About the Plays:

Some great pieces for scene work or performance.

The acclaimed Samuel French Off Off Broadway Original Short Play Festival in Manhattan (commonly referred to as OOB) is America's leading short play festival. The annual OOB Festival originated in 1975 and has since attracted US and international short plays that may be up to 15 pages in length from countries like Canada, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 16th Series is a collection of short plays selected by a panel of judges that included New York playwrights, artistic directors, and industry leaders as the most important plays of the 16th OOB Festival. Winning authors include: Jim MacNerland, Julianne Bernstein, Isidore Elias, Pamela Hunt, Katherine Burger, Viki Boyle, and Sarah Brown.

As Angels Watch is a short drama by Jim MacNerland about the crumbling of legal arrangements concerning a surrogate mother. An out-of-place young couple await the arrival of a well-to-do couple in an elite restaurant. The wealthy couple have paid the other for a surrogate conception and tests now show that the fetus is afflicted with Downs' syndrome. The well-to-do couple want to pay to have the baby aborted. The surrogate couple adamantly refuse. "What will we do now?", asks the well to do woman. Well, there are courts of law, and so forth. "No, she says; I mean about our baby?" Absolutely riveting play. (Cast: 3 female, 2 male)

Autumn Leaves is a short drama by Julianne Bernstein: Takes place as the autumn leaves are falling at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington, D.C. Two sisters find their brother's name engraved in the black granite on the famous "Wall of Names." The wall serves as a catalyst for Harriet and Sara who, struggling over the loss of their older brother in Vietnam, are forced to confront the walls within themselves, and that which has stood between them over the years. (Cast: 2 female)

Goods is a short drama by Isidore Elias: An electrifying encounter between a garment company owner and his friend finds each ready to do in the other for a buck. Pithy, graphic dialogue paints a riveting portrait of a ruthless businessman looking for little guys to devour, making this a stunning and unforgettable drama. (Cast: 2 male)

King of the Pekinese Yellowtail is a short comedy by Sarah Brown: How can an obvious hoax become so believable? Duck hunters conspire to have the migratory paths to themselves by concocting a story about Pekinese Yellowtails from China flying a few miles to the south. The more one tells his sidekick about the mysteries of the Pekinese Yellowtails, the more enthralled they become until they are hooked on their own invention in this astonishing upside down comedy. (Cast: 2 male)

Uranium is a short dark comedy by Pamela Hunt: Melanie wants her daddy back. He is wandering the desert, obsessed with finding uranium which will make him rich. She confronts him in the middle of his search … or is this but a room? A play in which one character is the reality, the other is imaginary – but which is which? This is a daffy turn in the absurdist vein. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)

Way Deep is a short drama by Katherine Burger: This play has been produced throughout the United States on the high school circuit. It is a full family play about a teenage romance. Discouraged by parents, the young lovers run away. We see the distraught parents, and we see the youngsters trying to cope, to get jobs, to live in a world beyond their means and experience. And final capitulation in the recognition scene. So real it makes you shiver. (Cast: 2 female, 3 male)

The Whole Truth is a short comedy by Viki Boyle: This two-hander has been performed as a "pop-up" fringe play to spotlight local actresses. Two women jurors – a take-charge executive and an unassuming housewife – are sequestered together in a hotel during a high profile trial. They are nervous. News people are standing out in the street awaiting signs of activity. One juror is for the defendant and one against, and each has reasons more private than they will admit. The latter tries to change the other's mind though both know they should not be talking about the case. Razor-edged dialogue and unexpected revelations ask the audience to consider whether the facts can ever convey the whole truth. (Cast: 2 female)

The Winning Number is a short comedy by Sarah Brown: Granny has humiliated her young kinswoman by swiping cards from others at the bingo table, stealing and bringing home scores of bingo cards from various parlours, and having them blackballed from games all over town. But she keeps praying – and stealing – and knows that her prayers will be answered. You'll recognize this granny immediately, and laugh yourself silly. (Cast: 2 female)