‘The Value of Verity,’ just published by Pioneer Drama.

Not everyone is who they claim to be in this extremely clever and hilarious modern high-school adaptation (with a female lead!) of the classic Oscar Wilde dual-life comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest.

Jean Worthing isn’t fully satisfied with East High School and becomes a “bi-schoolerist,” creating the fictitious persona Verity so she can attend East High for academics and West High for extracurricular activities.  Through her club involvement at West High, she develops a nice friendship with Alicia, as well as a crush on Alicia’s brother, Finnegan.

But the fictional “Verity” slips up, and Alicia finds out about the fib.  She is at first outraged, then intrigued as she learns that Verity — that is, Jean — has a handsome brother Grayson who also attends East High and who just so happens to be dateless for the upcoming prom.  So what’s stopping Alicia from using the fictional identity of Verity to her own advantage?

When the two Veritys end up at prom together at the same time, it takes the humor, wit, and wisdom of Oscar Wilde to save the day!

Read more here: The Value of Verity

Waiting for Vaccine

ACT I

An apartment. A couch.

Evening.

Walt sits on the couch.

Enter Eddie, wearing a face mask.

Eddie tries to take off his face mask. He gives up, exhausted, then tries again

EDDIE:   Nothing to be done.

WALT:   I’m beginning to come around to that opinion. Let me embrace you.

EDDIE:   Six feet!

WALT:   Yes. May one inquire where you’ve been?

EDDIE:   The supermarket.

WALT:   And they beat you?

EDDIE:   Certainly, they beat me.

WALT:   For what?

EDDIE:   I tried to take the last box of oatmeal.

WALT:   You should’ve ordered from Amazon. On the other hand, we should’ve stocked up on dry goods a million years ago, in 2019.

Continue reading “Waiting for Vaccine”

Tartuffe of the Upper East Side

Tartuffe by Moliere

A Play in One Act

A luxurious penthouse.

DORINE              

Should we wake him, Laurent? It’s nearly noon.

LAURENT           

Leave him be and let snoring be his tune.
We can hope he falls into a coma.
On this planet, he’s a melanoma.

DORINE              

You take him too seriously, I’m afraid.
When all he does is get drunk and get laid.

LAURENT           

I don’t care that he drinks himself blotto
While pretending to pray in a grotto.
It’s when he claims that his frivolities
Are the result of innate qualities
That I want to drag him from this gilded cage
And make him live on our pay, minimum wage.

Continue reading “Tartuffe of the Upper East Side”