A Few of my Plays
Even with more than 25 full-length and one-act plays to my credit, I still find writing a play--at least writing a good play--to be the most demanding task in theatre. To distill compelling ideas, stories, and characters into a few hundred lines of dialogue can be intimidating. But this challenge has always animated playwrights and encouraged creativity.
The Trial of Hamlet
A Classical Courtroom Drama
Popular culture and classical literature collide as Shakespeare's most popular character is thrust into the modern media spotlight. The result is a new play that ponders the essential "what-ifs" of Hamlet's psyche and motivations. Drawn from modern media-trial frenzies and laced with a keen sense of humor, this contemporary re-examination the Bard's classic play finds Hamlet defending himself for the brutal murder of Polonius—the forgotten crime embedded in the complex and mysterious world of Shakespeare's most engaging tragedy. With a cast of characters only Shakespeare could create, this classical courtroom drama takes a pointed and sometimes irreverent look at our legal system, the media, and our culture's fascination with the famous and infamous.
The Trial of Hamlet
A Classical Courtroom Drama
Perusal Copies Available
Full Length Comedy-Drama
7 Men, 3 Women
Total Cast 10, Court Room Setting
Brotherly Love
A Full Lenghth Play in Five Scenes
Danielle Hartman has a secret…a secret that can only be revealed to one person. Unfortunately for Danielle, that person is Scott Hartman. Brotherly Love speaks in many voices: It is provocative, touching and frequently funny. But in the final analysis, it is a socially conscious and gripping drama that explores one woman's desperate fight for survival, while testing one man's ideals.
Perusal Copies Available
Full Length Comedy-Drama
1 Man, 1 Woman
Total Cast 2, Single Setting
Brotherly Love
A Provocative Love Story for Two Actors
Double Faulting &
Painted Cages
Companion One-Acts
There are just too many guns. When violence erupts we shake our collective fists and yet...
Double Faulting is a laugh-out-loud comedy AND an indictment of the proliferation of guns. The result is a satisfying, light-hearted play that happens to be a wee bit disturbing.
Double Faulting
A Serious Comedy About Death
A unsuspecting businessman is hoodwinked into buying an “empty birdcage” from an eccentric street vendor. But is the cage truly “empty?” The businessman thinks so, but his girlfriend discovers something intriguing—even magical about this seemingly ordinary cage. This enigmatic play challenges our grip on reality as it confronts the tiny lies and illusive truths that are imbedded in our most intimate relationships.
Perusal Copies Available
2 One-Acts / Comedy and Drama
2 Men, 2 Women
Total Cast 4 (Doubling), Flexible Setting
Painted Cages
Doubletake
A Classic Mystery-Thriller in Two Acts
“As a public service to impatient mystery lovers, I’ll reveal my conclusion on the new thriller Doubletake now at Berea Summer Theatre: The play by actor/writer Steven Breese is a smash! It’s entertaining, funny, well acted and not to be missed! In fact, stop reading and start calling for what should be the hottest ticket in town.” Doubletake delivers . . .We have not one but two murders; two sisters after the same man; two unsuspecting husbands; a know-it-all inspector; a bumbling cop; a wise old doctor; a mute child; and, yes, even a trusty dog. Throw in: $1 million dollars for the taking; an unwanted pregnancy; mistaken identities; scorned lovers; a staged suicide; a power failure; shots in the dark; several cases of double-cross; and a surprise ending.”
- Kevin Salyer
Cleveland Chronicle-Telegram
“ . . . a satisfying plot that takes the audience on a roller-coaster ride of thrills and intrigue.”
- Linda Kinsey
Sun Newspapers
Perusal Copies Available
Full Length Mystery-Thriller
6 Men, 2 Women, 1 Child, 4 Extras
Total Cast 13, Setting Interior
Doubletake
A Classic Whodunit
Wit's End!
A Mystery-Thriller in Two Acts
“What is this? Can it be Elyot and Amanda, the dueling ex-marrieds of Private Lives, playing lust-hate games in Virginia? No, of course not! It’s really Maggie, the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, luring Garrison Keillor into a web of deceit the likes of which they never heard of in Lake Woebegon. If you don’t believe it, have a look at Wit’s End!, Steven Breese’s new mystery-thriller...”
- Perry Stewart
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
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Set in a decaying antebellum mansion, Wit’s End! is a play of truth and illusion; it exists in the deceptive haze of imagination where fact and fiction intermingle and become all but indistinguishable. Separating truth from illusion is the heart of Wit's End! Which truth will out? is the sleuth’s challenge.
Perusal Copies Available
Full Length Mystery-Thriller
3 Men, 1 Women
Total Cast 4, Flexible Setting
Actus Fidei
A Historical Fiction
Developed and presented as part of Virginia's Jamestown 2007 Celebration (400 years, Actus Fidei (Act of Faith), is a sweeping historical drama that takes place in two time periods simultaneously: Present day and 15th Century Europe. On the surface, the play traces the founding of the Jamestown Colony, but its scope embraces much larger stories including political and religious enemies and alliances, the invasion of Native American lands, and relationships of key historical figures including John Smith, Queen Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh, Christopher Newport, Chief Powhatan, and others. Much of the play takes place on one of the ships that made the original voyage to the "New World." Finally, in spite of its scope, Actus Fidei is a personal story about a family -- the turbulences and reunification of a father and a son. A one-of-kind play with a large cast and unique historical underpinnings.
Actus Fidei
Tempest Deconstructed
Reimagining Shakespeare's The Tempest
Developed and presented as part of Virginia's Jamestown 2007 Celebration (400 year), this version of The Tempest places Ariel in the center of the action--and her magic is the Island's most potent. The tempest (storm) continues to rage throughout the play and many additional scenes are added--most notably a climactic scene between Prospero and his usurping brother Sebastian (a scene the original play promises but Shakespeare never delivered). The scenes with the clowns have also been reimagined to add the comedic turns so important to the play's success. Finally, Tempest Deconstructed resolves itself, as the storm finally subsides, with Ariel inviting the audience to "set her free."
Tempest
Deconstructed
Run. Run. Run Away.
A Short One-Act for Two Actors
Corrine is a cyclist. An athlete. She has been riding her road bike past the same small church nearly every day for two years. Today a violent storm causes her to take refuge in the small church sanctuary. There she encounters a young priest, Michael, rehearsing his Sunday sermon. We soon learn this is not the first time they have met. As their past catches up with them, they must decide whether to face the truth of their uncertain future or to Run. Run. Run Away.
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This short but complete two-person play is perfect for One-Act Play Festivals as well as scene study in both beginning and advanced acting classes.
Perusal Copies Available
One Act
1 Man, 1 Woman
Total Cast 2, Flexible Setting
