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Peter Parnell

PETER PARNELL

  (1953 - )
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC  

Born in New York City on August 21, 1953. Attended public schools on Long Island; B.A. from Dartmouth College, 1974, magna cum laude. Recipient: Reynolds Travelling Fellowship in Playwriting, 1975-76.

Research:    Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)

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

         Cider House Rules, The, Part 1 Here In St Cloud's         Cider House Rules, The, Part 2 In Other PArts Of the World         Dada Woof Papa Hot         Flaubert's Latest         Hunchback of Notre Dame, The         Hyde In Hollywood         Imaginary Life, An         On A Clear Day You Can See Forever         QED         Rise And Rise Of Daniel Rocket         Romance Language         Scooter Thomas Makes It To the Top Of the World         Sorrows Of Stephen         Trumpery         Young Tom Edison
Cider House Rules, The, Part 1 Here In St Cloud's

Synopsis:
Homer Wells is born in St. Cloud's, Maine and is returned so many times by so many foster families that he becomes the "boy who belonged to St. Cloud's." His medical education begins when he finds out that Dr. Larch saves not only babies, but mothers, too-by performing illegal abortions when necessary. Homer becomes Larch's brilliant medical apprentice, but the arrival of the handsome Wally Worthington and his beautiful girlfriend, Candy Kendall, sets Homer's mind and heart spinning-and sends him out into the world to experience life for the first time.

Notes:
novel by John Irving. Conceived by Tom Hulce, Jane Jones And Peter Parnell

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

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:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  10            Other:  flexible

Further Reference:
-

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Cider House Rules, The, Part 2 In Other PArts Of the World

Synopsis:
the aging Dr. Larch and his two nurses, Edna and Angela, try to keep the orphanage going while scheming to get Homer Wells to return, as Homer meets the world of the apple farm run by young Wally and finds himself drawn closer to Candy. the Second World War changes all three of their lives forever. A clandestine love affair, a new generation of lovers and a realization of what it means to truly be "of use," force Homer to finally make a choice about his heart and his home.

Notes:
novel by John Irving. Conceived by Tom Hulce, Jane Jones And Peter Parnell

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

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:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  9            Female:  10            Other:  doubling, flexible

Further Reference:
-

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Dada Woof Papa Hot

Synopsis:
Married couple Rob and Alan have a three year old daughter. Rob provided the sperm. Alan has noticed that Rob and their daughter Nicola are getting very close to the extent of cutting him out. Friend Jason who is also married and has a child too makes Alan an offer that he is not sure whether to refuse or not

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Atlantic Stage 2, New York    

Organisations:
About Face

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:
Gay drama full length

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Flaubert's Latest

Synopsis:
Felix, a blocked novelist, and his noticeably younger lover, Colin, are estranged but still in love. Felix, you see, is so obsessed by his admiration for the nineteenth-century master of French letters, Gustave Flaubert, that he fails to take any interest in either Colin's burgeoning choreography career or their relationship. their friends Ursula (a nutty summer stock actress, writer and part time spiritualist) and her husband, Howard, arrive for an outing, but while practicing her spiritual channeling Ursula accidentally conjures up Flaubert himself along with his faithful mistress of many years, Louise. they tell their startled twentieth-century hosts that they, too, have been fighting on and off about the way Flaubert neglects Louise and instead locks himself away to write for months at a time. Colin immediately sympathizes with Louise and he confides in her that he's been hoping to start an affair with a very attractive and flirtatious gardener named Jace. Eventually, because Felix and Flaubert have been spending all their time with each other discussing art and writing, tempers explode and Louise takes a shot at Flaubert, accidentally wounding Felix. Hurt feelings all around, Ursula is called back to the country house and returns Flaubert and Louise to their century. Having come through the worst, and his writer's block gone, Felix makes up with Colin, and the two begin their lives anew.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

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:
full legth Comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hunchback of Notre Dame, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Music by Alan Menken; lyrics by Stephen Schwartz; book by Peter Parnell. Based on the novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Victor Hugo

1st Produced:
The Playhouse, La Jolla, California     28 Oct 2014

Organisations:
-

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:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hyde In Hollywood

Synopsis:
When a gossip columnist discovers a popular film director of the thirties is gay conflict is inevitable.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Broadway Play Publishing, New York, 1991   

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:
Play/Drama. - - Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  14            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Imaginary Life, An

Synopsis:
Matt Abelman, a playwright and a divorced, middle-aged ma,n has found a lump that may or may not be malignant. As his fear of death overtakes him, the fabric of his life begins to unravel. He retreats to his typewriter, weaving fantastic tales while searching for a fictional way out of his very real problems. While we watch the tales unfold, are we seeing Matt's reality or his fantasies? Matt's tales become a play-within-a-play that is both dizzying and breathtaking. At a time when illness and premature death permeate our society, the play's positive philosophy of living life to the fullest is enormously uplifting.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

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:
Drama, full length

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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On A Clear Day You Can See Forever

Synopsis:
This whimsical reimagining of the classic musical is just your typical musical comedy about hypnosis, gay florists with commitment issues, love triangles with your therapist, and past lives as a 1940s chanteuse. It will astound you.

Notes:
Music by Burton Lane; lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner; book by Peter Parnell. Based on "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever" book by Alan Jay Lerner

1st Produced:
St James Theatre, New York     12 Nov 2011

Organisations:
-

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:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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QED

Synopsis:
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman holds forth with captivating wit and wisdom in this fascinating play that originally starred Alan Alda. One of the twentieth century's great physicists, Feynman was also one of its great eccentrics. Not only did he develop the atomic bomb and quantum electrodynamics, but he played the bongos, frequented topless bars and relished his bit parts in university theatricals. With the magnetic Feynman at the center of an exquisitely realized universe, QED exerts an irresistible gravitational pull.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

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:
Comedy Drama, full length Comedy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Rise And Rise Of Daniel Rocket

Synopsis:
As the play begins the protagonists are twelve-year-old sixth graders. One of them, Daniel Rocket, is firmly convinced that he can fly, a belief that causes him to be shunned and ridiculed by his schoolmates-including the girl he adores and for whose regard he is driven to prove himself. Oddly enough, however, it turns out that Daniel can fly, although, initially he does so in secret. When, at last, he demonstrates his talent to the others, he straps on wings (although he doesn't need them) in deference to their stubborn disbelief. From then on, Daniel soars to fame and fortune and, in the second half of the play, which takes place twenty years later, he returns home a renowned celebrity. But he has also become, in a sense, the symbol of the exceptional person, the genius who has outdistanced those around him and, in so doing, has isolated himself not only from his childhood but from the simple joys and tender emotions shared by those whom he has left behind. Torn by growing uncertainty, Daniel finds his gift waning and, in the climax of the play, he suffers a fatal crash-victim both of his distrusted uniqueness and of the unwitting need of others to bring down what they cannot understand or emulate.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

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:
Drama, full length

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Romance Language

Synopsis:
a surreal view of American 19th century literature, Huck Finn and Whitman journey down the river encountering Custer, Emerson, Alcott and Emily Dickinson

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, NY,    

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:
Comedy. - - Gay, theme/character full length

Parts:
Male:  15            Female:  5            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Scooter Thomas Makes It To the Top Of the World

Synopsis:
Dennis receives a call from his mother telling him that his best friend from boyhood, Scooter Thomas, has died. Shaken, Dennis packs for the funeral and recalls their relationship in brief, poignant scenes, during which he plays both himself and other friends from his past, some of whom went to college or got married. Scooter dropped out of life, however, and took a job in the Post Office. He talked of going off to California, but gradual disenchantment overcame him as his hopes remained unfulfilled. Ultimately, the play looks at the choices we make when youthful expectations meet the realities of adulthood.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

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:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sorrows Of Stephen

Synopsis:
Stephen is a headstrong, impetuous, irrepressible romantic unable not to be in love

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
New York Shakespeare Festival, NYC    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1980   

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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Trumpery

Synopsis:
It is 1858. Charles Darwin struggles to finish the Origin of Species, and give the world his theory of natural selection, while coping with family illness and his own loss of faith. Meanwhile, halfway around the world, an unknown explorer named Wallace is about to come up with the exact same theory. Both vibrantly comic and deeply moving, Trumpery examines what it means to live in a Darwinian universe from the point of view of the man who discovered the idea
- press release

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2009   

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Young Tom Edison

Young Tom Edison
-

Notes:
Music and lyrics by Eric Schorr; book by Peter Parnell

1st Produced:
The Town Hall, New York     12 May 1997

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
Studio cast recording: Original Cast Records (OC 9809) 1998

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:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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