About the Play:

Theater Masters is dedicated to nurturing, developing, and producing the work of the next generation of American playwrights on a national scale. Each year, Theater Masters hosts a national 10-minute playwriting competition among the MFA students at the top MFA Playwriting programs across the country.

This collection of stellar 10-minute plays, Theater Masters' Take Ten Vol. 1, is comprised of the following plays:

Donna's First Brazilian is a ten-minute comedy by Lydia Blaisdell: A recent divorcee returns to the dating pool and treats herself to a wax. (Cast: 4 female)

English Lesson is a ten-minute play by Paula Vesala: A Finnish mother teaches her son English. When they keep meeting an old Puerto Rican woman, the only native language they share is the language of loss. (Cast: 2 female, 1 boy)

The Battle Of Coney Island is a ten-minute comedy by David Jacobi: Now in "People Heaven," Nicola Tesla and Thomas Edison deal with the repercussions of their life-long feud. An angry elephant may or may not show up. (Cast: 2 male)

Nordic Ambition is a ten-minute comedy by Phillip Howze: A suspended man comes face-to-face with the terror and hilarity of his mortality. As memory and language unhinge, can spectacle save us from the shame of our American present – or will history once again repeat itself? (Cast: 2 male)

Of Our Own is a ten-minute drama by Matthew Capodicasa: Six years years ago, Theo disappeared, leaving Becky behind. After a chance encounter in the park, Becky and Theo walk through the spaces of their old life together, and face the impossibility of ever truly finding what's been lost. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)

Off Tackle Glide is a ten-minute drama by Sean David DeMers: A chance encounter between an NFL prospect and a Catholic priest. With the potential to make large amounts of money and achieve instant fame, Adam takes a detour into a church to explore his choices for the future. When Father James helps talk through his options, Adam considers subverting expectations by taking the road less travelled. (Cast: 2 male)

Laodamiad is a ten-minute drama by Chas LiBretto: Laodamia is the first woman to be widowed by the War in Troy. To cope, she decides to carry on her marriage with a statue of her husband's likeness. Can her father halt spiraling descent into madness before it's too late? And what can he do about his nation's grief? Inspired by the handful of surviving lines from Euripides' lost play Protesilaos, Laodamiad explores love, war, and loss. (Cast: 1 female, 2 male)

Time Difference is a ten-minute comedy by Lin Tu: For the Chinese young couple Yuan and Fan separated from each other with one in the US and the other in China, time difference is not the only difference that awaits them. (Cast: 4 female, 2 male)