WRITER - PRODUCER - SCRIPT CONSULTANT
PLAYS
.png)
GOLDSTEIN
(Three Men + Four Women)
Musicians: Two , Acts: Two
Louis Goldstein has written a tell-all family memoir. The book is a best-seller. But is it true? History becomes personal in this uplifting and heartwarming, multi-generational exploration of the challenges and triumphs of an immigrant Jewish-American family. This original musical reminds us that families are complicated, the truth is never clear, and forgiveness is our best hope.
CHARACTER ASSASSINS
(Two men + One Woman)
A two-character play with a twist (There’s a third character) The play pits a critic, a playwright and an actress in a desperate confrontation over the sanctity of art, their careers and their lives. Using the framework of the classic thriller in the tradition of Deathtrap and Sleuth, this fast-paced comedy of ideas inspired by Oscar Wilde’s THE CRITIC AS ARTIST, riffs on all the techniques of the genre including plot twists, power plays and the consummate double surprise ending.
.png)
THE FARTISTE
(Four men – Two women
+Three to Six Ensemble of
Can-Can Dancers/others)
Book Writer/Producer
The musical that asks if a man with a musical anus can be taken seriously as an artist? The strangely touching true story of Joseph Pujol, (Le Petomane), a professional flatulist in fin de siècle Montmartre. The highest paid performer at the Moulin Rouge from 1892-1897. Pujol joins Toulouse-Lautrec, Aristide Bruant, La Goulue, an ensemble of can-can dancers, bohemians, criminals, sex-workers, and rich people in the city of light. .
.png)
A FUNNY PLAY FOR TROUBLED TIMES
(Ensemble cast of variable size)
An outrageous futuristic comedy about technology, the environment, love, sex and loss that uses low-tech theatricality to explore our instinct to stay connected to our humanity and imaginations in an ever increasingly alienating high-tech world.
MARRIED LIFE
(Two Men and One Woman)
A couple attempts to revive their relationship by spicing up their sex life only to discover that nothing about their marriage is what it seems.
Part of the series: The Relationship Plays
.png)
THE GREAT MAN
(Three men + One Woman)
THE GREAT MAN is loosely inspired by James Atlas’s decade-long experience writing the biography of the Nobel Prize winning author Saul Bellow. The character of the Biographer is selected to write a profile for a magazine of his literary hero: the reclusive, cantankerous, seventy-something year old “Great Man,” whose long-awaited new novel is about to be published. The profile (that is, puff piece) morphs into a contract to write the Great Man’s biography. Over time, the Biographer’s sycophantic view of the great author sours, as he delves further into the Great Man’s life and begins to contemplate the human wreckage that lies in the wake of “greatness.” Nevertheless, the Biographer seeks to be the true heir and guardian of the Great Man’s legacy by writing the definitive biography that will link the two men’s names together for all of eternity. He soon discovers that he must contend with several competitors who have similar designs of their own, including the Great Man’s young sixth wife, his unscrupulous agent, his best friend/lawyer and his off-stage literary protégé (based on Philip Roth). Twists and turns ensue as the play explores questions about the relationship between life and art; what it takes to be a “great” writer and a good person; and who can be the rightful heir to greatness?
SIBLING RIVALRY
(Two Men and One Woman)
Three estranged writers gather to settle the estate of their recently
deceased mother. Scores are settled, reconciliations considered and a bombshell revelation redefines the past.
Part of the series: The Relationship Plays
THE GROUND ZERO CLUB (Short Play)
(Four Men and Three Women)
Takes place on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, fifteen minutes before the nuclear cataclysm. As a Japanese tourist mechanically feeds quarters into a telescope, a security guard drops postcards to the pavement below, pleading for company as he awaits the end. His call is answered by Tanya, an anti-nuke activist who is now selling "Cruise people, not missiles" buttons at half price, and they are soon joined by others, all brought together by chance to form an impromptu Ground Zero Club. There's Sal, an over-the-hill punk rocker; his flower child girlfriend, Angela; the stuffy Bob, an Assistant Secretary to the Associate Secretary of the Secretary to the Secretary of Defense; and Bob's world-weary wife, Fiona, who is thinking of jumping before the bomb arrives. Angela and Fiona strike up a friendship; Tanya prods Bob into a grudging acceptance of governmental responsibility for the oncoming holocaust; and the security guard finds a soul mate in the Japanese tourist—all before the bomb hits, killing the Japanese tourist on impact but failing to detonate. It turns out that both sides have sabotaged each other just in time to prevent a full scale war, leaving those assembled to face the future with a somewhat altered perspective, having so perilously, and hilariously, survived what surely seemed to be the end.
THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT (Short Play)
(Five Men and Four Women)
Wallace Cooper, a put-upon, unpopular child, is celebrating his tenth birthday when his father arrives home with bad news: His medical license has been revoked and he must stand trial on a charge of conducting unauthorized experiments. He tells Wallace that he has a secret birthday present for him and proceeds to inject him with a mysterious substance. Twenty years pass. Wallace, still a loser, is being sued for divorce by his unfaithful wife, and a male infertility epidemic is sweeping the world. Dr. Cooper, having escaped from prison, claims that he has the solution to this international problem, and that the inoculations he gave his son years ago have made him the only fertile man left on earth. Wallace's spirits lift considerably at this point, as he becomes a sudden celebrity and is sought out by women from around the world. In the end, however, Dr. Cooper finds that he cannot recreate his magic serum, and he commits suicide on a TV talk show—leaving his overwhelmed son with the sole and awesome responsibility of fathering the human race of the future. (5 men, 4 women.)