Posts Tagged royalty-free plays
Short script “Can I?” to be produced in Ontario in September
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on August 1, 2014
Just got word that my short script “Can I?” will be produced in September as part of Asphalt Jungle Shorts XI, an annual walking-tour theatre festival in Kitchener, Ontario.
Performances dates are Sept. 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27th.
This is a site-specific festival, where patrons sign up for a walking tour and encounter theatres at various stops. “Can I?” is set in a restaurant.
CAN I?
A lesson in both grammar and assertiveness. A restaurant customer asks: “can I have the daily special?” A bossy waiter or waitress says “no.” Cast: Two, non-gender. Running time: Five minutes.
I’ve had pieces in this festival before. Here are some photos and video from previous ones:
* Photos from “Requiem for a Buzzard” in June 2013 and again in September 2013.
* Here’s video of “A Nice, Relaxing Cup of Tea” in 2009.
It joins this list of upcoming productions:
* August 1-3: THE OTHER SIDE OF OZ, full-length script, Backyard Theatre, Billings, Montana.
* August 16: THE FACE ON MARS, ten-minute play, Suffield Players, Suffield, Connecticut
* September 6: THE SKY IS FALLING, ten-minute play, Piano Fight Productions, Lagunitas (Marin County), California.
* September 18, 19,20, 25, 26, 27: CAN I?, five-minute script in Asphalt Jungle Shorts XI, Kitchener, Ontario.
* September 22-24: SOMETIMES ELEPHANTS DIE STANDING UP, ten-minute play, Ghost Dog Productions, The Horse and Stables, London, UK.
* November 7, 8, 14, 15, 22, and 23: A MARTIAN WESTERN and DEMOTING PLUTO, one-acts, Short Science Play Showcase at the Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
And here’s a partial list of productions this year:
“The Sky is Falling” to be produced in California in September
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on July 30, 2014
Here’s the show poster.
My ten-minute script THE SKY IS FALLING will be produced September 6 in Lagunitas, California (Marin County, just north of San Francisco) by a troupe with the wonderful name Piano Fight Productions.
It’s part of an outdoors show called “Roughin’ It,” although it can’t be too rough because it’s at the Paradise Healing Center, which is said to be “overlooking golden hills and nestled in the forest of West Marin.” Sounds pretty tranquil to me!
Here’s the synopsis. Note that it includes a rap song!
THE SKY IS FALLING
Two squirrels conduct an experiment, dropping things off a powerline. The result: Chicken Little gets hit on the head and thinks the sky is falling. Comedy — and a rap song — ensue. Cast: Five – 1 male, 1 female, 3 non-gender. Running time: Ten minutes.
It joins this list of upcoming productions:
* August 1-3: THE OTHER SIDE OF OZ, full-length script, Backyard Theatre, Billings, Montana.
* August 16: THE FACE ON MARS, ten-minute play, Suffield Players, Suffield, Connecticut
* September 6: THE SKY IS FALLING, ten-minute play, Piano Fight Productions, Lagunitas (Marin County), California.
* September 22-24, SOMETIMES ELEPHANTS DIE STANDING UP, ten-minute play, Ghost Dog Productions, The Horse and Stables, London, UK.
* November 7, 8, 14, 15, 22, and 23: A MARTIAN WESTERN and DEMOTING PLUTO, one-acts, Short Science Play Showcase at the Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
And here’s a partial list of productions this year:
British critic calls my work “absolutely fantastic” and “all-around brilliance”
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Reviews, Uncategorized, Video on July 24, 2014
The Congleton Players in Congleton, England produced my short one-act REVENGE IS SWEET WITH A SLIGHT AFTERTASTE OF IRONY on July 18. It was one of five scripts out of 211 submitted to make the cut for the group’s annual festival.
If that’s not honor enough, theatre critic D.C. Wood had exceptionally kind words to say about my work. You can hear them for yourself in this video — they start at the 6:47 mark. You can also see photos from my show, and others.
Among the things the critic had to say:
* “This was all-around brilliance.”
* “Absolutely fantastic.”
* “Dwayne Yancey wrote a genuinely witty and sharp script.”
He ranked my show one of his two favorites — “it was so close, it could have gone either way” — and said he loved it so much “I personally don’t have any criticism of this play.”
In the end, the audience vote for best in show went to yet a different script. (Details on that about the 15-minute mark.)
Here’s the synopsis of the script:
REVENGE IS SWEET WITH A SLIGHT AFTERTASTE OF IRONY
A famous food critic visits a restaurant. The manager wants desperately to please him; the chef wants revenge. Dark comedy and slapstick ensues. Cast: Six — four male, two female. Running time: Fifteen minutes.
Thanks, Congleton!
You can find a more or less complete list of my productions this year here.
Here are the still photos from the show:
A famous food critic shows up at a restaurant, much to the chagrin of the staff.
Comedy ensues.
The end.
Ten-minute script “The Face on Mars” to be produced in Connecticut
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on July 18, 2014
The Suffield Players in Suffield, Connecticut will produce my ten-minute script THE FACE ON MARS on August 16 as part of a program of 10-minute scripts.
Here’s the synopsis:
THE FACE ON MARS
The supposed face on Mars? It was commissioned by a politician who knew the truth — that Mars was running out of water. But he told the public something else entirely. Cast: Two, non-gender.
In case you’re keeping count (I am!), here’s a list of upcoming productions:
* July 19: REVENGE IS SWEET WITH A SLIGHT AFTERTASTE OF IRONY, one-act, Congleton Players, Congleton, U.K.
* August 1-3: THE OTHER SIDE OF OZ, full-length script, Backyard Theatre, Billings, Montana.
* August 16: THE FACE ON MARS, ten-minute play, Suffield Players, Suffield, Connecticut
* September 22-24, SOMETIMES ELEPHANTS DIE STANDING UP, ten-minute play, Ghost Dog Productions, The Horse and Stables, London, UK.
* November 7, 8, 14, 15, 22, and 23: A MARTIAN WESTERN and DEMOTING PLUTO, one-acts, Short Science Play Showcase at the Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
And here’s a partial list of productions this year. This does NOT include productions that came through most of my publishers; I’ll get reports on those later this year, so it’s likely there are additional productions out there I don’t know about.
* June 14-15: BOLIVIA!, THE CALL OF THE OPEN ROAD, JIMMY’S PLAN FOR WORLD DOMINATION, and THREE TREES TALKING, one-minute plays, as part of the Gone in 60 Seconds Festival #NextGen festival, New York, N.Y. Details here.
* June 13-15: IT’S THE COW’S FAULT, DEEP INTO OCTOBER, and THE GHOST LAMP, one-minute plays, as part of the Gone in 60 Seconds Festival, US edition, New York, N.Y. Details here with an update here.
* June 5: THE CHICKEN CROSSES MADISON AVENUE and COUNTING WOLVES, one-minute plays, as part of the Gone in 60 Seconds Festival, UK edition, Halifax, UK. Details here.
* May 30: THE RING, one-act, Haylofters Theatre, Burlington, Wisconsin. (Voted second best in show.)
* May 23: SOMETIMES ELEPHANTS DIE STANDING UP, ten-minute play, staged reading by Unproduced Moon, Glasgow-Edinburg, Scotland.
* Late May: THE RING, five-minute script, as part of Newburgh Free Academy festival of short plays, Newburgh, N.Y.
* May 16: MACBETH GOES HOLLYWOOD, one-act, by Crawford County High School, Salem, Indiana.
* May 7: THE FRUITCAKE, one-act, by Hague High School, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
* April 29: THE FRUITCAKE, one-act, by Maryvale High School, Phoenix, Arizona.
* April 25: MACBETH GOES HOLLYWOOD, one-act, by York Comprehensive High School, York, South Carolina.
* March 28: GOD AND THE DEVIL MEET FOR A BUSINESS LUNCH, ten-minute play, staged reading by Lake Players, Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. Details here.
* Spring 2014: OCCUPATIONS, one-act, by Viking Radio Theatre, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington. Audio here.
* Spring 2014: GOD AND THE DEVIL MEET FOR A BUSINESS LUNCH, ten-minute play, by Viking Radio Theatre, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington. Audio here.
* Spring 2014: SOMEWHERE TONIGHT, THE LAST WASHINGTON SENATORS’ GAME PLAYS ON, ten-minute play, by Viking Radio Theatre, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington. Audio here.
* March 1: HIT THE BOOKS, one-act, by Shead High School, Eastport, Maine.
* January 4: SOFTBALL IS LIFE, full-length, staged reading, in Roanoke, Virginia. Details here.
Seven scripts produced in New York festival!
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions on July 18, 2014
I had thought I was having five scripts produced in the U.S. edition of Gone in 60 Seconds, a festival of one-minute plays — one in the regular portion, four in the teen portion.
Instead, it was seven! I discovered this when the program arrived in the mail this week. The other two were part of the festival’s retrospective of earlier work.
So I had four pieces done in the #NextGen part of the festival — BOLIVIA!, THE CALL OF THE OPEN ROAD, JIMMY’S PLAN FOR WORLD DOMINATION, and THREE TREES TALKING.
In the “adult” portion, there was IT’S THE COW’S FAULT, plus two that were reprised — DEEP INTO OCTOBER and THE GHOST LAMP. Details on the festival here. I also have video from the original productions of DEEP INTO OCTOBER and THE GHOST LAMP (plus video of the same script in the UK.)
Plus there were two scripts in the U.K. edition — THE CHICKEN CROSSES MADISON AVENUE and COUNTING WOLVES.
Here’s a photo: Read the rest of this entry »
“Sometimes Elephants Die Standing Up” to be produced in London
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on June 20, 2014
My 10-minute play SOMETIMES ELEPHANTS DIE STANDING UP will be produced in London this September by Ghost Dog Productions. It will be part of an evening of plays on the theme of “deception” produced Sept. 22-24 at The Horse & Stables, which appears to be on Westminster Bridge Road in the Waterloo section of London.
This will be the first production of the script, although it had a staged reading last month, also in the U.K. — that one in Scotland through Unproduced Moon.
Here’s a synopsis:
SOMETIMES ELEPHANTS DIE STANDING UP
Two lowly circus workers try to figure out what to do with an elephant dies. An absurdist look at how the economy works. Cast: Two males. Running time: Ten minutes.
“The Other Side of Oz” to be produced in Montana in August
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on June 4, 2014
The poster that Backyard Theatre is using for THE OTHER SIDE OF OZ.
A few years ago, Kevin Jones of the Kevin Jones Performing Arts Studio asked me to write some Oz-related scenes for a theatre camp he was having. Conveniently, the Oz books are in the public domain (the movie isn’t, so things in the books can be adapted; things in the movie cannot be. All that is explained quite well here by the New Media Rights people.)
I ended up writing about two dozen pieces with Oz themes, with titles such as THE MORALLY AMBIGUOUS WITCH OF THE NORTH, featuring a witch who got written out of the story completely, and DOG CASES, in which the sheriff complains about how emotional animal incidents can be, and DOROTHY ON THE COUCH, in which Dorothy seeks psychiatric help about her ordeal. Kevin used some in his camps, and reported they went well. Since then, a few scenes have been performed here and there, such as THE TIN WOMAN, seen in this video.
I took the whole bunch and packaged them together as THE OTHER SIDE OF OZ. It’s not a true full-length play, since there’s not a single narrative running through it, although the running time would add up to a full evening of entertainment.
This week, I got word that Backyard Theatre in Billings, Montana will perform all or most of the pieces August 1-3.
If you count this as a full-length script, this would be the seventh full-length I’ve had produced.
The others would be:
* ON THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, a Christmas comedy produced by Santiam High School in Oregon in December 2013.
* SWEETS TO THE SWEET, a female version of Hamlet produced by Gorilla Tango Theatre in Skokie, Illinois in September 2013.
* 57 HOURS IN THE HOUSE OF CULTURE, a dark re-telling of the Moscow theatre siege, produced in Virginia in 2012.
* RED MOON RISING IN THE EAST, a one-man play about the father of the Soviet space program, produced in Virginia, Wisconsin and Minnesota in 2009 and 2010.
* VIRGINIA’S REAL, produced in suburban Atlanta in 2006.
* JOSE AND MARIA, AN OLD STORY FOR NEW TIMES, a Christmas play produced in Virgina in 2004.
This could have been my eighth full-length production; KLAUS was scheduled for production in Virginia in 2012 but the theatre closed before the season started. Instead, it had this staged reading instead.
You can find my entire list of full-length scripts here.
Four scripts in New York festival; two in British festival
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on May 30, 2014
I got word today that not one, not two, not three but FOUR of my scripts have been accepted into the Gone in 60 Seconds #NextGen festival in New York in June. This is a festival of one-minute plays that will be performed by teens. It’s an outgrowth of the regular Gone in 60 Seconds Festival, where I’ve been a regular.
The “regular” festival is June 13-15 in New York and includes my play IT’S THE COW’S FAULT, discussed here.
The #NextGen portion is June 14-15.
Of the 26 scripts accepted into #NextGen festival, four are mine:
BOLIVIA!
A geopolitical lesson, delivered as a rant by a woman against a man who has committed some grievous sin. Cast: One female.
THE CALL OF THE OPEN ROAD
Two chickens discuss why they should cross the road. Both a long version and a one-minute version. Cast: Two, non-gender.
JIMMY’S PLAN FOR WORLD DOMINATION
Versions 1 and 2: A boy and his sister plot how to take over the world. Cast: Two — one male, one female. Running time: One minute.
Version 3: A classroom scene in which a teacher finds a student plotting how to take over the world. Cast: Two have speaking roles — one juvenile male, one female adult, then however many kids you need to fill out the scene. Running time: One minute.
THREE TREES TALKING
Three trees contemplate the question: If they were human, what kind of human would be they? Cast: Three, non-gender. Running time: One minute.
* This was previously produced in the 2013 British edition of the Gone in 60 Seconds Festival, along with two other scripts.
Speaking of the British edition, I also learned today I have two scripts there this year, as well.
They are:
THE CHICKEN CROSSES MADISON AVENUE
Guess which road the chicken crossed to get to the other side. Cast: One, non-gender. Running time: One minute.
COUNTING WOLVES
A person trying to get to sleep is counting sheep, when a wolf appears, dressed in sheep’s clothing. Cast: At least four – all non-gender.
That production will be June 5 in Halifax, U.K.
That brings the grand total of upcoming productions to:
Just concluded:
* May 17: THE RING, a one-act, at Haylofters, in Burlington, Wisconsin. (Voted second place in audience vote.)
* May 23: SOMETIMES ELEPHANTS DIE STANDING UP, a ten-minute play, Unproduced Moon Company, Scotland.
Coming up:
* May 30: THE RING, a five-minute script, at Newburgh Free Academy, Newburgh, N.Y. Details here.
* June 5: THE CHICKEN CROSSES MADISON AVENUE and COUNTING WOLVES, Gone in 60 Seconds Festival, Halifax, U.K.
* June 13-14: BOLIVIA!, THE CALL OF THE OPEN ROAD, JIMMY’S PLAN FOR WORLD DOMINATION, and THREE TREES TALKING, at Gone in 60 Seconds #NextGen Festival, New York, N.Y.
* June 13-15: IT’S THE COW’S FAULT, at Gone in 60 Seconds Festival, New York, N.Y.
So that’s eight in all going on right now — five in New York City, one outside New York City and two in Great Britain.
The Gone in 60 Seconds Festival folks have the entire line-up and more details here. And, as always, all of these scripts are available royalty-free. Here’s why.
“The Ring” takes second place in audience vote at Wisconsin festival
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Reviews, Uncategorized on May 21, 2014
My one-act, THE RING, took second place in the audience vote at the annual one-act festival put on by The Haylofters in Burlington, Wisconsin.
Thanks, Wisconsites!
THE RING is one of several sports plays for women I have. (The full-length SOFTBALL IS LIFE is another, so is the one-act POWDER PUFF, about football, along with several baseball-themed pieces that run about five minutes or less.)
THE RING
Sixty years after a close call in a state championship girls basketball game, the star of the losing team still can’t reconcile herself to losing — so she breaks into the home of the star player on the winning team, hoping to steal her championship ring. A poignant story about regrets and sportsmanship. Cast: Two senior females.
A five-minute version of this script is being performed later this month at the Newburgh Free Academy in Newburgh, New York. Here’s some background on the origin of both scripts.
Last year, I had two scripts take first place in audience votes at festivals. FOLLOW THE MONEY: A MODERN FAIRY TALE took the prize at the New Voice Play Festival in Charles Town, West Virginia while A WOMAN’S WORD VERSUS A MACHINE won an audience vote at the Subversive Theatre in Buffalo, New York.
“The Longest Home Run Ever” at the Liminal
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Uncategorized on May 21, 2014
A rare shot of the playwright performing his own work. Photo by Heather Yvonne Brush
I don’t usually perform my own work. For one thing, I don’t claim to be an actor. But mostly, I want to see how my work, well, works — and it’s hard to do that when you’re doing it.
However, this month’s theme at the monthly readings at the Liminal gallery in Roanoke was “Anything Goes,” so why not.
Heather Yvonne Brush took this photo of me performing THE LONGEST HOME RUN EVER, one of my many short pieces about baseball.
THE LONGEST HOME RUN EVER
Based on actual science, the explanation of the longest home run possible. Cast: One, non-gender. Running time: Five minutes.
More photos here.
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