THE STARSHIP ASTROV
by Duncan Pflaster
In the year 3047, aboard a Star Trek-style starship, the crew of the Astrov faces existential drift in a future that feels oddly familiar. On a diplomatic mission, Captain Jonas January transports the brilliant but pompous Professor Jason Cole, his enigmatic green-skinned alien wife Celaria, and the melancholy Doctor Rosy to a conference aboard a distant space station. But tensions bubble beneath the diplomatic surface: Celaria’s aura disrupts the emotions of nearly everyone on board, unearthing buried desires and regrets. Meanwhile, young Ensign Ally longs for love, and Rosy suspects Cole’s illness may be more imagined than real. In the forced proximity of the ship, the crew and guests contemplate love, usefulness, and the bitter comedy of longing in a setting that may be sci-fi, but feels like a drawing room. A Chekhovian tragicomedy with warp drive.
- Cast Size: 4M 3W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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About the Playwright
Duncan Pflaster is a multi-award-winning New York indie playwright, who was a finalist in 2024 for the inaugural Everett Quinton Award with the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. He is best known for his Beckettian romp The Underpants Godot, which has had regional productions with Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco and Nearly Naked Theatre in Arizona, as well as the New York off-off-Broadway productions. Suckers joins his plays A Touch of Cinema, Harmony Hall, and Fourteen Hundred and Sixty Sketches of Your Left Hand which are published by Next Stage Press. He has written around 40 full-length plays and a plethora of one-acts, which have been produced all over. His plays vary widely in genre and style, from science fiction to Shakespearean verse drama. Scorpio Film Releasing produced his two films Strapped for Danger and its sequel Undercover Vice: Strapped for Danger II (available on Amazon, Tubi and GayBingeTV), as well as bringing him on to co-write Code Name: Dynastud and some episodes of their series Pansy Vision (available now on YouTube). www.duncanpflaster.com or look him up on New Play Exchange for more.
Review The Starship Astrov.