Edited by Ann McDonough and Douglas Hill
You’ll want to stage these shows and have the book handy on your library shelves for when you need something special. Complied by the folks at UNLV, it has ten plays, all with dynamic older characters! It includes monologues, ten-minute shows, and one acts. A must-have for Senior Theatre entertainment! 130 pages.
April’s Fools
1F/1M, 10 min. comedy/drama
Rosa desperately wants to be a good Catholic woman. But as a recent widow she also wants to be with Cardigan, the brother of her dead husband – and he’s married to a woman thirty years younger than him. An afternoon fling between Rosa and Cardigan leads them to reveal secrets to each other about their desires.
Big Candy Papa
1F/1M, 12 min. comedy/drama
Grandpa Stan has become sweeter in his retirement—A lot sweeter. And while the grandkids adore him; his wife, Marilyn, and his son don’t recognize him. After his son and the grandkids leave, Stan wonders if gifts of candy to his grandkids will really heal the bad history between him and his son.
The Essence of Mature Sensuality
1F, 5 min. comedic mime
An older stripper attempts to seduce the audience with her provocative dance. Too bad her clothes seem to fight her every step of the way. A fun crowd-pleaser that remains family-fare in spite of itself.
Courtesy of the Wall
3F, 10 min. comedy
Three friends gather for their regular Mah Johng game, but their fourth player has married and moved to Florida. Eunice announces that she has solved the problem by inviting Jesse, a 21-year-old game store manager to join them. Tempers flare when Amy and Marcie discover that Eunice and Jesse have been playing at more than Mah Johng.
Home
1F, 2 min. drama/comedy
Everything seems to disappear in Linda’s new home, never to be seen again. Now she worries that the next thing to be lost might be her. A quirky but poignant monologue.
Victorious Revelations
2M, 1F (20s – 30s) 10 min. comedy
Sye can’t believe his eyes when he discovers Hermy working out in the neglected exercise room of the retirement community. Although Hermy dodges all of Sye’s questions about this new fitness regimen, everything becomes clear as the young aerobics instructor arrives.
Happy Forty-Some-Odd
1F/1M, 10 min. comedy
On the eve of their 42nd or 44th anniversary, Fred is distraught to learn the truth behind his courtship and engagement to Pearl. Even though she appears a little flighty, Pearl wisely tells Fred that their forty-some-odd years of marriage was much better than the courtship and engagement ever could be.
Shoot The Moon
2F, 10 min. comedy
Amanda and Clara are house-sitting for their friend Sophie and find themselves drawn inexplicably toward the rat poison in the cookie jar. The ridiculous situation spirals out of control in this zany adaptation from a traditional Japanese Kyogen comedy.
Dali’s Tour
1M, 5 min. drama/comedy
Ed is a widower on his date with the sophisticated Mrs. Friedman at the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. Can this encounter among the works of an artist who “believed in the failure of logic and looked at the unconscious and dream to enlighten the good of all man” help Ed move on from his past?
Getting Lucky
1F/1M/1F (30s), 50 min. comedy/drama
Ruth and Jack are two older adults who long to take their new relationship “to the next level.” But before they can, they find they must unburden themselves of the baggage they carry from past relationships. This wildly funny and heartbreakingly tender story was a huge success at the 2004 Senior Theatre Festival in Las Vegas.