October night in 1810. A tiny roadside tavern, just outside of a the quiet village of Sleepy Hollow, is visited by a strange man with an even stranger tale. Twenty years earlier, this fellow had a ghostly encounter with the Headless Horseman, and his story has now become legend. But not all tales are told truthfully, and Ichabod Crane has returned to the town that cast him out to finally get his revenge. 2M/2W
INVASIVE SPECIES: A romantic comedy. When lonely Michigan fisherman Earl Hobbs catches and decides to keep a Channa Marulius in his fish tank, the invasive great snakehead becomes the target of a DNR investigation. Soon, overachiever agent Eden Selkirk arrives on the scene, with a dragnet and an attitude as toothy as the fish itself, threatening Earl’s status quo, his peace of mind, and his favorite fishing hole. 1M/1W
IT CAME FROM MARS: A comedy set in 1930s New York. A troupe of radio actors attempt to rehearse their own show the night that Orson Welles delivers his famous War of the Worlds broadcast. The actors fly into hysterics, believing they're about to be obliterated by aliens. Truth & loyalty square off against fear & paranoia. 3M/3W
THE JIGSAW BRIDE: A FRANKENSTEIN PLAY: A Gothic drama. At the end of the Victorian era, Maria von Moos finds an incredible discovery in the ruins of a Swiss castle...Justine, a woman frozen in time for a hundred years. She brings this stranger into her home, and a journey of science and hope begins. As Justine begins to remember who and what she is, Maria sees a future brighter than she could imagine. But harsh realities and betrayals threaten all they hope to accomplish when a traveling circus comes to town. 2W/1M
LANGUAGE LESSONS: A modern drama. Ilyanna is a Russian ballerina at the end of her career. Her final tour takes her to America, where she is housed by a Arthur, a retired diplomat. Cultural misunderstandings give way to friendship as they discover similar hardships from their pasts. As Arthur's health fails, Ilyanna struggles to determine her place in his life. 1M/2W
THE MAN-BEAST: A Gothic drama. In the 1800s, the wilds of France were stalked by a fearsome creature. Over three years, the Beast of Gévaudan claimed over one-hundred victims. Then, an outcast forester killed a hideous wolf-like creature and presented its corpse to King Louis for a rich reward. However, the story he told may not have been the entire truth. He certainly didn't mention a strange woods-witch and her involvement in his great hunt. 1M/1W
THE MEN OF SHERWOOD: A medieval drama. Once, they were Little John, Friar Tuck, Alan-a-Dale, and Will Scarlet. Now they are the last of Robin Hood's band of rogues, and they think their battles are behind them. Long dead are Robin, Marian, King Richard, and the Sheriff. With Will Scarlet newly freed after years of imprisonment, they all gather at Rufford Abbey to drink wine and remember better days. But for one of them, the battle is far from over. They must face what it means to be a legend, and what happens to warriors who outlive their wars. 4M
NEW RELEASES: A comedy. Jen is going down with the sinking ship. That ship is Avid Video, a small-time video rental store that is circling the drain. One night, a strange woman comes in to rent a video that has never been rented...one that Jen didn't even know the store carried. The two of them strike a bizarre deal, and as the months go on, Jen struggles to unravel the mystery of this woman, even as the store she loves marches towards extinction. 1M/2W
NIGHT BLOOMING: A modern drama. Natane gave birth to a daughter when she was 16, and abandoned her. That daughter (Lily) gave birth to her own daughter (Selene) at 16 and chose to raise her alone rather than let her experience the loss Lily has wrestled with all her life. When Selene is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, Lily must track down Natane in hopes of saving her life. 3W
NORTHERN AGGRESSION (formerly AND THE CREEK DON'T RISE): A comedy. Rob and Maddie Graff have left their lives in Michigan hoping to find greener pastures in Georgia. They are welcomed by their neighbor Dr. Benjamin Boggs, a retired physician, a Civil War reenactor, and a life-long Georgian. Cultural misunderstandings lead to a private war between Rob and Doc, with neither side willing to admit defeat. 2M/1W
THE OPERA GHOST: A gothic drama. Deep beneath the famed Palais Garnier Opera House, a mysterious man named Erik has reached the end of his life. The masked musician recounts his macabre life as an alchemist's apprentice, a carnival attraction, a master builder, a killer, a magician, a composer...all of which led him to Paris, where he'd become infamous as The Phantom of the Opera! 1M
OUR LADY OF POISON, A romantic drama. 1659, Rome, Italy. Giulia Tofana and her daughter Girolama are beloved apothecaries and friends to the downtrodden. Those who know them well also know that they're the most prominent poisoners in the city. They've spent decades providing unfortunate women a means to free themselves from unwanted husbands. When the young bride of a nobleman requests their help, an unexpected romance blossoms. But that very love threatens to destroy the life Giulia has built for her family. 3W
PULP: A comedy. Los Angeles, 1933. PI Frank Ellery doesn't know it, but he's taken on the strangest case of his life. A literary agent has been gruesomely murdered. The 4 suspects: his remaining clients, all writers for different pulp magazines. Frank dives into the mystery, and his world turns upside down as life begins to imitate literature. Science fiction, romance, adventure, horror...and one down-on-his-luck gumshoe who's about to learn what really lurks between the lines. 4M/1W
THE RENAISSANCE MAN: A comedy. Martin has long served as the King's Knight in the Gloriana Renaissance Festival. However, his girlfriend Emma seeks greater glory for both herself and her love. Through deceit and guile, the two take Gloriana for their own, ousting the current King. But they soon discover that taking the kingdom is much easier than keeping it. A comic re-imagining of Macbeth. 3M/3W
SALVAGE: A modern drama. Jason Lorio runs a memorabilia shop in Detroit. His business is near-dead when Anna enters, hoping he'll appraise a rare postcard. The two begin to form a friendship, and as Anna begins to open up about her past, it becomes clear she may hold the key to solving Jason's financial woes. But when the truth about Anna begins to come out, Jason has to decide exactly what he can live with. 1M/1W
THE SCULLERY MAID: A medieval drama. King Edward has declared an uneasy truce with France, and he celebrates with his nobles in Nottingham Castle. Unbeknownst to him, a murder plot is being hatched in his kitchen by the lowliest of his servants. Miriam the scullery maid has long blamed Edward for the death of her father, and she will see the king dead this night, even if it costs her her own life. 2M/3W
SHOCK! THE SPINE-TINGLING TALE OF MISS SPIDRA: A comedy. Her fans never knew Joyce Billings. To them, she was Miss Spidra, campy host of The Night Parlor, Toledo’s midnight horror movie show. Starting as a struggling actress trying to make her mark, Joyce finds herself becoming an icon, a celebrity. But her efforts to keep her beloved show alive cost her more than she could have guessed. Framed against a documentary about her life, Miss Spidra’s journey through the monster craze of the 60s asks what lines one will cross to succeed. 2w/1m. (2-3 actors appear in video documentary)
SWORDPLAY: A drama. Martine Lowe was an Olympic fencer until a brutal assault put her into a coma. Her recovery has been long and difficult, but she's managed to regain most of what she's lost. In hopes of returning to the competitive fencing world, she's begun training with Declan Teague, a man famous for his prestigious students and his unusual teaching methods. Martine moves in and out of reality as she faces the truth of what's happened to her and what it means to be a sword. 1 or 2M/1W.
THE WINTER WOLF: A fairy tale. It's Christmas night in Cora's house. She's visited by her beloved grandfather, a man of high spirits and failing health. They sit around the fireplace and she listens to the legend of the Winter Wolf, a strange creature who serves as Time's hunter, stalking those who are in the winter of their lives. That night, the Winter Wolf comes for Cora's grandfather, but the young girl manages to trap it. What follows is a magical journey through the mysteries of time, as Cora learns how far one can go for the sake of someone they love. 2M/2W/1 M or W
