When her marriage partner comes out to her as transgender, Jeanette finds the ground shifting beneath her feet. Is the person she has known as her wife still the person she loves?
The Brisket
It’s December 24, 2016 – the only time in a generation that Christmas Eve and Hanukkah fall on the same date. In honor of the occasion, Ruth and Adrienne have traveled from distant cities to their sister Lee Anne’s apartment in San Francisco. Now the brisket is in the oven and its enticing aroma induces waves of nostalgia. Ruth and Adrienne anticipate a delicious Hanukkah celebration with extended family, but Lee Anne has conflicting loyalties. Every year for seventeen years she has made brisket for the annual holiday gathering of all of her best friends in the local queer community – many of them estranged from their families. To complicate matters, there’s a surprise and possibly unwelcome holiday gift yipping in a pet carrier in the bedroom. Can an utterly charming King Charles spaniel mend the rift between the women, or will the puppy suffer collateral damage in the battle of the brisket?
And Tomorrow And Tomorrow…
Stumbling in a daze from the battlefield to the afterlife, Macbeth encounters three spirits—Graymalkin, Paddock and Pyewacket (rhymes with “I thwack it”). They appear to Macbeth as a cat, a toad, and a dog, and they also look familiar. Very familiar. And indeed, that’s what they are: “familiars,” the companion spirits of the three witches whose prophecies led to his ruin, offering Macbeth the chance for a do-over. But will he get it right this time…?
After the Prologue
Alison, the five-times widowed gap-toothed pilgrim from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, is thrilled to speak to an audience after 626 years, because she has a story she wants you to hear, the cautionary tale of an errant Knight Errant in King Arthur’s court, who commits a rape. His punishment: answer the question “What do women want?” or face execution.
#YesMeansYes
Note: this play is free for classroom use. The full script may be accessed here: YESMEANSYES. If you perform it, I would be delighted to hear about your experience.
When Briseis Met Chryseis
When Briseis meets Chryseis, it’s the tenth year of the Trojan War and both women are “war prizes” held captive by the besieging Greek army. At first their friendship helps them make the best of things and even to feel glad they are still alive, but as plague threatens the Greek camp and the women’s friendship deepens into love, it threatens their survival.