HERB CLEARY MEANT NO HARM
by Craig Houk
In present-day Clarksville, Tennessee, Cleary’s Delicatessen has been a beloved institution for nearly fifty years, built on family pride and Grandma Cleary’s legendary potato salad. As business falters and a flashy new competitor opens across the street, owner Harlan Cleary places his hopes on his socially awkward, unpredictable son, Herb, who “means no harm” but leaves chaos in his wake. When Herb takes liberties with the sacred potato salad recipe, a chain of increasingly absurd mishaps spirals into catastrophe: food poisoning at a family picnic, bodies in the restrooms, a suspicious fire, and police at the door. As loyalties fracture and the Clearys struggle to contain the fallout, the play races toward darkly comic disaster, asking whether good intentions can ever be enough.
- Cast Size: 4M 5W
- Running Time: Approx 40 minutes
- Royalty Rate: $40 per performance
Sample Coming Soon
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About the Playwright
Craig Houk is an award-winning DC based Playwright and proud Dramatists Guild Member. He is also a Producer, Actor & Director. Houk’s plays include Cold Rain (published by Next Stage Press, winner “Best Drama” and “Best of Festival” at Capital Fringe 2018), Syd (published by Next Stage Press), Brute Farce (published by Next Stage Press, 2021 The Loom New Works Festival Finalist, 2022 Dominion Stage Playwrighting Competition Full Length Winner), Cooler (published by Next Stage Press), Lost In Place Anthology (2022 Dominion Stage Playwrighting Competition One-Act Honorable Mention), and Radiator (2020 Dominion Stage Playwrighting Competition One-Act Honorable Mention). His other works include Herb Cleary Meant No Harm, The Reluctant Hen, Big Bastard, The Keeper’s Quarters, Lost Sole, Dinner Dance, Old Money, Smoking Fags On A Rooftop, and Chum and Get It!. Lost In Place: Rhonda & Danielle (now titled The Corpse Flower) has been included in Smith & Kraus’s “The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2022”. Brute Farce has two monologues included in Smith & Kraus’s “Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2023” and “Best Men’s Stage Monologues 2023” 2023. Radiator has one monologue included in Smith & Kraus’s “Best Men’s Stage Monologues 2024”. Syd has two monologues included in “The Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2025” and “The Best Men’s Stage Monologues 2025”. Many of Houk’s plays can be found at The Drama Book Shop in New York City.
Review Herb Cleary Meant No Harm.