THESE PEOPLE, a newly-revised one-act from Martha Patterson

SYNOPSIS:  Melinda is a 50-year-old former actress who now works in publishing. When her neighbor Sushila, a 25-year-old East Indian woman who works in business, gets locked out of her apartment down the hall, she knocks on Melinda’s door for help. Through their conversation, Melinda is enlightened about her own feelings of prejudice, as well as learning about generosity in a sexual encounter with the lonely young man who lives next door. 

Newly completed revision of A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

Just finished revising my full-length, A TIME FOR EVERYTHING.  Small cast (3 women, 2 men).

SYNOPSIS:  A serio-comedy that takes place while Trump and Hillary are running for President.  Samantha, unemployed, and Olive, a housewife, are best friends.  While preparing for the Boston Marathon, Samantha becomes a surrogate mother for Olive and her husband Dean.  Dean loses his job and Olive opens an antique shop with Samantha. Olive occupies her free time waiting for the baby’s arrival by rehearsing for an audition with the renowned Huntington Theatre, dreaming of becoming an actress despite having no signs of talent whatsoever. Meanwhile, as the 2016 Presidential race is moving forward, Olive and Dean’s friend Steve breaks up with an unsuitable woman and takes a sudden interest in Sam.  With desires of being a life coach, and despite his inexperience, Steve coaches Olive with her audition, and Sam with the LaMaze method of giving birth. When the baby is born, who will win the election, and will these four pals remain fast friends?

New monologue - JAMES DEAN, REINCARNATED

Just wrote a new serio-comic monologue - JAMES DEAN, REINCARNATED.  Running time: about 5 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Alex, a 61-year-old movie fan doing business with a used car salesman, thinks she might be James Dean reincarnated.

Two monologues published by Smith & Kraus

I have two comic monologues just published in this anthology...222 More Comedy Monologues:

An Exciting New Title from Smith and Kraus The Ultimate Audition Series - Volume Five 222 MORE COMEDY MONOLOGUES   edited by Irene Ziegler & John Capecci

HOW TO ORDER Online: www.smithandkraus.com      Call: (toll free) 877-668-8680 $21.95           308 pgs.       Paperback Pub. Date: August 2017   ISBN 978-1-57525-9116 Contact: publicity@smithandkraus.com

New short play - AUTUMN IN CENTRAL PARK

Another new 10-minute play, hot off the press!  I finally got over my writer's block...

Yellow leaves are swirling under a blue sky on an October morning in New York City.  Young Maida and her new acquaintance, a roadie named Richard who works for bands, have a confrontation in Central Park about why she doesn't want to have a fling with him.

New short play - NEVER AGAIN

The first new script I've written in several months...a friend suggested I write something to the prompt of "Never Again."

Angie and Judith argue about bad men, loss of virginity, Bill Gates, and the Catholic church, all while drinking cocktails in Angie's living room.  But they end up agreeing that if they lived like quiet nuns in a cloister, they couldn't listen to the Rolling Stones.

Another publication from Applause Theatre & Cinema Books

Applause Theatre & Cinema Books will publish my monologue JEAN from one-act WHAT REMAINS in "Later Chapters: The Best Scenes and Monologues for Actors over 50" from Applause books.  

SYNOPSIS: At her beach house in Maine, Jean explains her marital difficulties to her grown daughter.