About
the Plays:
This is volume 4 of the best-selling Ten-Minute Plays anthology
series from the prominent Actors Theatre of Louisville (ATL), which has championed the short
play with its National Ten Minute Play Contest over the years; winning
plays have often been included in the annual Humana Festival. Ten-Minute Plays: Volume
4 contains contemporary plays by some of the world's most
important writers. All are perfect for classes and showcases where
actors and directors show their stuff without expending the time or
money to mount a full-length play.
Ten-Minute Plays: Volume 4 contains:
• At Sea by Mayo
Smith. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
• August Afternoon by
Rich Orloff. When a guilty man and a yearning woman meet for a midday fling, the
woman gets her needs met not by the man but from a surprising source.
Inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
• Compatible by Anna
Li. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
• Contract with Jackie
by Jimmy Breslin. Lampoons Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich
who enters a hospital room and offers his post operative wife the sort of contract
that his party offered the American people. Based on the true story
behind the most infamous bedside encounter in the annals of
contemporary American political life. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
• Courting Prometheus
by Charles Forbes. After a one night stand, office cubicle
partners – Rita and Lou – must learn how to navigate the change
in their relationship. While Rita would dismiss their fling, Lou is
determined to convince her that last night was only the beginning of
their relationship. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
• Gave Her the Eye by
John Sheehy. Dex and Donna's first date turns out differently
than she expected, when Dex confesses his fear that he's been turned
into a cyborg by invading aliens. (Cast: 2 female, 1 male)
• The Guest of Honor
by Richard Strand. When Lynn and Jason go out of their way to set Karen up with their
friend David, who’s coming to dinner, Karen can't seem to say anything right. Lynn and Jason go out of their way to convince Karen that David, is just a regular guy. The more
assurances they offer, the more anxious Karen becomes. A comedy full
of the anxieties of meeting someone for the first time. (Cast: 1 female, 2
male)
• Head On by
Elizabeth Dewberry. Only minutes before an appearance on Oprah
Winfrey's TV talk show, a therapist specializing in multi-orgasmic sex
must find a 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. (Cast: 2 female)
• If Susan Smith Could Talk
by Elaine Romero. The story of a mother appealing her death
sentence to a court room after drowning her children in the family
car. (Cast: 3 female, 1 male)
• Just One Night by
Kim Levin. A serious play about three college roommates the morning after a huge party. Two roommates believe that their party the night
before was perfect, until their third roommate reveals that she spent
the night with their mutual friend, Dave, against her will. They then discuss what happened to her and try to help her make a decision about what to do. They debate the definitions of rape and who is truly at fault. (Cast: 3 female, 1
male)
• Keeper by Frederick
Bailey. Working a shift at the box office of a Los Angeles
theatre should be an easy gig for Mitsuko. But the night takes a
strange turn when the mysterious Mr. Wilkinson enters to buy a
ticket, followed by the paranoid Mr. Stradling who believes he is
being stalked. (Cast: 1 female, 2 male)
• The League of Semi-Superheroes
by Val Smith and Michael Dixon. As their looming
financial problems become a reality, a group of five semi-superheroes
must confront their uselessness in the world. Their inherent optimism
comes into direct conflict with their obvious lack of skills. Perhaps
their only superpower is optimism in the face of failure. (Cast: 2 female, 4
male)
• Making the Call by
Jane Martin. When a secret serviceman comes to Elizabeth's
door, he makes her an offer that she never imagined. Elizabeth, an average citizen, receives a formal request for sexual
relations from the (fictional) President of the United States. She debates on
her decision and just when she believes she has figured it out, he
turns the tables yet again. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
• Median by John
Stinson. (Cast: 1 female, 2 male)
• Misreadings by
Neena Beber. Personalities collide as Ruth – a professor of
nineteenth century literature – attempts to guide Simone – one of
her failing students. While Ruth is stuck living in century-old
literature, Simone tries to argue that living in the present is the
only way to live. Perhaps in this case, the student is teaching the
professor. Misreadings has become a favourite of acting teachers for
female/female scenes.
(2 female)
• A New Life by
Corinne Jacker. (Cast: 2 male)
• Off the Rack by
Robert D. Kemnitz and Jennifer McMaster. A dialogue
between a woman and a professional closet organizer. (Cast: 2 female)
• 187 by Jose
Rivera. John works with Alejandra an immigrant from Argentina at
the factory every day, admiring her beauty in silence. But today, at
the No. 187 bus stop, John works up the nerve to speak to his
coworker. What begins as an attempt at courtship quickly turns to a
hate-filled argument about race and immigration in this play about
the insurmountable distance created between two people by cultural
differences. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male
• Reverse Transcription
by Tony Kushner. Six playwrights come together to bury their
contemporary and friend, Ding. They discuss and brood on their lives,
writings, and loves. (Cast: 2 female, 4 male)
• The Sin Eater by
Don Nigro. This intense, darkly comic twist on necrophilia and
true love tells of an outcast whose life's work is to eat a symbolic
meal off the chests of the dead to take their sins upon himself
before they are buried. When his sister asks him to perform this
ancient Welsh custom for a girl he desperately loved, he can't resist
doing a bit more. But his beloved is not really dead and she is
equally terrified of being buried alive and of being kissed by the
filthy sin eater. (Cast: 2 female, 1 male
• Stars by Romulus
Linney. 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. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
• Token to the Moon
by Brian Christopher Williams. A Midwestern woman meets a man
who can read minds at a subway stop in New York. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
• Under Lubianka Square
by Constance Congdon. A young American tourist has a run-in
with a Russian street vendor. The two are lost in translation when a
Russian spy steps in and sways the girl in his favour. (Cast: 2 female, 1
male)
• The Unintended Video
by Dale Griffiths Stamos. Clarissa, a good-hearted substitute
teacher, returns to a park to apologize for mistakenly taking a photo
of a burn victim named Samuel. Won ATL's Heideman Award as part of the. National 10-minute play contest. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
• Waterbabies by Adam
LerFevre. Pits a young mother against a swim instructor with a
knack for teaching infants to swim. (Cast: 2 female)
• What I Meant Was by
Craig Lucas. In 1968 a family sits down to a seemingly
everyday meal, but the conversation that unfolds exposes all the
subtext of their family drama. The play illustrates how honesty and
forgiveness go hand in hand. (Cast: 2 female, 2 male)