About the Plays:

Some great pieces for scene work or performance.

Sick has become a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues and Female/Female Scenes.

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, 31st 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 31st OOB Festival. Winning authors include: Ian August, Robin Rothstein, Harley Adams, Bekah Brunstetter, Ted Nussbaum, and Sharyn Rothstein.

Le Supermarché by Ian August
It starts with a Girl, and then adds a Boy. They meet amidst the colourful aisles of Le Supermarché. They blend well and marry, and move to a little cottage in the country. But the Girl begins to curdle in her milquetoast life, and returns to the market to find comfort and peace. Instead she finds a strange old man, who offers her a recipe for change; a delicious but dangerous solution to her marital woes. A Fairytale in Foodspeak, Le Supermarché (or What I Did for Lunch) is the story of cream coloured romance and frosty revenge, wrapped in wit and warmth and topped with bits of bacon. (Cast: 1 woman, 1 man, and 1 woman or man).

Libretto by Robin Rothstein
In this tender drama about the transportive and unifying power of art, Douglas and Claire, two strangers from very different social backgrounds, meet at a performance of Verdi's Rigoletto. As the story of the opera progresses and the beauty of the music overwhelms them, Douglas and Claire soon become the main characters in their own poignant love story, which, like the story of the opera before them, crescendos to a heartbreaking conclusion. (Cast: 1 woman, 1 man).

Play #3 by Harley Adams
Is it okay to talk about your neighbour's penis? What about his wife's tits? Centered around the uncomfortable hallway conversations of neighbours Pete and John, Play #3 starts at their awkward initial meeting and ends at their climactic fight. With no set and lots of uncomfortable comedic moments, Play #3 offers great roles for two actors of any age. (Cast: 2 men).

Sick by Bekah Brunstetter
"B" drags her promiscuous best friend "E" with her to the clinic to get tested after an unfortunate drunken encounter with Birthday Man. As the two girls are stuck waiting for their test results, they are haunted by their previous sexual encounters, and confronted with the realities of their futures. Developed by the class of 2007 of the New School for Drama, Sick is a hilarious ensemble piece with an eye-opening message and is one of the first published plays by the author of Oorah! and Be a Good Little Widow. (Cast: 5 women, 5 men).

Pischer by Ted Nussbaum
Devastated by the death of his older brother at the hands of a Palestinian suicide bomber, Elon, a simpleminded Yeshiva student, joins an underground Jewish terrorist cell in East Jerusalem to exact his revenge. Soon after his arrival at the group's secret hideout, Elon is reunited with Sasha, Russian bombmaker and former crony to his older brother, who is calmly wiring the explosive device they will use in the morning. However, when the group's charismatic leader – Avram – arrives, Elon slowly puts together the disturbing details of their impending reprisal attack: the target is an elementary school. Caught between his desire for revenge and to remain a good Jew, Elon chooses a course of action that will forever alter the lives of everyone involved. (Cast: 3 men).

Relationtrip by Sharyn Rothstein
Carrie, an intelligent young professional in her 20s, and her sister Julie, a party-girl with a hangover, board a train bound for a cousin's wedding with Carrie's charismatic boyfriend of over two years, Eric. The train has just left the station when their cousin's friend from college, an attractive young man named Owen, introduces himself and, at Julie's coy insistence, joins the group. Good-natured flirtations and easy-going conversation about marriage, love and relationships turn more personal and increasingly more intense as Carrie and Eric discover that each has a very different concept of commitment... and Julie and Owen discover they both enjoy Italian food. By the trip's end, one romance has ended and another has begun in this very funny and deeply touching story about romantic expectations among members of a generation all too familiar with the emotional costs of living with divorce. (Cast: 2 women, 2 men).