Full-Length Plays

Ageless, or the Revolt of the Flesh

Synopsis: Ninety is the new thirty at the turn of the 22nd century. When Marin refuses to take the anti-aging drug celebrated by the rest of society, she invokes her mother's ire and risks becoming marginalized in a culture that worships youth, denies death, and treats old age as a malady. When Marin's choice begins to affect not only her but the people she loves, will she hold out, or cave to social pressure?
Genre: Drama
Running Time: Approx. 90 minutes
Cast: 4 women, 2 men
Notes: My first play set in the future, Ageless is about mothers and daughters, mortality, aging, denial, and forgiveness. It was developed with Quantum Dragon Theatre as part of their Forge program. It had a staged reading in November 2016 and will be produced later this year as part of their 2017-18 season.

​Caeneus and Poseidon

Synopsis: A verse play inspired by the Greek myth of Caeneus, a young man who begins his life as Caenis, assigned female. After the sea-god Poseidon grants his wish for a new body, Caeneus feels compelled to hide his former identity from all but his closest friend, Hippodamia, as he seeks the acceptance of his kinsmen and community. But as he and Hippodamia begin a relationship that challenges their society’s strict social order, and as a vengeful Poseidon works behind the scenes to bring about Caeneus’ downfall, the young man must find the strength to openly embrace his identity and his past.
Genre: Drama
Running Time: Approx. 90 minutes
Cast: 5 men (incl. 1 transgender man), 3+ women,
Notes: Dialogue is in blank verse, while chorus speaks in rhymed anapestic lines. This play was originally written as a one-act for the 2012 San Francisco Olympians Festival and had a staged reading in 2012. A full-length version was read with the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco (PCSF) in 2013, and with City Lights Theater Company in 2014. The play was a finalist in Pride Films and Plays 2013 Women’s Work competition and in the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation's 2014 new play contest. It was produced in March 2017 as part of the Second Stages series at Dragon Theatre in Redwood City, CA. For more information about that production, visit our website for the show, www.poseidonplay.com.


La Fée Verte

Synopsis:   When France bans absinthe in 1914, struggling poet Marmion fears he will lose his only source of inspiration. He authors a petition against the ban, aided by Dennis, a suicidally depressed bartender who drinks in order to hallucinate his deceased fiancée. But Marmion’s brother Mallory, a Catholic priest with his own secret addiction, is determined to keep the ban in place. As the three men’s agendas clash, each must discover the source of his dependence on the “Green Fairy.”
Genre:  Comedy
Cast:  3 men, 1 woman
Running time:  Approx. 2 hours
Notes:  A lighter piece, written after I was introduced to absinthe. (I don’t care for the taste, actually.) I wanted to tell a story about the things people use to invest their lives with meaning — whether religion, love, or even art — and the dangers of becoming too dependent on any of them. It received staged readings at the Playwrights' Center of San Francisco, the Pear Avenue Theatre, and Paper Wing Theatre, before being produced by Acadiana Repertory Theatre in Lafayette, LA in February 2016.


Croesus, or the Autonomous Man

Synopsis:   After waging an ill-considered war on Persia, King Croesus has been imprisoned, along with his wife, Lissandra, and mute son, Lydus, while the victorious King Cyrus determines their fate. Lissandra hopes to be spared, but Croesus, tormented by his own powerlessness and lack of freedom, yearns only to be executed. Meanwhile, Cyrus’ resentful son Cambyses and sympathetic daughter Atossa have their own wishes for the captives. Set in ancient Lydia, “Croesus” explores the age-old question of freedom versus determinism: Are human beings at liberty to choose their own paths, or slaves to forces outside of their control? And, if the latter, how can life still be worthwhile?
Genre:  Drama/tragedy
Cast:  5 men, 2 women
Running time:  Approx. 90 minutes
Notes:  I’m fond of this play. It has a rather unusual theme, and some elements that I think could be very dramatic — like Croesus’ funeral pyre. This play had a developmental reading with PCSF in October 2011.