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, 15th 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 in 1991 OOB Festival.

Winning authors include: Timothy Harris, Frederick Stroppel, Sam Ingraffia, Theresa Rebeck, Peter Gruen, Peter Morris, and Victoria Norman.

The Adventures of Captain Neato Man is a short comedy by Timothy Harris: In this wacky, super duper farce, an innocent nerd answers an employment ad and winds up in the clutches of a superhero (a combination Batman/Superman) in need of a sidekick. His mother, who might be King Kong, is fun for the cast and audience. The avenging son rights all wrongs in the city and has a direct line to the police chief, who has never called. There is lots of razzmatazz, ding dong lights and machinery to convince the nerd that he has the makings of a hero. (Cast: 2 female, 2 male)

A Chance Meeting is a short comedy by Frederick Stroppel: A man and a woman in a lounge glance, nod and speak in this bewitchingly comic piece. They have nothing in common but are attracted to each other. When another man enters and calls the first by a different name, he explains that the woman is really his wife and they are attempting to spice up their love life by exploring fantasy role-playing. The fur flies when the woman makes a pitch for the second man, an old friend. (Cast: 1 female, 2 male)

Chateau Rene is a short drama by Sam Ingraffia: The Mob has no retirement plan! Johnnie Vaughn, (60s) an aging wiseguy, is facing eviction from his long term apartment at Chateau Rene, because the crumbling relic that used to be "the finest address in town" is being converted to Condos. Accompanied only by his trusted bodyguard, Phil, (60s) Johnnie takes a sad, funny and touching look back at the flickering memories from their past. Has been performed as a "pop-up" fringe play to spotlight a pair of mature actors. (Cast: 2 male)

Does This Woman Have a Name? is a short comedy by Theresa Rebeck: A hilarious satire of literary pretensions set against the backdrop of the phone sex business. Mel and Sarah have a lucrative enterprise. Mel writes and Sarah performs sexually explicit phone fantasies. Mel hopes her serious fiction will eventually sell. In the meantime, this pays the bills much to the consternation of her boyfriend. Mel's scripts become more and more literary, but Sarah's callers are not interested in metaphors. A favourite with festival judges; it does contain some strong language. (Cast: 2 female, 1 male)

For Anne is a short comedy by Peter Gruen: This play evokes genuine sentiment. An elderly couple is cleaning out the attic before moving out of the house they have lived in for decades. They discover things that neither wanted the other to know: before marrying her, he intercepted a letter of rejection from a poetry editor and substituted a letter of praise. He had the poem privately printed and inserted into a book. We are astonished to learn that she knew all along. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)

The Heartbreak Tour is a short comedy by Peter Morris: Takes the subjects of love and relationships on the road for some laughs and thrills. Real and make believe stories ingeniously commingle as a troupe of actors visit schools to perform a play about America's first great composer Stephen Foster before assemblies of rowdy brats. Their lives – loves they have left behind and dreams of the stars the hope to be – get mixed up with their disastrous straw hat and cane impersonations of Stephen Foster. (Cast: 2 female, 2 male)

The Pledge is a short drama by Victoria Norman: Once upon a time two girls took a pledge "to remain true to each other in friendship as long as we both shall live." But time passes and people change. Stacy joins a faster crowd, a raucous group wholly unappealing to reclusive Beth, who feels betrayed, abandoned and poised for tragedy. Offers a heart-wrenching examination of teen suicide and, without moralizing, demonstrates that none are immune to tragic guilt. (Cast: 2 female)