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Don Fried

DON FRIED

  (1951 - )
Nationality:    USA & UK
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

Don Fried retired from the business world in 2006 to become a playwright after living throughout Europe and working in the Information Technology industry for 30 years. His plays, which have won numerous awards, span a number of genres - historical, social Drama, murder mystery, science fiction, spy thriller, biographical - and are all funny and fast paced. they have been performed throughout the United States as well as in the United Kingdom and CanadA. Don is the Playwright in Residence of the Theater Company of Lafayette (Colorado, usa), and has worked extensively with Second Skin Theatre Company (London, england) and the Camino Real Playhouse (San Juan Capistrano, California, usa). He frequently directs productions of his plays. Don and his son, David, wrote the award-winning comic true travel account Ups & Downs: the (Mis)adventures of a Crusty Old Fart and His Bouncy Son as they Trek Through the alps.

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

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

         Blood Privilege         Bodice Ripper         Getting Betta         L*** Man         Phoenix         Postville         Present Future         Red Herring         Senior Moments         Shakespeare Inc

Blood Privilege

Synopsis:
Blood Privilege is inspired by the life of Hungarian countess, erzbet Bathory, who sexually tortured and murdered over 600 young women in the early 1600s and who is one of the inspirations of the vampire myths. But although the play is a period piece set at the turn of the 17th century, what it's really about is the current global crisis resulting from the consolidation of wealth and power in the hands of a tiny number of people.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Richmond Shepard theatre
309 East 26th Street, New York, NY 10010     01 Feb 2013

Organisations:
Second Skin 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bodice Ripper

Synopsis:
When a struggling author of macho detective thrillers falls for an editor of women's fiction, he decides to try his hand at writing a romance novel. But his long-time collaborators, fictional characters Manley Stone and the worldly Vera, are determined to sabotage his efforts.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Camino Real Playhouse. San Juan Capistrano, CA     18 Mar 2016

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Getting Betta

Synopsis:
Michael is a senior citizen in a sheltered independent living facility. Betta is a virtual computerized assistant assigned to him against his wishes by the administration of the facility. after a brief period of conflict, Michael and Betta reach a truce and settle down to live together. But when Betta's programmer, Crystal, arrives it becomes clear that she's no more in control of Betta than Michael is. With constant upgrades to Betta's technology, the situation spins increasingly out of control.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Mary Miller Theater, Lafayette, Colorado, Usa     01 Mar 2011

Organisations:
Theater Company of Lafayette

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:
Comic Science Fiction

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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L*** Man

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
chosen as one of 3 finalists for the 2012 Front Range Playwrights Showcase

1st Produced:
Staged Reading At Coal Creek Community Theater, Louisville, Colorado     24 Aug 2012

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:
20 minute mockumentary play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Phoenix

Synopsis:
Phoenix is a fictional play inspired by events in the life, death, and rise to fame after death of tragic British singer/songwriter Nick Drake.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Camino Real Playhouse In San Juan Capistrano, California     10 May 2013

Organisations:
Second Skin 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:
biographical play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Postville

Synopsis:
When a group of Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn come to a struggling Midwest town to re-open the defunct local meatpacking plant, the locals think their problems are over. But a culture clash begins that turns the American Melting Pot into a pressure cooker that eventually explodes - literally. "Postville" is a fictional account inspired by real events in the northeast Iowa town.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Mary Miller Theater, Lafayette, Colorado, Usa     01 Mar 2010

Organisations:
Theater Company of Lafayette

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:
Comic Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Present Future

Synopsis:
John and Mary have two complementary businesses: the first stores unwanted presents, so that when aunt ethel comes back to visit all the awful things she has given over the years can be prominently displayed on walls and coffee tables; and the second rents out those hideous presents to other clients as home decorations. Things become complicated when clients of the first business need aunt ethel's items back for her upcoming visit, but John and Mary are experienced con artists, and while things sometimes get a little hectic, the scam generally works. When John's estranged, man-hating mother returns from Australia to present a million dollar trust fund to John and Mary's daughter, Dana, the future looks bright. However, Dana is really a man, and Dana's new girlfriend is a reporter who is investigating John and Mary's shady business, and the girlfriend may be Dana's half-sister, and . . .. You get the idea. a classic-style farce, "Present Future" has men dressed as women, lots of mistaken identities, and characters rushing back and forth trying to avoid impending catastrophe.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
California Actors Theatre, Longmont, Colorado, Usa     01 Mar 2008

Organisations:
California Actors 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:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Red Herring

Synopsis:
edwin is a middle-aged writer of murder-mystery plays. Wildly successful as a young man, he has not had a production in 20 years. When a successful Broadway director decides to produce one of edwin's new plays, he's delighted. But everything about the production is wrong: the director is going to do the play in Japanese with the actors in Noh costumes; the leading lady is edwin's ex-wife from whom he has recently had an acrimonious divorce; and the male lead is an over-the-hill classical actor who is more interested in recounting tales of his faded glory than in learning his lines. To relieve his frustration, edwin begins using his mystery-writing skills to plan and execute a series of pranks. However, the pranks go drastically wrong, and when cast and crew members are seriously injured the evidence points at edwin, who must now use his skills to figure out whodunnit.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Mary Miller Theater, Lafayette, Colorado, Usa     01 Jun 2009

Organisations:
Theater Company of Lafayette (Colorado, USA)

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:
Comedy Murder Mystery

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Senior Moments

Synopsis:
Senior Moments is made up of five funny, touching, and slightly naughty plays about people living in senior residences. 1) "the Code": Rose and Charlie, two senior citizens, meet at a cafe on a blind date set up over the Internet. each of them thinks they're meeting someone else entirely! 2) "the Gamblers": Colonel William and angie are seniors who meet in a casino. Colonel William is strongly opposed to gambling or taking risks of any kind - he's in the casino for the exercise. and angie is out to pick his pocket. 3) "First Love": When they were in their twenties, Rose and Oscar had an unconsummated romance. they are now in their 80s and Rose has decided to take care of their unfinished business. 4) "On the RaC(K)": Five people attend a meeting of the Residents advisory Committee (RaC) at a senior residence. the conflicts are continual, and nothing ever seems to get accomplished. Is there any hope that anything will actually get done? 5) "Growing, Old": the sequel to "the Code." Rose has another encounter with Charlie, who is again on the prowl for elderly women.

Notes:
Senior Moments is made up of 5 short plays, which can be done As A group or separately. there Are 5 male And 5 female characters, which can be performed by As few As 2 Actors. the plays Are extremely portable, requiring few props And one small table And two chairs. they have been performed in theaters And in senior residences And senior centers Around the world.

1st Produced:
Mary Miller Theater, Lafayette, Colorado, Usa     01 Jan 2011

Organisations:
Theater Company of Lafayette

1st Published:
artage Publications (http://www.seniortheatre.com/), published in 2011.    -

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:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Shakespeare Inc

Synopsis:
Christopher Marlowe and Edward De Vere, and a growing collection of Elizabethan aristocrats, writers and charlatans engage the dim and hopelessly untalented playwright wannabe William Shaksper (sic) to be a front for their theatre-related business venture. as "Shakespeare Incorporated" becomes increasingly successful, Shaksper demands more artistic control and an increasing share of the income. eventually the principals of Shakespeare Incorporated decide to do away with him. the play is a zany, but historically possible take on the Shakespeare Conspiracy theories.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Second Skin 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:
Historical Comedy

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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