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, 19th 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 19th OOB Festival. Winning authors include: Jay Reiss, Le Wilhelm, Catherine Pelonero, Brian Shields, Brian Shields, Julianne Bernstein, and Phillip Vassalo.

Awkward Silence is a ten-minute comedy by Jay Reiss. A boy and girl meet and speak as though in a novel: He said and then I said. Small talk and awkward silences descend into blah blah blah. Each considers breaking away but remembers how being alone is. They reminisce about childhood, growing up and so on until they suddenly become animated and rise to witty banter, establishing a rapport with no more awkward silences. (Cast: 1 female, 2 male)

Cherry Blend with Vanilla is a short comedy by Le Wilhelm. Standing by a riverside, a woman with her daughter suddenly smells the pipe tobacco that her deceased husband smoked. To get his wife over her prolonged bereavement, his ghost confesses to fictitious infidelities. Revitalized, the woman looks toward life among eligible widowers and even plans to enter her plants in the flower show. This is a play of warm hearts and fond remembrances. (Cast: 2 female, 1 male)

Family Names is a ten-minute comedy by Catherine Pelonero and Edna Pelonero. This play draws laughs like the Abbott and Costello classic Who's on First? An attractive woman announces to a receptionist that she is her husband's mistress. The receptionist is not married, but her brother does have the same name as the husband in question, and the receptionist has the same name as her sister-in-law. In fact, this large family has many identical names. The more questions the mistress asks, the more bewildered she becomes. (Cast: 2 female)

Highwire is a short drama by Brian Shields. A tense stand off develops when a corrupt New York City cop leans on an Irish bartender to make him recruit for the IRA. He is abetted by the bartender's foul mouthed fiancee. Blackmail pressure is applied: the bartender accidentally killed a child in an IRA battle in Ireland. (Cast: 3 female, 2 male)

Nothing in Common is a short drama by Jennifer Fell Hayes. A successful business woman who cannot have children offers to adopt the baby born to a young woman whose boyfriend has flown the coop. Each gingerly feels out the other: Will she make a good mother? Will the baby turn out all right? What if she changes her mind? (Cast: 2 female)

Pizza: A Love Story is a short comedy by Julianne Bernstein. This is the story of a jittery girl who realizes that her beau is going to pop the question tonight and the thought terrifies her even though she loves him. She calls her sister for help ... and the police. And she calls the pizza parlor for a delivery: anything to distract the boyfriend. "I'm not ready yet. I want you to wait for me. Do you love me? Then wait for me," she cries as the cop eats the last piece of pizza. (Cast: 2 female, 3 male)

The Spelling Bee is a one-act comedy by Phillip Vassallo. This animated comedy thrusts two young men on stage, one black and one white. Each has been victimized by the same crime. One at a time, they tell their story while the other plays humorous supporting roles to enhance the narrative. The black assails everyone he sees in the white world: neighbourhood greasers, sociology professors and sleazy businessmen. Reverse discrimination, violence perpetrated by blacks and the impotent justice system form the core of the white man's tale. Their tirades culminate in an explosive confrontation – one's sister was stabbed to death and the other was charged with the crime and then exonerated. (Cast: 2 male)