Dan’s Plays

I write plays! Some have won awards. Want to stage them? You can! Here’s some of the better ones to choose from. Check out a sample, then email me at dgibbins(at)writingtherapyproductions.com to get a full script and arrange performance rights.

Blood of The Red Queen

(mystery, full length, 4f, 6m)

Los Angeles, 1947. Two years after Victory Over Europe, the drums of a whole new war start to beat when the body of the Red Queen of Wonderland turns up in an LA alleyway. Was it Wonderland survivor Alice Liddell? Does princess of Oz and nightclub owner Dorothy Gale know something about Oz’s involvement? What light can Neverland matriarch Wendy Darling shed? Former naval officer turned private detective Jim Hawkins, specialist in Other Lands cases, must find a killer before tensions between Oz, Wonderland, and Neverland spill into America… and before the bodies pile up higher.

Sample

Blood of the Red Queen: Citizen Smee

(mystery, full length, 5f, 4m)

Two years after the Red Queen Murders, the leaders of Oz and Wonderland have come to Los Angeles for a peace summit. But when young Queen Ozma goes missing, it’s once again up to PI Jim Hawkins to uncover the truth. Has the White Queen made a retaliatory strike? Is Glinda as Good a Witch as she claims? Or is the truth hidden in the Refugee Underground, a community of Other Land immigrants who might bear a grudge against their former masters? Especially with the former pirate known as Citizen Smee stoking the flames…

Sample

The Burning Pestle

(comedy, full length, 5f, 5m)

It’s opening night at Taranto Theatre, the debut of playwright-in-residence Phil Payton’s new show, Star Crossed. But major donor Eleanor Marsden, whose grant is keeping the company in business, was looking for something a little more action-packed, and suggests adding her assistant Raph as a new character: the Knight of the Burning Pestle! Company head Mera Lucas asks Phil to roll with the changes, forcing Phil and the company to create a new plot on the fly… while the company fights over which play is better, the old or the new.

Sample

Conventional Lunacy

(farce, full length, 7f, 5m)

It’s a big day for Red Letter Events: two massive events, one day, one building. On one side, the Slade/Wilson wedding, Red Letter’s ticket to high society events. On the other, the Sci-Fi Fantasy Supercon, the city’s biggest fan convention. The team has to struggle to keep both events running smoothly despite freak-outs from the wedding party, a difficult to please mother-of-the-groom, demands from the convention’s star guests… and a duffel bag full of cocaine someone left in their prep room. Will they pull off twin events, or is the whole company heading to prison?

Sample

Dying on Stage

(farce/mystery, 1 act, 4f, 6m)

Live comedy show the Variety Invasion has been struggling for some time, but they’re finally turning it around, thanks to a guest appearance by legendary star of stage and screen Gareth Gardner. But things go south when actor Frankie Merch drops dead in the first sketch. Host Johnny Rayner and producer Mera Lucas must find a killer in the company… without the audience or Gareth Gardner noticing anything’s amiss. Which becomes harder as more bodies begin to turn up.

Sample

Fix Everything

(comedy/drama, full length, 3f, 4m)

When Zach’s wife died in a tragic accident, he felt he’d lost everything, only emerging from his grief to take a trip to clear his head. Now he’s come to a decision: instead of living his own life, he’s going to fix the lives of everyone around him, whether they asked for his help or not. But the plan hits a wrinkle when he’s reunited with a face from his time away: Natalie, a woman grapping with her own devastating loss. Zach and Natalie have a chance to move on with their lives, but running and hiding from their trauma seems easier. Why fix yourself, when you can fix everything?

Sample

Heracles: The Mythologically Accurate Adventures

(comedy, 1 act, cast variable)

Hark now to the legends of Heracles! The flawed Greek hero Heracles, son of Zeus, who inspired the timeless stories of Hercules. But those stories… left out some details. Here now is a hilarious, fast-moving journey through all the highs, lows, monsters, maidens, triumphs, and madness-induced killing sprees of Heracles.

Sample

Puss in Boots: The Master Cat

(theatre for young audiences, 1 act, 2m, 2f, 1 either)

Carl Millerson has a go-nowhere job and a futile crush on the wealthy Hope Climon, who lives under the thumb of her domineering aunt Hilda. But fear not, for all lives will be changed by the arrival of Puss in Boots, the Master Cat, whose cleverness is only matched by their unwillingness to think things through. Puss sets out to turn Carl into the Marquis of Carabas, a transformation that only requires teaching Carl to act noble, pronounce “Carabas…” and defeat that pesky ogre that terrorizes the town. How hard can that be?

Sample

Ungentlemanly Warfare

(drama, full length, 5f, 5m)

1944, Nazi Occupied France. With significant victories for both the Allies and the Axis, the outcome of this devastating conflict remains uncertain. To break this stalemate, the Allies unleash “Operation Overlord”. On the eve of the Battle of Normandy, Canadian soldier Jessica Keller is dispatched behind enemy lines by the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare; a secret British organization devoted to espionage and sabotage. Her mission? To secretly meet with an all-female resistance team fighting to liberate France; and hopefully save her brothers from service on the front line. But a simple mission of rendezvous quickly spirals out of control and before she knows it, Jessica and this rag tag group of saboteurs find themselves at the center of a conflict that could determine the course of the entire war.

Sample

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