FULL LENGTH PLAYS
Accelerated Horses
A surreal, dream-like drama set in the near future filled with beautiful imagery and dynamic landscapes that follow two different story lines. Eric and Morgan are college students who fall in love after meeting each other in the library. Things become complicated after graduation when Eric finds out that Morgan has been accepted to graduate school but is not going because of him. He convinces her to change her mind but things take a bad turn after a night of drinking, which changes everything. Meanwhile, Adrian who lives alone in the desert back country is haunted by dreams of stampeding horses and other terrifying visions. Nothing seems clear anymore. Reality seems to crumble around him. Things become even more strange when he falls off the edge of a mountain while dirt biking and washes up on the beach where he is awaken by a strange girl who invites him to stay at her beach house.
Super Turbo Overdrive
A high-octane, action-packed, modern tragicomedy set against a backdrop of competitive gaming and teen angst that’s equal parts American Pie and Akira. High school seniors, Matt and Steve are best friends and competitive gamers whose friendship gets put to the test when Matt gets accepted to Harvard and Steve discovers Matt is planning on competing in an upcoming gaming tournament without him. They get into a fight and decide to settle with a 1v1 game of Counter Strike aim map. Steve wins the match and as part of the wager gets to take Matt’s attractive mother, Dorothy, out on a date. Dorothy, to teach Matt a lesson and to get back at Steve’s mother, Linda, agrees to go on a date with Steve, setting off a chain of events that culminates in a flamethrower battle. Super Turbo Overdrive had staged readings at Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco, CA and New York University in New York.
Tangerina
A coming-of-age family drama featuring two interweaving story arcs set 13 years apart. It is the late 90’s and Tori and Abby are teenage sisters growing up without their mother and a father who is always away. Abby works hard in school and excels in ballet while Tori rebels and gets herself in trouble when she starts dating a much-older bad boy named Ace. Fast forward 13 years and we meet Pete, a recent college graduate, who works as an overnight janitor, much to the chagrin of his mother. Their already tumultuous relationship gets further tested when the old Camaro that Pete buys off Craigslist - against his mother’s advice - breaks down and he doesn’t have enough money to get it running. This sends Pete into a dark place and motivates him to do something drastic. Tangerina was first produced 2012 on the West Valley College Theater Mainstage as a co-production between West Valley College and Parking Lot Theater. The play was later produced at Chapman University and was a top-five finalist for the 2015 Orange County New Play Festival in the full length play category.
One-Act PLAYs
Argus
A modern, comedic reimagining of the hundred-eyed giant from Greek mythology. Zeus, the bad boy head of a billion dollar corporation, gets in a jam when he is forced to turn Io, a girl he meets at a club into a heifer, to avoid a confrontation with his wife, Hera. Unconvinced of Zeus’s alleged fidelity and suspicious of the heifer, Hera summons Argus, her security expert, to keep an eye (or a hundred) on Io. A wild one-act play featuring love, betrayal, sex, magic, movie trivia, violence, monsters, gangsters, and something called a Ryan Gosling Mod. Argus debuted in San Francisco, CA at EXIT Theater as part of the 2015 San Francisco Olympian’s Festival and won the Audience Award.
Autumn
A modern dramedy about the difficulties of young adulthood, following Chester, Patrick, and the girls they pine for. Chester and Patrick are best friends who can’t stand each other and spend their nights ripping on each other for not being able to make a move on their respective crushes, Autumn and Liz. Their friendship takes a turn when Chester finds out that Autumn might be interested in Patrick and has to decide what to do. Autumn was first performed at Actor’s studio in Hollywood, CA as part of Hollywood Fringe 2012 and had a subsequent run at West Valley College Theater the same year.
Jack Rabbit
An action-packed, surrealist comedy featuring hopeless romantic and late twenties virgin, Hope, her toy bunny rabbit, Jack, and her goofy vampire friends, Eva and Viktor. After a disappointing date, Hope accidentally wishes her toy rabbit Jack to life who immediately (and quite charmingly) asks her out on a date. Things seem to go well until Eva and Viktor meet Hope’s new boyfriend who appears to be hiding something from everyone. After a series of weird and unforeseeable events, all hell breaks loose and climaxes in a big bloody fight to the death. Jack Rabbit was produced in 2013 as part of San Jose Rep’s Emerging Artist’s Lab’s Late Night Series of shows.
Short PLAYS
A Man Waits in front of a Payphone
An older man, at the end of his rope, stands hopelessly in front of the last payphone in the city waiting for it to ring. He recalls an encounter he had years ago with a young, eccentric drifter who led him to this very moment. How long can he hold on? How long can he keep hoping?
A Room with Modern Furniture
A surreal, experimental drama featuring two interweaving story arcs, set in the far future. The first features Evelyn and Susan who are going through a difficult time in their relationship when a mysterious void appears in their apartment. The second follows Agent 2071, a female scientist sent into the future to study to end of the world. After what seems like an eternity, 2071 starts to wonder if she’ll ever be able to return home or if she is doomed to live out the remainder of her life marooned in an empty world, a thousand years away from the last living person. A Room with Modern Furniture was first produced 2013 at Douglas Morrison Theater in Hayward, CA and was a 3rd place Finalist for Playwright’s Cagematch the same year.
Alice in Wonderland (Prologue / Epilogue)
Set in an insane asylum where a young girl named Alice dreams and fantasizes an imaginary world where doctors, nurses, and patients are replaced with the colorful characters of Lewis Carroll’s well-loved classic. Co-written with Amy Zsadanyi-Yale, the Alice in Wonderland Prologue / Epilogue was first performed as part of West Valley College Theater’s 2011 fall semester mainstage production of Alice in Wonderland.
Billy Lemus Asked Me for a Death Scene, So I Gave Him One
A two-person, one-minute play about life’s unexplained occurrences and death. Billy Lemus recalls three times when an object had disappeared from sight, starting with a coin flip that never produced a result to a chainsaw that vanished into thin air. Based on a true(ish) incident.
Call Me Maybe
Stephanie meets Jimmy one hot night at a party and instantly falls for him. Ripped jeans and lightly blowing wind. A Filipino Guy with a handgun doing the Macarena. Based on the popular song by Carly Rae Jepsen. Call Me Maybe was first performed in San Jose, CA in 2013 at San Jose Repertory Theater as part of their emerging artists lab, SJREAL. The play was later produced in New York, Chicago, and the U.K.
Colorado Bay Horse
An irreverent comedy about reincarnation and communicating with the spirit world. Set in a 24-hour diner late in the night, Bertha and Wanda are two psychics sharing their experiences with the supernatural. Things take a weird detour when Bertha channels Wanda’s late husband David who is currently living in Colorado and a horse.
David Janice Paris, France
David and his wife, Janice, are having dinner one night when Janice suddenly reveals that she feels a heaviness weighing upon her soul and that the only way she may lift this heaviness is if she visits Saint Germain L’Auxerrois in Paris, France. Fight ensues.
Even Spies Sit on Park Benches
Dobs and Bateman, two rival spies, sit on a park bench and talk about life, bills, and all the adventures they had - while secretly plotting to get the other one back in this spy vs spy story that’s equal parts dark comedy and satire.
Flames and Skull
You take your brand new chopper out for a ride through the backroads. It’s loud. It’s beautiful. Tons of Chrome, Vance and Hines pipes, and custom paint job. You break down and spend the next few hours pushing your chopper through the backroads. This is the monologue.
Game Plan / Floor Plan
Kip and Ron like to sit on around drinking soda and eating carrots while contemplating the mysteries of the universe. One day Ron convinces Kip that he can read Kip’s mind and sends Kip spiralling into frenzied paranoia. Can Ron with the help of their level-headed friend Clara save Kip before it is too late? Game Plan / Floor Plan was first produced in 2009 at SPROUT Festival at the University of California, Irvine and saw subsequent productions in Santa Cruz and New York in latter years.
Interstate
A love story about a waitress named Sarah who falls in love with an interstate trucker who comes into her Denny’s one night. They exchange phone numbers that first night and spend every waking moment thinking about the other, counting down the moments until they can meet again, hour by hour, mile after mile. Interstate had its world premiere 2014 at the T.Schreiber Studio Theater in New York, NY and was subsequently produced at the Fine Arts Association of Ohio that same year. The play has also been produced at various theaters and festivals in Detroit, Chicago, Seattle, and New York.
Interval, Impulse
Interval, Impulse explores identity and the relationship between human connection and perceived reality. It plays with the theme of man vs. technology and poses the question: what happens when we replace people with technology? Reality with un-reality? Set in a futuristic North America, divided into sectors, mega cities, and engulfed in technology, where virtual reality competes with and outshines reality, a man tries to find the woman he once loved. Interval, Impulse was first produced 2013 Off -Off Broadway in New York by Nylon Fusion Theater Company. It was subsequently produced in Chicago by Revolution Theater Company for AbbieFest 2016 before returning to Nylon Fusion Theater Company 2018 as a Finalist for its Best of TROU shows.
Lauren and the Ocean
A short play about a life long friendship. Lauren, a teenager just starting college, meets Shelley, a retired artist, on the beach and they develop an unlikely friendship that spans years. Lauren and the Ocean was first produced at West Valley College in 2010. The play was subsequently produced at the Fringe of Marin One-Act Play Festival in 2013.
The Long and Lonely Howl
Set in the 1800’s American Midwest, Mack and Bill sit out around a campfire in the middle of the woods, having dinner and making small talk. Through a series of flashbacks we learn that Mack is colluding with Bill’s wife, Abigail, to try and kill Bill in the woods so they can elope but Bill might have something else in mind. The Long and Lonely Howl was first produced in 2009 at the University of California, Irvine for their World Premiere Weekend Festival. The play was produced again in 2011 by Parking Lot Theater and once again in 2012 for Hollywood Fringe Festival as part of Autumn and Other Plays.
Love Crush and Cyberspace
A surrealist experimental play that explores, in a deconstructed manner, the life cycle of the modern millennial’s relationship. Through darkness, despair, and shimmering cyberspace, Charlie meets Lisa, they date, Lisa meets Guy, they break up. We see Charlie howl in pain as he bleeds and float through space as he wonders if he will ever find peace.
Love is like a Laser Beam
A Woman meets a Man at a drab party where they were both obligated to go. Slow motion. Their eyes meet from across the room. She drifts over. Intrigued. His world changes. Her world changes. Love is like a Laser Beam is an experimental play that is a poem and song set to a movement piece. Love is like a Laser Beam was first produced at New York University in 2014 and saw subsequent productions and readings in Chicago, New York, and San Jose.
Maybe
A one-minute play about love. Jimmy and Morgan meet and immediately fall for one another. Maybe she likes me, he wonders. Maybe, just maybe, he’s the one, she tells herself. Maybe had its premiere 2013 at San Jose Rep as part of MixTapes Vol. 1 and Vol.2 which featured a collection of plays by Bay Area playwrights Megan Cohen, Peter Hsieh, Jeremy Cole, Nic A. Sommerfeld, and Rachel Kessinger. The play saw subsequent productions in Brooklyn, NY as part of Gi60 2015 and in 2018 at Houston Community College Theater.
Platypus
Platypus is an experimental, absurdist drama about happiness and wanting. Depressed and bitter, Matthew asks Sarah if she’s happy in life, which leads into an argument that is cut short unexpectedly when a car plows into the both of them. Darkness. The play repeats. Platypus was first workshopped at New York University 2014 before being produced in New Orleans, LA in 2016 at Drowning in Blue Productions and later that year at NOLA Fringe Festival.
Polyxena
A surreal, avantgarde adaptation based on a character from Greek mythology. Polyxena, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, whose sacrifice ended the Trojan War, is an interested and sometimes contentious character. The play explores the events leading up to her sacrifice and focuses on her relationship with Achilles. Polyxena was first produced at EXIT Theater in San Francisco, CA in 2012 as part of the 4th San Francisco Olympians Festival.
Punched in the Nuts
An absurdist short comedy about a time traveler who goes back in time and punches himself in the nuts.
Salvation and the Next Day
McCusker, Harry, and Anna are old friends and have lived together for hundreds of years, kept alive by a mysterious potion they stole. We meet them at the end of their unnatural lives, completely out of potion, and slowly dying in a hot Arizona condo. Things get more exciting when Harry reveals that he has two more potions but just enough to make two of them young again. Salvation and the Next Day was produced at West Valley College 2012 as part of Alpha Project, their festival of short plays.
Selling Point
Set in a dystopian future, Selling Point is a dark comedy told in three parts, examining high pressure sales, business negotiations, and the culture of spending. Matt is a fast talking organ harvester, collecting the freshest selections for his clients, Whitney is a down-to-business Salesperson who doesn’t take no for an answer, Matt and Marsha are a middle class couple looking to buy the latest in Organ Transplants, but it’s going to cost them. Selling Point had its premiere in 2012 at San Jose Repertory Theater as part SJREAL’S Late Night Series of Shows. The Play was produced again at City Lights Theater in San Jose, CA in 2013 alongside other short plays from Bay Area Playwrights.
Summer Days
Summer Days is a short one-person monologue capturing a sunny day, driving along the Pacific Coast Highway. You’re young and the world is bright. You feel like you are going to live forever.
Sunday Sundays
An absurdist comedy that showcases action without purpose and the fruitless efforts made in finding meaning in a meaningless world. Characters try and play croquet without knowing the rules. They go around in circles without making any progress or sense leading to a whimsical state of repetition and ultimately meaninglessness. Sunday Sundays had its premiere in 2010 at West Valley College Theater. The play was produced at San Jose Rep in 2012 as part of their Emerging Artists Lab’s Late Night Series and at Fringe of Marin the same year. Latter productions of the play took place in New York, the U.K. and most recently Revolution Theater in Chicago, IL.
Tree
An absurdist one-minute play about one woman’s desire to know what it is like to chug a cold beer in the middle of the woods. Tree was first performed 2013 in Brooklyn, NY as part of Gi60’s international one-minute play festival. The play was subsequently produced by SF Theater Pub in San Francisco, CA, and Stage Left in Seattle, WA.
Tuna Sandwich
A monologue about life and death. A man finishes eating his tuna sandwich sitting in his favorite chair and is momentarily visited by the Grim Reaper. He struggles with the idea of death, the circumstances of his passing, and recounts certain moments in his life. Tuna Sandwich was produced by Parking Lot Theater in 2011 and produced again 2012 at Hollywood Fringe Festival as part of Autumn and Other Plays.
The Vacuum Salesman
A dark comedy about a down-and-out vacuum salesman whose luck seems to get worse and worse. After finding out his wife, Anna, is leaving him for their female doctor friend and is kicking him out of the house, Albert has no one to turn to except Oksana, the stern Russian pawnshop owner who turned him down previously. The Vacuum Salesman had its world premiere 2011 at West Valley College in Saratoga, CA and was subsequently produced in 2012 in San Diego, CA.