Newest in the collection of ten minute plays for teens and the classroom.
What would happen if you put down your phone for a half an hour and had a real conversation with another human being? Now lets mix it up further; sit down and talk to someone in your class who you don’t really know that well or at all. Are they who you thought they were? Were they surprised about who you are? This one act play, styled for the classroom (no sets, no costumes, no props), has a group of teens who do not tweet, email, Facetime or chat on their mobile devices for one half hour. They must TALK to each other, face to (real) face. What did you learn about the person? What did you learn about yourself?
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You’ll receive (in an email) weekly posts with the latest book reviews, tips about creative writing, and once a month an in-depth Interview with a best selling author or a new, upcoming writer. Generous folks, famous and not so much (yet) have given of their time to answer my probing questions about their writing process. Fun and interesting candid photos, of the author, are sprinkled throughout the interview.
Sometimes a post about something I thought was interesting…..But, ALWAYS to do with books, authors, writing, words, and live theatre.
My best selling post (over the past six years) has been my free tips about ‘How To Write a Play’. Thousands of people have Googled this phrase and come to my website to begin to learn this craft.
When I’m not busy with my blog, I am writing….every day. I practice what I preach!
Short plays for the classroom, general fiction, children’s plays and fairy tales, poetry and a true crime mystery series. Diversity is the
spice of life!
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MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! December: Jayne Ann Krentz (Amanda Quick) January: Molly Gloss. February: Rick Lenz. March: Patrick Canning and April: Poet, Joe Albanese
Ethnic groups have polarized and bullied each other for years, out on the street. Recently, teens have taken to their cell phones and computers to do the same. Blacks against whites against browns. All good kids at their core, but divided by the color of their skin.
This series has been very popular, over the years, with teachers and students. Sets, costumes, props are not needed. Most pertain to real life issues for teens so these plays are meant to open a dialogue between teens and their teachers. Or, at the very least, to experience live theatre.
All ‘G’ rated so no adult content. When profanities are used, as teens do in real life, they are optional and can be easily eliminated.
Available at www.amazon.com and all other fine book stores.
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MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! March: Mystery (and Western) writer, Larry D. Sweazy ~~ April: International adventurer, writer, Tal Gur. Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!
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TS. Now that the traditional publishers have turned you down, file away that rejection letter, soothe your fragile writer’s ego with a hot cup of tea, some chocolate, or whatever and self-publish your play.
It’s important to know that the correct way to format a stage play for submitting (to a publisher, agent or theatre) is very similar to the format used when publishing it. Below is a sample of the correct formatting.
List of Characters: I noticed that in the Dramatists Play Service scripts, they do not list the ages of the characters. I know from experience that a director wants to have this information immediately when choosing a play. What if they don’t have an eighty-year old, male who can act? Make-up can only go so far! Ethnicity is rarely listed but there are exceptions. But, generally, no. What if the director has a different vision for casting?
Sample:
CAST OF CHARACTERS (Place on the 3rd or 4th page after title, playwright’s name, Copyright notices.etc.)
CAST OF CHARACTERS (centered.)
Emma ~~ A young earthling girl
Stare ~~ A rhetorical owl
Donald ~~ A young fairie
Cheets ~~ a rambunctious elf
Patsy ~~ A large banana spider
Agnes & Annie ~~ the sister Aardvarks
Thomas ~~ the sea-faring sea turtle
Bertie ~~ the resident reading teacher
(EMMA and MRS. MOSEYALONG are sitting together on the grass. The PUPPIES are rolling around, play fighting, in the grass as puppies do. CHEETS is trying to get into the play. AGNES and ANNIE sit across from THEM reading THEIR book on Australia.)
MRS. MOSEYALONG
Let me assure you, Emma, we hunt and eat impala, Thomson’s gazelle and common wildebeest. Also, smaller animals such as dik-dik and warthogs.
CHEETS (Stopping HIS play with the PUPS.)
That’s a funny word. Dik-dik. (Demanding.) Cheets wants to know what it means.
EMMA
Manners, Cheets. Perhaps you could ask Mrs. Moseyalong about dik-diks.
CHEETS
Cheets wants to know about dik-diks.
STARE
Who?
(EMMA sighs.)
MRS. MOSEYALONG
It’s all right, Emma. Sometimes my pups can be very rude. (To Cheets.) Dik-diks are a small antelope. We don’t hunt Aardvarks. We find their meat far too fatty.
AGNES (Over-hearing.)
I beg your pardon. We are not fatty. Really! Annie, did you hear what that dog said about us?
ANNIE
Oh, I don’t think she meant⸺
MRS. MOSEYALONG (Speaking simultaneously.)
I didn’t mean⸺
AGNES
Really! The nerve of some dogs.
MRS. MOSEYALONG (Turning back to Emma and Cheets.) Dik-dik live in the bushland of Africa. Sadly, they are being driven to extinction in some parts of our homeland. We try to eat other things.
PATSY (Knitting her web furiously.)
Iii–Eee! Los pequeños, los cachorros! Mrs! Your children are destroying my web. Mira! See what they have done.
(Slowly rising, SHE crosses to where HER pups are bumping into the lower strands of Patsy’s web. SHE growls once deep in HER throat.)
MRS. MOSEYALONG
Grrrrrr⸺
(The PUPS instantly stop THEIR play and run to THEIR mother’s side, whining and kissing HER face.)
MRS. MOSEYALONG
I apologize, Miss Patsy. My pups are careless but mean no harm.
PATSY
Dios mío, qué molestia! My beautiful web. Now I will have to repair. Go away! I am very⸺how you say⸺ocupada.
(MRS. MOSEYALONG leads HER litter to the other side of the glen, where EMMA is sitting. ROGER, JAX and SERENGETI pile into EMMA’s lap and EMMA falls back in the grass, laughing. FERGUS and DONALD enter.)
MRS. MOSEYALONG
Good morning, Sir Fergus, Mr. Donald. (Turning to her pups.) Quiet down, children.
(The PUPPIES, stop their wrestling atop EMMA and sit at attention watching the adults. EMMA sits up.)
EMMA
Good morning. Sir Fergus, did you rest well?
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Available now! The latest short play in the playwright’s ShortN’Small series.
“G” rated for teens and the classroom.
Those who follow me and all my friends in theatre know that I have added to the
ShortN’Small short play series for years now. ‘G’ rated 10 minute plays that focus on issues impacting the teens of today.
Ranging from divorce to cutting, from running away to drug use, from date violence to bullying.
Synopsis: Emilee has reached the age where boys are pressuring her into sexual activities that she is not ready for.
In this ‘G’ rated, short play for the classroom we explore the peer pressure that comes to bear as young girls
try to navigate their teen years.
Emilee is torn between what her friends are doing and what she instinctively knows is not right for
her at this stage in her life. 1m. 5f.
No props, no sets, no costumes, just open dialogue!
MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? September: Dylan Callens. October’s author is Donna Kauffman. In November we say hello to Rita Avaud a Najm.
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Book #30 in the ShortN’Small Series of short, one act plays. The Trans-G Parents
A look into the world of the parents who are trying to do the right thing…support their child….love their child…sometimes
even save their life. Their child is confused and frightened by their physical being telling them they are one gender
while their heart, soul and mind are telling them that they are another.
This short play’s setting is a support group for parents. Resigned, angry, confused, religious, experienced and lost,
they come together out of a common desperation. Some handling the situation much better than others.
The script offers an insightful and educational dialogue from parents. There is no manual on parenting much
less facing the challenges of this gender affirmation generation. 6f. 5m.
TS. This seemed like a natural sequel to the Trans-G Kid, another short play by this playwright. Inspired by the television documentary, The Gender Revolution.
MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? December: Reed Farrel Coleman, contributing writer for Robert B. Parker series. January was Dinah Jefferies and February’s author is Sheryl Steines. Johan Thompson (South African author) will join us in March. Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!
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This was one of my better ideas and it grew into book sales.
I met with a group of teachers a few years back and they were bemoaning the fact that their arts budget was non-existent. Everything they did in the classroom, with regard to visual arts or theatre arts, was ‘out of pocket’ for them. So I went away thinking, ‘I should create 10 minute plays for the classroom, no costumes, no sets, no props, and inexpensive for the teachers. And make most of the plays preteen and teen specific. Stories about real issues challenging our teens.
Maybe the plays would open a dialogue between a troubled teen and an adult who could help them.
Twenty-eight short plays later……(who knew?) These plays are used and produced in classrooms around the USA, in England, Europe and Argentina.
This may sound like a sales pitch but it isn’t. It’s advice and encouragement to other writers out there to keep trying different ways to market your talent. You just never know what will take off. My belief is to throw as much as you can at the wall and see what sticks. Of course my little ego-writer self was certain that my novel, Song of the Yukon, would be a best seller. Turns out that “The Creative Writer’s Journal” is my top seller.
If used in the classroom with no formal audience, these plays are royalty FREE to teachers.
I was also certain that there were a few writers wondering how to begin, how to write a play so I developed these Journals.
These can be found at: www.amazon.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October Author, Lisa Jackson. November will be best selling author, Grace Burrowes and in December, Reed Farrel Coleman, contributing writer for Robert B. Parker series
I want to talk about a few of experiments that I have pumped out over the past few years. Five years ago I published an eclectic collection of ten minute plays. At that time, it was all the rage for theatre companies to produce them, usually in a group for an evening’s entertainment. The ‘G’ rated short plays in the collection were very popular with young actors and educators. This experiment did pretty well; sales plunked along at a decent rate. Then I had another brain storm (oh, no! not another one).
Since teachers have NO budget for the arts, why not write and publish individual short plays for the classroom. Small casts, no set, no costumes. And CHEAP!
The experiment: I wrote two and published them on amazon.com. Within a week, they began to fly off the shelves. It’s several years later and there are now twenty-seven of these short plays. Twenty of them deal with real life issues for today’s teen.
I had been toying with the idea of publishing a Journal for Creative Writing. I had noticed that the post most frequently visited on my blog was ‘How To Write A Play‘. I decided to turn the journal into a handbook about writing. Maintaining the 275 blank pages for the writer’s work, I added tips on how to write a play, poetry, fiction, how to get started (that first sentence) and more.
Have all my experiments been an over-night hit? No…failure must be the spur to achieving more. Some of my ideas have been abysmal rejects. But indie publishing is very economical so why not try? And indie publishing opens other doors.
It all begins with trying, with an experiment. Who would have guessed that my ‘little play books’ would take off like they have. So don’t be afraid to experiment with a writing idea. What have you got to lose?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DON’T MISS BLOGS featuringINTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! In April, a long awaited interview with Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House) May’s author is Jordan Rosenfeld. Michael Saad, Canadian author, will be June’s author.
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‘believe in what isn’t…as if it were…until it becomes…’
Four years ago my web site designer, Leon Adato, designed my web site and insisted that if I wanted to be any kind of viable force in cyber-space that I would have to write a blog. He said the results wouldn’t be over night and might take years, but my work would be noticed. It seems silly now, as I write this, but my first reaction was:
‘No! I don’t wanna! It will take me away from my writing. I have nothing to say. What would I write about?’ I threw a tantrum, basically. But it turned out that I had something to say….about the craft of writing. And then I discovered chatting with other authors was a hoot and began interviewing them (some very famous ones). And then I received requests to review books…and so it went.
Not long ago I heard this true story. Inspiration struck and I dashed to my computer and began typing a new 10 minute play.
Synopsis: This can’t be happening on Susie’s wedding day. It’s a girl’s dream wedding and everything is perfect. That is until a small plane suddenly circles the venue and her ex-boyfriend jumps out and begins his descent, trails of smoke shooting out of the heels of his boots. Susie and her father are just pulling up to the dockside in a white festooned boat, to where her groom and two hundred guests are waiting.
For the father of the bride, it’s the last straw. He reaches for a flare gun, and before Susie can react, fires it into the air. Unfortunately for the sky diver, flare guns cannot be aimed. The flare hits the parachute and ignites it. Chute blazing away, Susie’s ex plummets into the wedding tent. Unscathed, he struggles to free himself of parachute and lines. The wedding cake and various food trays have not fared so well. Will the wedding proceed as the police take the heartbroken suitor away? 1f. 4m.
I hope you find this story as hilarious as I did!
To view all of my ten minute plays, click hereAll Scripts and Books are on www.amazon.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuringINTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Julia London and M.J. Moores. Coming in December! My review of a new release by Dean Koontz, Ashley Bell.
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On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks! 
