Chicago Writers BlocAvailable Plays
Below is a list of available plays, arranged by playwright. For more information about any of the playwrights, visit our Playwright Member Bios page. To get in touch with Writers Bloc about any of the plays, please email info@chicagowritersbloc.org, or email the playwrights directly if their email is listed below.
To obtain copies of any of the plays in the 2017 festival listed below, or the plays in the previous 2015 festival, please email Joanne Koch, info@writersblocfest.org. Some other available plays are listed below with the emails of the playwrights.
SCHEDULE OF WRITERS’ BLOC SUMMER PLAY FESTIVAL 2017
All plays begin at 7:30 p.m.
CHICAGO WRITERS’ BLOC PLAYWRIGHTS & CURRENT PLAYS
Name: Gerald H. Bailey (Composer)
Email: gbailey426@sbcglobal.net
Courting(2m & 2w)
This is a musical revue spoofing various courting rituals from early mythology to present day. Presented by The Live Theatre in Evanston, Illinois.
The Enchanted Island(6m & 2w – Some of the male roles can be played by women)
A TYA musical based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Produced professionally by The Peripatetic Task Force in Chicago, the University of Missouri – St. Louis Campus, and the Clayton Community Theatre in Richmond Heights, Missouri.
Parasol(4m & 5w)
Beautiful Bohemian immigrant Alma, now a spirit, must relive the capsizing of the Eastland and its aftermath in order to make amends for her sins and enter the River of Light. In 2012, the Parasollibretto was a semi-finalist in the Moondance International Film Festival. In 2015, the show was a finalist with The Chicago Musical Theatre Company. This show was also a finalist in the 2017 NYC Women's Work Festival. Parasolis a finalist in the Pallas Theatre Collective 2018 Tableread series.
Philip S. Bloch
Bitter End:A two-act adaptation of Rex Stout’s mystery novella. Set in November of 1940, the story involves industrial espionage, a hot-blooded murder, and the revenge of the world's greatest detective, Nero Wolfe. Wolfe’s assistant, Archie Goodwin, delves into the cutthroat world of the food industry. Ultimately, Nero Wolfe determines the truth behind this convoluted tale and delivers the villain into the hands of justice.
Cronies, Cards, and Clay: A one-act play. Set in the years following the destruction of the World Trade Center. The audience discovers how Shloime, a divorced tailor, deals with old age, loneliness and a Bronx neighborhood that is not safe to walk in at night. He compensates by building a golem in his kitchen. Narrated by Katz, his feline companion,
Halloween with the Moralist: A one-act play. Set in present day Coudersport, Pennsylvania. All is fun and games with the Halloween edition of Miranda Vicar's radio advice program, until the last guest, a time traveler, calls in to reveal his predicament. Other callers include Lady Godiva, Beauregard (a newly undead vampire), the Headless Horseman, and Griffin, the Invisible Woman.
Chloe Bolan
Blizzard (one act) 3 M, 3 W
Three couples, trapped in their cars during a blizzard, discover revelations about each other they never suspected. The play is now being expanded into a screenplay; shooting will begin in February 2019.
Parasol (full length musical) 5 W, 3 M
The spirit of beautiful immigrant Alma must relive the Eastland capsizing, where 843 passengers drowned in the Chicago River in 1915, and cope with its aftermath in order to purify herself and move on to the River of Light. Composer George H. Bailey beautifully defines the emotional variants of the victims and survivors along Alma’s way. The play has been a finalist in more than three contests.
Love in the Time of Dementia (full length comedy) 5 W, 2 M
Former television soap opera star, Jade Marshall, adjusts to a nursing home by watching her reruns and never giving up her dream of finding true love. Along with Jade, young and middle-aged medical personnel in the nursing home also pursue love, all with various outcomes. This play was an O’Neill Conference semi-finalist in 2016.
Patrick Boylan
Pb783@yahoo.com
An award-winning journalist, Patrick began writing plays just a few years ago. He completed his first play in 2017. It was read at the 2017 Writers Bloc Festival.
Silence is Like Honey in Your Mouth (2017)
An immigrant family confronts sexual abuse
1 Woman
3 Children (male)
4 Men
Wencke Braathen
wenckebraathen@gmail.com
Author of "Rituals in Sacred Stone",an historical novel about
Mary Magdalene, following her education, her work in Jerusalem
next to her husband, Yeshua, and her exile in France continuing teaching his message. Available on Amazon.
Author of "Sex on the Altar",a fairy tale for grown ups where God has a problem; He's missing his wife. Through the help of a hapless older couple, who, unbeknownst to them, has an effect on everything through their lovelife, the Goddess finds her way back through the dimensions.
Available on Amazon.
Working on the musical "Hell is Canceled!"where Archangel Michael comes down to Hell and tells Lucifer that his department has been liquidated. All sorts of complications occur when they discover an innocent soul who ended up in Hell by mistake. Also working on "The AND between Heaven and Earth" and "Stop feeding the aliens!", musicals in the making.
Gerald Cole
Darrol93@gmail.com
Three of Gerald Cole’s available plays currently include:
Arden
A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s “As you Like It”
Full 2-act play.
4 women, 6 men
Comedy
The Case of the Burning Tests
A modern Sherlock Holmes tale, written for high school students, starring Sherry Holmes and Winter Watson, young female versions of the famous sleuth.
A one hour long one act play.
4 women, 5 men, and 6 smaller roles
Comedy
The Quiet Woman
A misogynist goes to a dating service to find the perfect woman and learns a lesson about himself in the process.
10-minute play.
2 women, 1 man
Comedy
This script can be purchased at Heartland Plays (heartlandplays.com)
June Finfer
junediana@sbcglobal.net
The Glass House
Drama - 2 acts 2 men, 2 women When Dr. Edith Farnsworth hires architect Mies van der Rohe to design her country house, he seizes the opportunity to create the first glass and steel residence in the world. She wants solitude and beauty. He wants to experiment with modern architecture. One of them wins. Philip Johnson complicates matters. Produced off Broadway New York 2010 starring Harris Uhlin.
Burnham’s Dream: The White City Musical
90 minutes 7 men, 3 women When Chicago wins its bid to host the Chicago World’s Fair Columbian Exposition of 1892, Daniel Burnham’s architectural firm is chosen to build it. This is the true story behind the building of the Fair — the sacrifices made and the ambitions of architects, businessmen, workers, immigrants, women, and minorities.
Book and lyrics by June Finfer, Music and lyrics by Elizabeth Doyle
Produced 2018 at Theater Wit by Lost and Found Productions
What is This Thing Called Love?
One Act 3 men, 2 women Adapted from Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving. A young Muslim prince is kept ignorant of love because his father fears he will make foolish choices. In a tower of the Alhambra, his Jewish tutor teaches him philosophy and science, but never mentions love. The Prince breaks away, guided by a wise owl and other birds, and finds love with a lonely Christian princess in another country. A comic tale perfect for Valentine’s Day. Performed at Piven Theater, Chicago Writers Bloc Play Festival, 2016
See www.lostandfoundproductions.org and www.whitecitymusical.org
Barbara Georgans
benernierose@sbcglobal.net
Phone: 312-607-6054
Nobody Likes Retsina.
A musical comedy that takes place in the 1930’s about two brothers who try to bootleg Retsina in order to marry off their daughters. Produced in 2011 at the Parthenon Restaurant.
Richard III Ole!
A comedy about a man who’s trying to steal a valuable lamp that was supposedly used by Shakespeare while writing Richard III. Featured at the Chicago Writers Bloc Festival in 2017.
Oak Street Beach.
A drama that takes place the day that man first landed on the moon in 1969. It reflects a small step for man, and a giant leap backward for womankind. Politically, the struggles that women had in 1969 are the same ones we have today.
Hope Hommersand
hope.hommersand@gmail.com
Full Length Plays:
WHY GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD PEOPLE: comedy. three women, two men.
log line: A witch becomes a celebrity chef and a cleric discovers she has been leading an inauthentic life.“Festival of New Plays,” staged reading, Chicago Writers’ Bloc, Piven Theatre, Evanston, 2015. “New Works Playwrights’ Festival,” staged reading, Premiere Theatre, Aurora, 2015. “Next Draft,” staged reading, Three Cat Productions, Berger Park Theatre, Chicago, 2016.
“Directors Workshop,” Theatre of Western Springs, 2019.
Semifinalist: Inkslinger Playwriting Competition, Southeastern Louisiana University, 2017.
PENUMBRA: drama. three women, four men.
log line: A homeless man and the CFO of an investment bank begin to stalk each other when a woman they know is found dead under mysterious circumstances.
“New Work Festival,” staged reading, Three Cat Productions, Berger Park Theatre, Chicago, 2014.“Chicago Playwrights and Their Plays,” seminar, Newberry Library, Chicago, July 5, 2016.
REHEARSING THE CHERRY ORCHARD: comedy. two women, four men.
log line: A game of one upmanship sends the members of a production company on an emotional roller coaster ride through a landscape of egos, superegos, alter egos and ids.
Chicago Dramatists, staged reading, Saturday Series, 2012. “Northern Writes New Play Festival,” staged reading, Penobscot Theatre, Bangor, Maine, 2011. “Chicago Playwrights and Their Plays,” seminar, Newberry Library, Chicago, 2013.
Finalist: Rover Dramawerks, Plano, TX, 2016. Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence, Coldwater, MI. 2011.
Joanne Barbara Koch
Raunchy Little Musical 1W 1M
Belle Barth, edgy comic whose comedy records sold in the millions, sings and jokes through a life that included 5 marriages, with one actor playing the many men in her life. Previous productions Chicago, Theo Ubique Theater, Candlewood Playhouse in Tampa, Florida & Landmark Theater in Port Washington, New York.
American Klezmer3 W 6 M
Two sisters leave the old country and join the members of a klezmer band to make their way in 1910 America in this engaging musical. Previous production in Los Angeles, Egyptian Arena Theater and workshops at Crown Theater in L.A.
Nesting Dolls 3W 3M
True story of a woman recovering from childhood trauma and the therapist who led her out of PTSD hell.
Productions in Chicago at Zebra Crossing Theater, toured to Ohio, Michigan, Northwestern University, Kalamazoo College and Harper College funded by grants and at Southern Illinois University, broadcast on local PBS stations.
Contact: Joanne Koch, joannebarbarakoch@gmail.com. Website joannekochplaywright.com
Joan Kufrin
jgkufrin@gmail.com
Dinner At 1800 Hours by Joan Kufrin
The peace activist parents of lawyer Meredith Echols and the second-generation Marine parents of Lieutenant Bill Grimes meet (collide) for the first time at the couple’s engagement dinner, but a delay in the meal, too many drinks, and soon opinions loudly voiced by frozen minds and hardened hearts about cut and run, 911, Peace Corps, traitors, Vietnam, My Lai—threaten to sabotage the engaged couple’s effort to build a new family.
3W, 3M, one set
Developed with Chicago Dramatists
Here Lie the Demons by Joan Kufrin
Lili Learned, a sexy, delectable woman in her 40s, strides onstage and for an hour and half, as she relives her “f-d up” life from age 18 to 68, including the Korea, Vietnam and Iraq wars that impacted her and every man in her life, we also see, over the course of the play, her transformation from a teenager into a mature woman who has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to erase one of the major mistakes of her life…if she chooses to.
2W,4M (one double-roled)
Winner of Theatre Conspiracy annual competition, World Premiere and 4-week run, Fould’s Theatre, Fort Myers, Florida
The Messenger by Joan Kufrin
Unremarkable, unmarried Angela, 35, is caregiver to her demanding, aging parents when her attraction to a good-looking stranger her father’s age transforms her plainness into radiance--and propels the family into stopping the budding May-December romance.
3W, 2M, one set
Production – Lake Wales Little Theater – 3 week run – Lake Wales, Florida
Blake Levinson
Blevinson@ameritech.com
BY REASON OF SANITY: Obsessed with the parallels between the brutalities of Colonial Africa and her own domestic violence, a white American social worker crosses the boundaries of therapy protocol by encouraging her battered client to rise up against her abusive boyfriend.
Inspired by true stories, this 2-person, psychological drama was selected for staged readings by the Chicago Dramatists’ Saturday Series and the Writers' Block Festival of New Plays at Next Theater. In addition, it had staged readings at Dominican University's Graduate School of Social Work and the College of Lake County as part of their training programs for mental health care professionals.
THE LOST BAR MITZVAH SPEECH OF JESUS: While at its heart is a surprisingly poignant story of a family-in-crisis, this black comedy about Jesus's early life is a satirical sendup of both Christianity and Judaism that asks the question of the ages: What is truth?
In addition to its selection for staged readings at the Chicago Dramatists’ Saturday Series and the Writers' Block Festival of New Plays at Piven Theater, the original 10-minute version had a production at Three Cat Productions Holiday Festival of Short Plays.
PARAGRAPH 5- Inspired by real events in Chicago during the 1950s, this is a drama about the unscrupulous, real estate speculators who used misleading home sales contracts to cheat thousands of Black families out of their homes and savings, which is still happening to this very day.
PARAGRAPH 5 was chosen for staged readings at the Chicago Dramatists’ Saturday Series and the Writers' Block Festival of New Plays.
Paul Edward Pasulka
p-pasulka@northwestern.edu
La Maestra (Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi) 2F/2M
Anna O. (Bertha Papenheim and the birth of psychoanalysis) 2F/4M
Gruoch or Lady Macbeth (A magically-realistic take on Macbeth's 14 year old wife). Produced by Death and Pretzels. 3F/1M
Francesca Peppiatt
fpeppiatt@yahoo.com
The True Story of CinderElla erful woman won't bend to the beauty myth so she can follow her own dream. This play was a finalist in the Inde Boots Play Festival in Chicago and was recently included in a short play anthology book.
Seven come Eleven (minutes) - 3 women - 3 men - Seven short comedy plays exploring social, political and family matters - Four of the plays were included in the invitation only "One Minute Play Festival" and three of the plays appeared in the StockyardsTheatre Project political comedy festival playing to sold out houses in Chicago.
Treasure Island - musical adaptation of the legendary adventure novel. The play was created to utilize a cast of 10 (with double casting) or as large of a cast as available (open casting). Female roles were created and enlarged to bring the story a new perspective.
Sam Radom
sam@amazingsammo.com
Carole White and the Seven Deadly Sins reveals the forty-eight hours when the Sins try to turn a teetering soul over to hell, by having her break all Ten Commandments. 4W, 6M.
The original production opened in January of 2008, at the Gorilla Tango Theater, in Chicago.
Richard Reardon
Perryreardon55@gmail.com
Richard is a playwright in residence at the Three Brothers Theater Company and has been awarded a residency at the prestigious Ragdale Foundation. His work is featured at the MonologueBank internet site and has received staged reading by Chicago Writers’ Bloc and by members of the Black Box Academy.
Saturn’s Return:
A lesbian and gay couple must face the unimaginable task of planning funerals for their teenage children killed in the same auto accident. Through soul searching, the illusion of memory, and the unexpected grace of strangers, these couples grapple with their gravitational grief only to rediscover their unending capacity to love.
4 male roles
5 female roles
Translations:
Over one weekend in the tight confines of a Flatbush apartment, a character in the midst of her transition must interpret the apparent betrayal of her lover and the possible interests of a troubled stranger. Is this an ending or the beginning of something entirely new?
1 transgender role
2 Cis male roles
Down The Rabbit Hole:
In the basement of Wonderland Productions, on the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Alice Liddell, her great-great grandson, Alistair, must face the high costs of parenthood in an England where abortions have been made illegal.
4 male roles
1 female role
Beverly Rosen
Rsnbvrly01@Aol.com
I'm Near Niagara
A full length comedy about a young man's bizarre attempts to get his father's approval.
Two women three men.
I'm Near Niagara received productions at the Snowmass Repertory Theatre in Colorado.
Colorado Mountain College.
Atruim Theater in Chicago.
When The Bough Breaks is a full length play about a son who is petrified to tell his widowed mother she has been left penniless.
Two women three men.
The English Teacher
A ten minute comedy about a daughter discovering that hidden behind her mother's perfect syntax is a shocking secret.
Two women.
Bill Teitelbaum
teitelbaum1@aol.com
Enemies
Was the Holocaust necessary? Hitler himself insists it was, as well as inevitable. What are any of us, he asks, without our enemies?
Ground Zero
Among the casualties of 9-11 was the marriage of Arnold and Harriet Beck. Now, twenty years later, they ask if the divorce was worth its cost.
Kings
A trilogy of darkly comedic one-acts about the first monarchs of Canaan—“The Death of Saul,” “David and Bathsheba,” and “The Wisdom of Solomon.”
Contact the author by email at the address above or his representative, S. Nogan, at 202-300-1767.
Gayle Ann Weinstein (Gail Duberchin)
Gayleannweinstein@sbcglobal.net
Raizel’s Return
In contemporary Chicago, a young mother-to-be, against the wishes of her rabbi husband, obtains an ancient amulet to protect their inborn baby from LILITH--demon queen of Gehenna (Hell). When the baby is stillborn, LILITH sets in motion a plan to steal the soul of the two innocents, using the mother as bait when her soul sinks to Gehenna. Chaos abounds as GOD and LILITH vie for possession of these two souls. After a struggle, both innocents return to the living.
Meet Me On The Corner
A desperate 18 year-old recent immigrant from Poland is hired by a wealthy textile shop owner who falls in love instantly and asks the girl to marry him, changing the trajectory of her life.
2 men, 2 women
Shlomo and the General
Shlomo, a Jew, is conscripted into the Russian army as a clerk for a high-ranking general. When Shlomo is asked to convert to Christianity, he devises a plan to escape to America.
3 men, 1 woman
17 New Plays by 13 Chicago Area Playwrights
Chicago Writers’ Bloc with Stockyards Theatre Project
Chicago Writers’ Bloc with Stockyards Theatre Project presents the 2019 New Plays Festival at City Lit Theater, 1028 Bryn Mawr, Chicago in the historic Edgewater Presbyterian Church. Presentations take place each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening from June 4 through June 26 at 7:30 P.M. Seventeen new plays by thirteen distinguished Chicago area playwrights will be presented in a staged reading format.
The festival kicks off with a benefit on Tuesday evening June 4 at 7:30 P.M. with The GlassHouseby June Finfer. The benefit featuring refreshments and a silent auction. $25 benefit donation to the non-profit Chicago Writers’ Bloc at Brown Paper Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com. (https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4241111)
All other evenings for the festival begin at 7:30 P.M. Admission to each evening (other than the June 4 benefit) is $10. A flexible festival pass for $40 covers 11 admissions (one admission per evening or any other way you chose to use the 11 admissions. Tickets at the door or at Brown Paper Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com
Valet Parking for City Lit Theater after 6 P.M. at Francesca’s Restaurant at Bryn Mawr and Winthrop for $10.
The Chicago Writers’ Bloc has brought over 250 new works to Chicago and beyond - developing plays that have reached off Broadway, east coast, west coast and Midwest theaters, universities and communities. The 2019 Festival Coordinators are Joan Mazzonelli and Francesca Peppiatt.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Tuesday June 4
WRITERS’ BLOC BENEFIT NIGHT - $25 - Refreshments, silent auction
The Glass House by JUNE FINFER Directed by Robert Brueler
Mies van der Rohe designs a dream house for Edith Farnsworth that turns into a nightmare.
Presented in collaboration with Lost and Found Productions & Perennial Theatre
Wednesday June 5
Oak Street BeachbyBARBARA GEORGANS Directed by Joan Mazzonelli
July 20, 1969, man landed on the moon, but back on earth, men behave as badly as they do today.
Post-show discussion with Planned Parenthood and #MeToo
Monday June 10
Hell is Canceled!by WENCKE BRAATHEN Directed by Cecilie Keenan
What happens when Archangel Michael arrives in Hell to announce the department of Hell will be liquidated? Who’s the mysterious woman who walks about in Hell unscathed and unnoticed? What’s Lucifer to do?
Monday June 10
TWO PLAYS by HOPE HOMMERSAND Directed by Joan Mazzonelli
Domestic Disturbance Just exactly what is going on in the house where a real estate appraiser shows up?
Mother-in-Law Wit Leave it to a mother-in-law to explain the phenomenon of rare ripe garden seed.
Tuesday June 11
Raizel’s Return by GAYLE ANN WEINSTEIN Directed by Claire Bauman
This fantasy follows a bereaved mother through Hell where she must decide whether to remain there as a suicide or return to the living.
Wednesday June 12
The Life and Times of a Hopeful RomanticbyFRANCESCA PEPPIAT
When a disastrous meeting turns into a lifelong romance…
A one-woman piece directed and performed by the author
Wednesday June 12
TWO PIECES by BLAKE LEVINSON Directed by Nicholas Hamel
A Tale of Two Mamets This is the humorous true story of how some random encounters with a pair of talented brothers challenge a reclusive man’s decision to withdraw from our politically hot and divisive world.
Paragraph 5 The redlining laws of the 1950s resulted in banks rejecting all mortgage applications submitted by Black families. Thousands of these families turned to opportunistic real estate speculators who conned them into signing exorbitantly-priced and misleading sales contracts. Inspired by real events, this dramatic play chronicles the perfect storm of racism, greed and fear that ripped apart neighborhoods, families, and friends in Chicago, as well as many other northern cities across the country.
Monday June 17
The Girls: Together Again!by FRANCESCA PEPPIATT Directed by Francesca Peppiatt
A singing sister act reluctantly reunite for their first concert with their famous mother. Unfortunately, she dies just prior to the show. It’s a comedy.
Tuesday June 18
Carole White and the Seven Deadly SinsbySAMUEL RADOM Directed by Wilson Cain
The play reveals the 48 hours when the Sins try to turn a teetering soul over to hell.
Wednesday June 19
Translations by RICHARD REARDON
The play explores the fragility of identity and belonging through the prism of three characters who must confront the difference between the homes they were born into and those they long to create.
Monday June 24
Minister of Loneliness by FRAN ZELL Directed by Susan Hamel
In a world where loneliness kills and happiness comes in little green capsules, two teens find unexpected answers to questions of the heart.
Tuesday June 25
The English Teacherby BEVERLY ROSEN
A daughter discovers that behind her mother's perfect syntax there lurks a dark secret.
Tuesday June 25
The Balance Must Be Paid byGERALD COLE Directed by Brian Pastor
President Lincoln, while deciding the fate of a young army deserter, encounters a trio of spirits who offer their perspectives of the Civil War.
Tuesday June 25
I Do, I Do, I Do by JOANNE KOCH Directed by Joan Mazzonelli
Awedding doesn’t signify a marriage, but when the wedding is performed every Friday night for the old folks in the memory care unit, the young bride can begin to get a handle on her future.
Wednesday June 26
THREE PLAYS by CHLOE BOLAN Directed by Gerald Bailey
The Ninkasi Brewery a one act play about DNA vs. culture.
The Uncertainty Principle a one act play about testing Schrodinger's Cat theory.
Kudos for Mangos a ten minute play for dog lovers.
CHICAGO WRITERS’ BLOC PLAYWRIGHTS & CURRENT PLAYS
Name: Gerald H. Bailey (Composer)
Email: gbailey426@sbcglobal.net
Courting(2m & 2w)
This is a musical revue spoofing various courting rituals from early mythology to present day. Presented by The Live Theatre in Evanston, Illinois.
The Enchanted Island(6m & 2w – Some of the male roles can be played by women)
A TYA musical based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Produced professionally by The Peripatetic Task Force in Chicago, the University of Missouri – St. Louis Campus, and the Clayton Community Theatre in Richmond Heights, Missouri.
Parasol(4m & 5w)
Beautiful Bohemian immigrant Alma, now a spirit, must relive the capsizing of the Eastland and its aftermath in order to make amends for her sins and enter the River of Light. In 2012, the Parasollibretto was a semi-finalist in the Moondance International Film Festival. In 2015, the show was a finalist with The Chicago Musical Theatre Company. This show was also a finalist in the 2017 NYC Women's Work Festival. Parasolis a finalist in the Pallas Theatre Collective 2018 Tableread series.
Philip S. Bloch
Bitter End:A two-act adaptation of Rex Stout’s mystery novella. Set in November of 1940, the story involves industrial espionage, a hot-blooded murder, and the revenge of the world's greatest detective, Nero Wolfe. Wolfe’s assistant, Archie Goodwin, delves into the cutthroat world of the food industry. Ultimately, Nero Wolfe determines the truth behind this convoluted tale and delivers the villain into the hands of justice.
Cronies, Cards, and Clay: A one-act play. Set in the years following the destruction of the World Trade Center. The audience discovers how Shloime, a divorced tailor, deals with old age, loneliness and a Bronx neighborhood that is not safe to walk in at night. He compensates by building a golem in his kitchen. Narrated by Katz, his feline companion,
Halloween with the Moralist: A one-act play. Set in present day Coudersport, Pennsylvania. All is fun and games with the Halloween edition of Miranda Vicar's radio advice program, until the last guest, a time traveler, calls in to reveal his predicament. Other callers include Lady Godiva, Beauregard (a newly undead vampire), the Headless Horseman, and Griffin, the Invisible Woman.
Chloe Bolan
Blizzard (one act) 3 M, 3 W
Three couples, trapped in their cars during a blizzard, discover revelations about each other they never suspected. The play is now being expanded into a screenplay; shooting will begin in February 2019.
Parasol (full length musical) 5 W, 3 M
The spirit of beautiful immigrant Alma must relive the Eastland capsizing, where 843 passengers drowned in the Chicago River in 1915, and cope with its aftermath in order to purify herself and move on to the River of Light. Composer George H. Bailey beautifully defines the emotional variants of the victims and survivors along Alma’s way. The play has been a finalist in more than three contests.
Love in the Time of Dementia (full length comedy) 5 W, 2 M
Former television soap opera star, Jade Marshall, adjusts to a nursing home by watching her reruns and never giving up her dream of finding true love. Along with Jade, young and middle-aged medical personnel in the nursing home also pursue love, all with various outcomes. This play was an O’Neill Conference semi-finalist in 2016.
Patrick Boylan
Pb783@yahoo.com
An award-winning journalist, Patrick began writing plays just a few years ago. He completed his first play in 2017. It was read at the 2017 Writers Bloc Festival.
Silence is Like Honey in Your Mouth (2017)
An immigrant family confronts sexual abuse
1 Woman
3 Children (male)
4 Men
Wencke Braathen
wenckebraathen@gmail.com
Author of "Rituals in Sacred Stone",an historical novel about
Mary Magdalene, following her education, her work in Jerusalem
next to her husband, Yeshua, and her exile in France continuing teaching his message. Available on Amazon.
Author of "Sex on the Altar",a fairy tale for grown ups where God has a problem; He's missing his wife. Through the help of a hapless older couple, who, unbeknownst to them, has an effect on everything through their lovelife, the Goddess finds her way back through the dimensions.
Available on Amazon.
Working on the musical "Hell is Canceled!"where Archangel Michael comes down to Hell and tells Lucifer that his department has been liquidated. All sorts of complications occur when they discover an innocent soul who ended up in Hell by mistake. Also working on "The AND between Heaven and Earth" and "Stop feeding the aliens!", musicals in the making.
Gerald Cole
Darrol93@gmail.com
Three of Gerald Cole’s available plays currently include:
Arden
A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s “As you Like It”
Full 2-act play.
4 women, 6 men
Comedy
The Case of the Burning Tests
A modern Sherlock Holmes tale, written for high school students, starring Sherry Holmes and Winter Watson, young female versions of the famous sleuth.
A one hour long one act play.
4 women, 5 men, and 6 smaller roles
Comedy
The Quiet Woman
A misogynist goes to a dating service to find the perfect woman and learns a lesson about himself in the process.
10-minute play.
2 women, 1 man
Comedy
This script can be purchased at Heartland Plays (heartlandplays.com)
June Finfer
junediana@sbcglobal.net
The Glass House
Drama - 2 acts 2 men, 2 women When Dr. Edith Farnsworth hires architect Mies van der Rohe to design her country house, he seizes the opportunity to create the first glass and steel residence in the world. She wants solitude and beauty. He wants to experiment with modern architecture. One of them wins. Philip Johnson complicates matters. Produced off Broadway New York 2010 starring Harris Uhlin.
Burnham’s Dream: The White City Musical
90 minutes 7 men, 3 women When Chicago wins its bid to host the Chicago World’s Fair Columbian Exposition of 1892, Daniel Burnham’s architectural firm is chosen to build it. This is the true story behind the building of the Fair — the sacrifices made and the ambitions of architects, businessmen, workers, immigrants, women, and minorities.
Book and lyrics by June Finfer, Music and lyrics by Elizabeth Doyle
Produced 2018 at Theater Wit by Lost and Found Productions
What is This Thing Called Love?
One Act 3 men, 2 women Adapted from Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving. A young Muslim prince is kept ignorant of love because his father fears he will make foolish choices. In a tower of the Alhambra, his Jewish tutor teaches him philosophy and science, but never mentions love. The Prince breaks away, guided by a wise owl and other birds, and finds love with a lonely Christian princess in another country. A comic tale perfect for Valentine’s Day. Performed at Piven Theater, Chicago Writers Bloc Play Festival, 2016
See www.lostandfoundproductions.org and www.whitecitymusical.org
Barbara Georgans
benernierose@sbcglobal.net
Phone: 312-607-6054
Nobody Likes Retsina.
A musical comedy that takes place in the 1930’s about two brothers who try to bootleg Retsina in order to marry off their daughters. Produced in 2011 at the Parthenon Restaurant.
Richard III Ole!
A comedy about a man who’s trying to steal a valuable lamp that was supposedly used by Shakespeare while writing Richard III. Featured at the Chicago Writers Bloc Festival in 2017.
Oak Street Beach.
A drama that takes place the day that man first landed on the moon in 1969. It reflects a small step for man, and a giant leap backward for womankind. Politically, the struggles that women had in 1969 are the same ones we have today.
Hope Hommersand
hope.hommersand@gmail.com
Full Length Plays:
WHY GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD PEOPLE: comedy. three women, two men.
log line: A witch becomes a celebrity chef and a cleric discovers she has been leading an inauthentic life.“Festival of New Plays,” staged reading, Chicago Writers’ Bloc, Piven Theatre, Evanston, 2015. “New Works Playwrights’ Festival,” staged reading, Premiere Theatre, Aurora, 2015. “Next Draft,” staged reading, Three Cat Productions, Berger Park Theatre, Chicago, 2016.
“Directors Workshop,” Theatre of Western Springs, 2019.
Semifinalist: Inkslinger Playwriting Competition, Southeastern Louisiana University, 2017.
PENUMBRA: drama. three women, four men.
log line: A homeless man and the CFO of an investment bank begin to stalk each other when a woman they know is found dead under mysterious circumstances.
“New Work Festival,” staged reading, Three Cat Productions, Berger Park Theatre, Chicago, 2014.“Chicago Playwrights and Their Plays,” seminar, Newberry Library, Chicago, July 5, 2016.
REHEARSING THE CHERRY ORCHARD: comedy. two women, four men.
log line: A game of one upmanship sends the members of a production company on an emotional roller coaster ride through a landscape of egos, superegos, alter egos and ids.
Chicago Dramatists, staged reading, Saturday Series, 2012. “Northern Writes New Play Festival,” staged reading, Penobscot Theatre, Bangor, Maine, 2011. “Chicago Playwrights and Their Plays,” seminar, Newberry Library, Chicago, 2013.
Finalist: Rover Dramawerks, Plano, TX, 2016. Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence, Coldwater, MI. 2011.
Joanne Barbara Koch
Raunchy Little Musical 1W 1M
Belle Barth, edgy comic whose comedy records sold in the millions, sings and jokes through a life that included 5 marriages, with one actor playing the many men in her life. Previous productions Chicago, Theo Ubique Theater, Candlewood Playhouse in Tampa, Florida & Landmark Theater in Port Washington, New York.
American Klezmer3 W 6 M
Two sisters leave the old country and join the members of a klezmer band to make their way in 1910 America in this engaging musical. Previous production in Los Angeles, Egyptian Arena Theater and workshops at Crown Theater in L.A.
Nesting Dolls 3W 3M
True story of a woman recovering from childhood trauma and the therapist who led her out of PTSD hell.
Productions in Chicago at Zebra Crossing Theater, toured to Ohio, Michigan, Northwestern University, Kalamazoo College and Harper College funded by grants and at Southern Illinois University, broadcast on local PBS stations.
Contact: Joanne Koch, joannebarbarakoch@gmail.com. Website joannekochplaywright.com
Joan Kufrin
jgkufrin@gmail.com
Dinner At 1800 Hours by Joan Kufrin
The peace activist parents of lawyer Meredith Echols and the second-generation Marine parents of Lieutenant Bill Grimes meet (collide) for the first time at the couple’s engagement dinner, but a delay in the meal, too many drinks, and soon opinions loudly voiced by frozen minds and hardened hearts about cut and run, 911, Peace Corps, traitors, Vietnam, My Lai—threaten to sabotage the engaged couple’s effort to build a new family.
3W, 3M, one set
Developed with Chicago Dramatists
Here Lie the Demons by Joan Kufrin
Lili Learned, a sexy, delectable woman in her 40s, strides onstage and for an hour and half, as she relives her “f-d up” life from age 18 to 68, including the Korea, Vietnam and Iraq wars that impacted her and every man in her life, we also see, over the course of the play, her transformation from a teenager into a mature woman who has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to erase one of the major mistakes of her life…if she chooses to.
2W,4M (one double-roled)
Winner of Theatre Conspiracy annual competition, World Premiere and 4-week run, Fould’s Theatre, Fort Myers, Florida
The Messenger by Joan Kufrin
Unremarkable, unmarried Angela, 35, is caregiver to her demanding, aging parents when her attraction to a good-looking stranger her father’s age transforms her plainness into radiance--and propels the family into stopping the budding May-December romance.
3W, 2M, one set
Production – Lake Wales Little Theater – 3 week run – Lake Wales, Florida
Blake Levinson
Blevinson@ameritech.com
BY REASON OF SANITY: Obsessed with the parallels between the brutalities of Colonial Africa and her own domestic violence, a white American social worker crosses the boundaries of therapy protocol by encouraging her battered client to rise up against her abusive boyfriend.
Inspired by true stories, this 2-person, psychological drama was selected for staged readings by the Chicago Dramatists’ Saturday Series and the Writers' Block Festival of New Plays at Next Theater. In addition, it had staged readings at Dominican University's Graduate School of Social Work and the College of Lake County as part of their training programs for mental health care professionals.
THE LOST BAR MITZVAH SPEECH OF JESUS: While at its heart is a surprisingly poignant story of a family-in-crisis, this black comedy about Jesus's early life is a satirical sendup of both Christianity and Judaism that asks the question of the ages: What is truth?
In addition to its selection for staged readings at the Chicago Dramatists’ Saturday Series and the Writers' Block Festival of New Plays at Piven Theater, the original 10-minute version had a production at Three Cat Productions Holiday Festival of Short Plays.
PARAGRAPH 5- Inspired by real events in Chicago during the 1950s, this is a drama about the unscrupulous, real estate speculators who used misleading home sales contracts to cheat thousands of Black families out of their homes and savings, which is still happening to this very day.
PARAGRAPH 5 was chosen for staged readings at the Chicago Dramatists’ Saturday Series and the Writers' Block Festival of New Plays.
Paul Edward Pasulka
p-pasulka@northwestern.edu
La Maestra (Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi) 2F/2M
Anna O. (Bertha Papenheim and the birth of psychoanalysis) 2F/4M
Gruoch or Lady Macbeth (A magically-realistic take on Macbeth's 14 year old wife). Produced by Death and Pretzels. 3F/1M
Francesca Peppiatt
fpeppiatt@yahoo.com
The True Story of CinderElla erful woman won't bend to the beauty myth so she can follow her own dream. This play was a finalist in the Inde Boots Play Festival in Chicago and was recently included in a short play anthology book.
Seven come Eleven (minutes) - 3 women - 3 men - Seven short comedy plays exploring social, political and family matters - Four of the plays were included in the invitation only "One Minute Play Festival" and three of the plays appeared in the StockyardsTheatre Project political comedy festival playing to sold out houses in Chicago.
Treasure Island - musical adaptation of the legendary adventure novel. The play was created to utilize a cast of 10 (with double casting) or as large of a cast as available (open casting). Female roles were created and enlarged to bring the story a new perspective.
Sam Radom
sam@amazingsammo.com
Carole White and the Seven Deadly Sins reveals the forty-eight hours when the Sins try to turn a teetering soul over to hell, by having her break all Ten Commandments. 4W, 6M.
The original production opened in January of 2008, at the Gorilla Tango Theater, in Chicago.
Richard Reardon
Perryreardon55@gmail.com
Richard is a playwright in residence at the Three Brothers Theater Company and has been awarded a residency at the prestigious Ragdale Foundation. His work is featured at the MonologueBank internet site and has received staged reading by Chicago Writers’ Bloc and by members of the Black Box Academy.
Saturn’s Return:
A lesbian and gay couple must face the unimaginable task of planning funerals for their teenage children killed in the same auto accident. Through soul searching, the illusion of memory, and the unexpected grace of strangers, these couples grapple with their gravitational grief only to rediscover their unending capacity to love.
4 male roles
5 female roles
Translations:
Over one weekend in the tight confines of a Flatbush apartment, a character in the midst of her transition must interpret the apparent betrayal of her lover and the possible interests of a troubled stranger. Is this an ending or the beginning of something entirely new?
1 transgender role
2 Cis male roles
Down The Rabbit Hole:
In the basement of Wonderland Productions, on the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Alice Liddell, her great-great grandson, Alistair, must face the high costs of parenthood in an England where abortions have been made illegal.
4 male roles
1 female role
Beverly Rosen
Rsnbvrly01@Aol.com
I'm Near Niagara
A full length comedy about a young man's bizarre attempts to get his father's approval.
Two women three men.
I'm Near Niagara received productions at the Snowmass Repertory Theatre in Colorado.
Colorado Mountain College.
Atruim Theater in Chicago.
When The Bough Breaks is a full length play about a son who is petrified to tell his widowed mother she has been left penniless.
Two women three men.
The English Teacher
A ten minute comedy about a daughter discovering that hidden behind her mother's perfect syntax is a shocking secret.
Two women.
Bill Teitelbaum
teitelbaum1@aol.com
Enemies
Was the Holocaust necessary? Hitler himself insists it was, as well as inevitable. What are any of us, he asks, without our enemies?
Ground Zero
Among the casualties of 9-11 was the marriage of Arnold and Harriet Beck. Now, twenty years later, they ask if the divorce was worth its cost.
Kings
A trilogy of darkly comedic one-acts about the first monarchs of Canaan—“The Death of Saul,” “David and Bathsheba,” and “The Wisdom of Solomon.”
Contact the author by email at the address above or his representative, S. Nogan, at 202-300-1767.
Gayle Ann Weinstein (Gail Duberchin)
Gayleannweinstein@sbcglobal.net
Raizel’s Return
In contemporary Chicago, a young mother-to-be, against the wishes of her rabbi husband, obtains an ancient amulet to protect their inborn baby from LILITH--demon queen of Gehenna (Hell). When the baby is stillborn, LILITH sets in motion a plan to steal the soul of the two innocents, using the mother as bait when her soul sinks to Gehenna. Chaos abounds as GOD and LILITH vie for possession of these two souls. After a struggle, both innocents return to the living.
Meet Me On The Corner
A desperate 18 year-old recent immigrant from Poland is hired by a wealthy textile shop owner who falls in love instantly and asks the girl to marry him, changing the trajectory of her life.
2 men, 2 women
Shlomo and the General
Shlomo, a Jew, is conscripted into the Russian army as a clerk for a high-ranking general. When Shlomo is asked to convert to Christianity, he devises a plan to escape to America.
3 men, 1 woman
PLAYS PRESENTED AT PREVIOUS FESTIVALS
Monday, July 17
Mammaries by Joanne Koch
Memories of romance, children and loss are packed into this short drama about physical and relationship pairs.
The Yellow Room Murders by Hope Bell
During the rehearsal of An Ideal Husband, by Oscar Wilde someone collapses and appears to be dying.
Director for both, Francesca Peppiatt
Tuesday, July 18
I’m Near Niagara by Bev Rosen – Director, Terry Artner
This comic-drama concerns the bizarre actions of a young man desperately searching for his father’s approval.
Wednesday, July 19
Jimmy Pays His Debts by Patrick Boylan – Director, Michael Wagman
A three-act drama set in Chicago 1963. An Irish Catholic working-class family confronts a sexual assault by relying on old saws to guide their actions.
Monday, July 24
Hope Deferred by Brenda Castile Munoz – Director, Wilson Cain
Shanice and Jeff are 18, in love, and looking forward to a bright future when the unexpected happens.
Tuesday, July 25
Drowning by John Janso – Director, Patricia Tinsley
A father and son spend the anniversary of the mother’s tragic death attempting to finally move on from her passing, while at the same time trying to salvage their own fractured relationship.
Monday, July 31
Love in the Time of Dementia by Chloe Bolan – Director, Paul Tinsley
A witty take on relationships in later life.
Tuesday, August 1
Men Around the World by Judy Veramendi – Director, Gerald H. Bailey
An international SEX AND THE CITY, shares true tales from my life as an innocent broad abroad, moving from naivete into enlightenment.
Wednesday, August 2
In the Land of Enchantment by Frank Friedlander – Director, Richard Paro
Once Upon a Mattress meets My Fair Lady when a discontented workaholic is swept into a whimsical kingdom as a reluctant suitor for a rakish young prince.
Monday, August 7
The Tempest Within by Paul Pasulka, who will also direct
Five actors are invited to a desert island for two-week auditions for the world-famous, mysterious, and extremely secretive Mr. Director.
Tuesday, August 8
Richard III Ole! by Barbara Georgans – Director, Joan Mazzonelli
This comedy has everyone scrambling to find a coveted jewel, encrusted lamp a gift from Queen Elizabeth I to Shakespeare so he could write Richard III by night.
Wednesday, August 9
With Apologies to Dracula by Blake Levinson – Director, Breahan Pautsch
In 1957, after uncovering the secret that thousands of Black homeowners in Chicago are being legally swindled out of their property, a white attorney’s quixotic crusade leads to a devastating end for himself and his family.
Monday, August 14
Two one-acts by Phil Bloch – Director, Tanise Robnett
Cronies, Cards, and Clay: Building a golem in his kitchen staves off loneliness for one divorced senior .
Halloween with the Moralist: All is fun and games with the Halloween edition of Miranda Vicar's radio advice program, until the time traveler calls.
Tuesday, August 15
Reading Anna K. by Fran Zell – Director, Jennifer Thompson
A decision to read Anna Karenina sets the three female members of an assisted living book club on edge. A recently widowed male newcomer, steeped in Leo Tolstoy’s great novel, sends their relationships swirling out of control.
CHICAGO WRITERS BLOC NEW PLAY FEST, MAY 4 - JUNE 10 2015
TO PREMIERE NEW WORKS BY 19 ILLINOIS PLAYWRIGHTS
Monday, May 4 - 7 p.m. Benefit Night: Joanne Koch and Barbara Georgans present A TRIBUTE TO JOHN SPARKS, honoring his leading role, as Artistic Director of Midwest New Musicals and Theatre Building Chicago, in the creation of hundreds of new musicals emanating from Chicago with hit songs from Koch’s BELLE BARTH: IF I EMBARRASS YOU TELL YOUR FRIENDS and Georgans’ NOBODY LIKES RETSINA. The evening also features food and drink, a raffle, silent auction, and gifts of tickets from leading Chicago theaters. Joan Mazzonelli, Festival Coordinator and a producer at Midwest New Musicals, will direct the Tribute.
Tuesday, May 5 - 8 p.m. June Finfer’s WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE? Adapted from Tales of The Alhambra. A Moorish prince’s father keeps him locked in a tower to keep him from learning about love/sex to prepare him for his future responsibilities until...the prince learns the language of birds.
Wednesday, May 6 - 8 p.m. Chloe Bolan’s one act plays: BLIZZARD - 3 couples trapped in their cars discover they have to worry more about their companions than the weather. THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE - 2 cats blithely discuss topics from quantum physics to gourmet cat food until discovering their owner’s new plans.
Monday, May 11 - 8 p.m. Zan Skolnick’s JONAH’S LOVE. Soon to be married Jonah seeks to save his sister from an unhappy home situation. Greek tragedy in a once middle-class, fatherless family. Presented by AstonRep Ensemble.
Tuesday, May 12 - 8 p.m. Southern Illinois University graduate student Kristen Easton’s GIRLS WITH BODIES. How can young women learn to love their bodies if they’re not what the media consider “hot” or gorgeous? This coming of age play offers true stories providing a range of answers that work.
Wednesday, May 13 - 8 p.m. Southern Illinois University graduate student Jaclyn Grogan’s LAST SEEN ALICE. Living in a magical R.V. park, Alice tries to return to the place by the river with the red rocks...not easy to do in an ever-changing environment. The question is: can you ever go back?
Monday, May 18 - 8 p.m. Hope Hommersand’s WHY GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD PEOPLE. Vivian, a cleric in crisis because she cannot frame a sermon on the title’s topic, is invited to relax at an island cottage with married friends. Will the strange behavior of the cottage owner help Vivian resolve her dilemma? And what role is played by the island’s legendary ghost?
Tuesday, May 19 - 8 p.m. Bev Rosen’s STOP THE PRESS! Press has a double meaning here, as a family copes with unfriendly media attacks. Comedy tonight.
Wednesday, May 20 - 8 p.m. Thomas Weber’s GENOMENON. In this comedy a young idealist finds an opportunity to realize his convictions by sabotaging a biotech startup. His choice is complicated by the founder’s daughter.
Tuesday, May 26 - 8 p.m. Judy Veramendi’s ALEGRIAS Y LAGRIMAS--HAPPINESS AND TEARS...intertwines the riveting stories of Latin American immigrants to the U.S. with lively dances from their countries of origin.
Wednesday, May 27 - 8 p.m. Nic Hamel’s TURKEY BOYS. The heartbreaking true story of a group of mentally disabled men discovered living in neglect and squalor in a rural Iowa town. Their plight turned a small town scandal into a national disgrace.
Monday, June 1- 8 p.m. National Louis University graduate student Frank Friedlander’s THE OLD BALL GAME. Way before the Chicago Cubs became “loveable losers,” the team began life as the cream of the National League. Led by gritty Adrian “Cap” Anson and flamboyant Michael “King” Kelly, the team was poised for greatness. This fact based comedy shows how this late 19th century odd couple derailed what might have been baseball’s first dynasty.
Tuesday, June 2 - 8 p.m. Blake Levinson’s THE LOST BAR MITZVAH SPEECH OF JESUS. This black comedy focuses on a pimply-faced Jewish kid named Jesus whose impending Bar Mitzvah has him obsessing – how will he avoid throwing up while delivering his speech and how will he write it while wrestling with nagging questions of faith and self-worth.
Wednesday, June 3 - 8 p.m. Three short plays by Gerald Cole: THE BALANCE MUST BE PAID. President Lincoln, while deciding the fate of a young army deserter, encounters a trio of spirits who offer their perspectives of the Civil War. THE QUIET WOMAN. A man searching for a perfect match meets a woman who appreciates his humor, but is most of all- quiet. SOAP OPERA. Butch, is just released from a long stretch in prison. But does he know about the money? What happened to his son (if it was really his son)? And what about the Green Bay Packers?
Monday, June 8 - 8 p.m. Two one-acts by recent graduates of the National Louis University’s Master’s in Written Communication Program. Bernadette Jones’ A TILTED WORLD in which a mother and daughter desperately struggle to forgive each other despite wounds from past adversities, and Jai Love’s ANSWER MY PRAYERS, that chronicles the journey of a young woman searching for a perfect balance of love and family.
Tuesday, June 9 - 8 p.m. The Chicago Writers Bloc (CWB) is proud to announce, as a part of its New Play Festival 2015, the reading of a new Nero Wolfe play based on Rex Stout's novella, Bitter End. In attendance at this event will be Rebecca Stout Bradbury, Rex Stout's daughter and manager of his literary estate, and Robert Goldsborough, the Chicago author entrusted with carrying on the Nero Wolfe series.
The stories of detective Nero Wolfe and his associate, Archie Goodwin, have entertained the public since 1934. This play, set in November of 1940, involves industrial espionage, a hot-blooded murder, and the revenge of the world's greatest detective, Nero Wolfe. Archie Goodwin will delve into the complex and cutthroat world of the food industry, and the lives of the corporate bigwigs who bring tragedy to everyone they touch. Upon reporting the facts to his boss, Nero Wolfe will determine the truth behind this convoluted tale and deliver the villain into the hands of justice.
Chicago writer, Philip S. Bloch, known for his short fiction and one-act plays, was delighted to take on the challenge of creating this stage adaptation. Terry McCabe, the Artistic Director of the City Lit Theater Company of Chicago, will draw upon over 30 years of directing experience to make this a thrilling evening of mystery.
Bitter End is only the second Nero Wolfe play ever developed. This reading will be at the Piven Theater (Evanston) for one night only, June 9 at 8 p.m. After the reading, fans of the mysteries of Rex Stout will have the opportunity to speak with Rebecca Stout Bradbury and Robert Goldsborough, and meet with those involved in the play’s production.
Wednesday, June 10 - 8 p.m. Jill Elaine Hughes’ THE MAN UPSTAIRS. Contemporary white privilege is laid waste in this drama, when a Caucasian woman and her Cantonese husband buy a condo in a gentrifying Chicago neighborhood. Their world view is turned upside down by their African-American neighbor resulting in a tug-of-war between their liberal ideologies and their own deep buried prejudices
Chicago Writers Bloc, is a play development group led by Evanstonian Joanne Koch, a widely produced playwright and Director of the National Louis University Master’s in Written Communication Program. Supported, in part, by the Dramatists Guild Fund, Inc., CWB during the past 15 years has brought hundreds of new plays and musicals to fruition. Many of these plays have gone on to win local, national, and international prizes with productions locally and around the country. “Our thanks go to all our supporters, who by attending our Festivals contribute to the evolution of “Theater” throughout the Chicago area and beyond.
THIS PAGE IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Check back frequently for updates.
Plays by CHLOE BOLAN (chloe.bolan@sbcglobal.net):EASTLAND SECRETS. Beautiful immigrant Alma, who helped with the rescue of 1915’s Eastland Disaster where over 800 people drowned, returns from the beyond to the Chicago River to review her life and find the obstacle that keeps her from crossing into spiritual evolution. 4M, 5W
MONSIEUR KIKI. Monsieur Kiki, a truffle-hunting pig, hunts for the last truffle of the season so his adored 16 year old keeper, Monique, can buy shoes to dance with 17 year old Phillippe; while the pork loving Narrator stalks him. 2W, 2M, 1 musician
ST. BLAISE WARS. St. Blaise Nursing Home resident and former television star Jade Marshall, her overly responsible daughter, and quirky aide Zoe all face the thrill of new loves and the obstacles of old wars. 3M, 5W.
Plays by JOHN CONROY (JConroy329@aol.com):
MY KIND OF TOWN. This play dramatizes 27 years' worth of events surrounding the Chicago police torture scandal, as originally investigated by Conroy in a series of articles for the Chicago Reader. This play has received staged readings with Chicago Writers Bloc, Steppenwold Theatre, and Northwestern University School of Law. Recently featured in the New York Times. 5M, 4W, with doubling.
Plays by JUNE FINFER (junefinfer1@mac.com):
THE GLASS HOUSE. Sex and real estate are a powerful combination, especially when an ambitious architect and a high powered female physician try to create something totally new – a glass house. Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and
Philip Johnson parry and thrust in this play that speculates on the conflicts that arose in midcentury American architecture. 2W, 2M. This play will receive its premiere production by Resonance Ensemble Theatre at the Clurman Theatre on Theatre Row in New York City May 9 to June 5 in repertory with Ibsen's The Master Builder. (See article in the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2007/04/30/070430ta_talk_goldberger)THE WHITE CITY. (written with Elizabeth Doyle). When Chicago wins the right to host the 1893 Columbian Exposition, America’s first great World’s Fair, the architect chosen to design and build it in record time, Daniel Burnham, finds that ambition is not enough – he needs lots of help from even those who oppose him. Original music that could have been written in the Gay 90’s brings color and humor to a story of “making no little plans.” 3W, 7M, with doubling
"He and She." In this one-act play, a young couple tries to accommodate to love and sharing a life together, in short scenes that focus on the conflicts that arise in even the most loving relationships. 1M, 1W
Plays by GRACE FISHMAN (gracefishman@aol.com):
ARS ARMATORIA. This drama explores what happens when a young woman involved in a love triangle seeks an abortion. Cast: 1 W, 3 M, unit set.
CHECKMATE. Set in the 1970s, this play examines complex race relations and romance during a tulmutuous decade. Cast: 1 W, 2 M, unit set.
THE HOLY INFIDEL. Set during the Renaissance, this play follows the exploits of Dona Gracia is a wealthy Jewish woman who has escaped the Spanish Inquisition and come to live in Turkey as the guest of Suleiman the Magnificent, and her flamboyant matchmaking son-in-law, Joao Miquez. Cast: 1W, 2 M, unit set.
Plays by BARBARA GEORGANS (benernierose@sbcglobal.net):
MIMIKA AND ANNA. A contemporary Greek tragedy in which an American author returns to her ancestral home in Greece during the 1968 military takeover to find the hostile war has extended into her own family. 3W, 2M.
NOBODY LIKES RETSINA. A musical comedy that takes place during the Great Depression when two Greek immigrant brothers try to sell bootleg Retsina while making deals to marry off their daughters. 6W, 8M.
SINCERELY YOURS. A musical comedy in which a New York publisher and his wife discover that there are no copyright laws to cover marital infidelity. 2W, 3M.
Plays by CHARLES GRIPPO (readermail@charlesgrippo.org):
SEX MARKS THE SPOT. Two act farce explores political sex scandals, cover-ups, and media manipulation, while providing a fresh new look at 
gender stereotypes. 5M, 3F. Recently produced at Theatre Building Chicago, with a remount scheduled for June-July 2010, also at Theatre Building Chicago.
A WIFE'S TALE. One act monologue. What does a woman do when her husband of twenty years leaves her to pursue an alternative lifestyle? 1F.
BEDROOM FOLLIES. One-act farce about a married conventioneer wgo gets way more than he bargained for when he has a quickie with a woman he has picked up----who just so happens to be the wife of the local sheriff. 2M, 1F.
Plays by JILL ELAINE HUGHES (jillhughes2@yahoo.com):
A MATTER OF CONVENIENCE. Culture clashes and unexpected romance occur between an East Indian immigrant family and an old-fashioned Southern white family in the American Deep South. Comedy/drama. 3W, 4M, flexible unit set.
THE MAN UPSTAIRS. Set in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. Janice Taylor-Leung, a thirtysomething Caucasian woman and her husband Walter Leung, a Cantonese immigrant from Hong Kong, find their world turned upside down by their African-American upstairs neighbor. This play explores the dark side of contemporary American race relations. 4W, 2M, unit set.
INTELLIGENT DESIGN. Set during the Bush II era, this play examines what might happen if the White House imposed its "faith-based initiatives" onto the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Power plays, territory battles, and egos abound in a cash-strapped NAS lab that has recently made a massive evolutionary discovery. 4M, 2W, flexible set. This play was a finalist for both the Christopher Brian Wolk Playwriting Award and the Julie Harris Playwriting Award.
Plays by JOANNE KOCH (jkoch@nl.edu):
"Stardust." One-act winner of the National Nantucket Short Play Competition. Two young people---one trusting, introspective and blind; the
other suspicious, defensive and sighted----share a moment of intimacy and conflict. 1W, 1M.
BELLE BARTH: IF I EMBARRASS YOU, TELL YOUR FRIENDS. Book by Joanne Koch, music by Ilya Levinson, lyrics by Owen Kalt. This Jeff-nominated original musical is an evening with the raunchy 1950s comedienne, dubbed "the female Lenny Bruce," whose recordings sold in the millions. 1W, 1M, 1 piano accompanist.
AMERICAN KLEZMER. Book by Joanne Koch and Sarah Cohen, music by Ilya Levinson, lyrics by Owen Kalt. Set in 1910 New York, this romantic immigrant tale is a musical about a band of musicians, and a woman who wants to sing in public. Features the lively, celebratory Eastern European idiom known as "klezmer. 3W, 5M.
Plays by JOAN KUFRIN (jgkufrin@aol.com):
DINNER AT 1800 HOURS. The peace-activist parents of corporate lawyer Meredith and the second-generation military parents of marine lieutenant Bill collide at the couple's disastrous engagement dinner. Can these six people of frozen mindsets and hardened hearts ever get along? 3W, 3M, one set. (This play was a recipients of a 2007 State of Florida Individual Fellowship ($5,000) in playwriting and an Oxford International Institute for Documentary and Drama in Conflict Resolution 2008 prize.)
HERE LIE THE DEMONS. Lili Learned, a sexy delectable woman in her 40s, strides onstage in a bathrobe and slippers to challenge us to relive her "f*cked up" life----the "demons" that have caused the death or destruction of nearly everyone she loves. 4M, 2W, with doubling.
THE MESSENGER. Unremarkable, unmarried ANGELA, 35, caregiver to demanding, aging parents, falls for a good-looking stranger as old as her father. Her family pegs the stranger as a fraud and tries desperately to ruin the romance. Does love triumph? Or guilt? 3 W 2 M. This play is published by Dramatic Publishing and was produced most recently in 2009 in Lake Wales, FL.
Plays by ZIPPORAH PORTON (zipporrahp@yahoo.com):
BREAKFAST. A one-act play comprised of seven separate scenes, each occuring on a different morning at the same Los Angeles eatery. 3W, 4M, unit set. Has received productions at Cypress College, Princeton University, and in Australia. Names Best One-Act Play, 2000, by the Internet Theatre Workshop.
THREE. Olympia, Leonora, and Eva have been best friends since they were teenagers. Though they have grown apart in the past ten years, a letter from Olympia announcing that she plans to kill herself brings the three women together again. 3W,1M.
Plays by JUDY VERAMENDI (judy@judyveramendi.com):
THE EMPTY CHALICES. Delmira Agustini, a revolutionary Latin American poet, lived in the repressive 1900s, yet managed to produce astounding original 
poetry until circumstances threatened to end her life at an early age. 3W, 4M.
HALL OF HUNGRY GHOSTS. The play probes deeply into the dark events surrounding the Argentine dirty war and CIA involvement, by following the experiences of returnee Margarita Salgado to a former detention center in Buenos Aires after twenty years' exile.
4W, 4M
THE RABBI'S DAUGHTER AND THE RUNAWAY IRISHMAN. Set in early 20th century New Orleans and Chicago, the play explores how deeply culture and faith collide when a rabbi's daughter meets and marries a runaway Irish Catholic priest. 4W, 4M
Plays by TERESA VERAMENDI (tveramendi@gmail.com):
VINCENT'S YELLOW. Struggling with the ghosts of myth, history, and her own imagination, artist Teresa Veramendi fights to discover the true spirit of Vincent Van Gogh----but love finds her first in this intimate story spanning centuries and continents. 3W, 2M.
PLAYS BY BEVERLY WILENS ROSEN (RsnBvrly01@aol.com):
WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS. This full-length comedy follows the life of a woman who is faced with making a choice between her Neiman Marcus charge card or her family. 3W, 4M.
I OWE YOU A LULLABY. This play shows what happens to an ex-diva when her lonely life is interrupted when her long-lost biological daughter appears at her doorstep. 3W, 2M.
AN EVENING OF SHORT PLAYS. Two women will stop at nothing short of death to have their plays produced. 4W, 3M.
PLAYS BY ZAN SKOLNICK (zbskol.zsa@earthlink.net):
TZIGANE. (Hungarian for "Gypsy"). Edgy romantic comedy. Thirtysomething, serially monogamous Regine fiddles with mid-60s Soren, a violinist who's never cheated on his wife before. Runner-up for Cunningham Award (DePaul U.) 2M, 1W, minimal set.
ANOTHER MENAGERIE. An homage to Tennesee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. A brother seeks to save his sister from their mother's domination before he marries and moves away. A Greek-style tragedy. Finalist in multiple national playwriting competitions. 3W, 1M, unit set.
ADORATION OF VLADIMIR. A fact-based, Marxian Bros. view of the battle to preserve Lenin's body in Stalin's Soviet Russia. 7M, 2W, with doubling. Minimal set. Has received staged readings at The Public Theatre, New York City.
Plays by BILL TEITELBAUM (Teitelbaum1@aol.com):
I-TROUBLE. Comedy. Love, myopia, and marriage is a recipe for disaster. Runtime: 90 minutes. 1M, 1W.
ROOMS CUT IN CLIFFS. Comedy/drama. A day in the life of a single-room-occupancy hotel. Runtime: 120 minutes. 6M, 4W.
KINGS. Comedy/drama. Bible stories for grownups----three one-acts about the first monarchs of Palestine. Runtime: 100 minutes. 3M, 1W.
Plays by LES WHITE (lesw@rcn.com):
LOVE ME. A family eats their thanksgiving dinner in the dark to avoid an unwanted daughter who breaks in and manipulates the family into revealing dangerous---and murderous---truths about themselves. 4W, 3M.
HYMIEYENKEL IN THE GOLAN HEIGHTS. When Israel offers to build "dream homes" for new settlers, a Chicago suburban family moves there and finds themselves within firing range of jihadists. 2W, 3M.
ALL WASHED UP: THE TRUE STORY OF THE WOMAN WHO INVENTED THE SOAP OPERA INDUSTRY AND ONE MAN'S SEARCH FOR A JOB. The rise and fall of Irna Phillips, the woman largely credited with creating the soap opera, is told by the man who uncovered her secrets. 1 actor, unisex role, portraying a variety of characters.
