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Dramatists Play Service, NY

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Comedy Drama

Comedy

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2

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Notes:
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Synopsis:
The Friday night poker game in George Herrick's basement has been a tradition for the past thirty years. George is the quintessential family man while his best friend, Holly, is a crusty old bachelor with a mouth that could alienate the most patient of saints. During a particularly trying Friday evening, when only one other player has shown up, George collapses. Upon his return from the hospital, George tells Holly the doctor's have discovered a brain tumor and he must go back in for a dangerous operation. In a funny and moving scene the friends plan for the worst should it happen, even to making funeral arrangements, and we see the love the men have for each other. George does die, and there is renewal mixed with loss when George's son continues the rite of the game, and lifelong misogynist Holly is forced to make a final sacrifice and allow a woman to join the table. The healing begins, and we realize the humor, courage and sensitivity we've associated with George are basic elements of our humanity.

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Dramatists Play Service, NY

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Comedy

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Notes:
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Synopsis:
It's 1909 and Herbert Bracewell has retired to the attic of his New York home with plans to stage a comeback in a one-man review of his long, if undistinguished career. He assembles five antique match-lit footlights to mark a playing area and proceeds to ad-lib ideas for his show, straining to pull down dusty manuscripts from atop overflowing shelves of vintage souvenirs, using a stunt dummy to play off of, and conferring often with his pet, a stuffed crow. Herbert's wife, Florence, thirty years his junior and once a great success as an actress, comes to call her husband to bed and is caught up in his production plans, first with good-humored derision, then with the suggestion that she join him in the comeback attempt. Through a series of barbs, playful reminiscences, and impromptu "performances," we learn of the strains this relationship has enduredFlorence's infidelity and successand that Herbert is endearingly closer to losing his mind than we thought. But we also sense that, through it all, husband and wife have been sustained by the magic of theatre, their first love.