Books published by Samuel French Inc

DramaCharacters: 7 males and 5 femalesA girl found murdered in the cellar on Christmas morning. A massacre at the high school. The grownups of the community want to forget, but the children have begun to meet in the middle of the night to remember. Nine teenagers gather at an overgrown memorial and reenact the story.

Dramatic ComedyCharacters: 3 males, 1 femalesWINNER! 2009 Ted Schmitt Award for the world premiere of an Outstanding New Play - Los Angeles Drama Critics CircleOrange County, California, 1975. For Walter Wells, it's the happiest place on earth. He has a beautiful wife. Two great kids. A house with a pool. Contentment. Until fate strikes a devastating blow, leaving Walter with no reason to put the pieces of his life back together. He resists attempts to help, especially the unexpected - and unwanted - offer from a Vietnamese refugee named Bao Ngo, who bears his own sadness. Then, across a cultural divide, Walter and Bao find a game to share, a song, a meal and then a way back in this uplifting - and surprisingly funny - new play by a rising star in American theatre. "Wry and affecting...Myatt's characters are so engaging that it's easy to push them toward comedy, which tends to reassure rather than surprise us." -Los Angeles Times"...Understated power of this gentle yet gripping dramedy...The most impressive element of Myatt's new work is the dexterous way she elicits emotional resonance by giving the human frailties of the characters a weight equal to their innate compassion and goodness. Subtly depicting the overwhelmingly difficult process of mourning and letting go, Myatt leavens the tragedy without blunting its significance." -Backstage

Dramatic Comedy / 2m, 2f Winner of Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Script Flyovers is a 90-minute play about a film critic who finds himself caught up in a Culture Clash of economics, sex and long-submerged resentment when he returns to the small Ohio town where he grew up. Trying to make peace with his past, he reconnects with some former classmates, a bully and a girl he had a crush on. The encounters are unsettling for all three; nothing turns out as expected. It's 1998 and

Characters: 2m, 3f /Dramatic ComedyFrom the co-creator of the hit HBO series 'Big Love' comes an epic slice of history centering on 1970s Alabama politics. Beautiful, divorced beauty queen Cornelia Folsom is a force of nature who works her way into the heart of Governor George Wallace. Together they plan to take over the state and then the White House until an assassination attempt halts his presidential campaign. But no obstacle is too great for Cornelia to overcome, as she secretly harbors her own political ambitions amidst a hostile campaign staff, her rarely sober mother, and Southern shenanigans in this sweeping, provocative tale of sex, power, and bare-knuckled American politics

Comedy / Characters: 5m, 1f / In this world-premiere comedy, it's 1963 and Joey and Carmine are low-level soldiers in the New York mob. Joey services juke boxes and vending machines...Carmine makes two runs a week to South Carolina for illegal cigarettes. But things are looking up for the pair. The 1964 World's Fair is just around the corner and these Two Gentlemen of Corona are plotting to help their boss, John, swindle thousands of foreign tourists. It looks like nothing can stand in their way...oh, except for the fact that Joey is falling in love with his boss's mistress!This comedy is the perfect light-hearted fare: refreshing and funny, with just a touch of heart."Geoghan gives a sweetly retro twist to Gentlemen, keeping his comic archetypes so anchored in reality that they elicit sympathy as well as laughter." -Los Angeles Times"A comedy with hysterical lines, historical intrigue, and a happy ending for the young lovers." -EyeSpy LA

Drama / Characters: 3m, 2f /In American Soldiers, the patriarch of a politically prominent Long Island family fights to hold the family together when his eldest daughter, an Army veteran, returns from the Middle East for an uneasy homecoming. The girl, emotionally scarred from her military service, is struggling to take her ex-boyfriend and sister away with her to start a new life in Colorado. Her aim is to liberate them of the hometown influences of society, religion and class that led her to

ComedyCharacters: 2 males, 4 femalesWhen she's cast as the "last girl" in a low-budget slasher flick, Sheena thinks it's the big break she's been waiting for. But news of the movie unleashes her malingering mother's thwarted feminist rage, and Mom is prepared to do anything to stop filming...even if it kills her.The hilarious hit of 2009's Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theater of Louisville. "Screaming. Blood. Impalements. Meat hooks. Electric drills. Objec

Comedy / Casting: 4m, 3f An incisive look at sex, love, bullfights, big-game hunting, and intimate apparel. Large Animal Games takes a skewed but razor-sharp look at relationships by examining the romantic lives of several couples and the man who supplies each of them with intimate apparel."Light-hearted...subtly related themes of animal-lust, competition, self-image and possession cleverly at work...well-honed, true-to-life-repartee" -SF Bay Guardian"Light and smart...there are lots of

1m / ComedyWINNER! Outstanding Solo Performance - 2010 Drama Desk Award NOMINEE! BEST SOLO SHOW - Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards! BEST PLAY! 2006 - Los Angeles Stage Ovation Award Winner BEST SOLO SHOW! 2008 - Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Nomination TOP TEN PLAYS 2008 SEASON! - Florida Sun Sentinel BEST PLAYWRIGHT! 2007 - Backstage West Garland Award WinnerSet in theatre legend Zero Mostel's painting studio on West 28th Street, a naïve reporter attempts

Comedy / Characters: 2m, 3f /"I've dreamed you for so long, I can hardly believe you're with me now. Yet here you are: a tiny human voyager, sleeping off the shock of migration..."The legendary Taj Mahal is the next assignment for Rachel, an American travel writer whose failed romances have led her to ask: Why not have the baby she craves - on her own? She finds unexpected answers - and larger questions - among the glittering legacies of India's past. Alive with the sounds and colors of a re

Drama / Characters: 7m, 6fRumors, Secrets, Sand and Blood. U.S. Army Captain Catherine Siler journeys to the New Mexico reservation home of Private First Class Raymond Birdsong on a search for answers. The questionable circumstances surrounding Ray's death in Afghanistan create a crisis of conscience for the captain giving her no choice but to re-examine her own life along the way. Richard Montoya and Culture Clash, L.A.'s premiere Chicano performance group, return with a play about America'

Drama / 10m, 3f -casting may vary / Simple SetWinner of the 2008 Keene Prize for LiteratureWinner of the 2008 David Mark Cohen National Playwriting AwardElephant's Graveyard is the true tale of the tragic collision of a struggling circus and a tiny town in Tennessee, which resulted in the only known lynching of an elephant. Set in September of 1916, the play combines historical fact and legend, exploring the deep-seated American craving for spectacle, violence and revenge.This abridged ve

Comedy / 3m, 3f / Single SetRoger Gallais, a small time hustler, is in a desperate fight to save his office/home from demolition. He needs $1500 in 24 hours or his estranged wife Lola Montezuma, an illegal alien, and her new boyfriend Nobby Carlyle, a fugitive from British justice, will take procession of the property, turn it into a mini mall and make a million bucks. Roger and his sole employee, Jules, are at the end of their rope, when Wanda Harrington, a naive middle-aged woman from Texas enters. She has just inherited the family oil fortune and is in Los Angeles to find her long lost lover, Henry, who she hasn't seen or heard from in 25 years. Roger reinvents himself and becomes a private detective specializing in missing persons cases and guarantees he will find Henry in one hour. Hilarious results ensue, involving Harvey Martin, "Gay Activist" who is running for mayor of West Hollywood, and wants to turn the city into a living "Camelot" and Shelly Levine, a failed New York standup comic who hates Los Angeles."If you're up for a an evening of mindless entertainment and guilty pleasure then Ron House's zany farce is for you." - The Los Angeles Weekly "If you see only one play this year make sure it's California Schemin'!" - The Sacramento Bee"California Schemin' is a side-splitting entertainment!" - The Los Angeles Times

Musical Comedy / Characters: 2m, 2f As introduced on NBC¿s ¿Today Show¿, The Kids Left. The Dog Died. Now What? is a musical comedy that salutes those valiantly struggling with divorce on their hands, gravity on their bodies, grandchildren on their self-images and the dating scene on their egos. The risks and uncertainties of being alive come alive through song and scene. Aging gracefully is the final frontier! This entertaining musical about those facing a host of midlife crisis first pre

Comedy/Thriller / 5m, 3f / Interior Van Zandt & Milmore pay tribute to Master of Horror Alfred Hitchcock, with this comedy whodunit. Off-and-on New York couple Marnie and Jeff enter an even more complicated phase of their relationship when they think they spy their cross-courtyard neighbor do away with his wife. After they draw their torn curtain, the lady vanishes, and suspicion places murder beyond a shadow of a doubt. The bumbling witnesses sneak into their neighbor's apartment - 39 steps

Murder Mystery/Thriller / Characters: 2m, 1f / InteriorNominated for a 2008 Edgar AwardCamille Dargus has fought her way up from humble beginnings to a glittering Manhattan lifestyle. She has beauty, brains, wealth, and a successful career as a jewelry designer for the leading lights of New York society. She also has a penchant for attractive young men. One night at a society gala she meets Billy, a handsome young waiter, and brings him back to her Soho apartment. But there's more to Billy t

Musical / Characters: 10m, 7f, Cast can be expanded for large groupsGoodbye gray skies, hello blue! Happy days are here again with Richie, Potsie, Ralph Malph and the unforgettable "king of cool" Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli. Based on the hit Paramount Pictures television series, Happy Days, A New Musical reintroduces one of America's best loved families, the Cunninghams -- yes, Howard, Marion and Joanie are here too -- to a whole new generation of kids and parents.The famed drive-in malt sh

Musical Comedy / Characters: 3m, 2fThe story of The Synchronistics, an over-the-hill ABBA wannabe group that reunites after 20 years to perform at a public access TV telethon, put their differences aside, and try to save the station from going under.The year was 1979 and The Synchronistics were big. Big enough to be on Johnny Carson. Their hit single, "Better Together" rose to number two on the Billboard Charts. Then something terrible happened that drove the group apart. And now, 20 years later, they're back together in Maple Valley, their home town, to perform at the 1999 WKLN public access TV Telethon. Will they overcome their differences from 20 years ago, act professionally and help save WKLN from going under? Probably not. But you never know what to expect when this dysfunctional group gets together...one last time. It's "Mamma Mia" meets "Spinal Tap" Featuring 16 original songs including "The Funk Train" and "Bump Your Booty Rump.""Be sure to check out this toe-tapping, hilarious journey back to your "Dancing Queen" days!...This show will take you back to the 70's, and you'll hardly be able to control your urge to get up on stage and do "The Funk Train!" - Actors Entertainment"Audience members laughed uncontrollably throughout!...Energetically entertaining!...A rollicking good time!" - The Tolucan Times"I loved it!" - Fred Willard"It's great fun!"- BroadwayWorld.com"A fun and entertaining evening with the audience moving and grooving to the sounds of the 70's style original music and contagious dancing in their seats. It's fun, fun, fun all the way through!...You will have a ball! It's the perfect show to pick up your spirits!"- NoHoArtsDistrict.com

Characters: 1m, 1f / Musical ComedyThis funny and charming two-person musical is a contemporary love story based around the modern world of internet dating. A man and a woman search for that 'special someone' in cyberspace and find that romance is only a mouse click away, but discover more than they ever anticipated. Two lonely singles at home on their laptop computers have signed up with an internet dating site called "eLove.com." We hear their innermost thoughts about love and relationships as they correspond in a cyber chat room searching for their perfect soulmate. When one of them shares a unique personal moment that's too coincidental, they discover they've been "perfectly matched" ...with their former lovers! The newly reunited couple rediscover their love as they start to clear the air of misunderstandings through the safe distance of cyberspace, finding true love where they least expected it...where they last left it!This delightful and touching musical comedy is easy to produce needing only one set and a cast of two of any age. A modern I Do, I Do meets I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. A delightful musical romp!"...Catchy tunes...clever lyrics" -LA Weekly"...A treat" -BSW"Witty lines, fine songs, heartfelt emotion" -Tolucan"Fabulous...feel-good musical of the year!" -Florence Henderson

Drama / 2m, 3f / Simple SetCome Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are, a play by the widely-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning theatre legend Arthur Laurents, is an intimate, emotional drama about a cabaret singer coping with the devastating death of her husband, while trying to navigate her overbearing, controlling mother-in-law and the aggressive advances of a sexually persistent, handsome, new suitor.Recently widowed Sara must comes to terms with her husband's death but is haunted by visions of him. Her fixation on his posthumous messages dampens her historically lukewarm relationship with Marion, her therapist mother-in-law, who is disturbingly pragmatic about the passing of her son. Sara's grief is also altered by Michelle, her under-appreciated sister-in-law, who is struggling both with her sexual identity and her relationship to her deceased brother. All is complicated by Dougal, a picture framer who is struck by the earnest Sara.Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are is a gripping drama about grief and the ability of a family to cope with loss. But at its heart, it is a play about love. It was part of the 2009 season at the George Street Playhouse."The prolific Laurents has given his play a crisp staging, cramming the 90-minute wake with enough heartbreak and ardor to fill a grand opera." - Variety

Drama / 4m, 3fSet in the 1970s on the Texas border separating the United States and Mexico, Lydia is an intense, lyrical, and magical new play. The Flores family welcomes Lydia, an undocumented maid, into their El Paso home to care for their daughter Ceci, who was tragically disabled in a car accident on the eve of her quinceañera, her fifteenth birthday. Lydia's immediate and seemingly miraculous bond with the girl sets the entire family on a mysterious and shocking journey of discovery. Lyd

Winner of the 2008 Keene Prize for Literature Winner of the 2008 David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award Characters: 10m, 3f, flexible casting (Roles may be played by any race or gender except when specified.) / Drama Elephant's Graveyard is the true tale of the tragic collision of a struggling circus and a tiny town in Tennessee, which resulted in the only known lynching of an elephant. Set in September of 1916, the play combines historical fact and legend, exploring the deep-seated Ameri

Characters: 3m, 4f / InteriorIn the Next Room or the vibrator play is a comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity.Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity and based on the bizarre historical fact that doctors used vibrators to treat 'hysterical' women (and some men), the play centers on a doctor and his wife and how his new therapy affects their entire household.In a seemingly perfect, well-to-do Victorian home, proper gentleman and scientist Dr. Givings has innocently

Holiday Musical Comedy / Characters: 7m, 6f / Simple Set Judy Garland is primed for her biggest comeback ever - the dazzling star of her own TV special, broadcast live on Christmas Eve, 1959. Judy's guests include Bing Crosby (making some holiday "grog"), Ethel Merman (plugging her Hawaiian album), and Liberace (with a handsome sailor in tow). However, mysterious snafus behind the scenes and cameo appearances by commie-baiting Vice President Richard Nixon (who performs a magic act) and blacklis

Dramatic Comedy / 9m, 8f (cross casting and double casting possible)Inspired by Pygmalion, Shaw's classic drawing room tale of language and class division, and its musical incarnation, My Fair Lady, the play tells the story of one Eliza Doolittle-the daughter of a hardscrabble Mississippi pig farmer-who sells homemade pork rinds at the Tri-Counties Fair and Livestock Show, and dreams of someday working as a waitress at "one of those nice downtown barbecue restaurants where all the tourists go.

Comedy5m, 3f, Possible Cast Expansion / InteriorSea Spray is a charming beach town, perfect for romantic getaways and cliff-side proposals. While tourists walk around with stars in their eyes, the locals take their lumps and watch their relationships fray and fizzle. Karl is a self-professed good guy who bought the little village dream for his wife, only to have her run off with the town aromatherapist. Now he's stuck with a quaint souvenir shop he never wanted, and the vengeful impulse to run it into the ground. As the local merchants scheme to drive Karl away, his bitter emporium becomes a safe haven for the romantically scarred men of Sea Spray."...Clever and funny, laced with jokes. A quirky adult comedy that will stand on its own in any community" - The Tribune"[Love Town] unmasks the truth that lies beyond artificial social niceties, revealing an authenticity behind the brightly painted facade that little towns display to the world." - New Times of the Central Coast

Drama / Characters: 5f / Simple SetNominee! 2006 Joseph Jefferson nomination as Best New Chicago Play of the YearAll Through the Night speaks directly with a warning for today. Set during and after the Third Reich, a stylistic, surrealistic play inspired by interviews with German Gentile women. The play sweeps from their teen years through adulthood during the Holocaust and beyond. The Nazi Regime impacts the women's lives as they struggle over work, religion, marriage and motherhood. Making

Dramatic Comedy / 6m, 3fInspired by Life is a Dream, the towering achievement of Spanish drama, Dreamlandia explores the terrain between illusion and reality. Set in the borderlands between Mexico and Texas, this haunting new play vibrates with the clash of cultures, NAFTA, narcotics, and illegal immigration. In an everchanging world, family, cultural and sexual identities collide."In Teatro Vista's provocative staging of Solis's latest work, Márquez meets Beckett in a surreal, tragicomic t

In an effort to foster awareness of new plays, and provide for the ever-constant need of audition material, we are proud to announce a new series of monologue books highlighting the latest Samuel French publications. Each year, starting with 2008, monologues from or most recent publications will be selected by our editorial staff to be included in that year's collection. Complete with play synopses, a thematic index, and broad range of styles, you are sure to find one that suits your audition ne

Ten Minute Plays/ Various male and female rolesTwo men at the end of the world, a woman who believes she turns children to stone, some college students with alcohol and a sledgehammer, the perpetrator of a hit-and-run accident, a man obsessed with asphyxiation, and a roadside elephant in India. The very broken characters that inhabit this collection of shorts wander through a dimly lit, over stimulated and paranoia-fueled world that exists just underneath the dominant popular culture. From the