Playwrights Directory
This directory contains unpublished scripts from Mississippi playwights. These scripts were submitted to the Mississippi Theatre Association's Playwriting Competition in 2008. Scripts will be added to this directory each year as a means of sharing the works of these Mississippi playwrights. Contact the author if you are interested in reading or producing one of these scripts. If you are a Mississippi playwright, consider submitting your script to our annual competition. For more information visit the competition site.
Altered, one-act
Written by Adele Elliott
2W, 1M (non speaking)
This play is a conversation between an elderly mother and her adult daughter. It takes place one year after Katrina. The daughter, who lost everything in her New Orleans home, tries to adjust to her mother’s life in a small Mississippi town. The dialogue is funny and poignant, featuring two very different points of view. Altered addresses individuality, adjustment and religious dogma. The play is about acceptance and adaptation under stressful circumstances…with just a touch of fantasy. It is one act, requires one set, and runs about thirty minutes.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact Adele Elliott at adeleelliott@bellsouth.net.
At the Floating Palace (2009 adult competition)
Written by Mary Dayle McCormick
(Second Place winner of the 2009 MTA Playwriting Competition.)
At the Floating Palace is a contemporary one-act monodrama. One summer afternoon on a Mississippi River gambling boat, a woman discovers her worth.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact the playwright at mdandhbm@bellsouth.net
The Bingo Game (2009 adult competition)
Written by Amy Bain
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact the playwright at abain@NMSH.state.ms.us
Blame the Fool (Youth 2009)
Written by Kristen Bankston, Biloxi High School
(Winner of the 2009 MTA Playwriting Competition – Youth Division.)
In the world of the 1600’s, everything is not as it seems. One day, young Lea is given a book from a market fool and discovers that everything that happens in that book comes to life in front of her eyes. Eventually she believe she is under a curse so when she reads that the only way to get Anthony, the love of her life, to love her back is to kill his wife, she has no other choice. It seems Lea’s life is going to end when Anthony still does not love her after she does the evil deed. In the end, she blames the fool’s cursed book and finds true love in Anthony’s brother, Scott.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact Kristen Bankston at soccerfanatic894@aol.com.
A Carp Named Cherry (2009 adult competition)
Written by Peggi Phillips
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact the playwright at john_phillips38804@yahoo.com
Crosses(2009 adult competition)
Written by Kevan Jenner Brown (2009 adult competition)
Crosses is what I call a “melodramedy” satirizing elements of Protestant fundamentalism in the Deep South.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact the playwright at kevan@cableone.net
Echoes of Merridy (Youth 2009)
Written by Jules Wood, Mississippi School of the Arts
Told in fairytale style inspired by Hans Christian Anderson, "Echoes of Merridy" follows a young, lonely woman with a beautiful singing voice. Her music had enthralled all the fairies in the surrounding hills, but after Merridy's loneliness consumes her desire to sing, the fairies revert back to their old, deceiving ways. Lecea, a beautiful and terrible queen, tries to cure Merridy's unhappiness by bestowing a child upon her, giving only one command: wash the baby's face every night with fairy water, but never touch it herself. Decades past, and Merridy's memory faded. She had many happy years with her fairy child. But one night, gazing at her wrinkled face, Merridy thought that the fairy water might make her younger, since it kept her son so beautiful. She splashed it on her face and consequently in her eyes - and suddenly she could see all the fairies previously invisible to her! They tore at her hair and clothes and took Aurum, her child, in their arms - when Lecea appeared. She threatened to take Aurum away because Merridy deceived her, laughing derisively that she had given up riches and immortality all because she wanted youth, but the now middle-aged woman cried out that her son was more important to her than any riches. At the end of the play, Lecea decides that Merridy deserves her son for being so selfless - but it is too late. Merridy is on her deathbed, because fairy time passes so much more slowly than mortal. Merridy passes away while her son lives forever, a fairy.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact Jules Wood at asylumbabe@hotmail.com.
The Friend Zone (2009 adult competition)
Written by Willie Mitchell III
The “Friend Zone” is a six-person, one-act play that involves a character named Aeden and his love interest, Semaj. The two are on a double date with a married couple -mutual friends, Damien and Michelle Black. After attending a movie, they dine at Deshundra’s Restaurant where the bulk of the dinner conversation and action occurs. At the restaurant table, Aeden discovers that he has been placed in the proverbial “Friend Zone” by Semaj and tries to find out why this is the case. Aeden will discover the reasons for being placed in the Friend Zone while explaining and justifying some of his actions that lead to this outcome. The story takes Aeden on a journey towards understanding the pursuit of love and the vulnerability that is required to obtain love and acceptance. Damien and Michelle serve as advisors to Aeden while providing perspective and insight on what he is doing to cause him to be labeled as “just a friend” and not a “lover” by Semaj. All in all, the story is one writer’s insight into why some women put men in the “Friend Zone” and why some men do the things that ultimately lead to that end.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact the playwright at Willie_Mitchell_iii@excite.com
A Glass Of Wine At Christmas (2009 adult competition)
Written by Ronny Broussard
The setting is a nice middle class home. While Matthew, a middle aged gay man, is talking on the phone with his over bearing mother there is an unexpected knock on the door. It's Johnathan, Matthew's ex-lover of 6 years, who after 5 long years seeks closure. Matthew’s memories of the break-up are "hazy" due to drugs and alcohol and his attempted suicide. Johnathan's are clearer, but the rumors of the night after he left have haunted him. The two come to terms with the event and are reminded that there are two sides to every story.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact the playwright at ronnys78@cableone.net
Heart of the Matter, one-act
Written by Marianne Hill
2M, 4W
The setting is Oklahoma City, April 1995. Katy, a junior in high school, has been killed in the Murrah Federal Building bombing. The play opens with a soliloquy by her grief-stricken mother Marlene, and then flashes back to Katy’s last day at school, the day before the bombing. At school, Katy and friends talk about their lives and loves, and what they will do after they graduate. Katy brings up Ruby Ridge and Waco. Katy, it seems, could have been the daughter Tim McVeigh never had, but she is his polar opposite in her love for people. A scene at Marlene’s office brings in an adult perspective on the future facing the young. As events of the day unfold, the audience is acutely aware that the lives of these ordinary, yet extraordinary, teens are about to take a terrible turn. The next day, as Marlene drops Katy at the Federal Building, they argue. In the aftermath of the bombing, Marlene and Katy’s friends struggle with their thoughts and feelings. Their conversations reflect their anguish, and a love of justice that is at heart an embrace of people, in stark contrast to the delusional self-righteousness of McVeigh.
For further information about this play, or others by this author, please contact Marianne Hill at mhill@mississippi.edu.
In the Garden (2009 adult competition)
Written by Megan Morrison
(Third Place winner of the 2009 MTA Playwriting Competition.)
High school sweethearts Ruth and Thomas once lived with Thomas’s mother Emily in her large farmhouse in the country. Ruth and Thomas, both artists, experimented with various mediums, cultivated a bountiful garden, and generally shined light and hope into Emily’s life. But when Thomas and Ruth were no longer a couple, Thomas left to seek his artistic fortune. Ruth, however, having no family of her own, stayed with Emily. Twenty years later, the women still occupy the farmhouse. Ruth, now in her 40s, is a matured furniture maker, and she and Emily have long since settled into a life of companionship. Then Thomas’s son, Nathan, arrives unexpectedly. As Nathan’s presence rekindles Emily’s desire for a houseful of family, Ruth is suddenly faced with rekindled desires of her own.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact the playwright at zamegan@hotmail.com
Lost in Ifugao (2009 adult competition)
Written by Angela Ward
Lost in Ifugao centers around Tessa Duvall, a young woman struggling to cope with the traumatic death of her boyfriend while both were Peace Corps volunteers. Although she was once outgoing and ambitious, she now finds herself unable to leave her apartment.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact the playwright at wardad12@hotmail.com
Memories (2009 adult competition)
Written by Heather Bourque
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact the playwright at hlb007@yahoo.com.
Moving Out on Tuesday (Youth 2009)
Written by Patti Brummett
(Second Place winner of the 2009 MTA Playwriting Competition – Youth Division.)
A teenage girl is sent to her eccentric aunt's house during the summer while her parents settle their divorce. While she thinks she's without love, her family and not-so family have a funny way of showing it and help her get through her summer without too much pain and embarrassment.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact Patti Brummett at patti.brummett@gmail.com.
My First Love (Youth 2009)
Written by Brittany Womack, Mississippi School of the Arts
(Third Place winner of the 2009 MTA Playwriting Competition – Youth Division.)
"My First Love" is a play proving that love conquers all. Chris, an alcoholic, is in danger of losing his marriage because of his habit of drinking. As Lori, his wife, tries to help him, she meets her long lost boyfriend, Reuben, also Chris's brother, with whom she had a relationship before he moved away to work. Lori and Reuben attempt to find the true meaning of love while Chris struggles with the question of whether or not alcohol is worth losing his family. This play was written to show the effects on alcoholism and how it can control a person's whole life. I hope that teens and adults can learn from this play.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact Brittany at Brittany.Womack@msa.k12.ms.us.
Reunion (2009 adult competition)
Written by Martha Carole Jones
Reunion describes middle-aged Martha Jane’s return to her hometown for a class reunion. She also has expectations of having quite another kind of reunion with Tommy, her long-ago first love. The story of Martha Jane and Tommy’s teen-age love affair, as told by the adult Martha Jane and in flashbacks with the teen-age Martha Jane, unfolds for the audience. What Martha Jane actually finds on the day of the reunion haunts her for months to come, and provokes her into asking herself unanswerable questions.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact the playwright at marthacarolejones@comcast.net
See Jane Quit (2009 Adult Competition)
Written by Beth Kander, Jackson, MS
(Winner of the 2009 MTA Playwriting Competition.)
See Jane. Jane is a chain-smoking, single, thirty-year-old waitress living with her aging-Southern-belle grandmother, Bessie. But her lifes not so bad - she has a calm, sweet big brother named James; her brother's wife, Diane, is her best friend; and there's finally a new romantic prospect in Jane's life: social activist Charles. The picture is pretty rosy - until, as Murphy's Law would have it, the day Jane decides to quit smoking. Her family is thrilled to hear the news... unfortunately, each of them has an upsetting secret they need to share with her, but now none of them want to stress her out and give her the excuse to light up. When the secrets start mounting, we get to see Jane's friends and family trip their way through a classic farce, all in the name of helping Jane quit smoking.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact Beth Kander at beth_kander@yahoo.com.
Terminal, one-act
Written by Beth Kander
1M, 3W
Sara and Melanie are two strangers waiting in an airport terminal. Their plane is delayed, and chatty Melanie keeps attempting to strike up a conversation with shy Sara. Just before they board their flight, Sara confesses she is going to visit her estranged, terminally ill father - and is surprised when Melanie offers back that she is going to visit her own terminally ill mother. In a series of airport trips, Sara and Melanie continue to cross paths - and as they laugh at other passengers (played by one male actor and one female actor, portraying multiple characters), share their stories, and surface their fears, the resulting conversations and friendship pushes shy Sara to open herself to connection. Without ever directly asking or answering it, Terminal dances around the question: would we notice if an angel sat beside us at the airport?
For further information about this play, or others by this author, please contact Beth Kander at beth_kander@yahoo.com.
Letting It Ride, one-act
Written by James Pfrehm
3W, 2M
(Winner of the 2008 MTA Playwriting Competition.)
Letting It Ride tells the story of a young married couple, financially strapped yet expecting their first child, and the standoff between them and the grandmother-to-be when the unexpected happens: their unborn child is diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Inevitably, the couple faces the hardest decision of their lives: have the baby and incur seemingly insurmountable hardship, or abort the pregnancy. Naturally, the grandmother-to-be has a very strong opinion on the matter; whether or not her daughter and son-in-law will listen, is another story...
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact James Phrehm at pfrehmj2001@yahoo.com.
The Watch They Keep, two-act
Written by Judy H. Tucker
2M, 3W
The elderly mother is sinking into senility. The young-middle-age children--one man, alcoholic Jack, two sisters, flighty Sis and deadly serious Sandy, are trying to hold the family and the homestead together. Mama has bestowed all of her gratitude and love and attention on Mary (never on stage) who was the wife of her deceased son Mitch. The family is visited by the preacher Brother Pistol who falls for flirtatious Sis, a married woman. The family tries to make peace with their mother, and understand their family history, as the former sinks further into dementia.
For more information about this play, or others by this author, please contact Judy Tucker at dtucker6@comcast.net