HERE SHE IS BOYS!!! HERE SHE IS WORLD!! IT'S JUNE!!!!!

Next Stage Press rolls into Summer with a gaggle of New Releases as well as NEW PLAY CATEGORIES!!

After hearing the needs of performers and educators, we are so proud to roll out several new play categories that highlight our plays that would be of interest to BIPOC, LGBTQIA, Transgender, Non-Binary, and Asian/Pacific Islander communities.

They are sparse at the moment, but we are starting to process of moving plays into them from our current library of plays. Please be patient as that migration happens. Stop by the website and give them a look as the summer rolls along.

Also, take a look at our amazing June/July releases!! Several new names and faces are going the Next Stage Press family and we couldn't be more thrilled.


All plays can now be preordered!!!

In the coming months, we will begin to roll out more details about our first show opening Off-Broadway this fall!! FABLE by Doug DeVita!!

Take some time to see what June has to offer and keep scrolling to see what's coming in May (and beyond)!!!!

Also, if you are in NYC, more and more of our plays are making their way onto the shelves at the Drama Book Shop! Drop in and tell them Next Stage Press sent you!!!!


Also, see below about our PODCAST!!!
GRAB A COPY BEFORE IT HITS THE NYC STAGE!!!!
Who has the right to tell your story? Especially when it’s the same story told from the differing memories of two legendary show business siblings? And one sister’s version is about to become a big, Broadway musical that is also destined to become legendary? June Havoc was famously ambivalent about the show Gypsy, which her sister, the burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee, referred to as her legacy. And in Fable, which is itself a fable about the creation of that musical fable, the sisters’ loyalty to each other is tested in a mounting battle that takes place in rehearsal rooms, dressing rooms, onstage, backstage, and all in the memory of the aging Ms. Havoc as she faces her imminent death, still battling with fiction and truth in order to keep her own legacy alive.
  • Cast Size: 2M 4W 1G
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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JUNE 1 RELEASES!!!!!

ALL TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER!!!
On a summer night in 1979, a man picks up a male street hustler at a bus station in Houston, Texas, and they go to a motel that caters to the prostitutes that work in the area. As the evening wears on, the hustler learns that he may be a pawn in a very dangerous game. A game orchestrated by a man named Jeffery Dahmer. After completing basic training in the US Army, Dahmer completed his Advanced Individual Training in San Antonio, Texas. While no known killings happened during Dahmer’s stint in The Lone Star State, this edgy docudrama depicts a possible chance meeting of the man known as the “Milwaukee Monster” and a male prostitute bearing a resemblance to Dahmer’s first murder victim.
  • Cast Size: 3M
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
What do Mother Teresa, one bad driver, a man telling tall tales to his granddaughter, a missing golf ball, a brand new car, a hero running out of time, the misspellings of children and Satan himself have in common? They’re all fodder for the not-quite-right mind of writer John Busser. These seven one-act plays take you from Calcutta to Mexico, with side trips to golf courses, hospital waiting rooms, suburban homes, and car dealerships. Oh, he’ll also take you to Hell and back for good measure.
  • Cast Size: 6M 4W (Gender Flexible on some roles)
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
When Jasmina, a political refugee seeking asylum in the U.S., suddenly disappears, her tough, wheelchair-using lawyer must track her down. Who is the dog? Who is the wolf? A psychological and political play of intrigue, identity, and pursuit.
  • Cast Size: 1M 2W
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
Sometime in the not-too-distant future, inside the headquarters of an American school district, District representative Dr. Quell meets with Katherine and Clarissa Clemons, the mother and older sister of troublemaking student, Abraham. The District is fed up with the boy’s misbehavior. No consequence they have ever given the boy has deterred or changed his mischievous ways. New policy adopted by the District dictates that rebellious students who do not respond well to traditional behavioral interventions must be publicly humiliated with the letter “F” “laserbranded” onto their faces. Clarissa argues with Dr. Quell that this is an unacceptable consequence for Abraham—it will ruin his self-esteem forever—but Katherine begins to side with the school district…
  • Cast Size: 1M 2W 1GN
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
Knight is a middle-aged Army Reserve Soldier, an experienced veteran now facing physical and spiritual decline. Upon reporting for a month of training at a desolate Wisconsin base he fails his Army ‘fat test’. Now he has a week to lose weight or lose his rank and be sent home. Ahmad is a native Iraqi who claims to be the motel maintenance man (at least that’s what his uniform says), but doesn’t seem to know how to fix anything, including the heat in Knight’s room. These two men form an unlikely bond as they struggle to stay warm, confront painful questions about the past, and try to make sense of why they’ve been brought together.
  • Cast Size: 4M 1GN
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
It’s 1842 in Paris. Germany’s most famous living poet, Heinrich Heine, is living there in exile. When he goes to meet his cousin and little-known friend Karl Marx, he manages to save Marx’s daughter’s life. But Heine then watches as the police arrive to arrest his cousin for seditious activities. Heine promises to help Marx gain his release. That requires Heine to visit his influential mistress Madame Morisot — just as he plans to break things off with her and marry a pretty young shopgirl. Soon afterwards both Heine and Marx are challenged to duels. Based on actual events, The Germans In Paris tellsthe astonishing, adventure-filled true story of how a brilliant poet came to foresee the horrors of the twentieth century through his close acquaintance with Communism’s founding father.
  • Cast Size: 5M 3W
  • Running Time 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
A bride visits her groom in prison… still in her wedding dress! Two women bury the body of their blackmailer. A composer returns home after an accident has taken away their talent and passion. Lucrezia Borgia, Aimee Semple McPherson, and the Devil rehearse a Nativity play in Purgatory.
Four visions of Hell: romantic, gothic, artistic, and theatrical.
In four short plays that can be performed as an evening or individually:
BULLETPROOF LOVE (1F/1M)
THE FALLOW GARDEN (2F)
O, FOR A MUSE OF FIRE (2A)
SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF BETHLEHEM (2F/1M(or A))
“HUCKLEBERRY TOWERS” follows a retired couple, Henry and Helen Auburn, as they make the difficult decision to sell their family home – at the request of their daughter and son – and move into a retirement community.  They find their new home consists of a variety of colorful characters who maintain their independence and zest for living. Suddenly, however, an unexpected threat to the community emerges in the form of a successful real-estate developer. To counter progress, everyone rallies together in an effort to demonstrate that “old people matter!”
  • Cast Size: 8M 11W
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
The classic story of Mowgli the Man-Cub springs to life in this lively and spirited adaptation of “The Jungle Book.” Raised by wolves and protected by a wise panther and semi-narcoleptic bear, Mowgli’s adventures take him from a crumbling ancient city to a run in with a massive python, to a climactic showdown with the ferocious tiger, Shere Khan. Filled with action, heart, and all your favorite characters from the Rudyard Kipling classic, this retelling puts a fresh spin on the story we all know and love, while weaving a lesson about finding one’s place in this vast and wild world.
  • Cast Size: 4M 4W 5-22 ANY GENDER
  • Running Time: 90 minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
Sometimes we lose sight of what matters most.
Barry, an acclaimed artist, races the clock to finish his last painting before a progressive illness takes his sight. Haunted by the ghost of his grandfather (Nolan) and forced to rely on the help of a woman he jilted in high school (Amy), Barry must confront the lost and damaged relationships of his past before he can face his future. Will Barry be able to do this before he loses his sight?
  • Cast Size: 2M 1W
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
This is the story of Romie and Bernice, the love they share and the world that keeps them apart. The heart of Eros, guarded by witches, burns deep within Mount Socrates and demands sacrifice. Those who live on the mountain are forced to mine the magic and serve Mama Massey, who holds the power of Eros. Romie refused. Rejected by the town, he lives as a lowly outlier. Then one day, fate brings Romie to Bernice, a girl stuck between Massey’s town and a world beyond her own. But “the mountain chooses, the mountain calls, deny the mountain and it will destroy all you love.” And it’s calling out to Romie. 
  • Cast Size: 4M 4W 8 GN
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
Amanda is an upbeat professional from California preparing to start a new job in Boston. With the guidance of a well-meaning real estate agent (Shirley), she encounters hilarious surprises as she seeks the perfect roommate… virtually. The cast of potential roomies includes a pet enthusiast, a theater afficionado, a shady mobster, and a house full of rowdy gamers. Will Amanda ever find the perfect roommate? Will she learn how to pronounce the names of Massachusetts towns? Will Shirley ever master the mute button? Making comical use (and misuse!) of video conferencing features, this 12-scene virtual play can be pre-recorded or performed live for audiences of all ages.
  • Cast Size: 1M 3W 2-11 ANY
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
 In 16th Century Hungary, working for the most powerful women in the country is the hope of any young peasant girl. Zsuzsanna's time has come. Intelligent and independent, she is aware her future lies within the castle walls. Elizabeth Bathory, of quiet disinterest and strength of fortitude, has discovered a secret; a soothing salve to alleviate pain, slow the ravages of age, and quiet the voices. Zsuzsanna’s success could be Elizabeth’s salvation.  Based on historical events shrouded in the fortress of the most prolific serial killer in history, enter a world where the fight for survival is common, but an unknowable destiny tests the tenuous grasp of sanity and soul.
  • Cast Size: 6M 10W 1 Gender Neutral
  • Running Time: Under an Hour
  • Royalty Rate: $40 per performance
Paul and Anthony have been friends since birth. Paul said his first word in Anthony’s kitchen. But screw Missouri. Screw freshman year. They wanna live in this really cool patch of woods Paul found. Girls are coming! This is going to be a very good night. Anthony is pretty nervous. What happens when the girls actually get here? 
Suddenly, the sounds of the woods are electronic. Suddenly they are older. They’re coming back here. What has life done to each of them? There’s blood? Paul’s blood. He’s desperate.
“Anthony? Help. Please.”
Will he?
  • Cast Size: 2M
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
After an unspeakable tragedy strikes, siblings Bianca and Evan are left to try and pick up the pieces. Both siblings attempt to cope in their own ways, Evan choosing to self-medicate while Bianca starts to seek help from an unconventional outside source. What both might not realize is that they could be getting much more than either of them bargained for, and this realization threatens to ruin all the progress they’ve made. With both parties keeping secrets along the journey to cope with what they’ve lost, the revelation of the truth might be more than either of them can bear. 
  • Cast Size: 2M 1W
  • Running Time: About an Hour
  • Royalty Rate: $50 per performance
Like Bette Davis said, “growing old is not for sissies,” and this collection of 20 short plays by Debra A. Cole offers vivid and powerful voices to the adventure that everyone goes through, if we’re lucky. Plays range from 5 minutes to 12 minutes each including the audience favorite The Wrinkle Ranch, where the ladies of Rancho Felicidad Assisted Living Facility are done playing Scrabble and ready to ride the ponies once more as the sun continues to set on the ranch. Whether performed as just one single play, a small collection, or an entire evening, these plays will speak to audiences of all ages about the very real and very human aging process with humor, respect, and meaningful moments, as well as offer seasoned performers outstanding opportunities to bring colorful and well-rounded characters to life. These plays may be performed together or licensed independently!
  • Cast Size: FLEXIBLE CASTS AND RUNTIMES
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance for the full evening. Contact for individual plays
JULY 1 RELEASES!!!
It’s the winter of 2017. Recently divorced and raising her child alone in the town in which she grew up, Julie has returned to Guilford, CT. Upon the mysterious visit of a stranger on a snowy night, Julie is prompted to return to her childhood home. After some misgivings, she does so, and it is in that home from her past that she experiences flashbacks to her beloved brother’s fall into the grasp of mental illness. Poetic, touching, and honest, 77 U-Turn is about going home again, parenting, love, loss, confusion and what happens when we turn around and look back before moving forward.
  • Cast Size: 1W
  • Running Time: About an Hour
  • Royalty Rate: $50 per performance
After the unexpected death of her fiancé and subsequent tabloid scandal in Vegas, Maria is back in her hometown with no job, no money, and her mother, Patty, for a roommate. Her best friend Amber insists on dragging her to the local bar where she’s got to face the people from her past, and just when Maria thinks her chance at happiness is lost forever she meets Tommy, an almost-famous-rock-star bartender. Can Maria escape the grip of her old life for the chance to escape to something new?
  • Cast Size: 2M 3W
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
Baker’s Dozen is a collection of 13 short comedies and dramas for 1, 2, or 3 actors of various ages. From a drama in which the same-sex partner and the homophobic sister of a dying man meet for the first time, to a comedy about a man summoning a demon on a dating app; from a monologue in which a man recalls the sexual abuse he suffered when he was thirteen, to the gentle humor of an older gay couple bickering about aging and flirtatious baristas—these pieces—and more—demonstrate the great variety of the gay experience.
  • Cast Size: Flexible
  • Running Time: Variable
  • Royalty Rate: $75 for the whole evening, Contact for individual pieces
Sulking under a bundle of balloons, a woman sits on a bench. Out of the blue, another woman joins her. One of them claims to know the other, yet the feelings are not reciprocated. Through the tension of small talk, questioning and silence, many shocking truths unfold as they both try to figure out the purpose of this mysterious encounter.
  • Cast Size:2W
  • Running Time: Under an Hour
  • Royalty Rate: $40 per performance
CASTLE ON THE HILL is a full-length play based on the stunning true events that weave together the lives of a Polish immigrant, a psychiatric hospital's patients, and a woman following the clues of her past. Their experiences are intimately connected to the Binghamton State Hospital in upstate New York and unfold over the course of six decades. Drawn from personal accounts, historical documents and imaginings, these twelve individuals are brought to life in this movement infused ninety-minute drama. 
  • Cast Size: 3M 6W 2GN
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
In 1898, Edmond Rostand took a real 17th Century poet/duelist and adapted him for a 19th Century audience. Cyrano De Bergerac was one of France’s greatest theatrical successes and its plot has been repurposed countless times. In this adaptation, the gender of the characters is switched, without altering their behavior. We see a world where women are the soldiers, poets and Cardinals and the men fight and preen for their attention. The classic story of a poet/musketeer with a big nose begins in a theatre and ends in a Monastery. In between, Cyrana battles prejudice with wit, battles real threats with a sword and battles her own insecurities with love. Rostand’s combination of humor, poetry, romance and life threatening conflict takes on a new power with 21st Century resonance.
  • Cast Size: 6M 15W
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes 
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
Two intertwined holiday plays that take a different look at the famous Christmas legend of Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer. 
THE DAY RUDOLPH RAN AWAY TO PITTSBURGH
Rudolph is being bullied so he runs away from the North pole. But when a super big storm comes, and Santa can’t ride without him, Rudolph needs to trust in his friends to get the help he needs to get back in time.
RUDOLPH’S BIG SECRET
A holiday tale that reveals how Rudolph continues helps out others by sharing his personal story of triumph. When he meets Suzie McSneezer, an elf who feels worthless because of her constant need to sneeze, he shares a glimpse of his past. A wonderful friendship begins that is sure to inspire and bring holly red cheer and evergreen to all.
  • Cast Size: Flexible
  • Running Time: Each under an hour
  • Royalty Rate: $75 for both shows, $40 for each
In this comedy, a group of high school students take summer jobs at Golden Olden Adventure Towne, an old-school theme park opening up a highly anticipated new roller coaster. G.O.A.T is having trouble adapting to a changing world where the theme park’s old colonial themes don’t quite work the way they used to. When valuables begin to go missing, the employees quickly suspect the thief is among them. What they don’t suspect is an unlikely show of empathy, a new understanding of democracy, and a chance to reimagine some of the park’s more bizarre policies.
  • Cast Size: 1M 9W (Flexible)
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • $75 per performance
As her husband serves in WWII, Hilda takes over the family business. Soon after returning home from war, Lyle’s health deteriorates. Some of the younger waitresses at the diner are suspicious of Hilda’s intentions with the men in town because of her magnanimous personality. After Hilda’s life is threatened, her brother-in-law wonders if Hilda is a victim or a black widow. 
  • Cast Size: 2M 5W
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
Brought back to their childhood home to care for their ailing grandmother, young prodigal playwright Sloane and their botanist husband Gwyn are struggling to settle the estate after their lives are uprooted by tragedy. A sudden spiral of Sloane’s obsession with completing their masterpiece in the unsettling old house forces Gwyn to confront the safety of Sloane regurgitating their family trauma into their art. When Gwyn’s childhood friend Beckham arrives to help the couple bury the hatchet, they soon discover there may be more to the house, and to Sloane, hidden beneath the foundation. If the basement is the stomach… then what’s the basement door?
  • Cast Size: 2M 1W/NB 1NB
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
While Ingrid Betancourt, a former senator and anti-corruption activist, was running for President of Colombia, she was kidnapped by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FARC), a Marxist revolutionary terrorist organization. This story is a theatrical imagining based on those events. The Woman narrates through “intrusive memory,” a symptom of PTSD, grappling with an ever-present series of moments in her life as the play moves in time and place via fragmentary scenes in a variety of locations. The Man shifts kaleidoscopically between roles including FARC commanders and guards; the Woman’s deceased father; her children, who are growing up without her; God; and her lover, a fellow hostage. 
  • Cast Size: 1M 1W
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
1937. A Hollywood party celebrating the completion of the filming of Little Miss Miracle, the latest from Audrey O’Rourke, child star and box office darling. When a budding starlet turns up dead and a powerful studio chief is found unconscious, all the glittering guests become potential next victims as well as suspects. A twisty and funny mystery that captures the glamour and history of Hollywood’s Golden Age
  • Cast Size: 3M 6W 1FC
  • Running Time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
COMING THIS SEPTEMBER!!!!
FROM PLAYWRIGHT TOMMY JAMERSON
IN REHEARSAL!

THE FOLLOWING PLAYS ARE CURRENTLY IN REHEARSAL ON STAGES ACROSS THE U.S.
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BONUS PLAY 1!!

Currently rehearsing in Oslo, Norway.
Walter L Newton’s adaptation of the Joanne Greenberg novel – Debra Klein created the Kingdom of Yr as a form of defense from her frightening reality. In childhood, Debra suffered frequent abuse from her anti-Semitic peers and neighbors. At first Yr was a safe-haven, but over time the gods of Yr became tyrannical dictators who ruled Debra’s every word and action. At the age of 16, Debra was committed to a mental hospital with schizophrenia. This is the story of her remarkable cure.
  • Cast Size: 5M 6W
  • Running Time: 2hrs
  • Royalty: $60 per performance
BONUS PLAY 2!!

Currently rehearsing in multiple cities for regular productions and contests.
The year is 1895 and Sarah Bernhardt is the greatest actress to ever grace the Victorian stage – just ask her! The “Divine Sarah” fears, however, her once bright star may be fading with all the attention suddenly being lavished on a talented, younger rival. When she stumbles across an incredible new script written by a naïve, but up-and-coming playwright, though, Sarah is convinced her path to theatrical immortality is assured… until her rival also gets her hands on a copy. Throw in a fuss-budget theatre manager, a stern Teutonic maid, a nimble-footed usher, plus a hilarious jumble of confusions and complications – and the stage is set for the ultimate showdown as the two dueling divas cross wits and blades in this frantically funny farce!
  • Cast Size: 3M 3W 6M/W
  • Running time: 90+ minutes
  • Royalty Rate: $75 per performance

MEET OUR PLAYWRIGHT DANIEL GUYTON
Daniel Guyton is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. His stage plays have been produced over 400 times around the world, and he has been published in over 40 anthologies and solo publications, including several of the Best American Short Plays collections. He is a theatre professor at Georgia State University, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America East. He is also the Vice Chair of the Professional Division of the Georgia Theatre Conference. He recently won the Best Horror Screenplay Award from the Los Angeles Film & Script Festival, as well as the Judge’s Choice and Audience Choice Award for the Short and Sweet Festival in Sydney Australia. For more information, please visit: www.danguyton.com.

Read Daniel's Plays
SOME PLAYS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED !
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