(2010) 34th HUMANA FESTIVAL
SIRENS by Deborah Zoe Laufer: Full length, 1 act. Enchanting music, memories of passionate youth and Facebook Scrabble conspire against drifting empty-nesters Sam and Rose in this captivating comedy. Will a 25th anniversary cruise to the magical and mythical Greek Isles rekindle their relationship? Rose hopes so, but Sam has other ideas. 2M, 2W. More About the Play

FISSURES (LOST AND FOUND) by Steve Epp, Cory Hinkle, Dominic Orlando, Dominique Serrand, Deborah Stein and Victoria Stewart: Full length, 1 act. Why is it that each time you remember the past, you forget and invent a little more of it? How does a place or a song conjure an experience that you didn’t even know you had lost? Artists from the acclaimed groups Theatre de la Jeune Lune and the Workhaus Collective have teamed up to roam through the fanciful, mysterious territories between recollection and imagination, loss and rediscovery, creating a piece that playfully embodies the ever-shifting landscape of memory. 2M, 2W.
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GROUND by Lisa Dillman: Full length, 2 acts. When Zelda inherits her father’s pecan farm, she discovers that the world at the border between the United States and Mexico has changed. As she faces hard choices about keeping or letting go of the farm, Zelda’s beliefs about family, home, community and civil rights are tested in the face of a shifting political and social landscape. 3M, 3 W
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PHOENIX by Scott Organ: Full length, 1 act. An out-of-character one-night stand spills into 7 weeks, 4000 miles and 6 cups of coffee as two strangers question the calculated lives they lead and contemplate the uncertain world that might be. A sly comedy about how getting off course can put you on the right track. 1M, 1W.
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THE METHOD GUN written by Kirk Lynn, directed by Shawn Sides, created and performed by Rude Mechs: Full length, 1 act. The Method Gun explores the life and techniques of Stella Burden, actor-training guru of the 60s and 70s, whose sudden emigration to South America still haunts her most fervent followers. Ms. Burden’s training technique, The Approach (often referred to as "the most dangerous acting technique in the world"), fused Western acting methods with risk-based rituals in order to give even the smallest role a touch of sex, death and violence. A play about the ecstasy and excesses of performing, the dangers of public intimacy and the incompatibility of truth on stage and sanity in real life. 2M, 3W.
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THE CHERRY SISTERS REVISITED by Dan O'Brien, music by Michael Friedman: Full length, 2 acts. How far can you go with ambition, gumption, a good heart—and no talent? The Cherry Sisters’ dreams of Vaudeville took them from their Iowa barn to Broadway, where their inept acrobatics and tone-deaf caterwauling continually sold out, bringing them fame—and a barrage of rotten cabbages. With music by Michael Friedman (This Beautiful City, Gone Missing) and based on a true story, Dan O’Brien’s thought-provoking comedy takes a look at the insatiable urge to perform, and the audience’s inability to look away. 3 M, 2 W.
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LET BYGONES BE by Gamal Abdel Chasten: Ten-minute play. Against an American landscape of endless highway and abandoned railroad tracks, Chasten blends poetry with bluegrass, folk and zydeco in this nostalgic story about progress and its price. 6M, 2W.
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POST WAVE SPECTACULAR by Diana Grisanti: Ten-minute play. Three plucky women, united by one man’s addictive charms, invite his latest conquest Jessica to tea. When the party becomes an intervention, this sudden sisterhood takes a turn. 4W.
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LOBSTER BOY by Dan Dietz: Ten-minute play. A boy hatches a plan to cure his younger brother, who was born without the capacity for pain, in this haunting play about the things we just can’t feel. 1M.
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AN EXAMINATION OF THE WHOLE PLAYWRIGHT/ACTOR RELATIONSHIP PRESENTED AS SOME KIND OF COP SHOW PARODY by Greg Kotis: Ten-minute play. A playwright has written a bad play; the actors want to know why. This scribe better talk, or some bad theatre will happen. Real bad. 2M.
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HEIST! conceived and created by Sean Daniels and Deborah Stein, written by Deborah Stein: Full length, 1 act. A priceless masterpiece by a reclusive genius is set to be unveiled at 21c Museum Hotel, North America’s one-of-a-kind venue for 21st century art...and you’re invited! But the opening night party is about to be turned upside-down, thanks to a wily team of infamous art thieves. As you move through the galleries in and around 21c, you’ll meet penguin-obsessed mobsters and intrepid heisters, eccentric locals and lawmen in this amusingly audacious caper performed by the 2009-2010 Acting Apprentice Company. 11 M, 11 W, can be doubled to smaller cast.
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(2009) 33rd HUMANA FESTIVAL
AMERIVILLE by UNIVERSES (Gamal Abdel Chasten, Mildred Ruiz, William Ruiz aka Ninja and Steven Sapp): Full length, 1 act. UNIVERSES puts the state of the Union under a microscope—race, poverty, politics, history and government—examining our country through the lens of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. Ameriville combines an innovative mix of poetry, music, movement and drama to get to the heart of this American tragedy. 3M, 1F. More About the Play

SLASHER by Allison Moore: Full length, 1 act. When she’s cast as the “last girl” in a low-budget slasher flick, Sheena thinks it’s the big break she’s been waiting for. But news of the movie unleashes her malingering mother’s thwarted feminist rage, and Mom is prepared to do anything to stop filming…even if it kills her. 2M, 4W.
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ABSALOM by Zoe Kazan: Full length, 2 acts. At a Berkshires country house, the children of an aging literary giant gather for a party celebrating the release of their patriarch’s tell-all autobiography. When an unexpected guest appears, this family—writers or editors all—must reckon with their stories and who owns them, and with the secrets, betrayals and deep bonds that define what they’ll do for love. 4M, 2W.
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THE HARD WEATHER BOATING PARTY by Naomi Wallace: Full length, 2 acts. Three men, almost strangers, meet in a hotel room to plan an ugly crime against a powerful adversary. Inspired by research on Louisville's Rubbertown neighborhood, Wallace’s play explores the struggle between industrial greed and growth, and the health of the community. 3M.
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UNDER CONSTRUCTION by Charles L. Mee, directed by Anne Bogart, created and performed by SITI Company: Full length, 1 act. A collage of America today, inspired by Norman Rockwell and contemporary installation artist Jason Rhoades, Mee’s play juxtaposes the fifties and the present, red states and blue, where we grew up and where we live now—a piece that is, like America, permanently under construction. 6M, 3W.
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WILD BLESSINGS: A CELEBRATION OF WENDELL BERRY adapted for the stage by Marc Masterson and Adrien-Alice Hansel from the writing of Wendell Berry: Full length, 2 acts. An exploration of the earth, its citizens and the impact of each on the other. This world premiere brings the works of nationally acclaimed poet, novelist and ecological visionary Wendell Berry to the stage in a celebration of words, music and a life well lived. 3 M, 2 W.
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ON THE PORCH ONE CRISP SPRING MORNING by Alex Dremann: Ten-minute play. Terms of Endearment meets Get Smart in this hilarious spy saga. With infinite twists, turns and double-crossings, Dremann brings new meaning to mother-daughter “Bond”-ing. 2W.
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3:59am: a drag race for two actors by Marco Ramirez: Ten-minute play. Two young men on the edge find redemption behind the wheel. Ramirez deftly fuses lyrical beauty and percussive heat in this high-octane, pulse-pounding drag race. 2 M.
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ROANOKE by Michael Lew, music and lyrics by Matt Schatz: Ten-minute play. Butter churns, hardtack and...musical numbers? This hilarious inside look at the high-stakes, hardcore world of historical re-enactors pits accuracy against exuberance against interoffice politics in the Lost Colony of Roanoke. 2M, 2W.
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BRINK! by Lydia R. Diamond, Kristoffer Diaz, Greg Kotis, Deborah Zoe Laufer, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and Deborah Stein: Full length, 1 act. From first date to marriage, birth to death and hiring to firing, six fabulous and funny playwrights join forces with our twenty-two acting apprentices to explore rites of passage. 11 M, 11 W, can be doubled to smaller cast.
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(2008) 32nd HUMANA FESTIVAL
GREAT FALLS Lee Blessing: Full length, 1 act. A man lost in his adult life drives across the West with his stepdaughter—a young girl at the beginning of hers. The broken ground is echoed by their broken past. He's trying to fit together a new life using pieces of the old. She's just trying to survive. 1M, 1F. More About the Play

BECKY SHAW by Gina Gionfriddo: Full length, 2 acts. A newlywed couple fixes up two romantically challenged friends: Wife’s best friend, meet husband’s sexy and strange new co-worker. When an evening calculated to bring happiness takes a dark turn, crisis and comedy ensue. This wickedly funny new play asks what we owe the people we love and the strangers who land on our doorstep. 2M, 3W.
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THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY by Steven Cosson and Jim Lewis, music and lyrics by Michael Friedman, from interviews by Emily Ackerman, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Brad Heberlee, Stephen Plunkett, Alison Weller and the authors: Full length, 2 acts. This Beautiful City is a play with music, created from interviews with actual persons, that explores the Evangelical movement and its unofficial U.S. capital. Because of the presence of several national Evangelical headquarters, the influential megachurch New Life (formerly led by Ted Haggard), and numerous and diverse churches, questions surrounding religion and civic concerns are brought to the foreground of everyday life in this city. The Civilians’ project looks at Colorado Springs as a microcosm of issues facing the country as a whole—the shifting line between church and state, changing ideas about the nature of Christianity, and how different beliefs can either coexist or conflict within a community. 6 M, 6 W, 3 musicians.
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the break/s by Marc Bamuthi Joseph: Full length, 1 act. With two turntables, video and a spoken word virtuoso, the living history of the hip-hop generation is dramatically realized through the performed personal narrative of poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Drawing on interviews and documentary footage, this collaboration between performer, score and projected image puts hip-hop culture into personal, historical and political perspective while exploding the boundaries of theater, dance and film. 3M.
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ALL HAIL HURRICANE GORDO by Carly Mensch: Full length, 2 acts. The routines of daily life get blown apart when two brothers take in a plucky young houseguest. While India is running away from her relatively normal family, Chaz is struggling to find normalcy in the one he already has. Is it possible to be your brother's keeper and have a life too? 3M, 1W.
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NEIGHBORHOOD 3: REQUISITION OF DOOM by Jennifer Haley: Full length play in 6 rounds. In a suburban subdivision with identical houses, parents find their teenagers addicted to an online horror video game. The game setting? A subdivision with identical houses. The goal? Smash through an army of zombies to escape the neighborhood for good. But as the line blurs between virtual and reality, both parents and players realize that fear has a life of its own. 3 M, 2 W.
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IN PARIS YOU WILL FIND MANY BAGUETTES BUT ONLY ONE TRUE LOVE by Michael Lew: Ten-minute play. Liz is looking for love and Lindy is looking to fix her broken heart—so they head, of course, to Paris. When Liz finds the man of her dreams, Lindy faces a decision: can we just let our friends be happy? Advisory: This play contains a mime. 1 M, 2W.
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ONE SHORT SLEEPE by Naomi Wallace: Ten-minute play. A young Lebanese student spins a web of connections between what he knew, what his sister saw, and the war that threatened them both. 1 M.
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DEAD RIGHT by Elaine Jarvik: Ten-minute play. A friend's flawed obituary propels Penny and her unwitting husband Bill headlong into prickly unanswered questions about their own lives. A touching comedy about who we are, how we see ourselves and how we hope to be remembered. 1 M, 1 W.
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TONGUE, TIED by M. Thomas Cooper: Ten-minute play. Plagued by malcontent sock puppets, two lost souls seek professional help. A zany and raucous exploration of accepting oddity—even if it's stuck to your hand. 1 M, 1 W.
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GAME ON by Zakiyyah Alexander, Rolin Jones, Alice Tuan, Daryl Watson, Marisa Wegrzyn and Ken Weitzman, music and lyrics by Jon Spurney: Full length, 1 act. We’re ready to play with guts and heart and rise to the challenge of examining American culture through the prism of sports. Sports touch all of our lives whether we are fans, players, tax- or tuition-payers.  In this Olympic and election year, what do sports tell us about ourselves? 11 M, 11 W, can be doubled to smaller cast.
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(2007) 31ST HUMANA FESTIVAL
THE UNSEEN by Craig Wright: Full length, 1 act. Imprisoned by a totalitarian regime and mercilessly tortured for unknown crimes, Wallace and Valdez live without hope of escape or release. When an enigmatic new prisoner arrives and begins communicating in code, both men develop new relationships to each other, their captors, and themselves. A darkly humorous examination of faith in an uncertain world. 3M. More About the Play

dark play or stories for boys by Carlos Murillo: Full length, 1 act. A teenage boy’s fictional Internet identity begins as a harmless game. But the game takes on a frightening reality when real emotion overtakes his online relationship. When Nick’s virtual world online collides with the real one, his fantasies of love, intimacy, obsession and betrayal spiral into consequences that lead him to the brink of death. 3M, 2W.
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STRIKE-SLIP by Naomi Iizuka: Full length, 2 acts. In the urban sprawl of Los Angeles, three diverse families each carry a dream, but a recent shooting creates an unexpected seismic shift that rocks each family's foundation. Faults that were once inactive or dormant suddenly appear and abruptly change the way they think about themselves, their community and their dream. 5M, 3 W.
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WHEN SOMETHING WONDERFUL ENDS by Sherry Kramer: Full length, 1 act. After the death of her mother, Sherry's family home goes up for sale. Sifting through memories of a seemingly simpler time as she packs up her baby-boom childhood, Sherry begins to connect the dots between her Barbie collection and America’s place in the rest of the world. A touching, funny, deeply personal and daringly global one-woman, one-Barbie play. 1W.
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THE AS IF BODY LOOP by Ken Weitzman: Full length, 2 acts. Aaron’s sister Sarah is succumbing to a mysteriously icy illness and to save her, his family must save…well….all humankind, starting with one guy. With great humor, tremendous compassion, and a good dose of mysticism, maybe the apocalypse can be kept at bay by a group of eccentrically dysfunctional, but loving, people. 3M, 2W.
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BATCH: AN AMERICAN BACHELOR/ETTE PARTY SPECTACLE conceived by Whit MacLaughlin and Alice Tuan, with Text by Alice Tuan, created by New Paradise Laboratories:
Full length play in 6 rounds. Your friend is getting married. Wants to say goodbye to single life forever. You throw a party. A real bash. Does the sky break open? Do you summon the divine? Change? Or just get drunk? Speak now, friends, or forever hold your peace. This collaboration between New Paradise Laboratories and playwright Alice Tuan is the second in NPL's series examining rites of passage. 3 M, 3 W.
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I am not Batman. by Marco Ramirez: Ten-minute play. A streetwise kid with a stomach full of grocery store brand mac-and-cheese lives out his Batman fantasy. Accompanied by live drums, crashes, bangs, and justice. 1 M, 1 drummer.
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MR. AND MRS. by Julie Marie Myatt: Ten-minute play. Once newlyweds learn who they are, are they sure that they "do?". 1 M, 1 W.
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CLARISSE & LARMON by Deb Margolin: Ten-minute play. A middle-aged couple receives a visit from an anonymous soldier bearing the news of their son’s death and a photograph of his leg. A searing look at the nature of language and truth, and what happens to the value of bodies in the face of war. 2 M, 1 W.
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THE OPEN ROAD ANTHOLOGY by Constance Congdon, Kia Corthron, Michael John Garcés, Rolin Jones, A. Rey Pamatmat and Kathryn Walat, with music by GrooveLily: Full length, 1 act.
The call of the open road has reverberated since the founding of our nation: the wind in our hair and promise of a new life around the corner; or in the legacy of land taken, communities divided and the increasingly guarded borders behind which Americans drive. Comic and thought-provoking, these writers examine how America's yearning for unfettered freedom resonates today and where it rings hollow. 11 M, 11 W, can be doubled to smaller cast.
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365 DAYS/365 PLAYS by Suzan-Lori Parks: Short plays.
On November 13, 2002, Pulitzer-prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks got an idea to write a play a day for a year. She began that very day, finishing one year later. The resulting play cycle, called 365 Days/365Plays, is a daily meditation on an artistic life. Some plays are very short, less than a page. Others last forever. Actors Theatre is pleased to participate in the rolling premiere of this work by presenting eight plays from the first half of the cycle.
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November 14, Father Comes Home from the Wars (Part 1), 1 M, 1 W
December 18, The Great Army in Disgrace, 2 M, 5 either gender
January 3, 2 Marys, 2 W
December 18, The Birth of Tragedy, 3 M, 2 W, extras
January 31, If I Had to Murder Me Somebody, 1 actor
Feburary 13, (Again), The Butchers Daughter (For Bonnie), 1 M, 1 W
March 21, A Play for the First Day of Spring Entitled "How Do You Like the War?", Flexible, at least 3
April 1, George Bush Visits The Cheese & Olive, 1 M, 2 W, Chorus

(2006) 30TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
ACT A LADY by Jordan Harrison: Full length, 2 acts. When the men of a small Prohibition-era town decide to put on a play dressed in “fancy-type, women-type clothes,” the whole community is affected: gender lines blur, eyebrows raise, identities explode, and life and art are forever entangled. A thoughtful, exuberant Midwestern fable about the woman in every man, the man in every woman and the power of theatre to uncover both. Accompanied by accordion. 3M, 3W. More About the Play

HOTEL CASSIOPEIA by Charles L. Mee, Produced in association with the SITI Company: Full length, 1 act. The American collage artist Joseph Cornell made wooden boxes filled with pocket watches, coiled springs, maps of the stars, a forest of thimbles, parrots, seashells, broken glass, children’s alphabet blocks, brightly colored balls, soap bubbles, whales’ teeth, a colored lithograph of the moon in the night sky, star fish. How would it be if those boxes could speak? About art, about America, about compassion and longing and loneliness and heartbreak. 4M, 3W. More About the Play

LISTENERS by Jane Martin: Ten-minute play. Say what you will, you're not alone. A woman's assigned "Listeners" let her speak directly to the "big guy". More About the Play

LOW by Rha Goddess, A co-production of Divine Dime, Ltd. and Made in da Shade: Full length, 1 act. Acclaimed artist and social activist, Rha Goddess poses the question: What is Insanity? This one-woman, multidisciplinary theatre piece explores the mythology, stigma, fear and confusion surrounding mental illness and asserts that reaching a real state of “well being” is a revolutionary act. A visceral, kinetic and truly live show, Low’s Journey is a mixture of reality, fantasy, insanity and truth. 1W. More About the Play

NATURAL SELECTION by Eric Coble: Full length, 2 acts. We’re in the not-so-distant future where the Culture Fiesta Theme Park needs to restock the natives of the Native American Pavilion, and curator Henry Carson must venture into the wastes of North America to find one. But will his new acquisition make a blip on his wife’s blog? And what’s up with all this rain? 3M, 2W. More About the Play

NEON MIRAGE by Liz Duffy Adams, Dan Dietz, Rick Hip-Flores, Julie Jensen, Lisa Kron, Tracey Scott Wilson & Chay Yew
Full length, 1 act. Las Vegas: where the rugged outdoors meets Oz, where America’s central myth of unbridled possibility collides with its compulsion for perpetual self-invention. In the middle of the desert, glitz and grit combine in a place that is as narcotic as it is undeniably real. What happens where so much possibility and so much failure meet? Six writers and a composer, along with the Actors Apprentice Company, are going to find out. More About the Play

SIX YEARS by Sharr White: Full length, 2 acts. After six silent years, Phil Granger returns home to his wife, Meredith, shattered by all he witnessed in World War II. We return to Phil and Meredith every six years, from the Post-war boom through the quagmire of Vietnam, in this poignant examination of damaged souls in an era of unparalleled change. 4M, 3W. More About the Play

THE SCENE by Theresa Rebeck: Full length, 1 act. Clea’s new to the scene. Lewis wants to make a new scene from the old scene. Charlie was part of the scene and Stella’s trying not to make a scene. This biting new black comedy takes on New York, the entertainment industry, marriage and even Ohio. Three old friends hitting middle age have their worlds upended by the new hot, young thing. 2M, 2W. More About the Play

SOVEREIGNTY by Rolin Jones: Ten-minute play. Gardening, new neighbors, old neighbors, chocolate—life in the suburbs can be so complicated. A scathing and satiric play about the people right next door. 2M, 2W. More About the Play

THREE GUYS AND A BRENDA by Adam Bock: Ten-minute play. The three guys agree that Brenda is beautiful, but will the one single guy actually ask her out? A sweet gender-bending look at the courage it takes to simply be a nice guy. 4W More About the Play

(2005) 29TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
DREAM OF JEANNIE-BY-THE-DOOR by David Valdes Greenwood: 10-Minute Play. Gary and Bonnie have a date at the altar, Wilma has a date with her favorite slot machine, and everyone is hoping to get lucky. A quirky critique of casinos, good-luck charms, and the dangers of aiming for a jackpot that will never pay out quite the way you imagine. 1m, 2w

GOODY FUCKING TWO SHOES by Jennifer Maisel: 10-minute Play. The drama club. The new girl. The lead in the school play. High school politics get dirty. 2w.

HAZARD COUNTY by Allison Moore: Full-length in 2 Acts. How much truth is necessary for a news segment or a love affair? Ruth is a young widowed mother who has lost everything and Blake is a television producer who wants to tell her story to a national audience. Interspersed with recollections of Bo, Luke and Daisy Duke - and with a taste for genuine moonshine-the slyly subversive Hazard County takes a deep look at the small-town South. 2m, 3w. More About the Play

JOHANNES, PYOTR & MARGE by Jeffrey Essmann: 10-minute Play. Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Marge-the three pillars of Romanticism-share a birthday and an ability to wax rhapsodic on music, Velveeta cheese, and the struggle to recognize the beauty right in front of you. 2m, 1w.

LONG DREAM IN SUMMER by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh: 10-minute Play. A mother tries to save her son from the brutalities of war in this evocative study of the power, even in its earliest days, of America’s favorite past-time. 3m, 1w.

MEMORY HOUSE by Kathleen Tolan: Full-length in 1 Act. One winter night, a woman bakes a pie as a girl tries to finish her college essay. Unfolding in real time, this play is about two people who are forced to grapple with the past as they face an uncertain future. A funny and moving story about the complexity of living in the world today. 2w.

MOOT THE MESSENGER by Kia Corthron: Full-length in 2 Acts. A complex and fiercely intelligent indictment of the current state of the American news media. Briar, an ambitious journalism student, lands a job as an embedded reporter in Iraq. Her encounters with soldiers, international journalists and a working-class girl she knew from home force her to grapple with the fact that while her role is to report the truth, the truth is no longer being reported in the American media. 8m, 4w.

A NERVOUS SMILE by John Belluso: Full-length in 1 Act. Three parents do the unthinkable: abandon their children with cerebral palsy in order to escape the bruising reality of caring for them. As they deal with the consequences of their actions, they face down the fear and disgust they feel for the children they also fiercely love. Belluso examines these choices with insight and compassion, while giving voice to the resilient if hidden personality of a girl with cerebral palsy. More about this production

PURE CONFIDENCE by Carlyle Brown: Full-length in 2 Acts. The powerful tale of Simon Cato-a slave with the imagination to pursue the unfathomable: freedom. Based on historical accounts of African American jockeys, the play examines these early riders-unusual assets to their masters-while conveying yet another untold story: a complex view of the essentially capitalistic impulse underlying the “peculiar institution” of slavery. 4m, 2 w. More About the Play

THE SHAKER CHAIR by Adam Bock: Full-length in 2 Acts. The Shakers built for utility, not comfort. In this play, Marion navigates the constrictions and possibilities of middle age: her friend has become an activist and is pushing her to do the same, her sister clings to the familiarity of her marriage and Marion grapples with her responsibilities to the world beyond the comfortable edges of her living room. 2m, 4w.

UNCLE SAM’S SATIRIC SPECTACULAR:
On Democracy and Other Fictions, Featuring Patriotism Acts and Blue Songs from a Red State
a collaborative project by Greg Allen, Sheila Callaghan, Bridget Carpenter, Eric Coble, Richard Dresser, Michael Friedman and Hilly Hicks: Full-length in 1 Act.
Comedians! Ventriloquists! Mesmerists! Musicians! Vaudeville took a bit of everything in American culture and reflected it back in act upon act of pure entertainment. As the culture and politics of the United States grow increasingly surreal, we thought the time was ripe for a return to the humorous forms of yesteryear. We’ve asked seven playwrights to draw on the conventions of these earlier forms to create an evening of contemporary satire, performed by Actors’ apprentice company.

(2004) 28th HUMANA FESTIVAL
AFTER ASHLEY by Gina Gionfriddo: Full-length, 2 Acts. Three years after his mother’s murder, seventeen-year-old Justin can barely function. His father, on the other hand, has written a best-selling book about the crime and scored his own cable television talk show. America may be ready for a mega-marketing blitz of Justin’s murdered mom, but he isn’t. Gina Gionfriddo’s scathing satire takes on our media’s obsession with victims and violence in a hilariously penetrating fashion. 4m, 2f. More About the Play

AT THE VANISHING POINT by Naomi Iizuka: Full-length, 1 Act. In this stunning portrait of a community, Naomi Iizuka weaves together historical fact, myth and memory to give voice to people who would otherwise exist only as faded images in an old photo album. Developed through extensive interviews and archival research, At The Vanishing Point conjures the rich history of Butchertown, a storied neighborhood minutes from downtown Louisville, once home to the stockyards and meatpacking plants that used to thrive on the banks of Beargrass Creek. How do we remember a part of our history at the moment that it’s slipping away? How do we give voice to the ghosts that haunt us as individuals and as a community? Bringing together the stories of residents past and present, this unique theatrical event was performed site-specifically in an industrial warehouse in the heart of Butchertown. 5m, 3f.

A BONE CLOSE TO MY BRAIN by Dan Dietz: 10-minute Play. A man's brother changes identities more often than underwear—reporter one day, radiologist the next. Today he's a dentist, bent on extracting a perfectly healthy tooth. What are the limits of brotherly love? When a pair of pliers is reaching for your mouth, how do you draw the line? 1m.

FOUL TERRITORY by Craig Wright: 10-minute Play. Ruth and Owen take in a baseball game to get their minds off their romantic woes. But some people just can’t manage to focus on the positive. Especially when life keeps sending foul balls their way. 1m, 1f.

KID-SIMPLE, a radio play in the flesh by Jordan Harrison: Full-length, 1 Act. In which Moll, a girl who invents things, creates The Third Ear, a miraculous machine for hearing sounds that can't be heard. But a master of disguises, The Mercenary, steals the machine (and Moll’s heart) at the bidding of two dark-dwellers. Will the crafty Moll and her reluctant guide, the boy virgin Oliver, be able to raft the river, cross the chasm and mount the mountain in time to reclaim the device? Will the Third Ear destroy noise and narrative as we know it? Tune in to this quirky fable of innocence and experience to find out. 4m, 3f. More About the Play

KUWAIT by Vincent Delaney: 10-minute Play. Violating the rules of engagement, a Gulf War journalist has been caught in the combat zone. When a soldier detains her for her trespass, is what follows an interrogation or a punishment? And in this apparent smokescreen, what is it that’s being hidden? 2m, 1f.

THE RUBY SUNRISE by Rinne Groff: Full-length, 3 parts in 2 Acts. In 1927, in a barn on the outskirts of Indianapolis, a young woman named Ruby struggles to realize her dream of inventing and perfecting the first all-electrical television system. Twenty-five years later, in a television studio in Manhattan, Ruby's literal and metaphorical heir faces similar battles of will and crises of faith as she works to get Ruby's story told as she feels it must be told. 3m, 4f.

SANS-CULOTTES IN THE PROMISED LAND by Kirsten Greenidge: Full-length, 1 Act. A lawyer about to make partner keeps bumping her head; her architect husband can't close a deal or keep his hands off the help; their young daughter is desperate for attention and the nanny has a secret. In this fantastical satire about the road to success, Kirsten Greenidge maps the false promise of education and the reality of the glass ceiling in America, especially within this upper middle-class, African-American family. 1m, 5f.

THE SPOT by Steven Dietz: 10-minute Play. A posse of political spin doctors clamor to create the perfect "spot," one designed to captivate the carefully polled public and capture their candidate's honor, integrity–and a little something that his Communications Director likes to call "honesty." 2m, 2f, 2 either.

TALLGRASS GOTHIC by Melanie Marnich: Full-length, 1 Act. Set amid the stark beauty of the Great Plains, this sensual tale of love and its consequences reveals the dark side of small town America, exposing a claustrophobic and unforgiving landscape of secret longings, silent hatred and unleashed fury that festers beneath the deceptive calm of the heartland. 4m, 2 f.

FAST AND LOOSE An Ethical Collaboration by José Cruz González, Kirsten Greenidge, Julie Marie Myatt and John Walch: Full-length, 1 Act. Should you share a secret if it might hurt the one you tell? What’s more important, the end or the means? How do you behave when another’s standards are not your own? And is there any compelling reason to think about the interests of others at all? In this dramatic anthology, created to be performed by Actors’ Apprentice Company, four playwrights work alongside each other and in conversation to attack classic dilemmas of right and wrong from every angle—through stories both personal and communal, from inside our homes to our ethically challenged world and beyond.

(2003) 27TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
THE FACULTY ROOM by Bridget Carpenter: Full-length, 2 Acts. Welcome to the faculty room at Madison-Feurey High School—where firearms are stowed after Morning Checkpoints, and the teachers can say what’s really on their minds (unless the principal’s eavesdropping over the P.A. system, that is). Idealistic Carver has just arrived, but soon finds that this inner sanctum is not so much a refuge as a battleground for his burned-out and sharp-tongued colleagues, Zoe and Adam. With their students packing heat and rhapsodizing about the Rapture, tensions run wild amongst this trio of lost teacher souls. A bitingly funny tragicomedy of Biblical proportions. 4m, 1f, 1 either.

FIT FOR FEET by Jordan Harrison: 10-minute Play. As her perfect wedding day approaches, Claire is faced with something even more pressing than china patterns—her fiancé thinks he’s famed Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. If this union is to be a success, Claire has to answer one question: will she be fit for Jimmy’s increasingly flashy feet? 1m, 2f.

THE LIVELY LAD a play with songs by Quincy Long, music by Michael Silversher: Full-length, 2 Acts. Jonathan Van Huffle’s heart is all aflutter, for he’s in love with the scrumptious and scrupulous Miss McCracken. A woman of conscience, she wants the wealthy Jonathan to think less about having more—and she’s particularly opposed to what she considers an inhumane custom that’s making a comeback: the procurement of eunuchs for rich debutantes like Little Eva, Jonathan’s spoiled and insistent offspring. In this hilarious, stylish, and slyly satirical comedy (with songs), Quincy Long creates a world that’s oddly reminiscent of our own. 6m, 3f.

OMNIUM-GATHERUM by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros and Theresa Rebeck: Full-length, 1 Act. A lively, contentious debate is the heart and soul of every dinner party—and that’s why Suzie, a domestic artist and perfect hostess, has brought together an assortment of sharp, opinionated personalities to share her surreally exquisite meal. At this magnificent feast of food and argument, the dinner guests confront a moment when history is turning over, and when a culture must face grave danger and global responsibility. An urgent, impassioned, and hilarious conversation about the implications of the September 11th attacks and beyond. 5m, 3f.

ORANGE LEMON EGG CANARY: A Trick In Four Acts by Rinne Groff: Full-length. Great is a magician with a dangerous past and a promising future. Trilby is looking for the truth behind the illusion. In this mysterious love story filled with top hats, disappearing coins, floating objects and seemingly impossible feats, everyone has a few tricks up their sleeves. Is it all smoke and mirrors? Only the lovely assistant knows for sure. 1m, 3f. More About the Play

THE ROADS THAT LEAD HERE by Lee Blessing: 10-minute Play. Brothers Jason, Marcus, and Xander reunite annually to share their contributions to "the project," a nationwide road trip to collect pictures, sounds, and objects from an America that’s very particularly their own. But this year their sponsor, "the Eminent," has other plans in store for them. 3m.

THE SECOND DEATH OF PRISCILLA by Russell Davis: Full-length, 2 Acts. The Second Death of Priscilla takes place in Priscilla’s bedroom, in a forest, and in the big blue sky outside. It is about a woman who sets out in her mind to slay what lurks like a wolf outside her window, waiting for her house to blow down. In this richly imagined universe, playwright Russell Davis tears away the veil that separates this world from the next to reveal a place where monsters are real; and they may well be the ones telling the story. 3m, 4f.

SLIDE GLIDE THE SLIPPERY SLOPE by Kia Corthron: Full-length, 2 Acts. Twins reunited after a lifetime apart find they are as different as two people can be. Erm likes her isolated life on the farm, talking to the sheep and devouring scientific journals about the possibilities and limitations of human cloning. Elo, a recent exile from the big city, is looking for a way out of an abusive relationship and a way back to the daughter she lost in an accident. When cloning becomes the answer she is searching for, both sisters must ask themselves: is it better to create what you wish for, or to love what is? 1m, 5f. More About the Play

TRASH ANTHEM by Dan Dietz: 10-minute Play. Little house. Big South. A pair of cowboy boots is all Jenny’s got left of the lover she’s killed. But before she can make peace with his memory, the boots have a few things to say. 1m, 1f.

TREPIDATION NATION
A Phobic Anthology by: Keith Josef Adkins, Stephen Belber, Hilary Bell, Glen Berger, Sheila Callaghan, Bridget Carpenter, Cusi Cram, Richard Dresser, Erik Ehn, Gina Gionfriddo, Kirsten Greenidge, Michael Hollinger, Warren Leight, Julie Marie Myatt, Victoria Stewart, and James Still: Full-length in 1 Act. "All of us are born with a set of instinctive fears," writes humorist Dave Barry, "of falling, of the dark, of lobsters, of falling on lobsters in the dark." But what if a fear becomes inexplicable, illogical, and just plain weird? Then you’re dealing with a phobia, those most extreme and fascinating of terrors. We asked 16 frighteningly creative playwrights to find inspiration in real phobias, and the resulting collection of pieces–created to be performed by Actors’ 2002-2003 Apprentice Company–might just prove that not only is fear humankind’s oldest emotion, but it’s also one of our silliest, most serious and stage-worthy.

RHYTHMICITY: A convergence of poetry, theatre and hip-hop
curated by Mildred Ruiz and Steven Sapp; featuring Regie Cabico, Gamal Abdel Chasten, reg e. gaines, Willie Perdomo, Rha Goddess, Mildred Ruiz and Steven Sapp
Rhythmicity brings to Actors Theatre the eclectic and inventive performances of seven spoken word artists. Both individually and in conversation with one another, these acclaimed innovators will invade the lobbies and public spaces of the theatre with thrilling rants and rhythms, ranging from the personal to the political and everything in-between. Poet merges with actor, storytelling melds with music, and speech comes alive through dance and movement—all subject to the truth of the word.

(2002) 26TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
a. m. SUNDAY by Jerome Hairston: Full-Length, 2 Acts. Beginning on a Sunday morning and spanning the course of five tense days, a.m. Sunday is an extraordinary portrait of a family confronting where they stand in one another’s worlds. This moving and subtly-rendered drama is the tale of an interracial couple, R.P. and Helen, who reach a painful turning point in their relationship. It is equally the story of their two sons, Jay and Denny, both of whom are arriving at a time in their lives when everything is in question. Fifteen-year-old Jay’s romance with a white girl adds another complex layer to this cross-generational examination of how difficult it is to love and be loved in the face of difference. 3m, 2f. Published by American Theatre and by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2002: The Complete Plays.

BAKE OFF by Sheri Wilner: 10-minute Play. It’s showtime at the Bake-Off and Rita’s on the warpath. Last year, a man took home the largest prize in Bake-Off history. This year, she’ll make sure every man there, even the Doughboy himself, gets his just desserts. 1m, 1f, 1 Doughboy, 1 voice. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2002: The Complete Plays.

CLASSYASS by Caleen Sinnette Jennings: 10-minute Play. It’s 3:47 a.m. at WBMR, the voice of Bellmore College, and the D.J., a smart-assed freshman named Amadeus, is about to learn a lesson he won’t soon forget. ‘Cause you don’t have to be uptight and white to love classical music. 2m, 1f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2002: The Complete Plays.

FINER NOBLE GASES by Adam Rapp: Full-Length, 1 Act. In this freakishly funny and vividly-imagined absurdist nightmare for our time, the inert occupants of an East Village apartment—members of a band once called "Lester’s Surprise," now remembered simply as "Less"—are going numb. Pill-popping Chase and Staples, who look like they’ve been living on their sofa since the previous spring, sit mesmerized in front of the television...until its untimely demise. Desperately in need of technological stimulus, they decide to call up their weird neighbor, luring him upstairs and under Chase’s narrative spell so that Staples can steal his Magnavox via the fire escape. The strange arrivals and events that follow move from the hilarious to the disturbingly existential, as Rapp’s electronic-age creatures long to feel something, to be part of something, or to be of use. 5m, 1f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2002: The Complete Plays.

LIMONADE TOUS LES JOURS by Charles L. Mee: Full-Length in 1 Act. It’s Paris in the springtime and love is in the air. When Andrew, an American man in his fifties, meets Jacqueline, a young French cabaret singer, romance blossoms over refreshing glasses of ‘limonade’ and steaming cups of café au lait. But relationships are always more complicated than romance—both are recovering from broken hearts, and the only thing they know for sure is that they shouldn’t be together. Yet together is exactly where they find themselves. In this achingly beautiful, whimsical play, playwright Charles L. Mee reminds us of the irrationality of attraction and celebrates the bittersweet pleasure of living in the moment, even if that moment may fade. 2m, 1f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2002: The Complete Plays.

THE MYSTERY OF ATTRACTION by Marlane Meyer: Full-Length in 1 Act. If you’ve ever been tempted to slow down at the sight of a traffic accident... If you’ve ever wanted to eavesdrop on the fight taking place in an adjacent motel room... If you’ve ever been curious about why the lessons we fail to learn again and again appear in our lives as fate, then you might want to see The Mystery of Attraction; a darkly comic and edifying entertainment. 4m, 2f. Published by South Atlantic Quarterly and by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2002: The Complete Plays.

NIGHTSWIM by Julia Jordan: 10-minute Play. Black water, black sky, midnight—it’s a beautiful night for a swim, but for two young girls, the lake holds the promise of both velvety warmth and danger. Will Rosie convince Christina to come out and play? 2f. Published by Smith and Kraus in 30 Ten-Minute Plays for 2 Actors and Humana Festival 2002: The Complete Plays.

REMBRANDT'S GIFT by Tina Howe: Full-Length. In Rembrandt’s Gift, award-winning playwright Tina Howe introduces us to Walter Paradise and Polly Shaw. They’re in their sixties and have been married forever. She’s a world-class photographer; he’s a former actor turned hoarder. Their Soho loft is disappearing under stacks of old costumes that block the windows and doors, creating a fire hazard. The landlord is on his way to evict them when the great Dutch painter Rembrandt suddenly appears in full 17th century regalia. The three then spend the day together testing the limits of art, love and old age. 2m, 1f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2002: The Complete Plays. More About the Play

SCORE conceived and directed by Anne Bogart, adapted by Jocelyn Clarke: Full-Length in 1 Act. Score is a play about passion—the passion that exists between a man and his music. Director Anne Bogart creates an extraordinary theatrical tour-de-force that chronicles the ideas and obsessions of one of America’s greatest figures—Leonard Bernstein. A distinguished conductor, a dedicated teacher, and a composer of rare skill and ability, Bernstein’s work is breathtaking in its range and scope—from renowned interpretations of Beethoven and Mahler to his own musical creations, West Side Story and On The Waterfront. Score, adapted by Jocelyn Clarke from Bernstein’s writings, stars long-time SITI Company member Tom Nelis in a remarkable study of ecstasy, genius and the power of great music.1m. Article published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2002: The Complete Plays.

SNAPSHOT
A Dramatic Anthology by: Tanya Barfield, Lee Blessing, Julie Jensen, Honour Kane, Sunil Kuruvilla, David Lindsay-Abaire, Michael Bigelow Dixon & Val Smith, Victor Lodato, Quincy Long, Deb Margolin, Allison Moore, Lynn Nottage, Dan O’Brien, Annie Weisman, Craig Wright, and Chay Yew: Full-Length in 1 Act. A photograph captures and documents a single moment in time and space—a snapshot of history, of a reality bounded by the photo’s frame. But what lies outside, beyond, behind the photograph? And what stories, memories, or associations does an image of place inspire? In this multi-writer project, 17 talented playwrights encounter and transform Mount Rushmore, South Dakota (1969), a compelling image of the monument by renowned photographer Lee Friedlander. Performed by the 22 members of Actors Theatre’s 2001-2002 Apprentice Acting Company, the resulting collection of dramatic perspectives approaches an ever-evolving Humana Festival experiment through a new lens. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2002: The Complete Plays.

THE TECHNOLOGY PROJECT
From live concerts to live news updates and live webcasts—all available through a dizzying array of media—the definition of "liveness" is no longer limited to the simple act of communication between a live actor and an audience. At the start of the new millennium, it seems particularly important that the theatre, a medium founded on presence, should investigate the question, "What is live performance?" In order to explore this increasingly complex territory, Actors Theatre—in partnership with the EST/Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Project and Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center—has commissioned some of the nation’s most innovative young writers to interface with technologies that range from the mundane to the mind-boggling. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2002: The Complete Plays. More About the Play

VOICE PROPERTIES (ON A FIRST DATE AFTER A FULL YEAR OF FEBRUARYS) by John Belluso: Yolanda and Barney are on a blind date, and this already awkward situation is made all the more so by a very real obstacle to their communication. Barney, who has cerebral palsy, communicates through a VOCA—a device that allows him to speak through a simulated voice. But he is not the only one struggling with language. In this delicate, short play, writer John Belluso takes us on a journey through the difficulty we all have—male or female, disabled or temporarily able-bodied—to make our needs and desires known. 1m, 1f.

F.E.T.C.H.by Alice Tuan: In this "small installment of Virtual Hypertext Theater," playwright Alice Tuan has crafted a wild theatrical event that includes a pole, a bucket and an endless series of possibilities. What will happen next? In this new interactive universe, you get to decide. 4 actors.

VIRTUAL MEDITATION #1 by Sarah Ruhl: Can machines sense how we feel? Playwright Sarah Ruhl, in collaboration with the students and faculty at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center, has harnessed the subtle energy of touch in this stunning virtual reality romance.

(2001) 25TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
bobrauschenbergamerica by Charles L. Mee: Full-length in 1 act. In bobrauschenbergamerica, Charles L. Mee, in collaboration with Anne Bogart and The SITI Company, takes us on a wild road trip through our American landscape—in a play made as one of America’s greatest living artists, Robert Rauschenberg, might have conceived it if he had been a playwright instead of a painter: a collage of people and places and music and dancing, of love stories and picnics and business schemes and shootings and chicken jokes and golfing, and of the sheer exhilaration of living in a country where people make up their lives as they go. 6m, 4f. Published by American Theatre Magazine and Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays.

Description Beggared; or the Allegory of WHITENESS by Mac Wellman, music by Michael Roth: Full-length in 1 act. Imagine the new millennium: Everything and everyone is very white. We all assemble to take the family portrait and somehow get it dreadfully wrong. The Ring family must do the century all over, in a vast metaphysical Rhode Island. Our crimes and acts of erasure call out. In many voices. Louisa hears a scary story and then tells one as everything becomes even whiter than before. Zm, 6f, musicians. Published by TheatreForum and by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays.

FLAMING GUNS OF THE PURPLE SAGE by Jane Martin: 2 acts. Set in deepest Wyoming, Jane Martin’s macabre comedy pits the code of the West against the contemporary darkness. There is a rodeo hellion, a demonic biker, stolen drug money and enough spare ribs for all the carnivores circling the wagons. Jane Martin’s bodacious crossover comedy mixes horror and hilarity. Imagine Hopalong Cassidy dating Carrie, or Miss Kitty chasing Chuckie in an Addams Family version of Gunsmoke. Oh, how to be good in the new century! 4m,3f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays.

QUAKE by Melanie Marnich: Full-length in 1 act. Lucy is on a mission. She’s searching for the love of her life. She follows the curve of the world, picking up enough speed to cross mountain ranges, rivers, lakes, and jet streams. Amid humorous encounters with a variety of guys, she dreams of a brilliant astrophysicist serial killer with a mean romantic streak—a woman on a parallel quest. Since a body in motion will keep moving unless acted upon by another force, will either of them ever be able to stop? A young woman grapples with the laws of physics and the evolving desires of her heart in this wacky comic journey that shakes across the fault lines. 3m, 3f. Published by TheatreForum and by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays.

HEAVEN AND HELL (ON EARTH): A DIVINE COMEDY
a comic anthology by Robert Alexander, Jenny Lyn Bader, Elizabeth Dewberry, Deborah Lynn Frockt, Rebecca Gilman, Keith Glover, Hilly Hicks, Jr., Karen Hines, Michael Kassin, Jane Martin, William Mastrosimone, Guillermo Reyes, Sarah Schulman, Richard Strand, Alice Tuan & Elizabeth Wong
In this comic anthology—a collection of scenes and monologues—an array of devilishly talented playwrights put a contemporary spin on a fascinating eternal obsession. Grappling with their own diverse experiences of vice and virtue, salvation and damnation, characters from the twentysomething generation interpret their world with amusing revelations and surprising insights. Full-length in 1 act. Published (with additional monologues by Robert Alexander, Melanie Marnich, Jane Martin and Richard Strand) by Dramatists Play Service and by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays. More About the Play

WHEN THE SEA DROWNS IN SAND by Eduardo Machado (Retitled: HAVANA IS WAITING): 2 acts. Exiled from his homeland for forty years, a Cuban-American returns home to mend his broken heart. With the help of a devoted friend and an entrepreneurial cab driver, Federico discovers that there’s no embargo on feelings in this era of family reconciliation. Funny, angry, and deeply passionate, this post-cold-war comedy points to the personal hardships caused by political stand-offs. As Cuban activists cry out for the return of a young boy named Elian, a grown-up Lost Boy ponders how one powerful nation could steal another’s children, and what happens four decades later if it does. 3m, percussionist. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays.

WONDERFUL WORLD by Richard Dresser: 2 acts. An apparently happy family hurtles to the brink of despair in this hilariously twisted comedy about two brothers, one of whom has a serious in-law problem. Feeling slighted by Max and his girlfriend, Barry’s wife embarks on a scorched-earth policy of truth-telling, uncovering deep animosities and startling passions hidden in the mysterious fabric of an American family. Shedding a wildly comic light on the perils of honesty and the delicate balance between hostility and love, Dresser explores what a curse it can be to suddenly find yourself telling—or hearing—the truth. 2m, 3f. Published by Dramatic Publishing and by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays.

CHAD CURTISS, LOST AGAIN by Arthur Kopit: 3 Ten-Minute Plays in Serial Form. Born with an unerringly bad sense of direction, but beloved of the gods (at least, so far), our hero, Chad Curtiss, sets out to discover Truth, and, if he’s lucky, Beauty. Never one to take the easy path, however, Chad’s wrong turns lead him again and again into perils worthy of Pauline, to whom Chad is distantly related. This commissioned cliffhanger was created by Arthur Kopit during a recent, ill-conceived trip to Bolivia. Chad’s continuing saga, written as a series of ten-minute plays, unfolds in several death-defying performances. Will the daring but reckless Chad Curtiss appear in all the episodes, or will he be lost again? 8m, 4f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays. More About the Play

THE PHONE PLAYS
The Phone Play has quickly become a tradition at the Humana Festival, where audience members dare to eavesdrop on several three-minute plays played over payphones in the lobby. But this year we added a new twist. We invited small, adventurous theatre companies who are dedicated to producing new work to give us an earful of the most exciting voices they have to offer. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays.

SUBLIMINABLE by Greg Allen (The Neo-Futurists, Chicago) Have you listened to the phone plays? They’re over there. I think you should try the one called Subliminable…

HYPE-R-CONNECTIVITY by Andy Bayiates (The Neo-Futurists, Chicago) A maddeningly true-to-life journey through a "voice activated telecom portal."

CALL WAITING by Rachel Claff (The Neo-Futurists, Chicago) A lyrical tribute to one of technology’s most exquisite tortures—the unreturned phone call.

OWLS By Erin Courtney (Clubbed Thumb, New York) A young runaway struggles to survive in a wilderness of her own creation.

MESSAGE SENT by Sterling Houston (Jump-Start Performance Co., San Antonio) A man’s life is lost, and found again, on the tape inside his lover’s answering machine.

CLICK by Brighde Mullins (Thick Description, San Francisco) What has poetry done for you lately? A couple in crisis discovers the difference between metaphor and meaning.

SOMEBODY CALL 911 by Jennifer L. Nelson (African Continuum Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.) Over the sound of her baby’s screams, a teenage mother reaches out across the wires.

(2000) 24th HUMANA FESTIVAL
ANTON IN SHOW BUSINESS by Jane Martin: 2 acts. Jane Martin’s madcap comedy follows three actresses across the footlights, down the rabbit hole, and into a strangely familiar Wonderland that looks a lot like American theatre—the resemblance is uncanny! As these women pursue their dream of performing Chekhov in Texas, they’re whisked through a maelstrom of "good ideas," power politics and competing agendas—each of which offers a unique answer to the Three Sisters’ need to have life’s deeper purpose revealed. In the great tradition of backstage comedies—from The Royal Family to Noises Off—Anton in Show Business conveys the joys, pains and absurdities of "putting on a play" at the turn of the century. May you live in interesting times. 7f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays.

ARABIAN NIGHTS by David Ives: 10-minute play. The banal turns into the beautiful and the ordinary becomes exotic through the medium of a wacky translator. 3 actors. Published by Dramatists Play Service and Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays.

BIG LOVE by Charles L. Mee: Full-length in 1 act. To commemorate the millennium, Charles L. Mee found inspiration in the oldest extant Greek drama, Suppliants by Aeschylus, in which fifty brides vow to murder fifty fiancés on their wedding night. Updated to the 21st century and set in an exquisite villa on the Italian coastline, Big Love unfolds the story of the women’s betrothal (they’re all sisters!), their attempted flight and murderous pact, and one immense wedding reception/massacre—with all the wedding music you’ve ever heard. A rhapsodic, invigorating journey through the politics of love. 4f, 5m. Published by TheatreForum and Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays. More About the Play

THE DIVINE FALLACY by Tina Howe: 10-minute play. A comic and revelatory session in a photographer’s studio suggests that beauty may be found in the mind of the beheld. 1f, 1m. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays.

NO. 11 (BLUE AND WHITE) by Alexandra Cunningham: Full-length in 1 act. In the town where everyone’s sick of being asked about The Ice Storm, Alexandra is a debutante in training. Her best friend is Reid Callahan, star athlete and golden boy. A lot of people are pinning their hopes on and dreaming big dreams for Reid; Reid’s own hopes and dreams are a mystery, until he brings them to horrible life—or does he? Don’t ask Alex—she’s choosing between the devil she doesn’t know and the devil she’s known since kindergarten. Sometimes you can either be a friend or a human being, but not both. 6f, 3m. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays.

STANDARD TIME by Naomi Wallace: 10-minute play. Frustrated by elusive promises of the American dream—fast cars, brand names and easy money—a young man takes his destiny into his own hands. 1m. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays.

TAPE by Stephen Belber: Full-length in 1 act. What’s the statute of limitations for betrayal of friendship? When Jon attends the premiere of his flick in the Lansing Film Festival, he faces the most important weekend of his young life—but not in ways he expected. His old pal, Vince, has been stewing for a decade and their high school girlfriend, Amy, is now the assistant district attorney in Lansing. Edgy humor gives way to a fiery confrontation that examines the motives of memory—and Memorex. 1f, 2m. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays. Made into a movie directed by Richard Linklater.

TOUCH by Toni Press-Coffman: 2 acts. Science and spirit form a perfect union between Kyle, a reserved young astronomer, and Zoe, his flamboyant, vivacious soulmate. But one night, something as profoundly dark, chaotic, and infinite as the night sky turns Kyle’s enviable happiness upside-down. Tracing Kyle’s journey through terrifying unanswered questions and memories of the rarest, deepest love, this moving drama explores the miracle and fragility of human connection. 2f, 2m. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays.

WAR OF THE WORLDS Conceived by Anne Bogart, Created by The SITI Company, Written by Naomi Iizuka: Full-length in 1 act. His radio broadcast War of the Worlds sent Americans into hysterical panic. He took Hollywood by storm with Citizen Kane, a larger-than-life film about a mover-and-shaker not so very different from himself. Mercurial, controversial, inspiring, infuriating—Orson Welles entranced and enraged everyone. His fall from grace mirrored the magnitude of his talent—and the massiveness of an ego steered straight to self-destruction. Director Anne Bogart, her remarkable SITI Company, and playwright Naomi Iizuka join forces to explore the myth and myth-maker, charlatanism and genius of Orson Welles. 2f, 9m. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays.

BACK STORY
Dramatic Anthology by Joan Ackermann, Courtney Baron, Neena Beber, Constance Congdon, Jon Klein, Shirley Lauro, Craig Lucas, Eduardo Machado, Donald Margulies, Jane Martin, Susan Miller, John Olive, Tanya Palmer, David Rambo, Edwin Sanchez, Adele Edling Shank, Mayo Simon & Val Smith
Based on characters created by Joan Ackermann
Full-length in 1 act. When Ethan is born in the worst blizzard of the century, two-year-old sister Ainsley nearly sacrifices a toe trying to clear a path for the baby’s arrival. That initial gesture of devotion blossoms into a tale of sibling loyalty, rivalry and love that spans two decades. Inspired by Joan Ackermann’s narrative "Back Story," each of the eighteen playwrights in this collective creation puts a distinctive spin on Ainsley’s and Ethan’s amusing and poignant struggles with life, with each other, and with the phantom dad who abandoned them for the wilds of Alaska. Published by Dramatic Publishing and Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays. More About the Play

PHONE PLAYS
BESIDE EVERY GOOD MAN by Regina Taylor. In this intimate exchange, the lives of Coretta Scott King and Winnie Mandela are illuminated by the grandeur of their love and the cruelty of fate. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Play.

LOVERS OF LONG RED HAIR, by José Rivera. Haunted by the unwanted adoration of strangers, Adriana shares her nightmare with a friend at 3 a.m. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays.

THE REPRIMAND by Jane Anderson. Could any conversation between female business associates begin more ominously? "We need to talk about what you did in the meeting this morning." Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays.

SHOW BUSINESS by Jeffrey Hatche..r "The customer is always right." Yeah, tell it to Telecharge. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays.

TRESPASSION by Mark O’Donnell. George needs to know why Lenore called him a jerk and he’s not hanging up without an an answer—no matter who’s on the other line. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays.

(1999) 23RD HUMANA FESTIVAL
ALOHA, SAY THE PRETTY GIRLS by Naomi Iizuka: 2 acts. Aloha—it’s a word that means hello and goodbye. Naomi Iizuka’s aloha-filled, dark comedy takes a quirky, wildly imaginative look at how people enter and leave each other’s lives as they search for a family or a tribe. Crossing paths and sometimes colliding, a cast of waylaid strangers and friends struggles to evolve into grown-up versions of themselves. 7-11 actors. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '99, The Complete Plays.

CABIN PRESSURE Created by Anne Bogart & The SITI Company: Full-length in 1 act. With trademark flourish, fierce wit and intense bravado, Anne Bogart and her SITI troupe plunge into the long troubled waters of actor/audience relations. Drawing upon theatrical practices from Festival of Dionysia to the Festival of Humana, this exuberant production coins modern theatrical currencies from grand traditions. 5 actors. Contact The SITI Company, 172 E. 7th St., 6D, New York, NY 10009. More About the Play

WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? by Richard Dresser: Climb in the backseat of an automobile and fasten your seat belts for a harrowing cruise through one couple’s dizzying misadventures. In groups of three, audience members are invited to get in the car with an earnest young man who’s off on the ride of his life when he picks up a free-spirited hitchhiker. More About the Play

THE COCKFIGHTER by Frank Manley, Adapted by Vincent Murphy: Full-length in 1 act. Inspired by the courage and fierceness he associates with fighting cocks, a young man rebels against an adult world tainted by his father’s flawed vision of manhood. Animated by a highly theatrical rendition of an ancient bloodsport, this powerful drama moves through the turbulent landscape of adolescence and traces the steps by which a boy becomes a man, not on his father’s, but on his own terms. 2m, 1f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '99, The Complete Plays.

GOD'S MAN IN TEXAS by David Rambo: 2 acts. Wits, egos and ideologies are set on a collision course when renowned preacher Jerry Mears "auditions" for the top job in the Baptist universe. But Dr. Phillip Gottschall, the aging pastor of the biggest, best-known and most closely-watched Baptist church ever, won’t easily give up his dynasty—or the televised 10 o’clock service—in this sharply-observed drama about institutional power struggles, fathers and sons, and religion in the age of mass marketing. 3m. Published by Dramatists Play Service and Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '99, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

THE T(EXT) SHIRT PROJECT
Why didn’t Gutenberg think of this? Print the text of an entire play on a t-shirt so that anyone can "perform" the play simply by wearing the shirt into the streets for the masses to read. Street theatre or fashion statement? Chic. de la Mode. Livin large. More About the Play

Y2K by Arthur Kopit (Retitled: BecauseHeCan): Full-length in 1 act. He calls himself ISeeU, but you can’t see him. And if it’s you he wants, nothing can stop him. This gripping drama propels an unsuspecting couple into their worst nightmare—imagine a world in which there are no secrets. 4m, 1f. Published by TheatreForum; by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '99, The Complete Plays; and by Samuel French, Inc.

LIFE UNDER 30—A BILL OF 10-MINUTE PLAYS
SLOP-CULTURE by Robb Badlam: In this tenderly sarcastic tale, a spiritual castaway must answer a loaded question about her cultural heritage. Unfortunately, her answer depends on 25 years of bad TV—as does her job. 2m, 2f. Published by Dramatics Magazine; by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '99, The Complete Plays; and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 5 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

THE BLUE ROOM by Courtney Baron: Adrift in the South Pacific, a sailor longs for the company of his beloved, whose irrepressible passion for the sea now haunts the vivid blues of twilight, bathwater and breaking waves. 1m, 1f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '99, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 5 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

DANCING WITH A DEVIL by Brooke Berman: Unspeakable moments, too painful for words, transform a young woman’s life through a graceful dance that leads to the point of no return. 1m, 2f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival ’99, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 5 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

FORTY MINUTE FINISH by Jerome Hairston: An accident forces two young men to wrestle with universal uncertainties before they clock-out for the night. Will life’s big questions take a backseat to the comforting lure of escapist entertainment? 2m. Published by Dramatics Magazine; by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '99, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 5 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

MPLS., ST. PAUL by Julia Jordan: In this spirited teenage romance, Billy and Mel use their favorite music to test the waters of friendship. Their tentative exchange infuses an element of uncertainty into a "mythic" summer filled with teasing, laughing, flirting and falling in love on the roof. 1m, 1f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '99, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 5 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

DRIVE ANGRY by Matt Pelfrey: Existential pollution and The Cosmic Whatever drive two young men to dire acts as they careen through LA traffic. This examination of diseased bedies and diseased societies is laced with provocative and dark humor. 2m. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '99, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 5 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

LABOR DAY by Sheri Wilner: On the eve of Labor Day, a Last-Day-To-Wear-White party sets the scene for a stand against the march of time. A funny and visually arresting play about one woman’s act of refusal. 1f, 5 other m/f characters. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '99, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 5 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

JUST BE FRANK by Caroline Williams: An overly ambitious worker declares her wish for office honesty... and gets it. Crossing the dangerous line into the minds of her co-workers, she learns what everyone, from the power-happy secretary to the sexually-harrassing boss, is really thinking. 1m, 4f or 2m, 3f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '99, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 5 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

(1998) 22ND HUMANA FESTIVAL
ACORN by David Graziano: 10-minute play. Acorn is a Brooklyn romance about a 26-year-old, unemployed union carpenter who puts his heart on a clothesline and the 18-year-old girl who folds it in half. 1m, 1f. Published in Dramatics Magazine; by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '98, The Complete Plays; and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 5 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

DINNER WITH FRIENDS by Donald Margulies: 2 acts. When Tom and Beth’s marriage unravels, their best pals Karen and Gabe face some terrifying questions. What exactly are the ties that bind them to their friends? Or even to each other? This rueful comedy about marriage, friendship and the fallout from other people’s divorces is penned by one of Off-Broadway’s brightest stars and is the winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize. 2m, 2f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '98, The Complete Plays and by Dramatists Play Service. Made into a motion picture by HBO Films.

LET THE BIG DOG EAT by Elizabeth Wong: 10-minute play. When four famous captains of industry meet to play a friendly game of golf, their competitive banter evolves into a debate weighing the pleasure of sheer accumulation against the scramble to spend on the public good. Exploring the game of giving, this bouncy comedy offers a highly imaginative look at the image-driven rivalries of the ultra-rich. 4m. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '98, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 5 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

LIKE TOTALLY WEIRD by William Mastrosimone: Full-length in 1 act. Two "totally weird" teens steal into a Hollywood mansion to meet their idols, a film producer and his leading lady. But these mega-stars of the 90s soon find themselves trapped in a reenactment of a "body-bag" action thriller, a frightening scenario of their own making. This edgy, suspenseful drama portrays what can happen when life imitates art— and art is all murder and mayhem. 3m, 1f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '98, The Complete Plays.

MEOW by Val Smith: 10-minute play. It’s happy hour and , for two professional women, time to dish a little after-work dirt. Amidst friendly wisecracks, fried wontons and foibles of a scatterbrained waitress, these long-time friends discover some disquieting truth in cattiness—and the cattiness of truth. 3f. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '98, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 5 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

MR. BUNDY by Jane Martin: 2 acts. When a convicted child molester moves into the neighborhood, the quality of everyone’s mercy is strained. Weighing Mr. Bundy’s rights against the risks to their own daughter, one working couple falls prey to two outsiders—crusaders with a vengeful cause. This provocative drama pits Christian ethics against the Juggernaut of parental fear, as fate and justice waver between vigilance and vigilantes. 3m, 4f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '98, The Complete Plays.

RESIDENT ALIEN by Stuart Spencer: 2 acts. Michael has landed—in the biggest mess of his life, that is. His ex-wife and her doltish husband are furious with him. The sheriff has an arrest warrant handy. And nobody but nobody believes his story that 12-year-old son Billy was beamed up by aliens. The only proof is the elusive visitor left behind, the one with the vaguely green complexion and an affection for beer. The National Enquirer smacks head-on into Kierkegaard in this charmingly offbeat romantic comedy. 5m, 1f. Published by Broadway Play Publishing and by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '98, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

TI JEAN BLUES adapted from the works of Jack Kerouac by JoAnne Akalaitis: In his writing, Jack Kerouac poured forth memory, passion, the wonder of turbulent cities, a restless search for spirituality and the wild freedom of travel, drugs and sex. Adaptor/director JoAnne Akalaitis weaves the life and writing of Kerouac into an exuberantly brilliant dramatic fabric. Using stylized movement and both individual and choral expressions of Kerouac’s dynamic language, Ti Jean Blues captures the sizzle of the Beat Poet’s life journey. Published by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '98, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

THE TRESTLE AT POPE LICK CREEK by Naomi Wallace: 2 acts. High atop a railroad trestle that spans a bone dry creek, two teenagers plan to race across the bridge against an oncoming locomotive. At first their scheme adds excitement to life in a small factory town during the Great Depression, then sensual experience awakens dangerous passions in an era of stifled ambitions. With theatrical flourish and lyrical finesse, Naomi Wallace delves into a world where people struggle to change lives that bear down upon them. 3m, 2f. Published by TheatreForum and by Smith and Kraus in Humana Festival '98, The Complete Plays.

(1997) 21ST HUMANA FESTIVAL
GUN-SHY by Richard Dresser: 2 acts. What do you do when your divorce isn’t working? Evie and Duncan are forced to face this question when they find themselves snowbound in New England with their new partners. Marriage gets a second look in Richard Dresser’s no-holds-barred comedy for the nineties. 2m, 2f, extras. Published by Dramatic Publishing and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '97, The Complete Plays.

ICARUS by Edwin Sanchez: 2 acts. An empty beachhouse settled between dunes and the roar of the sea...a perfect spot for swimming—though it’s the middle of March! A woman, her brother and an eccentric dream catcher set up camp, but a masked stranger’s arrival complicates their fantastic plan to swim out to touch the sun. This poignant comedy of loneliness and escape reevaluates notions of beauty as five outcasts discover just how much they’ll give—and give up—for love. 3m, 2f. Published by Broadway Play Publishing and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '97, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

IN HER SIGHT by Carol K. Mack: A beautiful blind pianist who stunned audiences of 18th century Europe, Maria Theresa Paradies is suddenly cured by Dr. Franz Mesmer in a grand medical "coup". But now that she can see, the famed prodigy can apparently no longer play. Stunned but bound by her love for Mesmer, she bravely struggles on, as Vienna darkens with intrigue and betrayal within the medical establishment. In this tragic and elegant romance, the web of scandal grows into an international incident, and Paradies is forced to choose between music and sight. 4m, 3f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '97, The Complete Plays.

LIGHTING UPTHE TWO-YEAR OLD by Benjie Aerenson: 2 acts. On a horse farm in north Florida, three men conspire to beat the odds when a racehorse doesn’t meet their expectations. Criminal deeds are generously rewarded, until panic rends their uneasy alliance. This foray into the dark side of "the sport of kings" reveals what it takes for one racehorse owner to get into the winner’s circle. But is the glory worth doing the time? 3m. Published by Dramatists Play Service and Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '97, The Complete Plays.

MISREADINGS by Neena Beber: 10-minute play. On the eve of her exam, a hip college student visits her professor to try to insure herself a passing grade. Her Professor wants her to drop the class—and the differences don’t end there. As student and teacher struggle to bridge their worlds, they discover a gap wider than their generations. 2f. Published by Applause in The Best American Short Plays 1996-1997; by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '97: The Complete Plays; and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 4 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

POLAROID STORIES by Naomi Iizuka: 2 acts. To the sounds of transistor radios, video arcades and a thousand collect phone calls in the night, Naomi Iizuka transforms the chaotic life of a group of street kids into a fierce elegy of emptiness, sensation, desire and fear. By an abandoned pier at the edge of an old city, young "speed-racers" scan for "pharmaceutical treasure" while "neon girls" drink from the river of forgetfulness, echoing in their words and deeds ancient stories of gods and humans. This haunting evocation of Ovid's Metamorphoses reimagined for the 1990s lends mythic power and social immediacy to America’s lower depths. 5m, 5f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '97, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

PRIVATE EYES by Steven Dietz: 2 acts. In Steven Dietz’s new comedy of suspicion, honesty is only the last resort. Matthew’s wife Lisa is having an affair with their director... but oh, if it were only that simple! From their rehearsal room to a restaurant to a therapist’s office, deception becomes a matter of perception until this play within a play within a play (within a play...) gives over to the true reality—the simple fact of two people alone, eye to eye, with nowhere left to hide. 3m, 2f. Published by Dramatists Play Service and Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '97, The Complete Plays.

STARS by Romulus Linney: 10-minute play. At a soiree in Manhattan, on a beautiful penthouse terrace, two strangers strike up a conversation. Inspired by the summer stars, they confide shocking truths—or delectable lies, take your pick. Either way, their road to love is paved with strange intentions. 1m, 1f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '97, The Complete Plays; by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 4 from Actors Theatre of Louisville; and by Vintage Books in Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays.

WATERBABIES by Adam LeFevre: 10-minute play. An overprotective young mother tries to enroll her infant in a YMCA swim class. The instructor has a knack with waterbabies—apparently. But as peculiar answers lead to unfathomable questions, this strange encounter of the aquatic kind plumbs the depths of maternal instinct. 2f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '97, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 4 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

(1996) 20TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
THE BATTING CAGE by Joan Ackermann: 2 acts. The last wishes of an extraordinary young woman have a secret design. At a Florida Holiday Inn, two estranged sisters struggle to carry them out, each marooned in a deep state of despair. A sip from the Fountain of Youth, speeding hardballs and bicycle couriers, a semi-gallant conquistador and a bouquet of roses all conspire to lead a brilliant engineer and her recently divorced sister to a new sense of themselves. And to each other. In this charming offbeat comedy, a family that has lost its bearings is restored. 2m, 2f. Published by Dramatists Play Service and Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '96, The Complete Plays.

CHILEAN HOLIDAY by Guillermo Reyes: As Santiago celebrates the second anniversary of Pinochet’s coup d’etat in 1973, one Chilean family marches to its own Latin rhythms. Romance, a birthday and plenty of homemade brew make theirs a festive backyard soiree–until plans to emigrate are revealed and collaborators are confronted. At a time when the darkest secrets are known only to secret police, this political-romantic comedy pries into the future of two cynics who are hatefully in love. 2m, 3f, female voice. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '96, The Complete Plays.

CONTRACT WITH JACKIE by Jimmy Breslin: 10-minute play. What would happen in America if politicians first tested their schemes for our nation at home? Turns out some have, according to playwright/journalist Jimmy Breslin, in this high-spirited send-up of politics brought down to their most personal and revealing level. 1m, 1f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '96, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 4 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

FLESH AND BLOOD by Elizabeth Dewberry: 2 acts. When Crystal commits the social indiscretion of the year, her astounded Southern clan can’t figure out why–or can they? Unanswered questions abound in this comedy macabre, as sibling passions get channeled into culinary misadventure. Rattling the closet skeletons of "The New South," playwright Elizabeth Dewberry pushes her gothic rivalry to a shattering conclusion. 1m, 3f. Published by Dramatic Publishing and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '96, The Complete Plays.

GOING, GOING, GONE by Anne Bogart & the Saratoga International Theater Company: Erratic quantum physics mix with torrid sexual gambits at the ultimate cocktail party of the century. As the social occasion unravels over too many martinis, so too do the absolute truths of Newtonian physics, leaving two couples to play out their dangerous games in a world of uncertainty, relativity and parallel universes. Inspired by recent scientific writings, this expressionist peformance explores our perilous balancing act between salvation and destruction. 2m, 2f. Contact The SITI Company, 172 E. 7th St., 6D, New York, NY 10009.

JACK AND JILL by Jane Martin: 2 acts. In her newest work, Jane Martin mines the subtle and often treacherous depths of modern wedlock. To love, honor and cherish–those are the easy parts of the union. It’s where one person leaves off and the other begins that proves the stumbling block. By turns funny, sensual and fierce, this poignant drama captures the essential humanity of relationship–for better or worse. 1m, 1f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '96, The Complete Plays.

MISSING/KISSING by John Patrick Shanley: Two one-acts.
KISSING CHRISTINE By turns romantic, fiercely introspective, and very, very funny, John Patrick Shanley zooms in on a very unusual first date. Two extremely individual people battle their way from hilarious self-disclosure to startling self-discovery. Valiantly working through "the strangest conversation of their lives," Christine and Larry manage to transform a chance encounter into a fateful affair. 1m, 1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. in Missing/Kissing and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '96, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

MISSING MARISA Two men engage in a madcap wrangle over a woman who has left them both. Funny and scary and downright mysterious, Terry and Eli are rivals and friends. They speak in the raunchy shorthand of people who have too much history and no inhibitions. An outrageous play about men alone together, their bizarre transactions and their chaotic humor. 2m. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. in Missing/Kissing and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '96, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

ONE FLEA SPARE by Naomi Wallace: 2 acts. Fleeing plague in the streets of 1665 London, a poor sailor and a waif steal indoors, only to discover themselves quarantined for a month with the Master and Mistress of the house. As fears of the outside world turn inwardly to jealousy and suspicion, the gentry and underclass boarded in together wait for either freedom or death. This searing and lyrical drama explores the politics of compassion within the shadow of the grave. 3m, 2f. Published by Broadway Play Publishing and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '96, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION: Six Playwrights Bury a Seventh by Tony Kushner: 10-minute play. At midnight in a cemetary on Martha’s Vineyard, six moderately inebriated playwrights prepare to bury the remains of a seventh—illegally. Countering despair with wit, these bandit dramatists revel in their mad adventure and muse against the dying of the light. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '96, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 4 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

TRYING TO FIND CHINATOWN by David Henry Hwang: 10-minute play. Ronnie is a rock ’n’ roll violinist, street-smart hipster and (only incidentally) Chinese-American. Benjamin is blonde, square, wide-eyed, Midwestern and (only incidentally) Caucasian. Their confrontation on the Lower East Side of Manhattan sparks a riff on race that swings to the very heart of identity. 2m. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. in Trying To Find Chinatown and Bondage and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '96, The Complete Plays.

WHAT I MEANT WAS by Craig Lucas: 10-minute play. An American family sits down to dinner, and out pours more pain and comfort, admissions and understanding than most families experience in a lifetime—all in ten minutes! This comic yet rueful remembrance of the way things weren’t offers at least a ray of hope for the way things still might be. 2m, 2f. Published by Applause in The Best American Short Plays 1996-1997; by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '96, The Complete Plays; and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 4 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

(1995) 19TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
BELOW THE BELT by Richard Dresser: 2 acts. Is there more to happiness than misery? That’s the paradox in this labor of laughs, when three men grab for all the gusto their meaningless jobs can brew. Stationed in a remote industrial outpost, these pixilated fellows are rewarded for teamwork with loneliness, boredom, ennui, back-stabbing, jealousy and revenge. Yes, many are the benefits of working for a faceless corporation that sucks life from all it touches– including a front row seat when Mother Nature vents her towering rage! 3m. Published by Samuel French, Inc; by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '95, The Complete Plays; and by Heinemann in A Decade of New Comedy: Plays From the Humana Festival.

BEAST ON THE MOON by Richard Kalinoski: 2 acts. In 1921, an Armenian mail-order bride is shipped to Milwaukee to begin a new life with her photographer husband. Both yearn to emerge from the dark shadows of the Armenian holocaust. As they struggle to redefine family amidst grief and displacement, these kindred strangers realize a love deeper than ever imagined. 2m, 1f, 1 boy. Published in Dramatics Magazine and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '95, The Complete Plays.

BETWEEN THE LINES by Regina Taylor: 1 act. After graduating from college, Becca and Nina set off on an unpredictable journey. While Nina stays home to pursue a career, Becca empties her trust fund to travel the globe. Soon Becca’s adventures fuel Nina’s discomfort with a life devoid of real passion, intimacy and romance. So when Becca returns, Nina’s already primed to make a few radical–and violent–changes. 3m, 5w, 2 extras. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '95, The Complete Plays.

CLOUD TECTONICS by José Rivera: 1 act. On a stormy night in Los Angeles, a lonely man picks up a pregnant hitchhiker and welcomes her into his home. Clocks stop, visitors materialize and love ticks toward its inevitable climax. In a magical world where two years can pass in a night, Cloud Tectonics asks if there ever exists a "right time" for love. 2m, 1f. Published by Broadway Play Publishing and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '95, The Complete Plays.

HEAD ON by Elizabeth Dewberry: 10-minute play. Only minutes before an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, a therapist specializing in multi-orgasmic sex must find common ground with a woman who’s witnessed a head-on collision. In this age of sensational media disclosures, it’s surprising to watch what can happen off-camera when real intimacy is given a chance. 2w. Published by The University Press of Kentucky in By Southern Playwrights: Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville; by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '95, The Complete Plays; and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 4 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

HELEN AT RISK by Dana Yeaton: 10-minute play. Helen takes her ideals to prison along with her workshop in creative mask-making. When a wise-guy inmate starts acting up, however, self-expression takes a nasty turn, and art provides the imprimatur for deadly craft. 1w, 2m. Published by Samuel French in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 3 from Actors Theatre of Louisville; by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '95, The Complete Plays; by Vintage Books in Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays; and in the journal Art Teatral: Cuadernos de Minipiezas Ilustrades.

JULY 7, 1994 by Donald Margulies: 1 act. Capturing a recent day of disturbance and fear, Donald Margulies’ play, set in an inner-city clinic, charts the vital signs of our society. As a woman physician struggles to reconcile the extremes of hope and despair that define a typical day in her life, we are given a unique window on the way we live now. 4f, 2m. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.; by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays; and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '95, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

MIDDLE-AGED WHITE GUYS by Jane Martin: 1 act. Meeting in one of this country’s finer landfills, three middle-aged white guys discover they’ve got one last chance to salvage their slice of American culture. But salvation can be painfully funny when God gets really angry. By airing America’s dirty laundry, this hilarious satire probes the most sensitive place–what it means to be a member in the white guy club. 4m, 3w. Published by Samuel French, Inc.; by Smith & Kraus in Jane Martin Collected Works: Vol I; and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '95, The Complete Plays.

TOUGH CHOICES FOR THE NEW CENTURY: A Seminar for Responsible Living by Jane Anderson: 1 act. If natural disaster struck your homestead, would you know what to do? Sign up for a seminar with Bob and Helen Dooley who, with a nationally recognized authority on personal defense–Arden Shingles–take the idea of "preparedness" to its funniest and darkest conclusion. 1m, 1w. Published by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '95, The Complete Plays.

TRUDY BLUE by Marsha Norman: 1 act. Determined not to submit to mid-life malaise, a successful writer named Ginger embarks on a wildly irreverent spiritual journey. Her traveling companion and guide is Trudy Blue, the main character from her new novel. This comic, sexy, revisionist Doll’s House for the 90s investigates what happens after "happily ever after." Published by Heinemann in A Decade of New Comedy: Plays From the Humana Festival; by Smith & Kraus in Marsha Norman Volume I: Collected Plays; and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '95, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

YOUR OBITUARY IS A DANCE by Benard Cummings: 10-minute play. Returning to his Texas hometown, a young man dying of AIDS attempts to say goodbye. Unable to overcome his own and his family’s prejudices, his pain goes unresolved until he’s reunited with another outsider who was his childhood friend. 1m, 1f. Published by Samuel French in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 3 from Actors Theatre of Louisville and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '95, The Complete Plays.

(1994) 18TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
1969 by Tina Landau: 1 act. 1969 captures the horror of high school and the chaos of the late 1960s. In a swirl of images, events and music of that year, a lonely high school senior takes a psychedelic journey towards sexual and political identity. Unable to conform and needing to escape, he travels along a Yellow Brick Road of the mind, encountering such personalities as Dr. Timothy Leary, Janis Joplin and Neil Armstrong—he is propelled headlong into the terrifying, hot center of the counterculture. Here, in the collective hallucination of the revolution, he embraces the possibility of reinventing himself and discovers the quirky spirit which will lead him into the gay Greenwich Village of the early 1970s. 1969 captures a generation’s yearning to expand outward—into psychedelia, over the rainbow, to the moon. 5m, 2f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '94, The Complete Plays.

BETTY THE YETI by Jon Klein: 2 acts. In this comic Call of the Wild, a disgruntled logger heads for the woods after losing his job and his wife. Hounded by environmentalists, treed by his family, and baited by the lumber industry, it takes a lonely yeti to finally touch this logger’s heart. But what’s a mister to do with his myth when everyone wants her—alive or dead? With an acid wit that could strip the bark from a yew tree, Jon Klein weaves this woolly new fable about the ferocious tug of war taking place in Northwest forests. 2m, 3f, 1 yeti. Published by Dramatists Play Service Inc. and Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '94, The Complete Plays.

JULIE JOHNSON by Wendy Hammond: 2 acts. Julie Johnson has had enough. Filled with passions that sometimes terrify her, she embarks on a journey to the ends of the universe—without ever leaving Hoboken, New Jersey. In this fiercely comic tale of extraordinary courage, one woman explores love and physics in her overwhelming need to expand inward. 2m, 3f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '94, The Complete Plays. A film version of Julie Johnson, produced by Shooting Gallery, premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.

THE LAST TIME WE SAW HER by Jane Anderson: 10-minute play. Does personal prerogative end when company policy begins? That’s the delicate question at hand when a valued employee seeks her supervisor’s approval to share a long-kept secret with her staff. The ensuing discussion illuminates the value systems of those who make the rules and those who must live by them—or not. 1m, 1f. Published by Samuel French in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 3 from Actors Theatre of Louisville and Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '94, The Complete Plays.

MY LEFT BREAST by Susan Miller: 1 act. A scar marks the transformation of a body—Susan Miller records the transcendence of a soul. With generous humor, surprising sensuality and unflinching perception, one woman reconstructs a journey through loss. A breast may be removed, love may be relinquished, but the greater part of life survives irreducible. My Left Breast is a passionate redefinition of self when "all definitions are off." 1f. Published by Applause in The Best Short Plays of 1994; and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '94, The Complete Plays.

SLAVS! (Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness) by Tony Kushner: 1 act. Slavs! is a fantastical/ political / historical exploration of life in the Soviet Union in the earliest dawn of Perestroika. In scenes ranging from the inner chambers of the Politburo to a secret chamber beneath Lenin’s Tomb to a medical facility near a radioactive disposal site in Siberia, Slavs! considers the difficulty, the failure and the abiding importance of Socialism and of ongoing efforts towards building collective societies and a more just world. 3m, 3f, 1 girl. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '94, The Complete Plays and by TCG in Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness (Essays, a Play, Two Poems and a Prayer). More About the Play

SHOTGUN by Romulus Linney: 2 acts. "Whose tongue was peace, while his heart was colored with blood?" A passage from The Last of the Mohicans begins one man’s retreat to the wilderness of his lost boyhood. In a lakeside cottage, this habitually compliant son and husband brings together his long-divorced parents, his wife and his best friend to face the disintegration of his marriage. Civility and enlightenment inevitably fall prey to the ferocity of his unexamined resentment. In the hands of Romulus Linney, a simple story of betrayal becomes a masterly parable of spiritual damage. 3m, 2f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '94, The Complete Plays.

STONES AND BONES by Marion McClinton: 10-minute play. In the ever present now, machismo and misogyny meet hip-hop and attitude when two couples struggle to relate. By distending the jargon of two distinct strata of the African-American community, Marion McClinton’s Stones and Bones paints the ecstasy of connection and the agony of estrangement. 2m, 2f. Published by Samuel French in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 3 from Actors Theatre of Louisville; Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '94, The Complete Plays; and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

THE SURVIVOR: A Cambodian Odyssey by Jon Lipsky: 2 acts. Dr. Haing S. Ngor, a survivor of the Cambodian holocaust, won an Academy Award for his role in The Killing Fields. Since he wasn’t an actor, all he could do was remember. A story of unspeakable struggle and unwavering hope, Dr. Ngor’s metamorphosis is hauntingly dramatized through interwoven elements of Eastern and Western theatre. A saga of war and lost humanity, The Survivor reveals the spirit of a man tempered by hate and sustained by love. 3m, 3f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '94, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

TRIP'S CINCH by Phyllis Nagy: 1 act. A wealthy man. A working-class woman. A random meeting over a pitcher of gin and tonics. When these worlds collide, a controversial scholar tries to exploit the politics of sexual pursuit. Caustic and wry, this uncompromising drama pushes the William Kennedy Smith and Mike Tyson trials one step further—Phyllis Nagy gives us both the truth and the lie. 1m, 2f. Published by Dramatic Publishing and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '94, The Complete Plays

(1993) 17TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
DEADLY VIRTUES by Brian Jucha: 1 act. The seven Deadly Sins threaten damnation. The seven Moral Virtues promise transcendence. Brought together as Deadly Virtues, this high-energy performance, conceived by Brian Jucha in collaboration with actors Regina Byrd Smith, Tamar Kotoske, Barney O’Hanlon, Steven Skybell and Andy Weems, enlists dance, torch songs and film noir to deconstruct the battleground of human conscience. 3m, 2f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '93, The Complete Plays.

THE ICE FISHING PLAY by Kevin Kling: 2 acts. In the middle of a frozen lake, a chilly Minnesotan baits his fish hook to catch The Big One. Suddenly his ice hut is overrun by family, friends...and apparitions in search of a beer? As comaraderie melts back into solitude, this winter comedy brings the lonely fisherman cheek-to-gill with destiny. 6m, 1f, voices. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '93, The Complete Plays.

KEELY AND DU by Jane Martin: 1 act. From the author of Talking With and Vital Signs, a volatile full-length drama about abortion. Du, a radical Right To Life activist, and Keely, the pregnant rape victim she confines, transcend their circumstances and the ideological issues that separate them. Jane Martin develops their unlikely bond with a deeply felt humanity that refuses to become political. 2m, 2f, extras. Published by Samuel French, Inc.; by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '93, The Complete Plays; and by Smith & Kraus in Jane Martin Collected Works: Vol I. More About the Play

POOF! by Lynn Nottage: 10-minute play. What’s that heap of smoking ash where her husband used to be...a magic trick, the wrath of God or evil mojo maybe? As two friends work out the boundaries of personal rights and social consequence, this surprising comedy raises a novel question: Is spontaneous combustion illegal? Poof! is co-winner of the 1992 Heideman Award for Actors’ National Ten-Minute Play Contest. 2f. Published by Broadway Play Publishing in Facing Forward ; by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '93, The Complete Plays; in the journal Art Teatral: Cuadernos de Minipiezas Ilustrades; and in the journal American Voice.

SHOOTING SIMONE by Lynne Kaufman: 2 acts. As young lovers, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre promised to tell each other everything–and then Olga arrived. Forty years later, that erotic visitation is scrutinized by an American film-maker, who’s come to Paris with her boyfriend to "shoot" Simone. By examining the changing face of feminism, this romantic comedy explores the politics of love, creativity and commitment. 2m, 2f, posssible extras. Published by Dramatic Publishing and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '93, The Complete Plays.

STANTON’S GARAGE by Joan Ackermann: 2 acts. "Things fall apart," wrote William Butler Yeats–and he never worked on a car! When their Volvo conks out in the wilds of Missouri, a Chicago doctor and her stepdaughter-to-be find themselves stranded in a repair shop for broken hearts. Ex-husbands and estranged wives drive in for emotional tune-ups, and the women from Chicago become mechanics of their own destiny–in a high-octane comedy that proves, "Things also fall together." 4m,4 f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '93, The Complete Plays. More About the Play

TAPE by José Rivera: 10-minute play. If we suspected everything we said was being recorded, would we act differently? Like Nixon’s drama of deceit with the White House tapes, Rivera’s surreal and haunting play examines the links between technology and conscience when a lifetime of betrayal is uncovered. 2 characters (gender unspecified). Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '93, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 3 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

VARIOUS SMALL FIRES by Regina Taylor: Two one-acts.
JENNINE’S DIARY: Vivid tales of family, career and romance illuminate the journey of Jennine through a maze of self-discovery and love. As she travels to "a dream called Venice," voices from her African-American past open cages within cages and find freedom within. 5f. Contact John Buzzetti, The Gersh Agency, 130 West 42nd St., Ste. 2400, New York, NY 10036.

WATERMELON RINDS: What happens to a dream deferred? Some pretty wild things, suggests this serio-comic exposé of African-American family politics. As the folks salute Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, talk of the past heats up until Mama’s repast explodes–literally! And all the while a young girl watches, struggling to understand a society that demands sacrifice but offers only promises in return. 3m, 5f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '93, The Complete Plays; by Applause in Best Short Plays of 1993; by Dramatic Publishing in Ties that Bind; and by Heinemann in A Decade of New Comedy: Plays From the Humana Festival.

WHAT WE DO WITH IT by Bruce MacDonald: 10-minute play. Disagreement leads to bitter accusations in this father-daughter battle for the truth. Ten years ago Cheryl started to remember, and now her nightmare has become his. 1m, 1f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Humana Festival '93, The Complete Plays and by Samuel French, Inc. in Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 3 from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

(1992) 16TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
BONDAGE by David Henry Hwang: 1 act. When a man and woman meet for games of dominance and power in an S&M parlor, ethnicity becomes their instrument of pleasure. Yet what the couple finds beneath the leather, under the hoods, lurking just below the spikes is skin that is human. This eccentric romance, commissioned by Actors Theatre of Louisville, examines the politically incorrect ways in which race and sexual attraction remain bound, despite these pluralistic ’90s. 1m, 1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. in Trying to Find Chinatown and Bondage; by Applause in Best Short Plays of 1993; and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays. More About the Play

THE CARVING OF MOUNT RUSHMORE by John Conklin: 1 act. Stamping human likenesses on nature’s enduring greatness–was it a brilliant vision or arrogant folly? Now four men of stone–imagined by the artist, carved by the worker, and observed by us all --– dominate impressions of the Black Hills. Commissioned by Actors Theatre, this evening of poetry, music and performance illuminates myriad public and personal issues embedded in that "Shrine of Democracy." 5 actors, 1 pianist. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

D. BOONE by Marsha Norman: (Retitled: LOVING DANIEL BOONE) 2 acts. In a cluttered historical museum, a cleaning woman disillusioned in love seeks romance and adventure with a mythic hero. Leaving her dustpan, broom and several men behind, the woman pursues her historic fantasy by fighting Indians and British alongside Daniel Boone–but she finds herself pursued by her most unlikely lover. This magical comedy travels the timewarp of love to put a human face on heroics -– then and now. 7m, 2f. Published by The University Press of Kentucky in By Southern Playwrights: Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville and by Smith & Kraus in Marsha Norman Volume I: Collected Plays.

DEVOTEES IN THE GARDEN OF LOVE by Suzan-Lori Parks: 1 act. As a bride-to-be and her mother watch from atop a hill, two suitors vie in bloody combat for the lady’s hand in marriage. Meanwhile, the young lady prepares her heart and trousseau for the victor–until news from her matchmaker reveals just how deadening romantic illusions can be. This tragicomedy of courtly ritual is an Actors Theatre commission. 3f. Published by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays and by TCG in The America Play and Other Works.

EUKIAH by Lanford Wilson: 10-minute play. Butch’s haunting call for Eukiah to come out of the shadows echoes through an abandoned airplane hangar. What does Eukiah know, and what does he think he knows about a plot to kill racehorses? This brooding exploration of power lures us into a dimly lit corridor where truth and trust lean precariously against one another. 2m. Published by Samuel French, Inc. in More Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville; by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays; and in the journal Art Teatral: Cuadernos de Minipiezas Ilustrades.

EVELYN AND THE POLKA KING by John Olive: 2 acts. Music by Carl Finch and Bob Lucas, Lyrics by Bob Lucas. Bad times are the best times for polka–and things could not be worse for a dethroned "polka king" who’s coming off a 25-year bender. When Evelyn appears, claiming she’s his daughter, his blurred life slowly comes back into focus. Together they search for her birth mother, revive his band (The Vibra-Tones!), and rediscover the outrageous joys of polkamania. 1m, 2f, and a polka band. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by TCG in Plays in Process.

HYAENA by Ross MacLean: 2 acts. A failing patient shuttles across his final perceptions of the world around him. Nearing cessation, his family and friends pull away. Into this twilight zone comes the Hyaena, a spiritual carnivore, who devotes himself to the dying man. A disturbing and seductive drama of mortality, surrender and irrepressible life. 5m, 2f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

LYNETTE AT 3 A.M. by Jane Anderson: 10-minute play. Things are not going well for Lynette and Bobby; she’s contemplating the abyss and he’s asleep. As Bobby snores the Brooklyn night away, Lynette turns her restless thoughts to salsa music, a gunshot, and the mystical appearance of a kindred soul. For her, if not for Bobby, it’s a night to remember. 2m, 1f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. in More Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville and in the journal Art Teatral: Cuadernos de Minipiezas Ilustrades.

MARISOL by José Rivera: 2 acts. Armageddon in the heavens -– the angels go to war! Apocalypse on earth–cities self-destruct! Seen through the eyes of Marisol Perez, an Everywoman on a journey through a surrealistic Bronx, this miraculous drama pins the destiny of our planet on the outcome of revolution and renewal. 1m, 3f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.; by TCG in American Theatre Magazine; and by Penguin USA in Nuestro New York. More About the Play

OLD LADY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVAL by Mayo Simon: 2 acts. A very independent old lady, Netty is surviving quite nicely, thank you, until her eyesight fails. Pragmatically, Netty adopts the not-quite-so independent old lady Shprintzy as a surrogate pair of eyes but gets more than she bargained for. This honest portrait of aging considers the balance between self and selfishness, dependence and connection. 2f. Published by Dramatic Publishing.

PROCEDURE by Joyce Carol Oates: 10-minute play. By adhering to strict hospital procedures, an experienced nurse helps a novice prepare a patient’s corpse for its journey to the morgue. This riveting confrontation of body and soul explores the many-layered mechanism which protects the human psyche. 1m, 2f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. in More Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

(1991) 15TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
CEMENTVILLE by Jane Martin: 2 acts. Championship wrestling comes to Cementville, Tennessee, and then all hell breaks loose! Set in the locker room of a decaying coliseum, this wicked comedy tests the limits of self-control, as sex and pseudo-sport inflame the passions of the fans. Wrestling may be fantasy entertainment, but as a satire of vicarious violence, this play pulls no punches. 5m, 9f. Published by Samuel French, Inc; by Smith & Kraus in Jane Martin Collected Works: 1980-1995; and by Heinemann in A Decade of New Comedy: Plays From the Humana Festival.

THE DEATH OF ZUKASKY by Richard Strand: 2 acts. Welcome to the circus of corporate politics! In the center of this three-ring farce, competing managers—working without a net!—attempt to climb a single career ladder. Marvel as they juggle ethics, tumble over one another, and jump through the boss’s hoops! Oh sure, not everyone who wants a promotion gets this crazy...or do they? 4m, 1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Heinemann in A Decade of New Comedy: Plays From the Humana Festival.

DOWN THE ROAD by Lee Blessing: 1 act. When a married couple accepts an assignment to write the authorized account of a convicted serial killer, they face an ethical dilemma: When does a fascination with evil become an exploitation of horror? This riveting drama examines the haunted relationship of an imprisoned murderer with his biographers. 2m,1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. More About the Play

IN THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE by Eduardo Machado: 2 acts. Caught in the storm of revolution, three generations of a Cuban family declare themselves against the enemy—but is that Castro, the Cuban people or themselves? This tragicomedy about family business, love and buses is set amidst the Cuban crisis of 1959. As the family defends its bus company against nationalization, tempers flair, passions soar and blood proves thicker than gasoline. 7m, 4f. Published by TCG in The Floating Island Plays and by Heinemann in A Decade of New Comedy: Plays From the Humana Festival. More About the Play

NIGHT-SIDE by Shem Bitterman: 1 act. Memories, ghosts and strange encounters guide a woman down a path of dark discovery. Does she witness a murder in the park, and is she now being followed, or does she imagine it all? Set in a surreal landscape of dreams and sexual fantasies, this one-character mystery is an acting tour de force! 1f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

OUT THE WINDOW by Neal Bell: 10-minute play. Pandora’s box is opened when a young man awakens in a wheelchair atop a kitchen table. How did he get there? What happened last night? And will his girlfriend tell him the truth? This comic tale of hope and devotion is co-winner of the 1990 Heideman Award for Actors’s "best of the shortest" National Ten-Minute Play Contest. 1m, 1f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. in More Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

A PASSENGER TRAIN OF SIXTY-ONE COACHES by Paul Walker: 1 act. Just a century ago, Anthony Comstock rose from his position as a U.S. postal clerk to lead a crusade against obscenity. Operating under laws written expressly for his cause, Comstock destroyed 160 tons of literature, imprisoned countless writers, publishers and artists, and declared the plays of George Bernard Shaw "smut." Based on the writings of Comstock and his victims, this performance art piece refracts the issues of our times through the mind of a fanatical puritan. 6 actors, non-traditional casting. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

A PIECE OF MY HEART by Shirley Lauro: 2 acts. In this powerful and profound remembrance of Vietnam, six courageous women struggle to make sense of a war that irrevocably changed them and a nation that shunned them. Inspired by stories of valiant nurses and entertainers, this stunning drama about heroism, ideals and sacrifice continues Actors Theatre of Louisville’s exploration of theatrical documentary, and offers a timely reflection on America and war. 6 f, 1m. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

WHAT SHE FOUND THERE by John Glore: 10-minute play. When Alice went through the looking-glass, her mirror-image, Celia, entered our world. Now Celia’s shacked up with a truck-driver named Lou, and after making love they talk of many things, "of ships—and shoes—and sealing wax"—and new beginnings. This magical return to innocence is co-winner of the 1990 Heideman Award for Actors National Ten-Minute Play Contest. 1m, 1f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. in More Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

(1990) 14TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
2 by Romulus Linney: 2 acts. Nuremberg, Germany: 1945-46. Inside the Palace of Justice, Hermann Goering defends himself and his Führer against charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Defiant in the face of evidence documenting Nazi atrocities, Goering emerges from courtroom battles as a fierce, brilliant and conscienceless manipulator who very nearly sabotaged the Nuremberg trials. This explosive drama raises provocative questions about responsibility in the German and American chains of command. 9m, 1f, 1 child. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.; by The University Press of Kentucky in By Southern Playwrights: Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville; and by TCG in Romulus Linney — Six Plays.

IN DARKEST AMERICA by Joyce Carol Oates: Two one-acts.
THE ECLIPSE: An aging woman’s fantasies perplex and amaze her daughter. 1m, 3f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. More About the Play

TONE CLUSTERS: A father and mother endure an unnerving, often absurd interview with a disembodied voice that pries into secrets of a family tragedy. 2m, 1f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays. More About the Play

INFINITY’S HOUSE by Ellen McLaughlin: 2 acts. As Oppenheimer and his colleagues await the detonation of the first nuclear warhead, specters of past American pioneers converge in a desert dreamscape. This provocative play is an epic exploration of humanity’s ceaseless struggle to control the world, tracing our uncertain progress in the journey toward infinity. 13m, 3f, 1 child. Published by TCG in Plays in Process. More About the Play

THE PINK STUDIO by Jane Anderson: 2 acts. Sometimes artists walk a tightrope between life and art, as is the case with Henri Matisse. In this fantasy journey through Matisse’s mid-life crisis, the great Fauvist painter (fauve is French for "wild beast") experiences passions as extreme as the colors on his canvas. Desire, jealousy, confusion and love imbue the Matisse paintings that introduce each scene of this whimsical, sensual comedy. 2m, 4f, 1 child. Contact Martin Gage, The Gage Group, 9255 Sunset Blvd., Ste. 515, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

THE SWAN by Elizabeth Egloff: 1 act. A swan collides with Dora’s house. She drags it inside and takes care of it. Problems: It can’t do anything right. It keeps killing the neighbor’s rabbits. Plus, Dora already has a boyfriend. This dark comedy explores the transforming power of love and sex. 2m, 1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by TCG in American Theatre Magazine.

VITAL SIGNS by Jane Martin: 2 acts. From the author of Talking With: new signs of off-beat humor, rage and imagination in the female voice. Jane Martin proves again the infinite resonance of monologue form. Moving in new directions, she introduces a gallery of characters who shatter expectation, reinvent the ordinary and dignify the bizarre. 2m, 6f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by Smith & Kraus in Jane Martin Collected Works: Vol I.

ZARA SPOOK AND OTHER LURES by Joan Ackermann: 2 acts. Three women drive into the Land of Enchantment to compete in the annual Bass’n Gal Fishing Tournament, but before they even cast a line, two men get hopelessly hooked. With the World Championship and two marriages at stake, the anglers pull out their trickiest lures to match wits with lovers and fish. Confronted by beanie-shooters, rifles and rattlesnakes, the women discover that men are more difficult than fish to unhook. 2m, 4f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by Heinemann in A Decade of New Comedy: Plays From the Humana Festival.

(1989) 13TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
AUTUMN ELEGY by Charlene Redick: 2 acts. For over 50 years, Ciel and Manny have lived in rural isolation. Retreating from a world destroyed by the Crash of ’29, they built a home and evolved between them elegant rituals centered on work, shared possessions and individual involvement. But Ciel is dying. She faces incapacity and must seek the help of strangers or surrender dignity and independence to the husband who would become her caretaker. At what point can a relationship no longer change? With lyrical emotional ferocity, Autumn Elegy explores the outer boundaries of human intimacy and leave-taking. 2m, 2f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

BLOOD ISSUE by Harry Crews: 2 acts. Joe returns home with a case of Jack Daniels in his trunk and questions of blood on his mind. Unearthing buried truths, he digs beneath the surface landscape of horseshoes, dumplings, and time-worn stories to the unmarked graves of his family history. 5m, 3f. Published by The University Press of Kentucky in By Southern Playwrights: Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

BONE-THE-FISH by Arthur Kopit: (Retitled: ROAD TO NIRVANA) 2 acts. When a film producer offers his best ex-friend, Jerry, the chance to co-produce a hot new movie, the deal turns out to be not only raw but raunchy. But Jerry endures the onslaught of hilarious humiliations to get his one shot at fame and fortune. In a land where the deal justifies the means, there’s apparently no part of Jerry’s body or soul which is not negotiable. 5m, 2f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.; by Heinemann in A Decade of New Comedy: Plays From the Humana Festival; and by TCG in American Theatre Magazine.

THE BUG by Richard Strand: 2 acts. The trouble in corporate paradise begins at Jericho Inc. with an employee’s simple question, which cannot be answered simply or otherwise. The ensuing confusion shifts the employee’s hyperactive imagination into comic overdrive, and the result is a farce of multi-national proportions. As this Everyman of the 1980s faces off against a faceless bureaucracy, he discovers a bug in the system that threatens to tumble the pre-fab walls of Jericho Inc. 3m, 2f. Published by Heinemann in New American Plays Vol. I.

GOD’S COUNTRY by Steven Dietz: 2 acts. In September of 1983 members of a racist organization known as The Order began robbing, counterfeiting and murdering so-called "enemies of the white race" in an effort to ignite a "white revolution." The crime spree ended one year later in a fatal shoot-out followed by an explosive courtroom drama. By documenting the facts and fallacies of the white supremacy movement, God's Country traces the brutal rise and fall of The Order. 8m, 3f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

INCIDENT AT SAN BAJO by Brad Korbesmeyer: 1 act. An eccentric, humorous and spellbinding tale of seven people who survive a mystical mass murder in the American southwest. 6m, 3f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

STAINED GLASS by William F. Buckley, Jr.: 2 acts. CIA operative Blackford Oakes is sent into deep cover as an architect rebuilding a bombed-out chapel in 1952 West Germany. When the cold war heats up because of a charismatic German leader who promises to reunite the Fatherland, Oakes becomes a pawn in Washington-Moscow détente strategies. 10m, 2f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

TALES OF THE LOST FORMICANS by Constance Congdon: 2 acts. Trapped in a planned community where nothing works as planned, the characters search for explanations in their dreams and in the artifacts around them—for even in Formica there may be a fleck of God. In Tales of the Lost Formicans, we finally meet the aliens, and they are us. 4m, 3f. Published by Broadway Play Publishing; by TCG in American Theatre Magazine; by TCG in Tales of the Lost Formicans and Other Plays; and by Broadway Play Publishing in Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

(1988) 12TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
ALONE AT THE BEACH by Richard Dresser: 2 acts. Six lonely strangers, an ex-husband and a dog turn a carefree vacation into a hilarious summer of discontent. Frustrated by computerized work shifts, bed-hopping and torrential rains, these miserable Manhattanites finally overcome their fear of friendship in this desperate search for meaningful weekends. 4m, 3f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

CHANNELS by Judith Fein: 2 acts. A sophisticated mind and spirit begin to disconnect. Jennifer Bassum resigns her university position to give herself time to think. Depression blossoms into surreal hilarity as Jennifer reprograms her existence, casting husband, mother, lover and best friend into nightmarish episodes on the TV screen of her mind. 2m, 5f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

LLOYD’S PRAYER by Kevin Kling: 2 acts. Raised by raccoons, Bob learns he’s a boy when his arm gets caught in a trap and he’s spirited away by the huckster Lloyd, who hustles for the boy’s salvation at sideshows and revival meetings. When a beautiful angel is sent to stop Lloyd’s blasphemy, a struggle for Bob’s soul ensues, shaking heaven and earth and leaving Bob out on a limb. 3m, 1f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by TCG in American Theatre Magazine.

THE METAPHOR by Murphy Guyer: 1 act. When a strange interrogation is derailed by a prisoner’s defiance, the interrogator pulls out all the stops—outrageous, absurd and theatrical. But the prisoner’s resistance ultimately disrupts everything, even the performance! 4m, 1f. Contact Murphy Guyer, 100 E. 31st Street, New York, NY 10016, (212) 889-3021.

THE QUEEN OF THE LEAKY ROOF CIRCUIT by Jimmy Breslin: 2 acts. On the eve of eviction from her New York tenement, a black welfare mother decides to challenge the system and save her children. Her crusade against corruption and prejudice leads her through a series of startling confrontations with a judge, the police and James Boy—the man who abandoned her. 6m, 4f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

SARAH AND ABRAHAM by Marsha Norman: 2 acts. Day one, we begin the rehearsal process of an improvised drama based on the Biblical story of Sarah and Abraham. Conflicts intensify as the lives of the performers and those of their Biblical counterparts begin to intersect. 5m, 3f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Marsha Norman Volume I: Collected Plays.

WHEREABOUTS UNKNOWN by Barbara Damashek: 2 acts. A requiem for the forgotten: lost people who roam the netherworld of our city streets. Her work, based on direct testimony collected in Louisville’s missions, day centers and soup kitchens, and echoed by the voices of transients from other parts of the country, is a resonant tribute to our indomitable will to survive. 13m, 5f, 3 children, 4 extras. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

(1987) 11TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
DEADFALL by Grace McKeaney: 3 acts. In 1938, in a run-down roadhouse near Waycross, Georgia, two sisters who have retreated from the world are shaken out of their placidity by the arrival of four men, who remind them that love is still possible. 4m, 2f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

DIGGING IN by Julie Crutcher and Vaughn McBride: 1 act. This docudrama, which examines the plight of rural America, is a compendium of Kentucky farmers’ stories taken from actual interviews and juxtaposed with bankers’ and politicians’ views. Together they form a frightening and understandable picture of the farm crisis. 8m, 3f. Published by The University Press of Kentucky in By Southern Playwrights: Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

ELAINE’S DAUGHTER by Mayo Simon: 2 acts. In this modern day comedy, a daughter comes to grips with the resemblance her life bears to her mother’s, despite her desperate attempts to have it otherwise. 3m, 2f. Published by Dramatic Publishing.

GLIMMERGLASS by Jonathan Bolt: 3 acts. Suggested by the characters and events in James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales, this epic adventure follows Natty Bumppo, Harry March, and the Indian Chingachgook through 50 years of early American history. As the American wilderness retreats westward, the friendship among the three men disintegrates, for Natty and Chingachgook resist colonization while Harry profits from it. 12m, 2f, plus extras. Contact Robert Freedman, Robert A. Freedman Dramatic Agency, 1501 Broadway, Suite 2310, New York, NY 10036.

GRINGO PLANET by Frederick Bailey: 2 acts. This comically crazed sci-fi spoof parodies B movies when five chess-mad mechanics fall prey to alien infiltration. When a mysterious Soviet journalist arrives shortly after a UFO crash, the mechanics’ eccentricities begin to run amuck. 5m, 1f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

SHORTS: three one-act plays
CHEMICAL REACTIONS by Andy Foster: A black comedy in which two men, illegally dumping barrels of toxic waste for a violent underworld kingpin, pit the possible loss of their own lives against the life of a man they discover inside one of the barrels. 3m. Published by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays and by Applause in Best Short Plays, 1989.

FUN by Howard Korder: One night in the lives of two teenage boys, whose search for "fun" takes them through the American suburban landscape. A disturbing portrait of the artificiality of modern life and adolescent isolation within it. 5m, 1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

THE LOVE TALKER by Deborah Pryor: A mystical and mythical examination of a young girl’s coming of age, and her introduction to the frightening but enticing world of male sexuality. 3f, 1m. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.; by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays; and by Applause in Best Short Plays 1988.

T BONE N WEASEL by Jon Klein: 2 acts. In this comic adventure of life on the lam, T Bone and Weasel, inept partners in petty crime, careen down the back roads of South Carolina until one of them ends up in jail and the other vows to mend his ways. 3m. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc., and by TCG in Plays in Process and New Plays USA 4.

WATER HOLE by Kendrew Lascelles: 2 acts. An explosive drama in which lust, greed, jealousy and pride do battle on an oasis in Africa, as a murderous but charming slave trader butts heads with a beautiful Hollywood actress full of Good Samaritan resolve. 2m, 2f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

(1986) 10TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
ASTRONAUTS by Claudia Reilly: 2 acts. A male teacher at a Catholic psychiatric home conducts a frantic search for a "major" singing talent for the annual fundraiser while his female colleague tries to avoid a psychopathic student she secretly believes is an aeronautical genius. 2m, 3f. Published by Heinemann in A Decade of New Comedy: Plays From the Humana Festival.

HOW TO SAY GOODBYE by Mary Gallagher: 2 acts. The friendship of three women is chronicled over an eight-year span. The severe illness of one woman’s child cracks the foundation of her marriage and she flees, leaving one friend to fulfill the role of mother and the other to act as a buffer between them. 1m, 3f, 1 boy. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

NO MERCY by Constance Congdon: 1 act. A man who witnessed the first testing of the atom bomb at Trinity Site struggles to find faith and meaning in the modern world while Robert Oppenheimer examines the consequences of his own experimentation. 5m, 3f, 1 boy. Published by Broadway Play Publishing in Seven Different Plays and by TCG in Tales of the Lost Formicans and Other Plays.

THE SHAPER by John Steppling: 2 acts. The grim underworld of California surfers is detailed in this story of a man who, having just been released from jail, returns to his surfboard shop and convinces his buddy and stepsister to attempt another robbery. 3m, 3f. Contact George Lane, William Morris Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.

SMITTY’S NEWS by Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller: 2 acts. A divorced mother is forced to confront her troubled past when she tries to prosecute the two boys who beat and raped her teenage daughter in this portrait of the violence that permeates modern society. 5m, 4f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

SOME THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE THE WORLD ENDS: A FINAL EVENING WITH THE ILLUMINATI by Larry Larson and Levi Lee: 2 acts. A hilarious look at the result of blind faith in organized religion. The obsessed Reverend Eddie experiences an increasingly maniacal series of hallucinations and visions, culminating in a game of basketball with the grim reaper. 2m. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc., and by Heinemann in A Decade of New Comedy: Plays From the Humana Festival.

TO CULEBRA by Jonathan Bolt: 2 acts. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the charismatic Frenchman who successfully built the Suez Canal, attempts to repeat his "miracle" in Panama, resulting in one of the greatest financial scandals of all time. 9m, 2f. Published by Gibbs-Smith Publisher (Peregrine Plays) and represented by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

TRANSPORTS: two one-act plays
21A by Kevin Kling: A wild tour-de-force in which one man portrays a busload of eccentric characters on a city route in Minneapolis. 1m. Published by Samuel French, Inc.; by Playsmith Publishers, Inc.; and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

HOW GERTRUDE STORMED THE PHILOSOPHER’S CLUB by Martin Epstein: The sanctity of an all-male club dedicated to quiet thinking is violated when a softball-playing mother of three plops herself down in the Wittgenstein chair. 3m, 1f. Published by Applause in The Best Short Plays 1987 and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

(1985) 9TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
AVAILABLE LIGHT by Heather McDonald: 2 acts. In a poverty-ridden French village in the 1880s, amidst famine and hardship, a young boy studies sparrows and learns to fly, transcending his desperate circumstance. 10m, 5f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

DAYS AND NIGHTS WITHIN by Ellen McLaughlin: 1 act. In a prison in East Berlin in 1950, a woman accused of spying matches her intellect and determined strength against the full power of the state and the keen insights of her interrogator. 1m, 1f. Published by TCG in Plays in Process.

RIDE THE DARK HORSE by J.F. O’Keefe: 2 acts. A family’s inner resources are severely tested when one of their member falls ill and all are confronted with their own mortality. 5m, 3f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

SHORTS: four one-act plays
ADVICE TO THE PLAYERS by Bruce Bonafede: Two black South African actors struggle against the politics of their country when their performance at an American theatre festival is suddenly in danger of being banned. 4m, 1f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by Applause in Best Short Plays 1986.

THE AMERICAN CENTURY by Murphy Guyer: A returning World War II veteran and his new wife find their rosy dreams compromised when their son visits them from the future and reveals the truth of what’s to come. 2m, 1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

THE BLACK BRANCH by Gary Leon Hill with Jo Hill: The inhabitants of a state-run mental home, who are at the mercy of the system that condemns them, fight for dignity and power. 3m, 3f. Published by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

THE ROOT OF CHAOS by Douglas Soderberg: This black comedy takes place in Centralia, Pennsylvania. As the underground fire gets closer, a family fights to maintain the aura of normalcy. 3m, 2f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Applause in Best Short Plays 1986.

TENT MEETING by Larry Larson, Levi Lee & Rebecca Wackler: 2 acts. The Reverend Ed Tarbox leads his son and daughter on a mission, believing his illegitimate grandchild is actually a gift from God. The journey culminates in a hilarious, irreverent revival meeting. 2m, 1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.; by The University Press of Kentucky in By Southern Playwrights: Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville; by TCG in New Plays USA 4; and by TCG in Plays in Process.

TWO MASTERS by Frank Manley: Two thematically linked scenes explore Southern hospitality and the performing of Good Works. The first concerns the confession of a rural couple who entertain a murderer, and the second reveals the awkward attempt of two well-intentioned women who try to comfort a bedridden hospital patient. 1m, 2f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

THE VERY LAST LOVER OF THE RIVER CANE by James McLure: 1 act. A beautiful woman who runs the Tranquility Lounge near Muleshoe, Texas, is the cause of a yearly barroom brawl between her suitor of 15 years and any available member of the local Pike family. 7m, 2f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

WAR OF THE ROSES by Lee Blessing: (now titled RICHES) 1 act. A couple returns to the inn where they spent their wedding night 25 years earlier and confronts the troubling truth of their marital state. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Methuen in Lee Blessing Four Plays.

(1984) 8TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
007 CROSSFIRE by Ken Jenkins: 1 act. Within the context of the Korean Airline tragedy, a theatrical company debates artistic responsibility, the political nature of theatre, and the ability of the citizens to affect events. 12m, 6f. Contact Robert Freedman, Robert A. Freedman Dramatic Agency, 1501 Broadway, Suite 2310, New York, NY 10036.

COURTSHIP by Horton Foote: 1 act. Two young sisters dream of the world of romance and freedom that awaits them beyond the sheltered life of Harrison, Texas, 1914. 5m, 7f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA by John Patrick Shanley: 1 act. Two urban outcasts in a South Bronx bar make a war of romance in a desperate struggle for affirmation and change. 1m, 1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

EXECUTION OF JUSTICE by Emily Mann: 3 acts. The controversial killing of San Francisco’s mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk by Daniel James White is examined in the courtroom, reflecting conflicting social and political ideals. 14m, 6f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by TCG in New Plays USA 3.

HUSBANDRY by Patrick Tovatt: 1 act. A son must weigh his obligation to return to the land against the economic reality of the American family farm. 2m, 2f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

INDEPENDENCE by Lee Blessing: 2 acts. The eldest daughter’s return to her small town Iowa home prompts examination of a demanding mother’s pattern of manipulation. 4f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Methuen in Lee Blessing Four Plays.

LEMONS by Kent Broadhurst: 2 acts. Private enterprise, shiny new cars, and once-solid friendships all turn sour when a son takes over the family car dealership. 8m, 5f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

THE OCTETTE BRIDGE CLUB by P.J. Barry: 2 acts. Set in the 1930s and 40s, two evenings of Bridge—occurring ten years apart—illuminate the inevitable changes in the lives of eight high-spirited sisters. 1m, 8f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

THE UNDOING by William Mastrosimone: 2 acts. A woman’s journey through guilt to truth and ultimate redemption is orchestrated by the stranger who comes to work for her in a poultry slaughtering house. 1m, 4f. Published by Broadway Play Publishing in Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

(1983) 7TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
COURAGE by John Pielmeier: 2 acts. This sensitive close-up of J.M. Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, is drawn from Barrie’s famous 1922 commencement address at St. Andrew’s Academy in Edinburgh. 1m. Contact William Craver, Writers & Artists Agency, 19 W 44th St, Ste. 1000, New York, NY 10036.

EDEN COURT by Murphy Guyer: 2 acts. In a low-rent trailer park, Shroeder Duncan faces his 30th birthday frustrated by an elusive mouse, tormented by neighborhood dogs, and embroiled in marital conflict with his Elvis-worshiping wife. 2m, 2f. Published by TCG in Plays in Process.

FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS: two one-act plays
A TANTALIZING by William Mastrosimone: A lonely professional woman brings a once-elegant tramp to her home. She offers him charity, but instead he teaches her a lesson in self-respect. 1m, 1f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

THE VALUE OF NAMES by Jeffrey Sweet: An actor who was blacklisted in the Fifties faces hard choices when his daughter considers working with the director who named him to HUAC. 2m, 1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.; by Mentor in Fruitful and Multiply; and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

FOOD FROM TRASH by Gary Leon Hill: 2 acts. A prophetic Indian shows a garbageman how to transform trash into energy, and toxic waste becomes a metaphor for the poverty and sexual anger that paralyze people’s lives. 7m, 4f, 1 boy. Published by TCG in Plays in Process and New Plays USA 2, and by Broadway Play Publishing in Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

IN A NORTHERN LANDSCAPE by Timothy Mason: 2 acts. Against the background of a harsh Minnesota landscape in the 1920s, a couple returns to their burned-out farmhouse and recalls the events that led to the destruction of their family: the breaking of a powerful taboo by their children and the subsequent retribution by the community. 7m, 2f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

NEUTRAL COUNTRIES by Barbara Field: 2 acts. During World War I in Belgium the dangers of emotional neutrality become apparent when a young man becomes the prize in a three-way struggle among his revolutionary mother, his academic father, and an apolitical mercenary. 4m, 2f. Contact Berman, Boals & Flynn, 208 West 30th St., Ste. 401, New York, NY 10001.

SANDCASTLES by Adele Edling Shank: 2 acts. On a California beach, two vacationing couples, one about to break up, one stable but dispassionate, interact with a bizarre collection of characters: a prostitute, her streetwise business-manager daughter, a young surfer bum, a crazed dope-dealing surfer, and a mysterious paraplegic. 4m, 6f. Published in West Coast Plays 15/16.

SHORTS: three one-act plays
BARTOK AS DOG by Patrick Tovatt: An out-of-work photographer searches for a job. As he sinks deeper into guilt and self-loathing, his girlfriend becomes fed up and exits, leaving him to chat with the ghost of his dog Bartok, the one thing in his life that provided him with continuity. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

THE HABITUAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE NEAR ENOUGH by Kent Broadhurst: A hard-nosed art dealer is confronted by a talented young painter. As the dealer considers the worth of the painter’s work, they lock horns in a discussion of style, integrity, and the necessity of commercialism in art. 2m. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

PARTNERS by Dave Higgins: A peg-legged cocaine runner struggles to survive in the world of organized crime, where suspicious, uneasy alliances and grisly murders are commonplace. 4m. Published by Applause in Best Short Plays 1984.

THANKSGIVING by James McLure: 2 acts. Three couples, casualties from the "Me" generation, gather over turkey and drinks only to discover that little lies and infidelities have kept them together. 3m, 3f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

A WEEKEND NEAR MADISON by Kathleen Tolan: 2 acts. Old college friends from the 60s reunite after a five-year separation and confront each other with their choices of political involvement, careers, sexuality, and parenthood. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

(1982) 6TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
CLARA’S PLAY by John Olive: 2 acts. The story of a reclusive old woman and her hot-tempered Norwegian handyman. 3m, 1f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by TCG in Plays in Process.

A DIFFERENT MOON by Ara Watson: 2 acts. A small-town family in the mid-1950s redefines its parameters when faced with a dilemma resulting from an absent son’s ingenuous love. 1m, 3f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

FULL HOOKUP by Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller: 2 acts. A drama detailing relationships with no strings, and violence without conscience. 2m, 3f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH by Terrence Shank: 2 acts (Adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel) A powerful chronicle of the displaced farmers of the Dust Bowl and their torturous journey toward the mirage of the West. 22m, 7f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

THE INFORMER by Thomas Murphy: 2 acts. (Adapted from the novel by Liam O’Flaherty) A suspenseful and intimate view of Ireland’s poor, caught in the maelstrom of revolution. 16m, 10f. Contact Bridget Aschenberg, ICM, 40 West 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

OLDTIMERS GAME by Lee Blessing: 2 acts. A wild, rowdy—and honest—look at the high pressure, high stakes realities of baseball, as new ownership upsets the status quo in a struggling AAA team. 9m. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

SHORTS: three one-act plays
THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER by Kent Broadhurst: This comic farce about definitions of art is set in a painter’s studio where two artists and an intellectual model resort to paint-slinging to settle their debate. 3m. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

THE NEW GIRL by Vaughn McBride: Two women in a nursing home accomplish the impossible and create a new dignity as they confront their limitations. 2f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

THE GROVES OF ACADEME by Mark Stein: The development of a special relationship between an enthusiastically inquisitive student and his patient and inspiring professor. 2m. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

SOLO: a compendium of seven monologues
BUTTERFLY, MARGUERITE, NORMA... & IRMA JEAN by Trish Johnson: A character study of a woman who stands through hundreds of performances at the Metropolitan Opera House each season. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

CEMETERY MAN by Ken Jenkins: A gravedigger, who has received his notice of employment termination from the city, tells a series of stories about the people he has helped bury. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. in Rupert's Birthday and Other Monologues.

RUPERT’S BIRTHDAY by Ken Jenkins: A farm woman recalls a mystical evening when, while her mother gave birth to her brother, she helped to deliver a calf, and became a woman. 1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Applause in Best Short Plays 1983.

SIDEKICK by Jim Beaver: A man relates his experiences as a supporting actor during the heyday of Western filmmaking, chronicling his work as a "sidekick." Contact Nawyecka Productions, 6848 Rubio Avenue, Van Nuys, CA 91406-4618.

SLOW DRAG, MAMA by Dare Clubb and Isabell Monk: An old black woman relives the final moments of her mother’s life, vacillating between her own voice and that of her dying mother. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

THE SUBJECT ANIMAL by Larry Atlas: An army officer tries to explain why it is necessary to use animals in medical experiments. 1m. Contact George Lane, William Morris Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.

THE SURVIVALIST by Robert Schenkkan: A man’s lecture at a seminar on survival stresses the importance of preparing ourselves individually for the impending disaster of war. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

TALKING WITH by Jane Martin: monologues for eleven women
AUDITION:An actress auditions for a role she covets in a new play.

CLEAR GLASS MARBLES: A young woman reminisces about her mother’s courageous encounter with death.

CUL-DE-SAC: A potential rape victim turns on her assailant and forces him to perform self-emasculation.

DRAGONS: A woman in labor speculates about dragons and her soon-to-be-born child.

FIFTEEN MINUTES: As an actress prepares for a performance, she ponders her position as an entertainer and her relationship with an audience.

HANDLER: A young country woman, having lost faith in God’s role in the act of snake-handling, relies on her own spirit to protect her.

LAMPS: An older woman basks in the waning randiance of her life.

MARKS: A woman covers her body in tattoos commemorating the major events in her life.

RODEO: A cowgirl comments on commercialism’s destruction of the rodeo.

SCRAPS: A young housewife escapes the tensions and confinements of her life by dressing as the Patchwork Girl of Oz while doing her housework.

TWIRLER: A former twirler reveals the ritual of baton twirling. Published by Samuel French, Inc.; by Smith & Kraus in Jane Martin Collected Works: Vol I; and by Applause in Best Short Plays 1982; selections published by Samuel French, Inc. in What Mama Don't Know; in Esquire Magazine (Nov. ‘82); and by Dodd, Mead & Company in The Best Plays of 1981-1982.

(1981) 5TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A PEARL DIVER by Martin Epstein: 1 act. A negligent husband and his alcoholic buddy belittle his totally suppressed wife. A Triple-A mechanic shows her the strength and hope she needs to change her bleak situation. 4m, 1f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

EARLY TIMES: a compendium of short plays
THE A**HOLE MURDER CASE by Stuart Hample: Three drama majors create a hilarious scene for their professor. 3m, 1f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. in Twenty-Five Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

CHAPTER TWELVE—THE FROG by John Pielmeier: While dissecting a frog, a babbling young girl stops talking long enough to discover she is losing her boyfriend to her lab partner. 2f. Contact William Craver, Writers & Artists Agency, 19 West 44th St, Ste 1000, New York, NY 10036.

PROPINQUITY by Claudia Johnson: An assistant professor learns about love from a college freshman. 3m, 1f. Contact Mildred Marmur, Mildred Marmur Associates, 2005 Palmer Ave, Suite 127, Larchmont, NY 10538.

QUADRANGLE by Jon Jory: A terse confrontation between the victims of a one-night stand which resulted in a pregnancy and a subsequent abortion. 1m, 1f. Published by Dramatic Publishing in University.

SPADES by Jim Beaver: Two medics playing cards are surprised by the appearance of a soldier who has been pronounced dead. 2m. Published by Samuel French, Inc. in Twenty-Five Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

TWIRLER by Jane Martin: A former twirler reveals the ritual of baton twirling. 1f. Published by Applause in Best Short Plays 1982; in Esquire Magazine (Nov. ’82); and by Samuel French, Inc. in Talking With.

WATERMELON BOATS by Wendy MacLaughlin: The audience watches two friends grow from girls to women against the background of a watermelon regatta. 2f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. in Twenty-Five Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville and by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

EXTREMITIES by William Mastrosimone: 2 acts. During an attempted rape, a woman captures her attacker and proceeds to torture him. Her roommates return home and struggle to determine who is guilty of a crime, the woman or her would-be rapist. 1m, 3f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

A FULL LENGTH PORTRAIT OF AMERICA by Paul D’Andrea: 2 acts. A black New Orleans jazz musician in her eighties is transformed by the news that she will bear a child if her husband’s music is freed from its captivity. 4m, 2f. Contact Paul D’Andrea, Theater of the First Amendment, Institute of the Arts, Rm A407, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030.

FUTURE TENSE by David Kranes: Two one-acts.
AFTER COMMENCEMENT A recent graduate thinks he is alone in an empty fraternity house until he comes upon an acquaintance contemplating suicide. 2m, 1f. Contact Robert Freedman, Robert A. Freedman Dramatic Agency, 1501 Broadway, Suite 2310, New York, NY 10036.

PARK CITY: MIDNIGHT An unexpected encounter with her estranged father causes a young woman to re-evaluate what she wants from life. 3m, 2f. Contact Robert Freedman, Robert A. Freedman Dramatic Agency, 1501 Broadway, Suite 2310, New York, NY 10036.

MY SISTER IN THIS HOUSE by Wendy Kesselman: 2 acts. When two emotionally abused servant-sisters respond to their pent-up hostilities, brutal murder of their mistress is the result. Based on a historical incident in Le Mans, France in 1933. 1m, 5f, voices. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

SHORTS: three one-act plays
CHOCOLATE CAKE by Mary Gallagher: Two women meet at a career conference and spend the evening in a motel room comparing their fears and compulsions. 2f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Applause in Best Short Plays 1982.

CHUG by Ken Jenkins: A southern Indiana man’s frog-breeding Midas scheme falls just short of success. He discusses the situation and how he can "handle it." 1m. Published in Rupert's Birthday by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Applause in Best Short Plays 1984.

FINAL PLACEMENT by Ara Watson: A natural mother attempts to retrieve her formerly abused son who has been placed in an adoptive home, resulting in a trying review for the responsible caseworker. 2f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and in Louisville Today Magazine.

SWOP by Ken Jenkins: 2 acts. A rural mystic in his late 80’s becomes the nemesis to his self-centered and frustrated son-in-law. When the struggle between the two intensifies, the former prevails. 7m, 2f. Contact Robert Freedman, Robert A. Freedman Dramatic Agency, 1501 Broadway, Suite #2310, New York, NY 10036.

(1980) 4TH HUMANA FESTIVAL
AGNES OF GOD by John Pielmeier: 2 acts. A psychiatrist becomes obsessed with an unusually mystical nun who has been charged with murdering her child at birth. 3f. Published by Samuel French, Inc.

THE AMERICA PROJECT: a compendium of short plays
AMERICAN WELCOME by Brian Friel: A foreign writer arrives in the U.S. and is greeted by a loquacious American director. 2m. Published by BARC Publishing and by Samuel French, Inc. in More Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

THE DRUMMER by Athol Fugard: A streetperson in New York City finds a pair of discarded drumsticks and proceeds to drum a variety of objects creating a world full of rhythm. 1m. Published by Samuel French, Inc. in Twenty-Five Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

THE GOLDEN ACCORD by Wole Soyinka: A couple wins a game show prize when the husband breaks a very private trust. The wife responds with vengeance. Published by Samuel French, Inc. in More Ten-Minute Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD by John Byrne: A writer’s first collision with tinsel-town machinery. 5m, 2f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

SAN SALVADOR by Keith Dewhurst: A debate relating to cannibalism and cultural prejudice. 2m, 1f. Contact Alexandra Cann, London Management, 235 Regent St., London, England W1A 2JT.

THE SIDE OF THE ROAD by Gordon Dryland: The conflict between a woman’s sensitivities and her husband’s insecurities. 1m, 1f. Contact William Morris Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.

STAR QUALITY by Carol Bolt: Backstage moments at the Miss Teenage Manitoba Contest. 2m, 2f. Contact the Great North Agency, Suite 500, 345 Adelaide Street W., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 1R5.

SWITCHING by Brian Clark: A series of brief scenes depicting the conflicts of human relationships. 5m, 2f. Contact Judy Daish Associates, 122 Wigmore St., London, England W1H 9FE.

TALL GIRLS HAVE EVERYTHING by Stewart Parker: A quick-witted American woman inspects an Irish musician’s flat for possible accommodation and challenges his various cultural biases. 3m, 1f. Contact Alexandra Cann, London Management, 235 Regent St., London, England W1A 2JT.

VICKI MADISON CLOCKS OUT by Alexander Buzo: A young reporter watches or commits an assassination from her high-rise office. 1f, 1m (voice). Contact June Cann Management, 283 Alfred St., North Sydney, Australia.

DOCTORS AND DISEASES by Peter Ekstrom: (Additional lyrics by Kay Erin Thompson) A cabaret-type entertainment featuring songs about health ranging from death to hypochondria. 1m, 1f. Contact Peter Ekstrom, 128 West 82nd Street, New York, NY 10024.

POWER PLAYS by Shirley Lauro: Two one-acts.
THE COAL DIAMOND A group of women face the fact that years of dedication to work and the mundane provide little insulation from the past. 4f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

NOTHING IMMEDIATE An Eastern socialite checks into an empty motel in Iowa. A conflict of values flares as she attempts to deal with the manager, a stern and aggressive fundamentalist. 2f. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and by Applause in Best Short Plays 1980.

REMINGTON by Ray Aranha: 1 act. A one-man show based on the life and work of Frederic Remington. The audience is Mr. Remington’s guest for a night of story-telling and philosophizing about the changing Old West. 1m. Published in TCG’s Plays in Process series.

SUNSET/SUNRISE by Adele Edling Shank: 2 acts. An over-the-fence look at the confusion of suburban lifestyles and relationships as illuminated by a backyard party. 6m, 7f. Published in West Coast Plays.

THEY’RE COMING TO MAKE IT BRIGHTER by Kent Broadhurst: 2 acts. On Christmas Eve, the art deco lights of an old building in New York City are replaced by modern glaring globes. The employees and other people passing through the lobby have mixed reactions to the new replacing the old. 8m, 4f, extras. Published by Dramatic Publishing.

TODAY A LITTLE EXTRA by Michael Kassin: 1 act. The threat of cultural disintegration is apparent when a man sells the neighborhood kosher butcher shop that has been his life for 40 years. 2m, 1f. Published by Applause in Best Short Plays 1982.

WEEKENDS LIKE OTHER PEOPLE by David Blomquist: 2 acts. After their hope for advancement is destroyed, a lower-middle class couple recognizes that they must accept their way of life. 1m, 1f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

(1979) 3RD HUMANA FESTIVAL
CIRCUS VALENTINE by Marsha Norman: 2 acts. An exploration of the private struggles facing a small family circus in its final days performing in a shopping mall parking lot. 5m, 3f. Published by Smith & Kraus in Marsha Norman Volume I: Collected Plays.

CRIMES OF THE HEART by Beth Henley: 2 acts. Three sisters from a small Southern town are reunited when the youngest of them is released on bail after shooting her husband. Together, they break from their equally painful pasts and look toward the future with new strength. 3m, 4f. Winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. and by Broadway Play Publishing in Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

FIND ME by Olwen Wymark: 2 acts. A sensitive examination of the disruptive force a seriously disturbed child creates within her family. 3m, 5f. Contact Gil Parker, William Morris Agency, Inc., 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.

HOLIDAYS: a compendium of short plays
BAR PLAY by Lanford Wilson: An argument occurs when one of the regular customers at a neighborhood bar makes insinuations about the bartender’s daughter. 3m, 1f. Contact ICM, 40 West 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

FIREWORKS by Megan Terry: During an Independence Day celebration, two children learn of their parents’ impending divorce. 2m, 1f. Published by Smith & Kraus in 20/20: Twenty One-Act Plays from the Twenty Year History of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

THE GREAT LABOR DAY CLASSIC by Israel Horovitz: People with different backgrounds compete in a marathon. 3m, 3f. Contact Writers and Artists Agency, 19 West 44th St, New York, NY 10036.

I CAN’T FIND IT ANYWHERE by Oliver Hailey: On Memorial Day, a mother and father try to visit the grave of their son who was killed in Vietnam. 1m, 1f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

INDEPENDENCE DAY by Tom Eyen: Three couples release their hostilities during a fireworks display on the 4th of July. 3m, 3f. Contact ICM, 40 West 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

IN FIREWORKS LIE SECRET CODES by John Guare: While watching the 4th of July fireworks, an Englishman announces his desire to return home. 3m, 3f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

JUNETEENTH by Preston Jones: A newcomer to a small Texas town is the object of a practical joke involving Juneteenth, the celebration of the emancipation of the slaves. Contact ICM, 40 West 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

MERRY CHRISTMAS by Marsha Norman: A family copes with their mother’s sudden deafness when she is released from the hospital for Christmas. 3m, 3f. Contact Jack Tantleff, Abrams Artists Agency, 275 Seventh Ave., 26th Floor, New York, NY 10001.

NEW YEAR’S by Ray Aranha: Death comes calling for a prostitute with a "heart of gold." 1m, 2f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

REDEEMER by Douglas Turner Ward: A diverse group of people gather for the "second coming." 3m, 3f. Contact The Negro Ensemble Company, 133 Second Ave., New York, NY 10003.

LONE STAR by James McLure: 1 act. A humorous look at a Vietnam War veteran’s attempt to adjust to life in his hometown in Texas. 3m. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

MATRIMONIUM by Peter Ekstrom: (retitled CLOSE YOUR EYES AND THINK OF ENGLAND) 2 acts. A stylized musical based on George Bernard Shaw’s indulgent one-acts, Overruled, 2m,2f; and Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction, 4m, 2f. Contact Peter Ekstrom, 128 West 82nd Street, New York, NY 10024.

(1978) 2ND HUMANA FESTIVAL
THE BRIDGEHEAD by Frederick Bailey: 2 acts. In 1970, a reconnaissance squad is sent into Cambodia looking for North Vietnamese bases. Surrounded on all sides by their own troops, but isolated from them, they discover that their native guide is a traitor. 11m, 1f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

DOES ANYBODY HERE DO THE PEABODY? by Enid Rudd: 2 acts. A fast-talking ex-dancer wins the heart of a woman who has always dreamed of a show business career, despite the objections of her irritable mother and stoical sister. 2m, 4f. Contact Flora Roberts, 157 West 57th St., New York, NY 10022.

GETTING OUT by Marsha Norman: 2 acts. A young woman struggles to re-enter the world after eight years in prison, contending with environmental forces as she attempts to assimilate her former and present selves. 6m, 6f. Published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.; by TCG in Marsha Norman: Four Plays; by Broadway Play Publishing in Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville; by Smith & Kraus in Marsha Norman Volume I: Collected Plays; selections published by Dodd, Mead & Company in The Best Plays of 1977-78.

AN INDEPENDENT WOMAN by Daniel Stein: 2 acts. The self-exploration of a social/political activist of the late 1800s; the struggles, accomplishments, and frustrations of having a voice and daring to use it. 1f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

THE LOUISVILLE ZOO by Anonymous Authors: A collection of scenes and monologues satirizing political and social life in Louisville. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.

(1977) 1ST HUMANA FESTIVAL
THE GIN GAME by D.L. Coburn: 2 acts. In a letter, Flaubert wrote, "We laugh with pity at the vanity of the human will." One hundred years later it is this laughter that we celebrate, as Weller Martin tries desperately to retain some control over his life despite falling into ill health and becoming a reluctant resident f a nursing home. Fonsia Dorsey serves as the symbol of all gone wrong, and his battles with her, though over a simple game of gin, become not only a conflict with the woman but with divine will itself. 1m, 1f. Winner of 1978 Pulitzer Prize. Published by Samuel French, Inc. and selections published by Dodd, Mead & Company in The Best Plays of 1977-1978.

INDULGENCES IN THE LOUISVILLE HAREM by John Orlock: 2 acts. Two spinster sisters in turn-of-the-century Louisville decide to escape from their protective solitude and write to a mail-order catalogue for companions. When a professor of mesmerism and his assistant arrive, the results are not what the sisters had expected. 2m, 2f. Contact Actors Theatre of Louisville.