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TIME TO WELCOME IN MORE NEW PLAYWRIGHTS!!! |
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NEXT STAGE PRESS is back and ready to roll onward through 2022!
NEXT STAGE PRESS rolls onward into Spring with some new faces as well as some returning friends. Grab a copy of these wonderful new works!
Stay well!
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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
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Why is that we never know what we’ve got till it’s gone? In “Fortune Teller” Madame Lily tries to teach her despondent nephew Matt that our true gifts can only be found in the here and now. While pining over losing the girl of his dreams, or so he thinks, Matt misses his unexpected present. Meanwhile, as soon as he puts his attention on the things that need it, his true desire will unfold.
- Cast Size: 3M 2W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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A one-act play inspired by stories of area residents collected in interviews. It gives voice to people of many faith and cultural traditions and the experiences that shaped their lives. The play includes stories based on a young Muslim and his surprise encounter with New York City fire fighters after 9-11 … an African American pastor and the once enslaved grandmother he’ll never forget … A Polish Jew and her story of sacrifice and survival … The Hindu and the cowboy who come face to face over the fate of land … and more. While the stories themselves come from people in Kansas City, the experiences and themes conveyed transcend regional boundaries. References may be adapted as locally appropriate.
“The Hindu and the Cowboy” has been recognized by Harvard University’s Pluralism Project and received awards from the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council, Missouri Association of Social Welfare (Kansas City) and other organizations.
- Cast Size: Large Flexible Cast
- Running Time: 60+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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Tyrone’s high school drama club is holding auditions for their first Shakespeare production. The new drama teacher has chosen “The Scottish Play”. As Tyrone and his best friend Oscar prepare for the audition, they discuss the fact that, since they are Sophomores, they don’t have a chance at any of the leading roles. Tyrone’s mother, aunt, and grandmother try to encourage Tyrone to raise his expectation by proclaiming three surprising predictions. At the audition, Tyrone is overcome with a level of ambition and desire he never fathomed he had. He betrays Oscar, who comes back to haunt Tyrone in one of his auditions scenes. He allows himself to be manipulated by Sky, the queen of the “untouchable” girls, who is ruthless in her desire to obtain the role of Lady Macbeth. Tyrone manages to gain the attention of the new drama teacher and has a good chance of being cast in the role of Macbeth. After opening up to his father about his fears of being cast in the lead role, Tyrone learns a few family secrets that explain a lot about the bizarre behavior over the past few days.
This play is written for high school student actors to perform for a high school audience. The main objective is to provide students a chance to perform full Shakespeare scenes within the context of a present-day situation, in order gain an understanding of the intention in Shakespeare’s writing.
- Cast Size: Large Flexible Cast
- Running Time: 60+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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Every mother thinks her child Divine—what if it were true?
Miriam has a problem. She’s engaged to an older, rich man but she’s with child despite the fact that she has “known not a man.” Her parents are no help and her betrothed, Joseph, for all his prayers, doesn’t believe in miracles. Everyone insists he accept this child as ‘King of the Jews’ but is this the same King those three ‘Magi’ are looking for or are they just out for a buck? As Miriam’s womb grows Joseph must make a decision — let wife and child die or believe the impossible and discover Love? A comedy written by a Jewish mother about the ultimate Jewish Mother, this play investigates the politics of sex and the politics of religion within the story of the coming of the new messiah.
- Cast Size: 6M 3W (Doubling possible)
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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Set seven years in the future, during the second American Civil War, South Star is the story of a survivor, an inspiration, a reluctant hero who wishes she could just stop running. Stelfinds herself in the company of two men – one an apparent victim, and one an apparent predator. What commences is a figurative game of three-card-Monty; the stakes are Stel’s life.
- Cast Size: 1M 1W 1MorW
- Running Time: Under an hour
- Royalty Rate: $40 per performance
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Benjamin Zwyckoff’s brilliant invention – the oscillating sprinkler – is stolen from him by the Arthur Morgan Lawn and Garden Company. Zwyckoff challenges them in court. During the trial he gets trapped in his memories: the marble championship he won when he was a kid, the visit to Ebbets Field for Jackie Robinson’s first game, the great love of his life that he lost because she was black girl and he was a white boy, the struggles with his wife and son, and the inventions he never got to create.
- Cast Size: 7M 3W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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“The Way Station” is the story of three strangers from different places and times, each pulled out of their travels and dropped off at a mysterious way station.
As they search for a way to escape and move on, Daisy, Thomas, and Jack pull and push each other to admitting their transgressions. At this surreal crossroads, no excuse, lie, or self-delusion holds up to the scrutiny of the others, and each person must find the strength to see themselves truly and honestly. Only then may they move on.
- Cast Size: 2M 1W
- Running Time: 45 minutes
- Royalty Rate: $40 per performance
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BONUS PLAY!!!!
HOW TO FIELD DRESS AN ANDROID
by IRENE L. PYNN
In a future where humans hunt androids for sport, one young man’s jungle excursion bleeds into a struggle to save his wife’s life. A thrilling and explosive play that explores questions of the soul, survival, and the fundamentals of civil rights.
- Cast Size: 2M 2W 1 non-speaking young actor
- Running time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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Each Month we will highlight the play that was the most popular for the previous month. Copies were flying! So grab a copy for yourself and find out what all the excitement was about!! |
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LAST MONTH'S TOP SELLER!! |
When a young maiden who has never touched a sword learns she must defend her inheritance in a duel, she struggles with a milksop suitor, a servant girl posing as a Prussian fencing master, a Prussian fencing master who thinks he is there to marry her, a stodgy lawyer and her domineering aunt – the finest blade anywhere – to save her house and lands. Like all classic farces, everyone gets the ending they deserve in unexpected ways… but will they be satisfied?
- Cast Size: 2M 5W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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MEET OUR PLAYWRIGHT
TOMMY JAMERSON
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Tommy was born in North Carolina and raised in Northwest Indiana. He graduated from Indiana State University with a concentration in playwriting and directing. While there, he was presented with the Angel of the Year: Humanitarian Scholarship, wrote for Indiana’s Gender Hate and Violence Conference, and served as a judge for the Midwest High School Playwriting Competition. His children's plays, The Big, Bad Bullysaurus, Princess Pigface, Choose Your Own Oz, and Alice the Brave & Other Tales from Wonderland, have all received numerous productions around the country. His one-act campy comedy, Rags to B***hes: A Battle of Wits & Wigs, won Best Short Play at the 14th Annual Downtown Urban Theatre Festival in New York City and his full-length comedy, Eternal Flamer! The Ballad of Jessie Blade, recently played at the historic Cherry Lane Theatre in the West Village. Tommy holds an MFA in Playwriting from the University of New Orleans and resides in Caldwell (NJ) with his husband, Mark, and their dog, Darby. Tommy is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild.
READ TOMMY'S PLAYS
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SOME PLAYS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED !
(Click on the images for more info)
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Looking for shows specifically for young Actors?
Click HERE to be taken to our Theatre for Youth Page,
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