The PlayFinder™

This collection of socially distant shorts is designed to be performed on the internet as well as the stage. Playful and inventive, TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES taps into the delights and frustrations of staying connected.

Hey Stranger by Steph Del Rosso. Years after a messy breakup, Eve and Gideon reunite. What could go wrong? Possibly everything. A comedy about mixed signals and bad internet, ... Read more

The American dream is alive and well—if a little twisted—in this absurdist comedy. Somewhere out in a southwestern desert, Jim and Della and their daughter, Chartreuse, decide to ditch Grandpa and leave him there to die. They expect to inherit his money, making their own lives so much more pleasant, but Grandpa has a few tricks up his sleeve. Will anyone get out of this alive?... Read more

Margaret’s Bed. Elsie picks up Ben at the symphony and brings him back to the apartment she shares with Margaret, who is away for the night. Ben assumes that this is a prelude to sex, but truly Elsie is just desperate for Ben to sleep in Margaret’s empty bed, because she has a pathological fear of sleeping in an empty apartment. (1 man, 1 woman.)

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Part of the collection One Christmas Eve at Evergreen Mall

THE STORY: ONE CHRISTMAS EVE AT EVERGREEN MALL follows eight intertwined stories in a Midwestern mall on the last day of shopping before the holiday. A diverse cast of characters—from a lovesick mall Santa to an over-eager mall cop, from a pair of brainy misfit teenagers to a pair of battling actors in a production of A Chri... Read more

When you’re stuck at home during a global pandemic, everything happens online—even therapy. Harper is suffering, and can’t reconcile feelings about the terrifying disease with the monotony of lockdown. Jess tries to be a sympathetic ear, but the session goes off the rails.... Read more

Award-winning playwright Craig Pospisil's collection runs the gamut from lighthearted comedy to dramatic pieces.

ON THE WINGS OF A BUTTERFLY. A playwright tries to come to terms with the scope of the disaster in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. (1 man or woman.)

FREE. A panicked man on a subway car tries to conquer his anxiety by taking his clothes off…much to the chagrin of a couple in the same car. (2 men, 1 woman.)

WHAT PRICE? A woman finds herself... Read more

Billy is a shy, sweet six-year old, nervous about his first day of school. His new classmate Megan Devenaux is a pint-sized lawyer, who considers herself an adult already, and is ready to take her case to the Supreme Court and then cash in.... Read more

Tricia returns to the Berkshires to deal with her mother’s death following a battle with Alzheimer’s, but at the funeral home she collides with Fitz, a prodigy and former piano student of her mother’s, with secrets of his own, who challenges her choices.... Read more

Deborah is more than a little nervous on her wedding day. Her parents' constant chatter isn't helping. And neither is Deborah's reflection in the mirror, which keeps shouting out her darkest thoughts and worries. Can Deborah calm her fears before her alter ego literally steps through the looking glass and ruins things?... Read more

THE DUNES follows the downward spiral of fading actress Laura Robertson and her family—stepdaughter Vanessa, daughter Anne and brother Garret. Laura, who's become better known for her Hollywood lifestyle and turbulent relationships than for her acting, returns to her family home in East Hampton, New York, to lick her wounds after her current marriage has fallen apart. The practical Vanessa and her fiancé, Jeremy, push Laura to get her life and career back on track, but her debt... Read more

To purchase a manuscript copy of TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES 2.0: PLAYS FROM PANDEMIC THEATRE, via ePUB format, click here.

THE STORY: When you’re stuck at home during a global pandemic, everything happens online—even high school reunions. Richard and Julia are old friends who happily reconnect at their fortieth reunion—until Lizbeth, a younger woman, appears onscreen. Despite being a different clas... Read more

A panicked man on a subway car tries to conquer his anxiety by taking his clothes off…much to the chagrin of a couple in the same car.... Read more

Lives intersect in comic and dramatic fashion in a motel that has seen better days in Watkins Glen, New York. Break-ups and a wedding, a rapping reverend and a drone attack, the ridiculous and the sublime all come together in one unlikely place.

THE GORGES MOTEL is comprised of the short plays:
Missing by James Hindman
... Read more

It's some time in the future and the theatre has been declared illegal, but that won't stop Alana and Sandy from trying to see an underground theatre group perform A Midsummer Night's Dream.... Read more

Mrs. O'Reilly is back, and this time she's come to class armed.... Read more

First off, Cassidy is definitely not crazy. Secondly, she is totally over her ex-boyfriend. So when she runs into Abe at a coffee shop, she totally doesn’t think about what happened between them. Or what could happen. And she totally didn’t forget that her husband Martin is sitting right next to her. Totally.... Read more

Char explains why she's avoiding people and the things they have to say.... Read more

Trish is at the front desk of a hospital when Stephanie comes in carrying a shopping bag from an expensive store. She has something to return. Trish doesn't understand until she looks in the bag and sees a baby. Trish is staggered, but Stephanie can't understand what the problem is. Things get even stranger before the resolution of this black comedy.... Read more

Lives intersect in comic and dramatic fashion in a motel that has seen better days in Watkins Glen, New York. Break-ups and a wedding, a rapping reverend and a drone attack, the ridiculous and the sublime all come together in one unlikely place.... Read more

An elderly couple sit at home on a cold winter's night. The old man wants to finish watching his football game, but his wife is trying to get him ready to go out on some errand. The man is angry and bitter, and he clearly doesn't want to go. His patient wife listens but gently prods. But there's more to the old man than meets the eye, and the play ends with surprising sweetness and love.... Read more

This hilarious collection of short plays is a comical look at relationships from childhood to old age. Some are charming and light, others dark and absurdist, but all eight gleefully portray people at their worst. And sometimes their best.

Class Conflict. Billy is a shy, sweet six-year old, nervous about his first day of school. His new classmate Megan Devenaux is a pint-sized lawyer, who ... Read more

Part of the collection One Christmas Eve at Evergreen Mall

THE STORY: ONE CHRISTMAS EVE AT EVERGREEN MALL follows eight intertwined stories in a Midwestern mall on the last day of shopping before the holiday. A diverse cast of characters—from a lovesick mall Santa to an over-eager mall cop, from a pair of brainy misfit teenagers to a pair of battling actors in a production of A Chri... Read more

A young Irish immigrant and an African-American dockworker are caught up in the 1863 New York Draft Riots.... Read more

In a series of comic scenes—one for each month of the year—we follow the intertwined worlds of a circle of friends and family whose lives are poised between happiness and heartbreak. The circle centers around Phoebe and Ben, who are engaged to be married. But Phoebe worries her Beatles-obsessed fiancé may not be the right man for her, and Ben's no help planning the wedding because he's distracted by a friend's illness. Even so, Elaine is jealous of her friends' relationship, es... Read more

In a darkly comic monologue, Melissa calmly explains her reasons for taking a parent's natural desire to protect her child a little too far.... Read more

Mrs. O'Reilly instructs her first grade school class on the four Rs—reading, 'riting,'rithmatic and Republicanism.... Read more

There's a party inside, but Gene, seventeen, stands on the ledge of an apartment building. Distraught because the girl he loves is making out with someone, Gene is ready to jump. Sammy, a classmate, discovers Gene on the ledge, but, and mocks him for being melodramatic. But as Sammy realizes Gene's pain runs deeper than a girl, will she pull Gene back from the edge? Or push him over?... Read more

A playwright tries to come to terms with the scope of the disaster in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.... Read more

ONE CHRISTMAS EVE AT EVERGREEN MALL follows eight intertwined stories in a Midwestern mall on the last day of shopping before the holiday. A diverse cast of characters—from a lovesick mall Santa to an overeager mall cop, from a pair of brainy misfit teenagers to a pair of battling actors in a production of A Christmas Carol, from a petulant college freshman to a pair of newlyweds—navigate first meetings, second chances, and last-minute choices. ONE CHRISTMAS EVE wraps th... Read more

Editor Craig Pospisil has drawn exclusively from Dramatists Play Service publications to compile this collection, which features over fifty monologues. You will find an enormous range of voices and subject matter, characters from their teens to their seventies and authors from widely varied backgrounds, some well known, others less so, but all immensely talented. This selection represents some of the best writing in the American theatre today, and we are proud to bring them together in these two... Read more

Editors Craig Pospisil and Danna Call compiled this new collection of more than fifty monologues selected exclusively from Dramatists Play Service publications from recent seasons. Inside these pages you will find an enormous range of voices and subject matter, characters from their teens to their sixties and authors of widely varied styles, but all immensely talented. These monologues represent some of the best writing in the American theatre today, and we are proud to bring them together in th... Read more

Amateurs by David Auburn. Politics and ethics collide when a young woman confronts an older politico about an attack ad he ran against her father years earlier that destroyed the father's career. (1 man, 1 woman.)

Bolero by David Ives. A woman's world threatens to come apart in the middle of the night, ... Read more

Brown by Cherie Vogelstein. Peter is in the middle of a job interview. It’s a little shaky at first, but Ira, Maurie, and Mary seem to like him and to be impressed that he went to Brown. But then they ask him—hypothetically—if he’d rather sleep with a dog or his mother. And that’s when things get really strange. (3 men, 1 woman.)

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52nd to Bowery to Cobble Hill, in Brooklyn by Chiara Atik. Halle hails a taxi after a party, when Alison, her aggressively bubbly friend, pushes into the cab too. It’s clear Halle didn’t want to ride with her, but she puts up with it until Alison asks if she’s mad at her, so Halle comes right out and tells her "I just don’t like you very much." (2 women.)

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Camberwell House by Amelia Roper. Elderly neighbors Annie and Olive have been friends since they were children. At twenty, they agreed to "knock each other off" if they were still alive at seventy-five. Now they are seventy-five and one of them has changed her mind. A tale of old age, murder, and ginger nut biscuits. (1 woman.)

... Read more

Editor Craig Pospisil has drawn exclusively from Dramatists Play Service publications to compile this collection, which features over fifty monologues. You will find an enormous range of voices and subject matter, characters from their teens to their seventies and authors from widely varied backgrounds, some well known, others less so, but all immensely talented. This selection represents some of the best writing in the American theatre, and we are proud to bring them together in these two volum... Read more

Editors Craig Pospisil and Danna Call compiled this new collection of more than fifty monologues selected exclusively from Dramatists Play Service publications from recent seasons. Inside these pages you will find an enormous range of voices and subject matter, characters from their teens to their sixties and authors of widely varied styles, but all immensely talented. These monologues represent some of the best writing in the American theatre today, and we are proud to bring them together in th... Read more

It's hazy, but what Robbie remembers is that he and Cass are in love. Unfortunately, she's decided to move to San Diego to be with Antonio.... Read more

The president of the United States will do anything to stop a crisis in a foreign land he's never heard of from ruining his weekend at Camp David.... Read more

As Stephanie quietly tries to get dressed for a function she has to attend, a Narrator reveals the secrets of the life she didn't know she had.... Read more

Bad Breath. What starts as a seemingly light spoof of 1960s Mad Men-era advertising and the All-American Family turns darker, exposing lies and betrayals behind the glossy sheen. (6 men, 9 women, doubling.)

Cinderella . This sharp and sly retelling is set in a pretentious middle-class home, somewhere in ... Read more

Told in ten scenes, the play begins in the dark, as Jasper confesses his feelings of isolation to the audience. But he becomes unnerved in the dark and calls for lights. In the first scene, Jasper is stuck between floors on an elevator with a claustrophobic man, who goes quickly and hilariously over the edge. At work, a sleazy coworker gives him farcical advice on how to pick up women, and that night Jasper goes to a bookstore and tries to pick up a pretty clerk, Holly. He stri... Read more

To purchase a manuscript copy of TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES 2.0: PLAYS FROM PANDEMIC THEATRE, via ePUB format, click here.

THE STORIES:... Read more

Lance moves to Paris to follow his dream of becoming a writer, but his work goes badly. As does his relationship with Juliette, a beautiful Parisian. But a strangely familiar woman at their local bistro forces Lance to dig deeper into himself.... Read more

Wade is obsessed with Nina, a woman he sees on the train, while she imagines her boyfriend, Frank, thinks of nothing but her, and Wade's girlfriend, Marcy, can't make sense of her own thoughts.... Read more

A woman finds herself interrogated by a nameless official, who threatens her and her children unless she gives him a name.... Read more

This sly riff on Poe's "The Raven" finds Jessica hallucinating that a talking pigeon has flown into her apartment. Her friend Liz tries to talk her down, but eventually realizes Jessica isn't suffering from a combination of too much wine and Benedryl but from her inability to let go of a relationship that has ended.... Read more