Survival Island is now available!

Hot on the heels of my 3rd play with Heuer Publishing (and 36th play overall) comes the publication of my 4th play with Heuer Publishing (and 37th play overall).

Survival Island! is a full-length comedy about eight contestants on a TV reality show who must learn to survive for real after the host and crew of the show fall into a volcano. The play has a cast of 10 (1M, 1F, 8 any), uses only a single simple beach set, and tuns about 75 minutes.

I've already spoken about my inspiration for the play. I've shared one of my favorite scenes from the script. I've also posted some great photos from the world premiere at Jacksonville Performing Arts in North Carolina, where it was a big hit.

Executive director Nikki Dyba said audiences absolutely loved the play, but what she really raved about was how great an experience it was for the kids (the word "EPIC" may have also have been used a couple of times).

I think that's because the roles are surprisingly meaty for kids. Sure, the characters are fun and over the top, but they're grounded in the real-life personality types we so often see on TV reality shows (as well as in real life itself!).

There's the hardcore gym bro. His hyper-competitive female rival. The laid-back surfer dude. The stuffy anthropology professor. The manipulative executive chef. The shy librarian. The self-absorbed fashion icon. And the greedy investment banker.

Together, they forge a fragile compromise in order to get themselves rescued. But as their resources grow increasingly limited, we see how each character's flaws contribute to the chaos that follows.

The world premiere was performed by upper elementary students. But it could just as easily be done by middle schools, high schools, colleges, community theatres, and even (like many of my plays!) retirement centers. Seriously, this is a comedy for all ages.

Want to know more? Then be sure to visit the play's web page.

Fear of Clowns is now available!

I'm thrilled to announce that Heuer Publishing has just released my 3rd play with them and 36th play overall. The play is titled Fear of Clowns and it also happens to be my first published ten-minute play.

I think it'll fit in well with my other Heuer plays. Like Kill the Critic! and The Last Radio Show (and the upcoming Survival Island!), it's a little dark, certainly darker than any of my Pioneer plays.

But don't let that scare you. It's also very funny--the world premiere in Colorado Springs got a ton of laughs. It's just that the humor comes across in a sad, tragic-clown kind of way. And it's my only play that doesn't have a happy ending.

Fear of Clowns is a breeze to produce. It features a cast of two (one clown and one psychiatrist) and requires no set beyond a couch, a desk, and a couple of chairs.

But it does require sound effects. Or should I say, one very key sound effect.

At the opening of the play, the psychiatrist is working at his desk when he hears the sound of laughter coming from outside his office. The stage directions describe it as "loud, raucous, annoying even, like a bad TV laugh track".

That laughter is the reason Jocko insists in seeing the psychiatrist today. He detests the sound of it, and he doesn't understand why it seems to follow him everywhere.

Now I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I won't share with you the psychiatrist's final advice to the clown. But I will say that the only thing that really changes by the end of the play is that laughter. For as Jocko exits, the stage directions state that it "sounds different now--colder, crueler. Or does it?"

I really want that laughter to land like a gut punch to the audience. If done properly, it will.

Oh, and if you want to read about the play's unusual history or the classic joke that originally inspired it, be sure to check out this post from January.