In 2018, my one-act Mystery At Midnight was a John Cauble finalist at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival region 4 (KCACTF4) and was invited back the next year for a full production.

This is a video of that 2019 production, directed by my multi-talented friend Amile Wilson with a remarkable cast from Jackson State University, an HBCU in Mississippi.

I have to note that, as written, this is a very white play, but this cast of black actors totally committed to the text and brought the characters to life in a way that I never would have envisioned. I just love this iteration. In order of appearance, the cast is:

Michael Barber as Roger Wright
Broderic Simpson as Monty Black
JoeOnna Kidio as Scarlett Starworthy
Nicholas Armstrong as Essex
DeShadrian Hopkins as Cassie Wayne
Ivory Lowe as Joyce
Ramon Davis as Hugh Pearson
Lauren Fleming as Louella Pearson
Amile Wilson as The Sandwich Man

Nadia Bodie-Smith of Jackson State was the Stage Manager and Designer.

I was so impressed with how these young actors produced this play with no money and a tremendous amount of talent and perseverance. I also have to shout out to Todd Ristau and the Hollins Playwrights Lab for making all this possible, and once again, Amile Wilson for his resourcefulness and friendship.

The full script is below, or just watch the 39 minute video and enjoy.

LIGHTS UP ON

It is New Year’s Eve night, December 31, 1939,
a Sunday, at radio station WFRC in Roanoke,
Virginia. The station is located in the old rooftop
ballroom of the Grand Luxe Hotel. A clock on
the wall shows that it is 11:15 PM.
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For this year’s 24/7 at Live Arts (seven plays written and performed in 24 hours), we playwrights were given the theme Love, American Style, and I was gifted the specific prompt “I have a wooden leg!”. The result below was written overnight and performed just once the next day, March 2 2019.

Thank you to my friend and frequent partner, Leslie Scott-Jones, for taking this mess of a script and turning it into something magical. Kudos to my cast: Michael Swanberg, Jen Bottas, Lee Susen, Jessie Conover, and a special cameo by Browning Porter. Finally, thank you to Live Arts and Ray Nedzel for pulling this crazy event together every year.

The full playscript is below

(WALTER is sitting pensively at a table in a trendy coffee shop, nursing a cup. He has made an attempt to dress nicely. Hovering nearby is PETER, Walter’s penis. When Peter speaks, Walter hears him only subconsciously.)

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My short play Chris and Eve was performed as part of A Very Special Live Arts Holiday Special, Gibson Theater, December 2018. Starring Misty Vrederburg and Chris Estey, and directed by Ray Nedzel.

This iPhone video capture was made at the December 13 performance. Appended below that is the full script.

(The married couple’s bedroom. EVE is sitting on their bed, staring at an object in her hand. She looks pensive and preoccupied. She is having a moment of silence.)

(CHRIS bursts in, talking a mile a minute and destroying her reverie.)
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[I was cleaning up some old files and found this short playscript that I wrote way back in 2010. I remember very little about it, but I suspect that it was a writing exercise. This may have been the first thing I wrote when starting down this path of becoming a playwright. It is what it is.]

THE ACCIDENTAL VICTIM

(An office. Two chairs, back to back, face identical desks. NATHAN, a professional looking man in a suit, is on the phone at one desk.)

NATHAN: (on phone) No man, I’m telling you, the Knicks are absolutely gonna take it this year! What? The Bobcats? Are you on crack? (laughing) All right, you are on. You are on! I’ll catch you later.
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In the summer of 2016, I wrote this little exercise inspired by Humpty Dumpty, turning Donald Trump and friends into essentially a Warner Bros. cartoon. It was a bit of silliness written when Donald Trump was just the clown candidate and we thought he was still funny.

SCENE I

(An overdecorated office with tall windows looking out over a vast landscape. Enter DUCKY TRUMPTY, a duck, and his porcine lackey, HAM HAMMIE.)

TRUMPTY
It’s huge, I tell you. It’s everything I promised it would be. More! This is the most wonderful wall ever built, trust me. It makes that wall in China look like a velvet rope at a Bayonne nightclub. And right here, right on top of the highest point in the wall, my office. An office fit for a king. Or, you know, president. Whatever.

HAMMIE
It’s m…m…magnificent, sir.

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My contribution to the October 2014 Live Arts Late Night cabaret.

With T.J. Ferguson, Kip McCharen, Eric Bryant, Chris Beale, and Christina Ball.

Written and Directed by Sean Michael McCord. Performed Oct. 4, 2014.

Full text below.

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My contribution to the 2014 24/7 show at Live Arts in Charlottesville, VA. I was given a cast of two women, one men, and one female cameo; the theme of the evening was “wishful thinking” and my prompt was “ex-pat in Paris”. I had to write a play overnight, and as I sat down to write, I learned that my own Uncle Bo had passed away that day. This is the result.

Written on January 24 and performed on January 25, 2014. With Noel Derecki, Amy Barrick, Maria Trapnell, and Mendy St. Ours. Directed by Barbara Roberts.

Full text below. All photos courtesy of Lance Buckley’s 24/7 flickr feed.
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In the Spring of 2013, NPR held another Three-Minute Fiction contest, this time looking for short stories in the form of a voice mail message. Here is my submission. It wasn’t selected, but I later re-wrote this piece for my Barhoppers play, Lulu.

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“Lulu” was my contribution to Barhoppers 2013, with Claire Chandler as Lulu, cameos by Gene Donovan and Elizabeth Derby, and directed by Sean Chandler. This was recorded at Milli Joe’s Coffeehouse in Charlottesville VA on August 13, 2013. The text is below.
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“Names Like Rain” is my short monologue that was produced for the 2011 Charlottesville Live Arts Playwrights Lab Summer Shorts Festival. Directed by Stephanie Pistello and starring Randy Clark. The text is below.

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