Books by Rosary Hartel O'Neill

Wings of Madness:Short Play, Southern DramaCharacters: 1 femaleInterior SetSet in a tacky funeral parlor on a highway outside New Orleans, a murdered beauty taunts the audience, exposing her bare unshrouded back, and explaining why she was murdered. Other imaginary characters--her husband and daughter--add an eerie quality to her already surreal tale.Turtle Soup: Short Play, Southern ComedyCharacters: 1 male, 1 female

>Short Play, Comedy Characters: 2 male, 2 femaleBare stage w/props.A Southern comedy about mature love found later in life, and the trouble and insight that such discoveries can bring. Though well-warned, Kitten, a runaway housewife, decides to travel with her Tulane professor, Beau, on a train trip through the Louisiana swamp. Their plans are upset when her son, Bunky, in an effort to punish her, shows up as a stowaway on the train. Kitten and Beau struggle through their disappointments, mourning the futility of their lives, while the hurricane brewing outside the train builds toward its inevitable whirlwind of destruction. Also available in A Louisiana Gentleman and other New Orleans Comedies.

Short Play, DramaCharacters: 1 maleOne exterior set or bare stageA young writer faces love, death, and the challenges of creating a joyful life. Setting: Rocky coast of Ireland in the 1930's.

Charaters: 3 male, 6 female One Interior/Exterior Set A historical drama that explores Edgar Degas' scandalous visit to New Orleans in 1872. Edgar Degas, the French Impressionist painter, is torn between helping his relatives in America and pursuing a career as a painter. Fame and family obligations come to a head when he discovers he is still in love with his sister-in-law, who is now pregnant and blind. As Edgar struggles with his own ethical conundrum, he discovers that hi

Full Length, Southern ComedyCharacters: 2 male, 3 femaleUnit setProperty is a contemporary romantic comedy set in a Garden District mansion in New Orleans. Rooster Dubonnet, a young artist suffering from a terminal disease, is dazzled by love. Raised by an imperious society-driven mother, he has fallen in love with a New-Age nurse. Set during Mardi Gras--when a whole tradition of fun, revelry, and prestige seizes the city-- Rooster is caught between his dedication to his family's past (and "property") and his own very different future. Also available in Ghosts of New Orleans.

Character: 1 femaleIn this play, Marilyn confronts voices in her head to validate her life as an actress. She finds in the afterlife that she must audition and interview to get into heaven and that her judges are her enemies and aborted children. Along the way she is confused and intrigued by the signs she must follow to climb her way into heaven. The play explores the multi-levels of complexity of cult goddess Marilyn Monroe--her vulnerability, anger, and loneliness and the ways that America

Full Length, Southern ComedyCharacters: 3 male, 2 femaleInteriorThe Mississippi Gulf Coast estate of Irene Dubbonet is an unforgetable place to visit, but who would want to live there? All of her relatives, who hope to inherit it! This is a play about manipulation and what happens to family members' dreams when the odds are stacked against them. A cloud of doom hangs over Serenity Manor, until at last, virtue triumphs. Irene's son, the artist, Rooster, deeply anxious to prove himself, connives a scheme to help his "down and out" brother-in-law seize the estate. Funny situations sparked by witty lines bring the audience into an intriguing overview of topsy-turvy privileged life today. Also available in A Louisiana Gentleman and other New Orleans Comedies.

Full Length, Southern Comedy CharacterS: 2 male, 4 femaleUnit SetBlackjack follows an eccentric Southern family as it is squeezed into the close quarters of a Mississippi cruise ship for the New Year's holiday. Kaitlyn is convinced that she is channeling the poet Baudelaire, and certain that her husband is having an affair with a larger-than-life ship entertainer. Irene, the matriarch of the family, suspects a rift in her daughter's marriage. Her sexy maid sets her sights on the grandson, a successful Southern rock star. Everyone dons costumes for New Year's Eve, casting off their old identities and trying on new loves. Also available in A Louisiana Gentleman and other New Orleans Comedies

Full Length, Southern ComedyCharacters: 1 male, 3 femaleUnit SetBlaine Ashton, a medical student in his mid-twenties from a prominent New Orleans family, has fallen in love with a middle-aged actress and is getting married, much to the chagrin of his mentally disturbed sister and his eccentric, alcoholic old Aunt. His Aunt forces him to take care of his sister after he's married and all the southern belles in the household are almost too much to bear. The histrionics never sto

Full Length, Comedy Characters: 5 male, 4 femaleOne integrated int/ext set.John Singer Sargent, an up-and-coming American artist, is eager to collaborate on a portrait that would catapult him and Madame X, the most beautiful woman in Paris, to the pinnacle of society. With its revelations about Madame X's identity and an eyebrow-raising cast of characters, including Richard Wagner, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, Sarah Bernhardt, and Dr. Samuel Pozzi (Madame X's notorious gynecologist/lover), this romantic comedy exposes the tale of beauty, infatuation, obsession, and betrayal that lies behind Sargent and Madame X's masterpiece. Also available in Ghosts of New Orleans

Full Length, Historical Comedy Characters: 3 male, 4 femaleInteriorUncle Victor is a historical comedy inspired by the classic Russian play, Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov. In this version O'Neill takes the structure of Uncle Vanya and some characters and places them on Waverly Plantation in 1899 Louisiana. While the dialogue and characters are typically Southern, the Louisiana story perfectly parallels the situation of turn-of-the century Russia, where a new urban economy was destroying the country's agrarian base. While Russians were suffering from typhoid and peasants were going hungry, Southerners were dying from yellow fever and displaced farmers were starving. In Uncle Victor, the Mallory family, running Waverly Sugar Plantation, confronts a totally changed Louisiana.Also available in Ghosts of New Orleans.