Four New Plays Published by Brooklyn Publishers

In the past few weeks, I've had four more of my short plays published by Brooklyn Publishers.  This brings the total number of my plays with them to 37, plus they also publish a collection of my short plays for women, Tightly Bound.

Though Brooklyn primarily markets their scripts to students and the school market, almost all of my plays were originally written and produced for adults (including these four new plays).

The new plays (all ten-minute duets) are all a lot of fun and great for students or adults (you can read samples at the Brooklyn site).  They are:

Confirmed Sighting: Fiona and Kelly have spotted an ivory-billed woodpecker, once thought extinct, in the swamps of Arkansas. Fiona is an ornithologist and this sighting will make her career, but Kelly owns the photographic evidence that Fiona desperately needs.  (This one was in the Boston Theatre Marathon and won the UMBC's In10 International Playwriting Competition.)

Recognition:  A chance encounter between an adoptive mother, Allison, and the birth mother of her child reopens old wounds. How far will Allison push Tanya for information?  (This was a T Play and has been produced in Boston, New York, and California.)

Schedule-Meisters:  Schedule-Meisters promises to help ease any mother’s busy schedule, but Mary might be their most challenging customer yet.  (This was just produced in Australia last week, and won the Lakeshore Players new play competition this past summer.)  (It's a hoot.  A dark comedy that harried parents will appreciate.)

Stick Up for Mars:  Fiona and Kelly are halfway to Mars, but after a year in space their personalities are wearing on each other. One little Post-It note might be the last straw. A zero-gravity comedy.  (Originally produced in 10x10 in North Carolina.  Think "Odd Couple" in space.)

Here's a photo from Schedule-Meisters in Minnesota:

(photo by Joan Elwell of Anissa Lubbers and Jan Arford)

Schedule-Meisters in Australia, November 16-19

My short play, Schedule-Meisters, which premiered in Minnesota this past summer, at the Lakeshore Players festival, will be on stage next week in Australia, at the Short & Sweet Festival, November 16-19, at the Judith Wright Center for Contemporary Art.  Heidi Manche will direct.  Short and Sweet is a huge festival that presents more than 300 short plays by writers from around the world in cities in Australia, India, Singapore, and Malaysia.

This marks the first time my work will have appeared on stage in Australia, so I'm pretty psyched.  (My work has also been on stage in Canada, England, and Mexico.)

The play has just been published by Brooklyn Publishers, and you can read a sample here.  It's a fun comedy about a woman left on the verge of sanity by her seemingly infinite brood of kids, and a young woman from the Schedule-Meisters service who promises she can provide some help.

Schedule-Meisters in Minnesota

In what I think is my Minnesota premiere, my ten-minute play Schedule-Meisters is appearing in the Lakeshore Players 6th Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival. Fellow playwright and Playwright Binge member Claudia Haas is directing.  It's mostly sold out already, but I hear that some of the matinees still have a few tickets left.  So if you're in or know anyone knew White Bear Lake, Minnesota, pass the word.

Here's the summary: Schedule-Meisters promises to help ease any mother’s busy schedule, but Mary might be their most challenging customer yet.