OneActs & Short Plays

—Time Out NY

SHOT: Caught a Soul

by Gloria J. Browne-Marshall DRAMA

1 WOMEN, 2 MEN

Kareem, a Black teen, waits for the bus, at night, in a suburban White neighbourhood. He is approached by O’Donald, a White police officer. They struggle. A shot rings out. Kareem is dead. O’Donald says he feared for his life. The Police Union’s representative defends the shooting as self-defense. Kareem’s Aunt Janice protests her nephew’s death as racial profiling. There are no witnesses, but the truth will not die. Kareem’s spirit haunts Officer O’Donald, demanding to know why he was killed.

Gloria J. BrowneMarshall is a Professor of Constitutional Law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY), and taught in the Africana Studies Program at Vassar. Plays include SHOT: CAUGHT A SOUL and DREAMS OF EMMETT TILL. She is also a civil rights attorney who litigated cases for Southern Poverty Law Center and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc. She has spoken on issues of law and justice around the world.

Material Girls

by Michael Griffo COMEDY

12 WOMEN, 4 MEN (DOUBLING)

Some girls got it and some don’t. Materialism, that is. They’re fashionistas, influencers, girls who think they have all they need to succeed in life—but do they? As Tiffany and her material girl—and guy— friends get ready to graduate high school, they start to realise there might be more to life than finding the most glittery eyeshadow. Is it too late to change? Penny doesn’t think so. With her help, Tiffany and her fashion-victim friends might discover they have other options to succeed in the material world.

Promapocalypse

by Michael Griffo COMEDY

5 WOMEN, 5 MEN (DOUBLING)

Ask any high school senior and they’ll tell you prom is the most important night of their lives. But Julian—an evil alien warlord posing as an ordinary high school student—has turned the night into a disaster. And it’s all thanks to Becca, who made the colossally bad decision to ask Julian to the prom. Now Julian and his henchmen plan to bring the senior class back to his planet to be his servants. It’s a fight to the finish as Becca and her friends try to save themselves from a horrible existence and—more importantly—save the prom!

Vampire Valedictorian

by Michael Griffo COMEDY

7 WOMEN, 5 MEN (DOUBLING)

It’s vampires versus teenagers in this epic battle to stop graduation from turning into a bloodbath. Caitlin is class valedictorian, but she’s also acting really weird. So weird that Carly thinks she’s a vampire. And not a friendly high school vampire who likes to sleep in, but the kind that wants to destroy her classmates and turn them into an army of undead minions. Can Carly and her friends stop Caitlin before graduation? Or will they be doomed to live for eternity without a diploma?

Michael Griffo has written 11 novels and over 25 plays and screenplays. His debut novel, Between Boyfriends, was published by Kensington Books in 2010 under the pseudonym Michael Salvatore. Under his given name, Griffo has published two young-adult supernatural trilogies: The Archangel Academy and The Darkborn Legacy. His latest novel, Murder on Memory Lake, is written under the pseudonym J.D. Griffo and is the first entry in a new cozy mystery series.

The Christmas Carol Farce

by Jon Jory and Michael Bigelow Dixon

17 WOMEN, 8 MEN

Charles Dickens’ ghost arranges for a high school production of A Christmas Carol to be broadcast on TV. The cast is ecstatic, until they learn their performance must be cut to one hour. At the TV studio, they discover it must be cut to 40 minutes for commercials. Just before they go on-air, an overtime football game forces them to cut again. When all that’s left is five minutes, they perform a hilariously fast holiday classic.

Jon Jory was the Producing Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville for 32 years, and directed over 125 plays and produced over 1,000 during his tenure. He conceived the internationally lauded Humana Festival of New American Plays. He was also the Artistic Founding Director of Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecti- cut, and he has been inducted into New York’s Theatre Hall of Fame. For his commitment to new plays, he has received the Margo Jones Award, Carnegie Mellon’s Commitment to Playwriting Award, and the Special Tony Award for Achievement in Regional Theatre.

Michael Bigelow Dixon has taught theatre at Transylvania University, Goucher College, Carleton College, and Wofford College, was Resident Director at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, Literary Director at The Guthrie Theatre, and Literary Manager and then Associate Artistic Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Michael has co-edited 38 volumes of plays, criticism, and social history. He’s also written two books for young readers: Once Upon a Pig, A Tell-It-Yourself Photo Storybook and Alice in Winter Wonderland with Janet Allard and illustrations by Michael O. Sanders.

MARY AND JOSEPH…AND COMPANY

by David Overton

COMEDY

2 WOMEN, 3 MEN

MARY AND JOSEPH…AND

COMPANY tells the story of Mary and Joseph as they journey toward Bethlehem to be counted in the census, and their surprising encounters with characters the whole family will recognise. This fresh reimagining of Mary and Joseph draws on the comedic styles of Don Knotts, Steve Carell, John Cleese, and Kristen Wiig and provides warmth and joy during the holiday season!

SHAKESPEARE’S DEAD DAMES

by David Overton COMEDY

7 ACTORS (GENDER-NEUTRAL CASTING ALLOWED)

After their in-performance deaths, six female Shakespearean characters find themselves in a holding area until the play they are a character in gets revived by another Shakespeare company so that they can (re)live their tragedy over (and over) again. It’s a comic romp that evokes Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit meets Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author meets Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

THRICE UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR: A Triptych of Three-Actor Trysts

by David Overton

COMEDY

3-9 ACTORS (GENDERNEUTRAL CASTING ALLOWED)

THRICE UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR gives audiences a peek into the unlikely—but hilarious— conversations of The Three Wise Men, The Three Wise Women, and The Three Not-So-Wise Shepherds in this traveling triptych as they follow the Star of Bethlehem contemplating its wonder, its mystery…and a good game of golf!

David Overton is the founder and artistic director of Long Island Classics Stage Company in Centerport, New York, where he primarily works with young actors on performing the works of Shakespeare and developing their transferable life skills for stellar social interaction.