PLAYS
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JUDGE KNOTT
A comedy by Earl Lewin, Produced on Zoom in 2020
SPINE
An ambitious man about to achieve his life’s goal is sabotaged
by a sudden revelation from his past.
SYNOPSIS:
How often do we judge rather than accept one another? Why do we sometimes feel we have to lie to get what we want or to hide our mistakes? Earl Lewin’s new script, Judge Knott, is a hilarious comedy about human foibles. It touches on our propensity to evaluate people based on appearance, gender, race, social standing, wealth, disability or any other artificial norm. The play follows Judge Brady Knott’s burning desire and relentless ambition to acquire a top government position. The story tracks his perfect plan for success and the unexpected obstacle that interrupts and knocks him off course. He is deluged with advice for what to do and must decide if it is worth sacrificing his principles to reach his goal. Should we judge him on the decision he makes, or might we do the same? Judge Knott.
CAST
Three women three men
SET
An upscale lawyers office in Washington, DC
MIRACLE
A drama by Earl Lewin, At Church Hill Theatre 2019
SPINE
A triggered memory of a lost relative, and the tragic outcome of her battle to control the fate of her special needs child, leads a remorseful man to search for answers, understanding and closure.
SYNOPSIS
John comes across a pre World War Two photo of a cousin, Betty. She and her sister, Dorothy, though eleven and thirteen years his senior, were the only young relatives around during the Second World War years. Both of his brothers, being the same ages as his cousins, were off fighting. He was very close to Dorothy and Betty back then. After the war the brothers and cousins were all married and John, being in his teens, was busy living life. He rarely thought about Betty who he had adored as a child. Betty’s intended, Tom, returned from the war disfigured. They married but kept to themselves. Their first child was born with severe physical and mental limitations. They retreated further from the family. They had a second child who was perfectly healthy. Tom wanted to institutionalize the first boy and live what he considered a healthy life with his wife and the new child. A battle ensued over the first child’s fate involving Dorothy. It resulted in the gradual destruction of Betty’s marriage and the loss of custody of both children. John married and raised a family of his own. He only heard of Betty’s problems through his parents and now everyone was gone. His parents, both of his brothers and Dorothy were all dead; Tom had left Betty and taken his healthy child with no forwarding address. Now, John was suddenly confronted with the regret that he had no idea what had become of Betty. He did not know if she was alive or dead. She would have been in her nineties if she was still living. The memory of happy days they shared when he was young, and thoughts of the tragedy that had become her life, now drive John to search for answers, understanding and closure.
CAST
Six women. Four men.
SET
Contemporary attic. John and Ann’s living room. Elise’s 1950’s kitchen. Dorothy’s 1960’s living room.
Betty’s 1960’s living room.
HITCHED
A comedy by Earl Lewin At Church Hill Theatre 2019
SPINE
A gay college professor brings his lover home for a family wedding and his mother has no clue that he is gay. Regardless of how he tries to tell her she just can’t quite grasp the picture.
SYNOPSIS
Millie, who is divorced, is hosting family members at her home in Phoenix for the wedding weekend of her nephew, Jim, her brother Harry’s son. Jim is marrying well above his family’s social sphere and the wedding is to be a dignified and formal affair. His father, Harry, is divorced from Jim’s mother who lives in Phoenix. He is flying in from Philadelphia with his latest wife, a party girl half his age. Millie is unaware that her son Bruce, a professor at Georgia State University, is gay. Bruce is bringing his lover, Spike, to introduce him to the family. Regardless of what she hears or sees, Millie insists Spike is just a friend. Millie’s outspoken homophobic obnoxious aunt from Pennsylvania, who went through three husbands, is among the guests and Millie’s unmarried sophisticated niece from New York City is attending. Millie’s Christian-right ex husband, now running a mission for orphan boys in New Guinea, shows up uninvited asking Millie to take care of him while he recovers from minor surgery. This crazy mix of personalities, a disastrous visit to a desert tourist trap and the poor choice of October thirty first to celebrate the wedding reception, create a weekend gathering not likely to impress the members of Phoenix’s social register.
CAST
Six women. Seven men.
SET
Middle-class living room in Phoenix Upper-class wedding reception hall.
Exterior Arizona Desert
ORLANDO RISING
A drama by Earl Lewin At Church Hill Theatre 2017
SPINE
A family secret lays hidden for decades but unravels and is resolved when a crazy uncle escapes from a mental institution.
SYNOPSIS
Set in November 1963, this high tension drama erupts when events surrounding the Kennedy assassination open a festering family secret, that has lay hidden in Wally’s subconscious since childhood. Wally, a college professor, and his wife Ruth, play host to the family matriarch, Nana, while Wally’s parents are away on a trip. Nana, who has always lived with Wally’s parents, is a product of the Victorian Age. To avoid the shame, she has hidden the reason why Wally’s Uncle Orlando is kept in a mental hospital. Wally remembers visits to the hospital with his mother and Nana when he was very little. He remembers Orlando’s uncontrollable rage about the government and his anger with Nana; his threats to kill her. Wally is haunted by a disquieting memory of Orlando rising like a specter in the darkened living room of his childhood home on one of his many escapes from the hospital. He once feared he might grow up to be like Orlando, and still lives with the suppressed anxiety that someday Orlando will suddenly appear to threaten their lives. Wally teaches literature; currently the plays of Henrick Ibsen. As he analyzes Ghosts he begins to get an insight into Orlando’s life. He confronts Nana for the truth, but even resolving that, he remains terrified that Orlando, who was motivated to escape the hospital by the Kennedy assassination, will suddenly show up to kill Nana.
CAST
Three women. Five men. Two children
SET
The living room and Dining room of a typical 1950’s middle class home in the Northeastern United States.
SAINT GEORGES BLUES
A drama by Earl Lewin At Church Hill Theatre, Maryland and Smyrna Opera House, Delaware 2016
SPINE
A single mom business owner finds her soul mate but has to overcome his tragic loss to fulfill their dream.
SYNOPSIS
Marge, a divorced mom, owns Saint Georges Country Store, a little out-of-the-way place on the edge of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. She has a second chance at love with Joe, a riverboat pilot. Her aunt Shirley, who never married her true love, encourages Marge to go for it. Marge and Joe dream to turn the store into a Cajun restaurant with live music. Working with their friends Gene and Garry, they make it happen by bringing in top-name rhythm and blues performers on their way between gigs in NY and Miami. It proves to be an incredible success. They have one more dream, a yearly East Coast rhythm and blues festival in Saint Georges. It’s almost all in place when Joe dies suddenly from a fast-moving cancer. Marge, strengthened by the memory of Joe’s inspiring optimism, drives on to make the dream come true.
CAST
Mature cast. Four women. Five men.
SET
Interior country store.
ACCIDENTALLY WEALTHY
A comedy/mystery by Earl Lewin At Church Hill Theatre 2015
SPINE
A filthy rich couple, returning from their honeymoon, each accumulated their fortune from the accidental death of well-insured mates. Were those deaths really accidental or are both considering bumping the other one-off?
SYNOPSIS
When Grace and Reggie’s baggage does not arrive with the return flight from an overseas honeymoon, Reggie insists that Grace takes his personal limo home while he waits for the luggage which is expected on the next flight. In the car, she narrowly escapes an apparent attempt on her life by a gunshot which may have been intended for Reggie. The welcome-home party, awaiting the honeymooners at Reggie’s palatial estate in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, faces a night of harrowing events with the arrival of their host and hostess and the impending shadow of murder. The mysterious shooter appears to be the threat, but the danger is not from an outside source, it’s from a member of the assembled group.
CHARACTERS
Four women. Three men.
SET
Interior. Reggie’s palatial home in Valley Forge. Pennsylvania.
VISITING SAM
A romantic comedy by Earl Lewin At Church Hill Theatre 2014
SPINE
A would-be writer has a crazy night of misadventure in a New York City neighborhood bar and realizes it is time to face up to love and commitment.
SYNOPSIS
Ed never commits to anything. Not his dead end job on a Princeton newspaper, not the women in his life, not the career of his desire. Ed wants to be a playwright but not enough to attend a year long seminar at Samuel French Publishing to which he had applied. However, he accepts an invitation to the final evening of the seminar for a reading of some of the student plays. Rhoda, a Princeton socialite friend he knew in college, has a New York City apartment near Sam French so he asks her to tag along. Stopping in a local bar for a drink afterwards their lives are impacted by a philosophical street person, Sid; the playwriting seminar leader, Gloria, who happens to frequent the joint; Bob, a rough cut bar tender; and Sal, an oversexed policeman. Each has an impact on Ed and Rhoda’s future. Sid comically unloads his philosophical thoughts on life and death while Gloria gives Ed an insight on a playwright’s life. Bob gets Ed to examine how he feels about Rhoda, and Rhoda how she feels about Ed. Meanwhile, Sal tries to add Rhoda to his harem. When it is time to pay, Ed realizes he has lost the backpack containing his money, credit cards, keys and train ticket. Gloria learns that her car has been wrecked by a hit and run. They are marooned in the city with no resources. Rhoda is drunk. Everyone carries her to her apartment a few blocks away where Gloria and Ed crash for the night. Awaking in the morning they are forced to confront the conflicts that erupted in Bob’s Bar the previous night. Ed and Rhoda realize that they are meant for each other and Gloria goes off to promote her upcoming theatre event.
CAST
Two women. Four men.
SET
Interior Bar Converts to Interior Apartment.