Gun Control, Safety, and Aftermath Plays

I have updated the Free Scripts page of my website with three new plays, all dealing with the issue of gun violence. These scripts are located at the top of the page and are free to perform for anyone, but I do suggest you make a donation to any organization helping to deal with the issue of gun violence in the United States today.

These selections are particularly well suited for high school forensics students, but have been performed by other theaters as well.

I have also included comments about these plays culled from reader comments on the New Play Exchange.

Sherlock Holmes and The Terror By Night Train

I’ve been working with some of the most talented actors (including my brother, best friend and awesome new friends) I’ve met for about a month now on the latest Sherri’s Playhouse podcast. I am directing this piece and came up with the story while my writing partner wrote the script. I’m very proud of them and look forward to introducing you to the cast.

So here they are the amazing cast of the Sherlock Holmes mystery, Terror By Night Train.

Sherlock Holmes-C. B. Floyd

 

 

John Watson-Time Winters

 

 

 

C Auguste Dupin-Raymond Brent

 

 

Irene Adler-Tonia Lee Carr

 

 

Moria St James-Cathy Kutz

 

 

James Moriarity-Junior Paul

 

 

 

Lady Phyllis Carstairs-Sherri Rabinowitz

 

 

Amelia Hammersmith –Wendy Pumarlo 

 

 

Cornelia Hammersmith  / Queen Victoria- J’nae Rae Spano

 

 

Jane Higgins-Anne-Louise Fortune

 

Samuel Pearlman-Eli Robert

 

 

Henrietta La Pierre-Morwenna

 

 

Toby-Nathan Goodwin

 

 

Mycroft Holmes/Detective Inspector Lestrade-Nicholas Davidge

 

 

Sherlock Holmes and The Terror by Night Train comes your way January 29, 2017. Look for more information as we get closer to the production.

Warning Shots: A short monologue for young actors

What is this! Two blog posts in one week. What is this madness?

Well it’s been a productive week so far, in fact there may be another blog coming this week as well. You’ll just have to wait around and see won’t you?

Now, to get to the point of today’s posting. A couple of years ago, I saw an opportunity to write a short piece inspired by the American Civil War for a production in Washington DC. In response, I wrote Warning Shots. It is a dramatized retelling of the two attacks on Lawrence, KS before and during the Civil War; the first by “Border Ruffians” (pro-slavery supporters) the second by Confederate leader William Quantrill. In this monologuWare, a young girl named Aella (which means “whirlwind” in Greek and was the name of an Amazon warrior in Greek mythology) witnesses these attacks and tells her story and what she learned.

Warning Shots was performed originally by the EMU Theater company in Lawrence, KS in November of 2015 to great response. Since then, it has kind of sat on my shelf. But I recently asked the daughter of a friend to perform it for a recording. I then “sweetened”the recording and present it to you now.

Warning Shots performed by Jocelyn Goodwin, directed by William J Goodwin, produced and mixed by Everett Robert.

If you would like a copy of Warning Shots you can find it on my Scripts page, at New Play Exchange, or feel free to contact me directly. I am offering this script, FOR FREE to students, schools, and community theaters.

New Year, New Goals, New Shows

2016 has come to a close and 2017 has begun. In the past I’ve talked about how I’ve wanted to spend the new year blogging more, writing more, producing more content. I think I write a variation of this blog every year. this year, the goals are the same; blog more, write more, create more content.

Lets look at what I’ve written in the past year though. I adapted my play  #JohnDoe from podcast format to stage format and had it performed by my local theater, Hays Community Theater, in late April/early May. You can watch these (not very well recorded but still) performances on my YouTube page.

In late May/early June I worked on three new short plays; The Suicide Club (based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson), A Knack For Living (a play set in the old west), and Moonlight (based on The Moonlight Road by Ambrose Bierce). At least two of these will be performed in the upcoming season of Sherri’s Playhouse, heard on the podcast Chatting With Sherri (the same podcast where Murder At Home and #JohnDoe premiered). In addition, I wrote some new 10-minute plays including Thoughts And Prayers in response to the Orlando shooting in June, which was performed in Kalamazoo, MI.

In December, I started work directing a new play for Sherri’s Playhouse as well, Sherlock Holmes and the Terror By Night Train. I came up with the story, my writing partner wrote the script, and I added in additional material. I’m really proud of this cast and can’t wait to share this story with you. It’s coming January 29th.

What does 2017 hold for me? I’m hoping to get Warning Shots, my monologue for young female actor, into the hands of some students for forensic competitions this year. I’d also like to get Superstar, a 10-minute two-hander, into some students hands as well. Both of these are available here on my website, along with some other free scripts. I’m working on an adaptation of the medieval poem The Owl And The Nightingale,  that I think would make for an interesting contemporary political themed piece.

Other goals include getting #JohnDoe into other theaters, seeing more productions of Tom Sawyer and Allie in Wonderland, getting a production of my adaptation of A Christmas Carol and continue writing about the arts and arts advocacy as needed.

So here is to more blogging, more writing, more content creation in 2017 (it probably won’t happen by the way 😉 )

The Producer

“I want to be a producer/with a big show on Broadway…”

Leo Bloom, The Producers

I haven’t been as active on the blog lately but for a good reason. I’ve added a somewhat new hat to my work, that of producer. The past couple of weeks have been a frantic flurry of activity as I’ve been progressing on two shows.

The first, you know about already as I blogged about it last week,  my original show THE WAY OUT WEST PLAYERS RIDE AGAIN. This parody of melodramas was performed at the Bake-Off At High Noon in historic Meade, KS at the Dalton Gang Hideout Park. I was very hands on on this production from writing the script to working with festival organizers to buying costumes and props and working with a costumer. I acted in the show and served as the default director. It was both exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.

The second show, which is planned for this summer in Hays, KS will be a stage production of ALLIE IN WONDERLAND. For this show I’m serving simply as the producer. But this whole thing is more then I ever imagined. As my friend Ray says, “it’s more then just going ‘My dad has a born, lets put on a show!'”

Producers, I’ve learned, are also more then just the “money men”. It’s creating a budget and coming up with the money yes, but it’s expecting the unexpected. It’s dealing with investors and answering questions. It’s figuring out when and where to perform, hiring directors and stage managers and all those things. A producer SHOULD have an understanding of how theater works, I think from my experience as an actor, writer, and director, I understand things that a producer needs to know that I feel make me a better producer then someone who just wants to help.

 

So there it is, the reason I’ve been busy, producing.