MY PLAYS
Miss Bonnie Belle
A Modern Fairytale Comedy in Two Acts
by Carl Rich
TIME
Early 1950'S
PLACE
Hometown USA
About
Self-discoveryThe course of true love never did run smooth (Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Act 1, Scene 2)
Will Art Martin, our male Cinderella beat the wicked scheming of his foes that are joyfully planning to sink him. Will he get the girl and reveal his potential, by risking everything? In this contemporary fairytale, as in all fairytales there is more truth then fiction.
Miss Bonnie Belle Cast
Art Martin - A college senior drama major about to graduateJulie Broskie - His "beauty queen girlfriend"Peter Broskie - Her wealthy self made social climbing fatherGrace Broskie - His blue blood wifeDon Prince - Art's best friendKathy Broskie - Don's girlfriend and Julie's cousinSanford Cunningham - Lawyer and leader of the local establishmentTrevor Cunningham - His playboy sonSally Brogenwitch - Trevor's secret girlfriendBlanche - A theatre costume and wig makerProfessor Hansen - A political Science ProfessorGino - A private eyeConnie and Lynn - Local radio announcersBit Roles: Cabby, Socialite, Socialite'sm Daughter, Custodian, Clerk, Blond, Girl on Blanket, Man #1, Man #2, Voice of MC, Voice of Contestant, Little GirlThe following roles can be combined: Gino & Man #2 - Connie & Socialite - Lynn & Man #2 - Custodian, Cabby & Voice of MC - Blond, Socialit's Daughter, Clerk, Girl on Blanket & Voice of Contestant
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| Miss. Bonnie Bell Stage Reading Cast |
Quote from: Miss Bonnie Belle
Art: "yes... there is no one here. You're right. There is no one here. No one but, Leslie Art Martin!"
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| Talk Back after staged reading at the Second Act New Works Festival at Dixie State University |
A Grief of Mind
by Carl Rich
A Tragedy in Two Acts
Time
The Present
Place
A horse ranch in the American Southwest
A play about lies
The lies we live byThe lies we tell othersThe lies we tell ourselve...fanatic beliefAnd Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith...Which was a Grief of Mind... Gen. 26:34-35
At the edge of the Southwestern desert, Jacob struggles to hatch his fathers utopian paradise, battling his rebellious brother Esau, who for twenty years has blocked that dream by refusing to take his place as leader of the community.Suddenly, Esau appears with Judith, a beautiful single-minded woman and her stunning daughter, Esther, and announces his intention to take control. But, Leah, Esau’s wife (who Jacob has always loved) has a secret that will give Jacob the leadership. But, Jacob is unaware that Esau has discovered the truth about their father.Judith’s vitality and Esther’s coyness are a threat that can change their lives forever.Unfortunately, no one is paying any attention to the canny Joseph.The conflicts mount, revealing a series of surprises that explode into an unforgettable climax.
A Grief of Mind Cast
Eight Unforgettable CharactersJOSEPH, charismatic (like his Biblical counterpart), able to turn disaster into personal gain, separated from his real father not by distance but by death, he lives in paternal slavery. Unlike his brothers, he is street-wise and adroit at getting his way through every means available. Unlike Joseph of old, he is no dreamer, but knows that in the end the inheritance, and Esther will all be his.ESTHER, bursting with sexual vitality and the necessary feigned innocence, arrives at the ranch with her mother to challenge the family’s mores. She is Joseph’s future and a last chance for a lost dream for both Jacob and Esau.ESAU, as a boy loved his father as a “man” and not as the saint his father professed to be. He betrays his birthright by yielding to his thirst for truth. Unreconciled with his father when he died, he stays—torn between his love for his father and his need to escape. Esau returns from a trip to the city with Esther and Judith, and a secret plan that will bring about a final resolution and reconciliation.LEAH, Esau’s wife of twenty years, panics when Esau returns. She is the sole keeper of a secret known only to her and Esau’s dead father, a secret that Judith’s presence will force her to reveal, a secret that will at last bring Jacob to her bed for whom she has waited on Esau’s many absences only to cry herself to sleep.JACOB, unlike Joseph, is a sufferer who must fight for his place, losing his personal happiness in the process. He is a man to whom everything comes hard and belatedly. Jacob and Leah in a moment of human weakness consummated their love as teenagers and have lived celibately as man and wife under Esau’s nose, “talking with their eyes.” Jacob has wrestled with God day and night for over twenty years, each day proving again to himself his own piety and the validity of his father’s theology. Jacob is not as lucky as the Biblical Jacob in stealing the blessing from his brother. He must manage the sect his father founded while his backsliding brother sits with his nose in a book. Then Judith, as if by divine intervention, arrives to break his long fast and spread before him a table over-flowing to sate his passions.JUDITH, bold and tenacious as Tamar in Genesis 38, interjects herself into the blessing, not just to be a partaker but the fountainhead of all who will carry the blessing into the future. Frustrated to be the bearer of the blessing by Esau, just as Tamar was by Judah’s sons, she seduces Jacob using Esther as a plum. Knowing that she is the future, Judith will not accept defeat from any quarter. She has absolute insight into Jacob, and with self-confident single-mindedness, brings him to execute a plan that will destroy Esau and his plan, and give Jacob absolute power while easily deceiving the sheriff.THE SHERIFF, knows that truth and justice are as elusive as a desert mirage.BROTHER GOODMAN must have some cause to give meaning to his life, a cause that will make him part of an elite (that will save the world) and bury his feelings of guilt.Plus, one ghost from the past.THE FATHER, long dead, still inhabits the ranch house. His large portrait hangs on the wall behind the big table, offset by a cabinet that holds its own secrets, and three large hooks made from bullhorns, all made by his skilled hands.
Quote From: A Grief of Mind
Leah: "There's smoldering going on here Jacob. You and me, we've been smoldering for over twenty years. Now we are free. "
Gilgamesh
A Play in Act Based on the Ancient Sumerian Epic
by Carl Rich
by Carl Rich
Time
Today and 2000 BCE
Today and 2000 BCE
Place
A small evangelical church that is about to be disbanded and Sumeria
A small evangelical church that is about to be disbanded and Sumeria
About
BeingMy joy is death- Death, at whose name I oft have been afeard, Because I wish'd this world's eternity. (Shakespeare: Henry VI, Part 2: Act 2, Scene 4)
An evangelical minister tells his flock, which is about to be disbanded, and us, the Epic of Gilgamesh.A story about, Gilgamesh, a powerful, accomplished and unequaled king, who is restless and fears he will be forgotten after he dies and is driven to do a heroic deed that will never be forgotten but runs up against a god who fears that man’s restlessness will lead to the gods being forgotten and who wants to keep man fearful by humbling Gilgamesh.Gilgamesh who is now alone and fearful of death is forced to use all his physical prowess and stubbornness in order to defeat the god who is forced to use the furies of nature and persecution in order to defeat Gilgamesh.In the end, Gilgamesh who is now certain to die decides to use wisdom and reason in order to finally defeat the god.Gilgamesh learns that the joy of living is in the struggle and that death gives meaning to life.
Being
My joy is death- Death, at whose name I oft have been afeard, Because I wish'd this world's eternity. (Shakespeare: Henry VI, Part 2: Act 2, Scene 4)
An evangelical minister tells his flock, which is about to be disbanded, and us, the Epic of Gilgamesh.
A story about, Gilgamesh, a powerful, accomplished and unequaled king, who is restless and fears he will be forgotten after he dies and is driven to do a heroic deed that will never be forgotten but runs up against a god who fears that man’s restlessness will lead to the gods being forgotten and who wants to keep man fearful by humbling Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh who is now alone and fearful of death is forced to use all his physical prowess and stubbornness in order to defeat the god who is forced to use the furies of nature and persecution in order to defeat Gilgamesh.
In the end, Gilgamesh who is now certain to die decides to use wisdom and reason in order to finally defeat the god.
Gilgamesh learns that the joy of living is in the struggle and that death gives meaning to life.
Gilgamesh Cast
Utnapishtim - Storyteller and survivor of the delugeGilgamesh - King of UrikEnkidu - Man of the wildIshtar - Goddess of the city of UrikShamhat - A HarlotShamash - The sun godHumbaba - The rogue of the forestHunterThe BarmaidUtnapishtim's WifeThe GuideIngenueChorus - Mimimum of four. All the other actors except Utnapishtim join the chorus when they are not wearing a mask playing a part. The. Play can be performed with as few as six and as many as sixteen or more cast members. The play is written for the blackbox theatre.
Utnapishtim - Storyteller and survivor of the deluge
Gilgamesh - King of Urik
Enkidu - Man of the wild
Ishtar - Goddess of the city of Urik
Shamhat - A Harlot
Shamash - The sun god
Humbaba - The rogue of the forest
Hunter
The Barmaid
Utnapishtim's Wife
The Guide
Ingenue
Chorus - Mimimum of four. All the other actors except Utnapishtim join the chorus when they are not wearing a mask playing a part. The. Play can be performed with as few as six and as many as sixteen or more cast members. The play is written for the blackbox theatre.
Quote From Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh: "Youth is never plain."
Stage Reading of Gilgamesh at the Center for the Arts Kayenta, April 4, 2018
Gilgamesh: "Youth is never plain."
Stage Reading of Gilgamesh at the Center for the Arts Kayenta, April 4, 2018
Trial
A Tragedy in Two Acts
by Carl Rich
by Carl Rich
Time
Summer Morning Late 1920's
Summer Morning Late 1920's
Place
The main room in a middle class home in a happy town on the main railroad line somewhere in the inter-mountain west.
The main room in a middle class home in a happy town on the main railroad line somewhere in the inter-mountain west.
About
Veracity...visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation... Exodus 20:5
Teenage sisters Annie and Betsy are unaware that in their home the family skeletons are not in a closet, but in their grandmothers old trunk. Accidentally, their fiddling with the trunk brings them to the brink of a teenage disaster, which they escape by the skin-of-their-teeth, by engaging in girlish tomfoolery. Unfortunately, their mother, and Aunt Ora, who surreptitiously arrived to try to bury the skeletons forever, discover that a Trial of the past has created for them a "Trial" from which they can never escape.
Veracity
...visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation... Exodus 20:5
Teenage sisters Annie and Betsy are unaware that in their home the family skeletons are not in a closet, but in their grandmothers old trunk. Accidentally, their fiddling with the trunk brings them to the brink of a teenage disaster, which they escape by the skin-of-their-teeth, by engaging in girlish tomfoolery. Unfortunately, their mother, and Aunt Ora, who surreptitiously arrived to try to bury the skeletons forever, discover that a Trial of the past has created for them a "Trial" from which they can never escape.
Trial Cast
Leah - A housewife in her thirtiesAnnie - Her sixteen year-old daughterBetsy - Annie's fourteen year-old sisterAunt Ora - The girls great aunt (mid-sixtiesJohn D. Lee - On trial, sixty-five years oldSamuel Knight - Prosecution witness, in his late fiftiesNephi Johnson - Prosecution witness in his late fortiesJacob Hamelin - Prosecution witness in his seventies
Leah - A housewife in her thirties
Annie - Her sixteen year-old daughter
Betsy - Annie's fourteen year-old sister
Aunt Ora - The girls great aunt (mid-sixties
John D. Lee - On trial, sixty-five years old
Samuel Knight - Prosecution witness, in his late fifties
Nephi Johnson - Prosecution witness in his late forties
Jacob Hamelin - Prosecution witness in his seventies
Quote From Trial
Annie: "My hearts been in my mouth all day. Now! No one will ever know what really happened."
Annie: "My hearts been in my mouth all day. Now! No one will ever know what really happened."
Friendly Divorce
by Carl Rich
by Carl Rich
A Short One Act Comedy
Time
The present
The present
Place
A conference room in the courthouse
A conference room in the courthouse
About
CompromiseMarriage is a matter of more worth Than to be dealt in by attorneyship. (Shakespeare: 1Henry VI 5.5.50-1)
Quentin and Harmony are passionately in love and happily married in a marriage where there is no compromise. An unfortunate incident has forced them to get divorced, so that they can live together and compromise.
CompromiseMarriage is a matter of more worth Than to be dealt in by attorneyship. (Shakespeare: 1Henry VI 5.5.50-1)Quentin and Harmony are passionately in love and happily married in a marriage where there is no compromise. An unfortunate incident has forced them to get divorced, so that they can live together and compromise.
Friendly Divorce Cast
Mr. Stone - A No-fault Divorce RefereeQuentin - An AccountantHarmony - His Wife
Mr. Stone - A No-fault Divorce RefereeQuentin - An AccountantHarmony - His Wife
Quote from: Friendly Divorce
Harmony: "oh, I know everyone says a good marriage is based on compromise - what nonsense. When two people compromise, what have you got? Two unhappy people who never get what they really want because they always compromise. It's the death of marriage. But, if they don't compromise, that means they each get what they want some of the time. So, instead of being unhappy all the time, both get to be happy some of the time."
Harmony: "oh, I know everyone says a good marriage is based on compromise - what nonsense. When two people compromise, what have you got? Two unhappy people who never get what they really want because they always compromise. It's the death of marriage. But, if they don't compromise, that means they each get what they want some of the time. So, instead of being unhappy all the time, both get to be happy some of the time."
Circus
A Short One Act Tragedy
by Carl Rich
by Carl Rich
Time
Late evening 1944 and May 7, 1945
Place
Hometown USA
About
FollyKitchen in a small house and the Front Line in GermanyI am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all lmoonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell. (William Tecumseh Sherman)
Roy a "gung ho" young father determined not to miss out on the biggest event of the 20th Century - misses out.
Roy a "gung ho" young father determined not to miss out on the biggest event of the 20th Century - misses out.
Circus Cast
Roy - A twent-five year old laborerKaren - His wifeCaptain - A thirty-year-old officerSgt. Porter - A twenty-five-old NCOFirst GI - A twenty-year-old soldierSecond GI - A eighteen-year-old soldierQuote from: CircusStg. Porter: "Damn...! Anybody know his name?"
DSU students rehearsing a scene form Circus for Video
Roy - A twent-five year old laborerKaren - His wifeCaptain - A thirty-year-old officerSgt. Porter - A twenty-five-old NCOFirst GI - A twenty-year-old soldierSecond GI - A eighteen-year-old soldierQuote from: CircusStg. Porter: "Damn...! Anybody know his name?"
DSU students rehearsing a scene form Circus for Video
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