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Ross Howard

ROSS HOWARD  (1978 - )

 Nationality:    British
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    The Gersh Agency, NY  represented by Quinn M Corbin


Ross Howard's plays have received full productions notably in London, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City. Hailing from Lancashire, England, he was invited to join the Royal Court Theatre Young Writer's Group in 2002. In April 2008, he received a Playwright Fellowship from the Edward F. Albee Foundation. "Arthur and Esther" was awarded "Best of Fringe" at Las Vegas Fringe Festival in June 2010, while "No One Loves Us Here" was a finalist for the New York Stage and Film Founders Award 2012. Ross holds an M.F.A in playwriting from the University of Nevada and has since taught undergraduate theatre and playwriting classes in Central California. On returning to the UK, he now lives in London.

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below is a list of Ross Howard's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

 11Am With Dr. Rupert, The         Arthur And Esther         Enlightened         Frisky & The Panda Man         Funhouse Of Mirrors, A         Hankerbox, The         Man Called Turd, A         No One Loves Us Here         Our Prospects For The Coming Season         Relinquish         Rules Of Assortment         Staying At Dr. Brown's         Thackers Of Westchester, The         Viewing, The         Who We Found Instead

11Am With Dr. Rupert, The

Synopsis:
The dying minutes of the eleventh hour with Dr. Rupert and Nurse Whitehall.

Notes:
As part of An evening of short plays "Made In Britain"

1st Produced:
LOST Theatre, London    Nov 2011

Company:
Made From Scratch Theatre Company

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Arthur And Esther

Synopsis:
Small town librarian arthur Huey's world is crumbling. His best friend Chuck's was too, but wooing Esther as a Homo erectus and chasing her around his museum with a spear meant that things got better for Chuck. Not so for arthur. He's lost his library which is being turned into office space. Bad enough, but when you are a direct descendant of the man who invented the Dewey Decimal Classification System there's a legacy at stake; a history. If arthur's wife was around things might be okay. But arthur's wife is, in fact, Esther, the woman chased around the museum by Chuck. Is there a way back for this star crossed couple? and where will this be?

Notes:
Facebook.com/arthurandesther. Winner of "Best of Fringe" At Las Vegas Fringe Festival 2010

1st Produced:
The Studio @ Cherry Lane, New York International Fringe Festival    Aug 2007

Company:
New York International Fringe Festival

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Monologues/ Black Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Enlightened

Synopsis:
It's been months since Rupert's funeral and young widow Jane hasn''t heard a peep out of "friends" Margaret and alan. at a coffee shop, plain Jane discovers why she has been omitted from their progressive social circle and how she just might be too CaucAsian.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Linton Theatre Workshop    Apr 2011

Company:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act/Satire

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Frisky & The Panda Man

Synopsis:
Lost love, lost world, last panda.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Company:
Palimpsest Theatre

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Funhouse Of Mirrors, A

Synopsis:
Intimacy can lead to distortion. Six people. Familiar environments transformed by laughs, silences, touches, and glances. attraction caught up in manipulation. The said and the unsaid are pieces in a puzzle. an immersive experience in the obsessive games that can rule us.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Menier Gallery, London    Mar 2012

Company:
Flying Orchard

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hankerbox, The

Synopsis:
Janice brings a box to husband Kenneth's workplace at lunchtime. What is it?

Notes:
Staged reading At ADC Theatre, Cambridge As part of "Naked Stage" October 2011

1st Produced:
-    -

Company:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act/Surrealist

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Man Called Turd, A

Synopsis:
11pm on November 1st, The Day of the Dead. art gallery curator Roger Wagstaff and wife anthea visit a Tuscan graveyard to pay tribute to Roger's ancestor, Italian war hero Giancarlo alberto Francescoli. Only trouble is, Gramps is no longer there. He's recently been exhumed and replaced. Roger must do all he can if he is to get the Day of the Dead he was planning on.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Company:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act/Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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No One Loves Us Here

Synopsis:
When the Native American Washington gets invited to stay in the Beaumont's guest house, Mr. Beaumont thinks he'll get one thing from the arrangement. But just as Mrs. Beaumont avidly tends to her front yard, so Washington decides to do some pruning himself and it's Mrs. Beaumont who stands to gain. No One Loves Us Here is a black comic portrait of love, obsession, the aspiration of youth and a crumbling white collar class.

Notes:
Finalist for the New York Stage And Film Founders Award 2012

1st Produced:

Company:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Black Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Our Prospects For The Coming Season

Synopsis:
A footballer from the developing world arrives in Milton Keynes, while a young woman goes into labour somewhere else nearby.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Company:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Relinquish

Synopsis:
a mother agrees to meet her son for the first time in 30 years. 30 years since she gave him up for adoption . . . but there is one unusual condition to the reunion.

Notes:
Recipient of Davey Marlin-Jones Award for Best Short Play

1st Produced:
Paul Harris Theatre    May 2005

Company:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act/ Serio-comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Rules Of Assortment

Synopsis:
at a bank's sorting centre a new employee's ambivalence to the confectionery around the office raises suspicion of his commitment to the company.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Linton Theatre Workshop    Apr 2011

Company:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act/Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Staying At Dr. Brown's

Synopsis:
a literature professor and Robert Browning aficionado holds a student hostage in his basement, convinced that she's his Elizabeth Barrett. Emma just won't play along and it's been four days now . . . or five, depending on who you believe, and the power struggle is about to end.

Notes:
Staged reading At ADC Theatre, Cambridge As part of "Naked Stage" January 2010

1st Produced:
Paul Harris Theatre    Apr 2005

Company:
Nevada Conservatory Theatre

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act/Thriller

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Thackers Of Westchester, The

Synopsis:
Philanthropists Ferdinand and Constance Thacker are wealthy, British doctors running a free woman's healthcare clinic in Miami-Dade County, Florida. They're also trying for baby, but having no such luck. When local cleric and activist, Humberto Fonseca, promises them an orphan from his compound, things seem to be looking up. The only problem is that this Cuban-American orphan is handsome Esteban Recoba Rivero, and he's about to turn eighteen. With a teenager now thrust upon them, and their attempts to conceal the nature of their practice from the ultra- conservative cleric, the Thackers soon find themselves at loggerheads with the anti-Socialist hysteria of the Cuban exile community in Miami. Life in the sunny paradise of South Florida becomes complicated for these mischievous Brits abroad. The Thackers of Westchester is an outrageously dark, and comic romp exploring sexual politics, international politics and just what a husband and wife can go through when both the marital bed, and the quest to have a child of their own, is well and truly at stake.

Notes:
In current development As A musical.

1st Produced:
-    -

Company:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Satirical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Viewing, The

Synopsis:
a dream house in an occupied foreign land. Is it worth what it costs?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Company:
In Company Theatre/Off Cut Festival

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act/ Black comedy/drama/political allegory

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Who We Found Instead

Synopsis:
US intelligence has found a miniature golf course in the mountains of Tora Bora. Surveillance has captured what appears to be a tall man roaming around the area with a stick. They think it could be Osama Bin Laden. It could be just someone playing miniature golf. It could even be Osama Bin Laden playing miniature golf. Private Garfunkel and Private Simon are sent to check it out and discover that war can be quite romantic.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Pillsbury House Theatre, Minneapolis    Aug 2007

Company:
Minnesota Fringe Festival

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act/Romance

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Apart from very popular and world touring productions, many performing arts events are largely forgotten about in a matter of months. Traces may remain in various collections, but few collecting agencies, such as libraries, catalogue each flyer or program individually. Hence, unless one knows that an event took place at a certain time in a certain place, tracking down such an event as part of a research project is often a matter of chance. Where research needs to be carried out on high profile and well-documented productions only, this is not a problem. However, both the historian and the analyst will attest that the cultural, political, or sociological context in which a performing arts event takes place is also of major importance, as are the other events that took place in close proximity, either in place or time. A good overview of such productions provides us with a 'social document' that can greatly enhance cultural studies in ways that extend far beyond the narrow confines of theatre history. For instance, data such as this can be used to monitor the health of communities, particularly when used in association with data obtained from other social science disciplines. When one researches a particular playwright one might want to know about all the productions of plays by that author; if one wants to investigate what choices a particular audience had over a period of history and compare this to, say, an ethnic breakdown of the population, one would need to know broadly all the events that took place during that time. If one wanted to do a statistical analysis on the shift in popularity of a genre over one or more generations, it is important to have knowledge of most of the relevant major and minor performance events that took place. In this context, issues of aesthetic quality and the professionalism of a production - which will of course have an impact on such studies - are not the determining factors when deciding to include or exclude events, since all events are the raw material for such research.