MIZZOU NEW PLAY SERIES

This play series serves as a tool for playwrights and the continued development of their scripts. It is a part of the MU new play development process, which begins in the playwriting courses and comes to fruition in full mainstage productions of new work.

In the playwriting courses, students develop raw material for their plays, exploring characterization, plot/story, dramatic structure, and elements of theatricality. At the Workshop, cold readings of new work are given every Tuesday evening. The Mizzou New Play Series then offers a rehearsed reading of the script, staged or concert-style. If the play is successful at the workshop and the new play series, it moves onto production on the MU subscription mainstage.

The Mizzou New Play Series performs in the Winter Semester. The shows are rehearsed over the period of a week, and quite often each evening is a different staged or concert reading of a new full-length play or an evening of short plays. The plays are performed in the Corner Playhouse.

MIZZOU NEW PLAY SERIES  2008 SYNOPSES AND REHEARSAL SCHEDULE

NOTE: Below you will find the synopses and performance schedules for all the plays in the Mizzou New Play Series.  To receive an electronic version of each play, please contact Dr. David A. Crespy via email at crespyd@missouri.edu.  All performances in the Mizzou New Play Series take place in the CORNER PLAYHOUSE and are free to the general public.

TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 8PM, CORNER PLAYHOUSE
MAHDIYA, THE MAELSTROM, a full-length play by Joshua Robinson
Directed by Kevin McFillen; Dramaturg Dan Stahl

SYNOPSIS: An adaptation of the Medea story, set in modern day Darfur--Bakhita, a young non-Arab woman in Darfur has married into an Arab family, and her husband Ahmad becomes a part of the Janjaweed.  The play focuses on her attempt to escape from the maelstrom of death that Darfur has become; in the end the personal strife between Bakhita and Ahmad leads to the death of their sons.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 8PM, CORNER PLAYHOUSE
THE NEW KID, a full-length play by Cole Headrick
Directed by Meg Wilki

SYNOPSIS: Carrie, a 7th grade teacher, discovers that her student, Casey, seems to have been abused by his guardians, his “uncle” Mitch, and his “grandfather” Emilio—as she digs deeper into Casey’s past, her own personal relationships deteriorate and the mysteries of Casey’s past haunt and threaten her life.

THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 8PM, CORNER PLAYHOUSE – EVENING OF ONE-ACTS
DOIN’ IT BY THE BOOK, a one-act play by Fonzie Geary, Directed by Ron Zank

SYNOPSIS: Savannah is desperate to have a baby and her husband, Walt, just doesn't seem to understand.  Of course, he might understand a little better if Savannah did not insist on having sex in strict accordance with rules she read in a book, which supposedly increase the likelihood of conception.  A fight breaks out between them in the middle of the night, which draws the nosey next door neighbor, Margaret, into the fray.  Suddenly, the topic of the night is the couple's sex life, much to Walt's chagrin.

ANOTHER HEARTBREAK a one-act play by Latisha Linder, Directed by Abigail Dunard

SYNOPSIS: Five years after losing the most important thing in his life, Matthew Hunter is unable to live in the present.  Bianca, his new girlfriend, is unaware that she is ultimately reliving parts of Matthew’s past.  Things get nasty when the truth, both past and present, comes out.

ATTEMPTED ROBBERY a one-act play by Noel Walker, Directed by Meg Wilki

SYNOPSIS: A depressed man working as a stock boy at a grocery store snaps one day and kills the District Attorney of Dallas county and then himself. Fun for the whole family!

FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 8PM, Corner Playhouse
BURNING BOOKS by Tearrance Chisholm, Directed by CFrancis Blackchild

SYNOPSIS: Willette, a 35-year old social worker living in Washington, D.C.  in the last 1970s, takes in Aint Lucy, his maternal Aunt, who is beginning to suffer from the symptoms of senile dementia, and must put out his lover, Gary, who struggles with substance abuse and mental health issues.  When his Aint Lucy begins to lose her mind, she reveals the tragedy behind her own son’s health, and Willette is forced to bring his mother Josie to help care for her.  By the end of the play, Aint Lucy and Josey most come to terms with Willette’s lifestyle and his dreams of a deeper relationship with Gary.

SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2PM, Corner Playhouse

THE DOCTOR BY RICH SMITH, Directed by Mark Nanneman

SYNOPSIS: In small town Louisiana self-proclaimed “Doctor” Ernest P. Sterling experiments on his children. One is the golden child, one he keeps in a box, and the last one he treats fine except for the fact that he has named her, “Saaaaraaaah.” Sterling has been working on his child experiments for years now and he is finally ready to unveil the results of his study to a team of “scientists” in order to attain the PhD he was denied so long ago. The three sisters are faced with the decision of whether or not to support their father or turn to each other to overcome the atrocities that they have been unknowingly subjugated to. Fun for the whole family!

SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 8PM, Corner Playhouse
IN THE ROSE GARDEN by Elizabeth Cairns, Directed by Jessica Huang

SYNOPSIS: In the Rose Garden is a musical whimsically trellised together by stories of romance, ménage a trois, slapstick humor, intrigue, and the murderous habits of psychotic grannies. The story begins to blossom in a rather innocent college town, flowered with characters who seem as trapped in a time warp as the setting itself. As a slightly forbidden love story unravels, devoted landladies relinquish their gardening secrets and their unusual tendency to fertilize with ash comprised of the incinerated women who try to get to close to the men they love. When a love-stricken couple tumbles into the hands of our slightly deranged landladies, chaos and fear blooms from every direction. What will become of the lovers? As the old saying goes—fertilizer happens.

SUNDAY, APRIL 13, 2PM – AN AFTERNOON OF TEN-MINUTE PLAYS

CAMERA OBSCURA BY MEG WILKI, Directed by Elizabeth Cairns

SYNOPSIS: A ten-minute play about an odd couple who face their own shortcomings in love and life as they gaze upon the perfection of Michelangelo's David.

HONOR AND LOVE BY FONZIE GEARY, Directed by Jason Christian

SYNOPSIS: Marshal Michel Ney is set to be executed for trumped up charges of treason against France following the Battle of Waterloo.  Only his wife can save him.  After selling off everything she has in France to finance his escape, she finds her husband resolved to die a martyr rather than dishonor himself.

THE COMMON MARKET BY FONZIE GEARY, Directed by Jason Christian

SYNOPSIS: Adam finds himself in a desperate situation when he thinks his girlfriend is pregnant.  He comes from a small town and the last thing he wants is to bring shame with such horrific scandal.  He becomes confounded when he arrives at the Common Market and cannot find a pregnancy test.  His situation becomes more confusing when he finds himself being hit on by a young man from his hometown.

A ROSE TO REMEMBER BY STEVE ROBERTSON, Directed by Matt Davis

SYNOPSIS: While filming a memorial video, 75-year-old Bud Dagny reflects on his of life. He reminisces about his childhood as well as his long gone love, Anna Rose. Several flashback scenes demonstrate the special love he and his wife shared.

UPS AND DOWNS by Daniel Lorenzo Willis, Directed by Frank Lasik

SYNOPSIS:Ups and Downs is the tragic tale of the chance encounter of two men, at opposite points of the same life cycle; whose brief interaction in an elevator dramatically alters the course of their lives.

THE PADDED WALLS OF SEVERANCE BY MICHAEL MILLER, Directed by Kevin McFillen

SYNOPSIS: Saul is a teenager that desperately wants the approval of his father despite the fact that he was committed to a psych ward by him. But can Saul overcome his father's old-fashioned nature and convince him that there's a difference between free thinking and lunacy?

ROBOT PLAY 1 BY WILLIAM RIDLON, Directed by Lance Mallette

SYNOPSIS: A 10 minute play with 3 different endings and name changes to emphasis different aspects of each character's personality.  It begins as a shy woman's trip to a dating service where she agrees to marry her friendly/scheming doctor.  It turns into a spy scene where both the characters were really secret operatives speaking in code.  This segues back into a continuation of the first part where the lady gets angry at the marriage proposal, and storms out.  All the segments are narrated by a robot designed for the dating service.

Sunday, April 13, 8PM, Performance

ONE BY ONE by Michael Kramer
A Murder/Mystery/Comedy, Directed by David Crespy

SYNOPSIS: A community theater stalwart and blue collar worker, Tim, becomes jealous of a newcomer, Ron, a professor at the local university who is cast in all the leading roles he used to receive. The two are cast in a new play under development, One by One. In the play within the play the characters are killed off one by one while Ron experiences a variety of accidents that threaten his life during rehearsals. The surprise ending reveals an unexpected theatrical reality.