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MARK SCHARF (1956 - ) |
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Nationality: USA Email: Click here to contact Website: Click here to visit |
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Literary Agent: n/a |
Mark Scharf's plays have received readings and productions in London, New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, Va, Charlottesville, Va., Washington D.C., Indiana, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Texas, Australia, Beijing and Singapore. Mark's awards include The 2009 Maryland State Theatre Festival's Special Award for Best Original Script, The Northern Virginia Theatre Alliance's 2008 Award for Best Original Script, The Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence, 2008, The 2006 Arts and Letters Prize in Drama, First Place Best Play and First Place Best Production in the 2002 Baltimore Playwrights Festival, three Individual Artist Awards for Playwriting from the Maryland State Arts Council (1989, 1993 & 2005), 2nd Place in the Hinton Battle Theatre Lab's 2005 Reading Series, Best Production in the 1998 Baltimore Playwrights Festival, two New Works Theatre Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting Awards (1992 & 1994), the Maryland State Theatre Festival Association's Best New Script Award (1995), and the Montgomery Playhouse Literary Prize (1995). Mark has served as Playwright-in-Residence for Theatre Virginia's New Voices for the Theatre Program in Richmond, Virginia, teaches Playwriting as a guest artist at the University of Mary Washington, and has taught creative writing at Howard Community College. Mark was also asked to serve as a Thesis Advisor for the Johns Hopkins University 2005/2006 M.A. in Writing program. Mark has also given seminars on Playwriting at the National Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, and has been a guest speaker at The University of Mary Washington, The University of Virginia, and for the Baltimore Playwrights Festival and the Maryland Writer's Alliance. Mark served three terms as Chairman of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival (2003-2006) and is a former member of the Fells Point Corner Theatre Board of Directors. Mark has an MFA in Playwriting from the University of Virginia and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
Plays by Mark Scharf
Beltway Roulette | ||
| 1st Produced: | Spotlighters, Baltimore | 07 Jul 2000 | ||||
Company: | Baltimore Playwrights Festival | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #140486 | |||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Blue Mermaid | ||
| 1st Produced: | Fell's Point Corner Theater, Baltimore | 2005 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #94190 | |||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Synopsis: | An ageing painter lives alone and paints. One day her grad daughter arrives wanting to know family secrets | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Empire's Fall | ||
| 1st Produced: | Mobtown Players, Baltimore | 10 Jun 2004 | ||||
Company: | Baltimore Playwrights Festival | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #140487 | |||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Falling Grace | ||
| 1st Produced: | Washington, D.C. | 1995 | ||||
Company: | The Source Theatre | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #30919 | |||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 4 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Falling Grace is a small-town family drama with strong mystical elements. Grace goes sky diving with her fiance and inexplicably survives a fall after her chutes fail to open. The parish priest comes calling, talking of miracles. A neighbor asks Grace to lay hands on her and cure her cancer. Spooked, and with her emotions are in turmoil, Grace refuses to see the hand of God in any of it. Each character brings different points of view to the question of her survival; from faith to rationalism via pragmatism and skepticism. This play treats religion not in a sectarian way or as fundamentalism, but as simply the effect an extraordinary occurrence can have on ordinary people. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Fortune's Child | ||
| 1st Produced: | - - - | - - - | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #139942 | |||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Notes: | Fortune's Child A free staged reading of the 2012 Todd McNerney National Playwriting contest runner-up written by Mark Scharf, Dramatists Guild member and MFA from the University of Virginia. Fortune's Child is the bittersweet story of Susan (a woman dying of ovarian cancer), her brother, Mike (a widower still learning to cope), his daughter/her niece, Sarah (a young woman stretching to grow up) and her boyfriend, Brian (a young man of modest ambition) and their learning that "letting go" is th | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Freefall | ||
| 1st Produced: | Baltimore, Md | 2001 | ||||
Company: | Uncommon Voices | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #30920 | |||
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Genre: | Comedy Drama Comedy | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | What do you do when you've finally had enough? What do you say to someone who not only won't play by the rules but refuses to even play the game?One day, a white-collar worker named Joe got a migraine headache and called in sick to work. He never returned - nor did he call, write, fax, send e-mail a telegram or send up a flare. Finally, to see what has happened, Joe's office mate and friend Dennis arrives at Joe's apartment. Dennis discovers Joe in bathrobe and flip flops luxuriating in a sea of empty bottles and pizza boxes. Joe has happily decided to quit everything and enjoy "quality time all the time." FREE FALL is a twisted little comedy that tracks what happens when a man who has decided not to care must deal with one who still does - a battle between common sense and a deeper human need for something more. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Get Stuffed | ||
| 1st Produced: | 2005 | |||||
Company: | Spotlighters Theatre | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #68223 | |||
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Genre: | One Act | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 2 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | When Marty Evans was a seven year old boy, he and his oversized stuffed bear Furball were inseparable - they talked about everything. But when Marty got older, he became embarrassed by his attachment to the bear and Furball was exiled to the attic. It wasn't until after college, while searching the attic for things for his new apartment that Marty rediscovered and rescued his old friend. Soon, it's just like old times with Marty talking to Furball - and the bear talking back. Of course, Marty is the only one who can hear Furball talk. GET STUFFED mixes fantasy and realism to examine our need to communicate -- including the things we shouldn't say and the ways we shouldn't say them - as well as our need for acceptance, love and a place to belong we call home regardless of what others think | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Hired Gun | ||
| 1st Produced: | Theatrical Mining Company, Baltimore | 29 Jul 2012 | ||||
Company: | Baltimore Playwrights Festival | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #140488 | |||
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Genre: | Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Is it better to burn out than fade away - in rock and roll it is | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Keeping Faith | ||
| 1st Produced: | Chesapeake Arts Center | 17 Jul 2008 | ||||
Company: | Baltimore Playwrights Festival | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #104264 | |||
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Genre: | Comedy | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Ed and Jane are appalled when their 18 year old daughter Faith says she is going to marry a forty five year old furniture tycoon. So the day before the wedding they kidnap her and head for the hills | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Last Night At The Owl Bar | ||
| 1st Produced: | 2007 | |||||
Company: | Chesapeake Arts Center | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #68224 | |||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 3 | ||
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Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Last Night at the Owl Bar employs direct audience address, actors playing multiple characters and even stand-up comedy to tell the story of Jonathan Caldwell, a theatre director who is having trouble directing his own life. In an effort to gain control, Jonathan takes "side trips" in his mind to Afghanistan, Mayberry RFD, Paris and Alaska, relying on the audience's imagination to create each location via projected images and sound and light cues. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Like White On Rice | ||
| 1st Produced: | Center Stage, New York City | 1998 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Brooklyn Publishers | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #40479 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Ten Min | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Synopsis: | Ten minutes of cliches might not seem to amount to much. But Scharf's singular achievement is that, using everything from worn-out pick-up lines ("What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?") to threadbare quotations from sources as wide-ranging as Alcoholics Anonymous and Shakespeare, he succeeds in establishing a fleeting romantic triangle between a young woman (Cindy Spearman) in a bar and the two men (C. Dan Bursi and Jerry Gietka) who are competing to pick her up. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Lizard Brains | ||
| 1st Produced: | - - - | - - - | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #104265 | |||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Machine, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | - - - | - - - | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #140489 | |||
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Genre: | Short play | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 3 | ||
Parts other: | 7 either sex | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Ivy keeps secret that she is a piano prodigy in the hope of being accepted for herself at her new High School | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Mean Reds, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | Baltimore, Md | 1998 | ||||
Company: | Vagabond Theatre | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #30921 | |||
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Genre: | Comedy/Drama Comedy | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 4 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
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Synopsis: | The Mean Reds is a bittersweet "dramady" written as an ensemble piece. The play takes place on Mike Drennon's birthday, a normally happy occasion that Mike would prefer to ignore because he's in the grip of The Mean Reds. In this condition he's depressed, quite cranky, and very vocally temperamental - he's prone to go off on a rant at the slightest provocation. The cause of his condition is Rose, Mike's alcoholic wife of sixteen years. Mike has raised the kids, cleaned and managed the house, nursed her through binges and finally gotten her into a recovery program. In gratitude, Rose has taken the kids and left him for Ritchie, another recovering addictive personality who can "relate to where she is because he's been there himself." Attempting to cajole Mike out of The Mean Reds are Mike's mother, Caroline, a family court judge; his best friend, Greg; Greg's girlfriend Mary Jo; and Faith, an old girlfriend from happier times. An impromptu birthday party instigated to lighten Mike's mood veers off target | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Memory Garden | ||
| 1st Produced: | Fells Point Corner Theatre, Baltimore, Maryland | 2006 | ||||
Company: | Fells Point Corner Theatre | |||||
| 1st Published: | in issue 17 of the Arts & Letters Journal, | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #68222 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 1 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Do you ever wonder about the story behind the roadside crosses and memorials you pass by while driving? Who the person was and how they lost their life? And what happens to those that remain behind? In MEMORY GARDEN, Angie is a young widow with two small daughters who devotes herself to maintaining a roadside memorial where her husband lost his life. She has become such a familiar sight that neighbors beep their horns to say hello as they pass. When a man claiming to be a reporter stops to get her story, Angie unexpectedly finds the answers to her unanswered questions about what happened on that terrible day. MEMORY GARDEN examines how we deal with the anger, longing and confusion brought about by loss -- and the ways in which we try to hang on to and let go of the past in order to keep living | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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No Riders | ||
| 1st Produced: | Directors Choice Theater, Baltimore | 07 Jul 2000 | ||||
Company: | Baltimore Playwrights Festival | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #140490 | |||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Notes: | - | |||||
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Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Replay | ||
| 1st Produced: | Spotlighters, Baltimore | 10 Aug 2012 | ||||
Company: | Baltimore Playwrights Festival | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #140491 | |||
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Genre: | One act | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Every night at 4.30 Leanne appears in Josh's bedroom - but is she real or a figment of his imagination? | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Scorpions | ||
| 1st Produced: | Fells Point Corner Theater, Baltimore | 06 Aug 2010 | ||||
Company: | Baltimore Playwrights Festival | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #140492 | |||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Second Star To The Right | ||
| 1st Produced: | Spotlighters, Baltimore | 07 Aug 1992 | ||||
Company: | Baltimore Playwrights Festival | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #140493 | |||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Slower Delaware | ||
| 1st Produced: | Harbour Theatre, Baltimore | 03 Jun 1994 | ||||
Company: | Baltimore Playwrights Festival | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #140494 | |||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
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Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Whispers Of Saints, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | Baltimore, Md | 2002 | ||||
Company: | Uncommon Voices | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #30922 | |||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 2 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Won Both Best Play And Best Production In The 21St Annual Baltimore Playwrights Festival | |||||
Synopsis: | This play explores a mother-daughter relationship thrown into painful conflict with the presence of the mother's much younger lover. Catherine is a psychiatrist who has lost her license because of her affair with David, a patient one-third her age. The lovers have retreated to Catherine's beach house. Laura, Catherine's freshly divorced daughter, arrives seeking answers and revenge for the way her life has turned out. The play examines the destructiveness of intolerance, its beginning in the family, and that sometimes the "younger generation" is inflexible and judgmental. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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White On Rice | ||
| 1st Produced: | Fells Point Corner Theater, Baltimore | 07 Aug 1998 | ||||
Company: | Baltimore Playwrights Festival | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent, where listed, at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #140495 | |||
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Genre: | n/a | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | n/a | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Wilderness | ||
| 1st Produced: | The Mobtown Players, Baltimore Md | 2003 | ||||
Company: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Brooklyn Publishers | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #40480 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Play/Drama | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | Killer rabbits in the suburbs must be stopped! In this bittersweet and poignant comedy, recently widowed Spencer faces the lawnmower police and wrath of his neighbors when he decides to let nature take its course with his yard. Just where does the reach of your arm end and the beginning of your neighbor's nose begin? | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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