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In the Pipeline

Horseman: The True Story of Sleepy Hollow

In the works

On March 26, 1806, Ichabod Crane left a party, rode through Sleepy Hollow, and was never seen again. Beyond those facts nothing certain has been established about the incident, nor about the identity of the so-called “headless horseman.” Until now. Watch the true story unfold in a series of interlocking narratives going back to the Revolutionary War--featuring a Hessian deserter, a mysteriously terrified nun, and a monstrously megalomaniacal abbot whose unspeakable acts form the heart of the legend. A play about the evil in men’s hearts, told from the point of view of the women who overcome it.

Wysteria

In the works

Veronica and Cruz, two young actors desperate for work, are called-back for a final audition for “Wysteria,” a TV mini series about the serial killer Albert Fish. But it’s not just any call-back; they are to be paid a large sum of money in exchange for relinquishing their phones and agreeing to live for three days on the set—a converted bomb shelter in the basement of the producer’s mansion. That producer, the charismatic Jack Angler, enthusiastically dangles the promise of future glory and riches. But is everything what it seems? Or are the actors players in another sort of drama?

Full-Length Plays

Scapegoat

2018

A new play about race, police violence, and the role of art in a broken society.

Clive is a struggling comic book artist whose series, Scapegoat, once celebrated as a cunning metaphor for the African American experience, is now running thin. When his protege is shot by police, Clive finds renewed purpose for Scapegoat. But as sales soar, violence erupts, and Clive begins to question the role of art in the pursuit of justice.

Commissioned by PlayGround, and co-produced by PlayGround and the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre.

Premiered in San Francisco, May 21st, 2018.

The Education of a Rake

2012

A new play about sex, politics and one man's crusade to gain equal rights for women... but not before seducing them.

Congressman Roy Armstrong has a plan to pass the Equal Rights Amendment once and for all. But he has a problem–and she’s about to go public! Will he go down in history as the "feminist" who won equal rights for women in America? Or as a scoundrel who couldn’t keep his amendment in his pants?

A Central Works Method Play

Premiered in Berkeley, July 28, 2012

Remaking Pussycat

2011

A psychotronic romantic comedy about love, sexual obsession and really crappy cinema.

Morgan directs remakes of French New Wave films. Tura aspires to be a grind house movie star. Morgan is obsessed with Tura. Tura is obsessed with the chicks-in-fast-cars exploitation movie Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! To win Tura’s love, Morgan agrees to film a frame-by-frame remake of Pussycat starring Tura. Never mind that Morgan despises the movie, Tura can’t act her way out of a paper bag, her co-star has a personality disorder, the D-P is an angry ex-boyfriend, the breast-obsessed producer wants the cast to undergo plastic surgery, and the finished product threatens to destroy Morgan’s career. How far will someone go in pursuit of love? Strap yourself into this souped-up five-on-the-floor and find out!

Commissioned by SF Playhouse.

Ransom, Texas

2010

A dying town. A company on the brink. A family's treachery. One long night... Is there any hope for Ransom, Texas?

Vern and Bruce, father and son, get together after work in Vern's office to toast the sale of the family's West Texas manufacturing business. But when Bruce makes a remark that triggers Vern's suspicions, Vern shreds the sale contract, and what started as a celebration devolves into an evening of psychic warfare. Determined to get his father to sign a fresh copy, Bruce locks them both in. During a long night fueled by bourbon, dog kibble and testosterone, Bruce gradually pieces together a pattern of monstrous betrayal going back two generations. Can he break the cycle, or is he doomed to play out the family curse?

Winner of Pacific Repertory's HYPERION PROJECT III

Workshop production at Pacific Repertory Theatre, November, 2010.

The Apotheosis of Pig Husbandry

2010

A woman in a slip handcuffed to a bed. A bar that only serves one drink. Windows that are duck-taped to keep out the smell. Welcome to the Lazy Eight Motel, where sex, revenge, social theory and pig farming mix in an explosive cocktail.

Philosopher and social theorist Asuncion "Assy" Boyle drifts into town, buys the derelict motel downwind of the biggest pig farm in the state, and seduces the pig farmer's wife Lola. His plan? To put Charles, the farmer, out of business and clean up the pig shit that's destroying the community and polluting the groundwater. But since Assy blames Charles for his mother's death is this really social justice... or naked revenge? By the startling end of the play, Assy learns what happens when you take justice into your own hands.

Premiered at SF Playhouse, May 22nd.

THE POSITION

2010

WANTED: Six finalists for The Position. Must be willing to relinquish clothing and identity, be recorded around the clock, and engage in dangerous psychological games. Survival not guaranteed.

So exactly what is The Position? It's not just a job; in a world ravaged by 80% unemployment and mass social chaos, The Position represents security and fulfillment. The Concern has selected six finalists from more than half-a-million job applicants, flown them to a remote compound, and provided them with every luxury and diversion-- including golf, paragliding and skeet shooting. When they arrive, the six candidates are stripped of their clothing and identities, informed that the laws of The Nation have been suspended and that they will be recorded around the clock while they compete for the one job that they believe can give them hope in a hopeless world.

Premiered at Off-Market Theater, February 2010. Commissioned and produced by PianoFight Productions.

The Afterlife of the Mind

2010

Can Lydia find a body for Harry's brain? Can she use her body to get Todd to donate his body? Is there such thing as sex without a body? The Afterlife of the Mind: a hilarious and shocking comedy about neuroscience, metaphysics and sex. The most talked-about reading of the 2008 Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Alaska.

Lydia's husband, noted philosopher Harry Pengrove, is dying of a rare illness. Unwilling to accept his fate, Lydia enlists the help of Ulrich Hoffsteadler, a brilliant but illegal neurosurgeon who operates out of the back of a bar and who, medical legend has it, once transplanted a human brain. After a botched transplant, Lydia embarks on a journey pushing the limits of love, the human body and medical science to save Harry's extraordinary mind.

Premiered October 23rd 2010 @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley, CA. Produced by Virago Theatre Company

Ran January, 2010, Anchorage, Alaska @ Out North Theatre. Produced by TAO Productions.

Pulp Scripture

2009

Winner of 2009 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for ORIGINAL SCRIPT.

Winner of 8 San Francisco Fringe Awards: Best New Comedy, Best Box Office, and 6 Sold Out awards.

Sisters get Dad Drunk, have Sex with him!... Human Sacrifice at Father-son Camping Trip!... Widow Becomes Hooker, Tricks Father-in-law into Getting her Pregnant!... Strongman Sold to Rival Gang by Girlfriend, Eyes Gouged Out!... Crowd of Horny Sodomites Demand Sex with House Guests!...

Ripped from the tabloids? Try the Good Book.

Pulp Scripture: Bible stories they didn't teach you in Sunday school.

Premiered September 10, San Francisco Fringe Festival produced by Original Sin Productions and @ Off-Market Theaters, produced by Original Sin Productions & PianoFight.

Short Plays

Altered Landscape

2010

Frank and Lena canoe out to the river island where they spent their honeymoon. When they wake to find the river choked with logs, they are forced to confront their entrapment--both on the island and in their lives.

Premiered in the Bay One Acts Festival Febuary 18 - March 13. Produced by Three Wise Monkeys.

Grunion Run

2009

A man, a woman, the full moon and thousands of spawning fish....
Winner, PianoFight's ShortLived 2.0 audience-vote play competition (2009).

September 12

2003

Did Sarge's dreams predict the terrorist attacks? Did they also reveal how to make a killing on the tragedy?... Finalist for the Heideman Award in the National Ten Minute play contest (2003).

Myopic Viscosity

2005

A middle-aged superhero with an embarrassing power and a chip on his shoulder faces having his superhero license revoked.... Premiere: 2006 in the San Francisco Fringe Festival.