AND LIGHTNING STRUCK by Robert Weibezahl

And Lightning Struck: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Creation by Robert Weibezahl is an atmospheric historical drama that delves into the intimate life of Mary Shelley, the writer of Frankenstein. It is a story about Mary herself—not an adaptation of Frankenstein, but rather the story of how this literary genius came to write it. Mary Godwin Shelley was only eighteen years old when she “gave birth” to her classic story and the Creature at the heart of it. Along with her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and their friends, including Lord Byron, Mary was part of a group of freethinkers who lived life by their own rules, often provoking scandal. The Creature himself gives voice to Mary’s beliefs about creation, humanity, and art as he descends into the vengeful madness of the novel’s plot. At the play’s end Mary rejects the past—or does she?

• Cast Size: 4M/3F or 6M/3F/1NB if no doubling
• Running Time: 90+ minutes
• Royalty Rate: $75 per performance

CAVERS by Mark Rigney

In this subterranean comedy, cantankerous Gertie Stovall discovers an extensive cave system beneath her collapsing backwater farm, and she quickly realizes that if she plays her cards right, the cave could become a cash cow, her personal slice of the American Dream. She enlists the aid of half-brother George Gruder (the driving force behind the area’s new wastewater treatment plant) and gone-to-grad-school caving “expert,” Charlie Tuggle. Enter Dr. Polly Edelweiss, world-class cave biologist, who shows up uninvited, claiming that the sub-surface rights belong to the Blue Sky Energy Consortium. Faced with the prospect of losing control of “her” cave (not to mention a highly unlikely and ever-evolving “cave ape”), Gertie convinces George to turn on the treatment plant’s pumps, thereby flooding the pristine cavern with polluted water and foiling everyone’s plans––her own included.

• Cast Size: 2M 3W
• Running Time: 90+ minutes
• Royalty Rate: $75 per performance

FROM THE TOP by Scott C. Sickles

A contemporary comedy of manners about the things we keep from the people we love. From the Top examines (roughly) the same half-hour from three different perspectives as the characters prepare to leave for a special event. In Act One, young actor Edmund
arrives with his new boyfriend Paddy, seeking a private moment with his mentor, Brandon, a highly regarded theater director. His efforts are inexplicably blocked by Irene and Calvin, an actress/playwright couple. In Act Two, moments before Edmund and Paddy’s arrival, Irene tries to break up with bewildered Calvin. They discreetly negotiate the chaos going on around them, ultimately confronting the fate of their relationship. In Act Three, starting moments earlier than the previous act, Brandon welcomes Irene and Calvin, and soon the reasons for his sudden reclusiveness and their madcap efforts to hold Edmund at bay become heartbreakingly clear. 

• Cast Size: 4M 1W
• Running Time: 90+ minutes
• Royalty Rate: $75 per performance

OUTPOST by Alexander Utz

It’s the day before the Test for young Martian colony residents Aris, Liam, and Jo. They decide to take their mind off the big day by hanging out in an old, abandoned part of the compound — a place filled with history and ghost stories. When the compound’s AI system, MARVIN, starts giving a long-forgotten presentation about the history of Mars, Aris, Liam, and Jo decide to have some fun and play along with it. But strange things start occurring, and the three are forced to confront their own conceptions and emotions about the past. Can they deal with the history of their planet and move forward into a new future?

• Cast Size: 1M/NB 3W/NB
• Running Time: 90+ minutes
• Royalty Rate: $75 per performance

POE, TIMES TWO by Greg Oliver Bodine

The Cask of Amontillado

A Venetian nobleman narrates a chilling tale of revenge involving his friend, Fortunato, against whom he has carried a grudge for an offense that is never fully explained …an altogether sinister tale of one man’s thirst for vengeance, born from arrogance and jealousy.  

The Black Cat

A condemned man speaks from his prison cell on the night before he is to be executed for the brutal murder of his wife — Poe’s masterful study of domestic violence, guilt and one man’s descent into madness …a journey that illustrates the ability of the human mind to observe and comment on its own destruction without being able to stop it.

• Cast Size: 1-2 M/NB
• Running Time: 90+ minutes
• Royalty Rate: $75 per performance

SLIPPERY AS SIN by David Lee White

An “old dark house” mystery about our war on facts. It’s 1931 and Dorrington, America’s most brilliant detective, is trapped on an island with some of the country’s most elite socialites. As the evening wears on and backstabbing plots are revealed, Dorrington becomes convinced that the house is under siege by Diabolicus – a master criminal that no one has ever seen, Dorrington realizes that he must do whatever it takes to convince the others that Diabolicus is responsible – even if he doesn’t even exist.

• Cast Size: 4M 2W
• Running Time: 90+ minutes
• Royalty Rate: $75 per performance

STARLIGHT by Gina Russell Tracy

A mystical journey set against the flotsam and jetsam of family, work, idealism and corporate greed, “Starlight” tells the mythic story of a struggling lobsterman, his factory working wife whose employer is suspected of polluting the local spawning grounds, and their environmentally activist daughter. The family talks to and through a dog named Macs who, like the son in “Virginia Woolf”, may not exist (at least in this play). As the Father pursues proof of his daughter’s suspicions his absence leads her to search for him, leaving the Mother alone to fear for their survival and await their return. Our collective fight to preserve Mother Earth revolves around this last lobsterman’s family and their potential destruction and asks, “What do we believe in? Science or mermaids? Hope or truth? Death or life?” as we consider the present existential threat we all face.

• Cast Size: 2M 3W 3C (may be played by adults)
• Running Time: 90+ minutes
• Royalty Rate: $75 per performance

THE TERRIBLE EXPERIMENT OF JONATHAN FISH, A Musical Extravaganza (from which most of the music has been canceled) 

by Carol Wolf

The Terrible Experiment of Jonathan Fish is a powerful, passionate, deeply dramatic feminist manifesto, except that it was hijacked by the stage manager, who fired the orchestra and the chorus, hired starlet Candace Lord to play the lead, and rewrote the play so that he could make love to her on stage. Now, it’s a comedy. Set in a mythical country called America, shortly after Darwin, Mr. Fish, betrayed by his wife, raises his daughter to be his companion, teaching her that there are three sexes, men, women, and girls. When Fish is murdered by the ghost of his dead wife, Amelia has to deal with a world that is not as she expected. And so does Candace Lord.

• Cast Size: 4M 3W 1Musician
• Running Time: 90+ minutes
• Royalty Rate: $75 per performance

THE WAY YOU MADE ME by Lindsay Partain

Using her trauma as a jumping off point toward creating a better home for herself and her family, Imogen shares her gift of words with an unseen lover. As she unpacks boxes and herself, Imogen recounts through love letters how she discovered happiness despite a life of neglect. A love story told by someone deemed “unlovable”.

• Cast Size: 1W
• Running Time: About an Hour
• Royalty Rate: $50 per performance

WANDA, THE GIRL WHO CRIED, WITCH! by Midge Guerrera

Wanda, lives on a hilltop with her family and a herd of goats.  She is incredibly lonely but none of the kids in the valley are interested in being her friend.  It is Halloween, the day witches dance in the forest, and the perfect time for Wanda to trick the children in the valley into being her buddies.  Ooops, that was a big mistake.  Wanda cries Witch one to many times and inadvertently conjures up, Matilda, a really frightening witch.  Follow Wanda on her journey to find playmates.  Along the way, she learns that feeling special, being happy with who she is, enjoying where she lives and always telling the truth is the best way to find and keep friends. 

• Cast Size: 1M 2W 5MorW
• Running Time: Under an Hour
• Royalty Rate: $40 per performance