Bridgette Dutta Portman, Playwright and Author
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One-Act Plays

Ptolemy Epiphanes

Synopsis: Ptolemy V Epiphanes, Greek pharaoh of Egypt, struggles to crush an uprising by native Egyptians, but his own cruelty may prove his undoing.
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 45 minutes
Cast: 5
Read on the NPX.

Red Star, Blue Star

Synopsis: A woman on Earth and a man on Mars try to maintain their relationship across forty million miles of space, but there is more than distance separating them.
Genre: Drama (Zoom-friendly)
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast: 2

​Read on the NPX.

​Exposure

Synopsis:  A king attempts to leave his infant nephew to die of exposure on a hillside, but a passing shepherd has seen this story before. A spoof on a classical trope.
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast:  2
Read on the NPX.


Mister the Bear

Synopsis:  Brian is haunted by the spirit of his sister Cara, who died in childhood. What does she want from him, and what does an old teddy bear have to do with it?
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast:  2
Read on the NPX.


Wave-Walker

Synopsis:  Returning to the beach where her young daughter drowned, a woman demands an apology from the personification of violent waves.
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast: 2
​Read on the NPX.


A Mind Full of Venom

Synopsis:  While in Rome in 1616, Galileo receives an unexpected visitor: Father Tommaso Caccini, the very man who denounced him and reported him to the Inquisition. Has Caccini come to apologize, as he claims, or does he have other motives?
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast:  2
Read on the NPX.


Hedetet, or Don't Eat Your Offspring

Synopsis:  An anxious and overwhelmed new mother invokes three ancient Egyptian goddesses of birth and childcare — including the scorpion-goddess, Hedetet — to seek their advice on how to care for her newborn. Hedetet is the least nurturing of the trio, and her advice is ignored and ridiculed until it is she who manages to connect with the new mother in an unexpected way.
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast: 4
Read on the NPX.


Stella Wind

Synopsis:  Stephanie is an ordinary high school student by day, superhero by night. When her extracurricular activities begin to take a negative toll on her grades, her mother insists she put school first. A spoof on the teen superhero genre.
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast: 2
Read on the NPX.

The Ills We Do

Synopsis:  Emma worries that her sister Mona may be in an abusive relationship. Mona insists that everything is fine. As Emma struggles to convince Mona to leave her husband, it becomes apparent that Mona isn't the only one in denial. A short contemporary adaptation of Act 4, Scene 3 of Othello.
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 10 minutes

Cast:  2
Read on the NPX.​


The Eighth Circle

Synopsis: A corrupt politician and his wife find themselves in the eighth circle of Dante's Inferno. Can they swindle their way out?
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast: 3
Read on the NPX.


The Pequod Meets the Ocean Steward

Synopsis:  Captain Ahab runs into a snag when an anti-whaling activist sabotages his ship. 
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast: 2
​Read on the NPX.


Bellona, or the Mother of All Bombs

Synopsis:  A monologue from the perspective of the nuclear bomb that will end the world.
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 5 minutes
Cast:  1
Read on the NPX.



Planetary Dynamics

Synopsis:  A pun-filled office comedy featuring the eight planets (and Pluto).
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 25 minutes
Cast:  8
Read on the NPX.



Wheel of Fortuna

Synopsis:  Fortuna is the host of the most popular gameshow in ancient Rome, but she finds it unbearably boring — she already knows the outcome of every spin of the wheel. When the tedium finally gets to her and she calls it quits in the middle of a game, the slighted contestants must convince her to continue and let them live out their fortunes. In the process, they argue over whether free will is an illusion, whether the future can be changed, and whether the universe is probabilistic or deterministic.
Genre:
 Comedy
Running Time: 30 minutes
Cast:  5
Coming Soon: Read on the NPX


A Bakers' Dozen

Synopsis:  Grace and Joseph Baker don't believe in birth control, and they have thirteen children to show for it. What happens when their oldest daughter, Beatrix, decides she wants to start using contraception?
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast: 3
​Coming Soon: Read on the NPX

Murder

Synopsis: Vince is tormented by crows every time he goes outside. Do the birds seek revenge for an injured chick, or Is it all in his head?
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast: 2
Coming soon: Read on the NPX

The Suicide Coaster

Synopsis:  Laurel must convince her wacky family not to ride a roller coaster designed to kill its passengers.
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast: 4

Coming soon: Read on the NPX

Brew, Drink, Repeat

Synopsis: Joe enters Mobius Coffee one morning — and finds he cannot leave. Can he find a way out with the help of the ditzy barista, or will he remain stuck in a space-time glitch forever?
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast: 2
Coming soon: Read on the NPX

Jinshin Jiko

Synopsis: Morgan, an American businesswoman, has an important presentation to deliver to her colleagues in Japan. When the Tokyo train she is riding stalls due to a “Jinshin Jiko” (human accident; a euphemism for a train suicide), things take a turn for the surreal.
Genre: Drama/thriller
Running time: 10 minutes
Cast: 4
Coming soon: Read on the NPX

Auto-Incorrect

Synopsis: Nate tries to impress Claire on a first date, but his brain begins to auto-correct his speech.
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 10 minutes
Cast: 2
Coming soon: Read on the NPX

The Lost Melody

Synopsis: On the eve of his mother’s funeral, Anthony is obsessed with identifying an old piece of classical music from an unlabeled cassette tape she once gave him. But his quest is interrupted when his estranged father shows up.
Genre: Drama
Running time: 10 minutes
Cast: 2
Coming soon: Read on the NPX
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