Dramatic Writing
plays & screenplays
(see also the Open Play Archive for free access to selected full texts)
Full Length Plays
BECOMING BRONTË
2 hrs. 3 W, 1 M. Full length, two-act poetic drama. Based on the poetry and early lives of the authors of Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and the Tenant of Wildfell Hall. One summer, a young man named William Weightman comes to study with their father, Reverend Brontë, at their isolated Yorkshire parsonage home. Weightman's intoxicating presence inspires their burning passions and forever changes Anne, Charlotte, and particularly Emily.
Winner of the 1995 Austin Critics Table Award, the Live Oak Award for New Play Development, and the Richard and Betty Burdick National Playwight's Festival. Produced at Capitol City Playouse, McNeese University, and staged reading at Florida Studio Theatre.
MAYS & TERESE
2 hrs. 2 W. Mother Teresa of Calcutta was easily one of the most beloved figures of our times: TIME dubbed Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the founder of American Atheists, as "the most hated woman in America." These two women were on a mission to make the world a better place, but with radically different means. This play is a fantasy based in a plausibility: what if "Mays" and "Terese" had known and influenced each other? (mature language)
Developed at the New Harmony Project, with the assistance of the City of Austin Arts Commission, and produced at Bloomington Playwright's Project.
SARAH WHO SAVED THANKSGIVING
2 hrs., w/music. 4 W, 5 M, 1 Boy. The play celebrates the life and struggles of the little known "mother of Thanksgiving," Sarah Josepha Hale. As the editress of one of the first ladies' magazines, Godey's Ladies Book, Hale influences the reading, learning, economic and political consciousness of women across America. As The Civil War begins, Hale campaigns for Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Hale's flaw of conservatism is revealed: but she is nonetheless applauded for her contributions.
Staged Reading by The Pollyanna Theatre Company.
Plays for Young Audiences
A CHRISTMAS ROSE
55 min., w/music.* 2 W, 2 M. It is Christmas Eve, 1944, in Normandy, France. After an air raid, studious Jacques and brave Jeanette are separated from their mother, and take refuge in an abandoned Cathedral. As the lonely night wears on, they are visited by a saint, a gargoyle, and mysterious others. With a little help, they find new hope for the future and a perfect gift on Christmas Morning.
Nominated for B. Iden Payne for Best Original Script, with traditional French songs and carols. Commissioned and produced by The Pollyanna Theatre Company.
A DRAGON'S HAPPY DAY
55 min. 2 W, 2 M; with audio recordings. Tomboy Princess Middle is in a terrible dilemma. She's been sent away to a tower until she can learn to act like a normal princess. But just what is normal, anyway? The tower is guarded by a rather unusual Dragon, and together with some mixed-up helpers, the Metachromafly and Pegaunicorn, they beat The System, and learn that sometimes "normal" isn't normal.
Commissioned and produced by The Pollyanna Theatre Company.
EDWARD, THE OWL, AND THE CALICO CAT
1 hr., w/music.* 1 W, 2 M, 1 Either. Edward is a bossy little boy who likes to make up funny words. Come along as he crosses the Fish in the Sea, the Land Where the Bong Tree Grows, and Turkey Who Lives on the Hill, to find his lost cat Gracie and a discover a hard truth about love. Based on the life and work of poet Edward Lear, with Victorian folk songs.
For script and performance information, contact Dramatic Publishing.
Commissioned and produced by The Pollyanna Theatre Company. Winner of the B. Iden Payne Award for Best Original Script.
DUCKIE SEES THE WORLD
1 hr. 3 W, 2 M. In 1992, a cargo shipment of plastic bath toys from Hong Kong was lost in the Pacific Ocean. For the next eleven years, the ducks and frogs floated around the world's oceans, washing up on unexpected shores. This real event comes to life through the story of one special duckie on a search across the Arctic to find a kid to love, and one lonely oceanographer's daughter, looking for a true friend.
Commissioned and produced by The Pollyanna Theatre Company. Recognized by the Children's Theatre Foundation of America's Aurand Harris award.
IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL
2 hr. 10 W, 9 M. Inspired by oral and written history, this play with music follows five generations of the fictious Bauer family beginning in 1856 as a young german immigrant starts a family to the conflicted and fast paced life of a modern day high school student. Heartwarming and challenging.
Commissioned to celebrate the 150th anniversary the hometown of the American Girl franchize, by Lynda Sharpe of Middleton High School, Wisconsin.
RUMPELSTILTSKIN'S DAUGHTER
55 min. 1 W, 4 M. What happens when the famous little man's daughter gets captured (like her mother) to spin gold? See how girl power outwits King King and saves the people in this fast-paced adaptation of Diane Stanley's lovely picture book.
Finalist for the Jackie White Memorial National Children's Play Writing Contest. Commissioned and produced by Zachary Scott Theatre's Project InterAct.
PATTERNS, MORE PATTERNS, and PATTERN NATION
50 min. 4 Either. Imagine a world where four very special young children are made of pure color: Blue, Green, Yellow, and that extra-wild Red. Together, they explore and learn to recognize the patterns found all around us in nature, music, mathematics, language, science, and human behavior.
See the DVD produced by The Pollyanna Theatre Company!
VALENTINA HELPS OUT
50 min., w/music.* 2 W, 1 M. After her Momma forgets to kiss her goodbye, Valentina misses her bus and gets lost in the big city. With a Police Officer's help, her Abulita, a taxi driver, comes to pick her up, and Valentina goes along on errands and meets many community helpers - on wheels! This interactive play contains songs and activities about safety and community, building to a serious call for help and a pandemonious rescue. With Spanish and early childhood folk songs.
Commissioned and produced by The Pollyanna Theatre Company as COMMUNITY HELPERS ON WHEELS.
Short Plays
ART BEAT
30 min. 1 W 2 M. A smart-assed play about a wealthy Southwestern couple's differing opinions about contributed funding for the arts. (mature language)
Winner, Best of the Fest, FronteraFest, Austin Texas.
LIKE A METAPHOR
35 min. 4 W. 3 M. Written for middle school audiences and students to perform, this simple setting drama explores difference and identity girl named Scout who uses a wheelchair who loves to dance and a boy named Jazz who follows the beat of his own drum.
Winner of the Boston Public Schools Dramatic Development Award and the Everyday Heroes award, produced by Northwestern Missouri State University.
THE RICH FAMILY AND THE POOR FAMILY
20 min. 6 W, 4 M. The Castillos and Gonzales Families live in totally different worlds, but the Gonzales' daughter Christina travels between the two. When the Gingerbread Man comes to make things right, old feuds are forgiven, and happiness is found in both homes. For 3rd grade students (Approx 8 years old) to perform.
Written with the Brooke Elementary Theatre Company.
Feature Length Screenplays
AMERICAN ACTRESS
An unknown young actress sleeps her way from London to Hollywood - but is she a fool for love? Romantic comedy with an edge.
After the death of her mother and father, charming 20-year-old Cherry Green flirts with her acting coach and does plays. Against the warnings of her radical feminist best friend, she begins a series of misguided but hilarious affairs with actors and stage managers, books a show in London, and finally gets her big film break. When the truth comes out about Cherry's past, she goes into a tailspin. Will Cherry find the love of her life and save her stalled career? Can she really have it all?
A sexy, funny, smart commentary on the roles women play, on stage, screen, and in life.
DAY TRIP COWBOY
A comedy/drama about a small town boy who takes a road trip throught the wild west only to find what he wanted was right at home.
A restless bus
boy takes an unexpected road trip, leaving his secretly pregnant
girlfriend behind. Dragged through canyons and badlands by a racy
female aquaintance, he survives her voracious appetites, gets
over himself, and finds his way back home.
ELIZA'S FERRY
A drama/romance/western about a Mormon wife who falls for a Navajo who isn't what he appears to be.
In the desert
Southwest of the 1880's, an "other" wife overcomes abandonment,
predators, and the Colorado River only to be devastated by a tragic
personal loss. A nearby Navajo clan is more aware of her situation
than she realizes, while an outcast brave secretly offers aid.
Once discovered, she distrusts him and he provokes her, but ultimately
his influence enables her to find happiness and fulfillment on
her own terms.
This visually epic yet character-driven story was inspired by
historic Lee's Ferry, Arizona. It's loosely based on the history
of the area. ELIZA'S FERRY celebrates
a journey filled with courage, hope, and the power and mystery
of unconventional love.
Quarter and Semi Finalist in the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting
Finalist in the Cinestory Competition.
THE OTHER MOTHER
A drama about a teenage violinist who survives competition and her troubled mother to find the truth that sets her free.
Set in the early 1980's, a high strung mother wants her daughter to be first chair in their affluent high school orchestra. Her misfit daughter tries to please her mom, but her chief competition is her best friend, and daughter of the Orchestra teacher. When the other girl wins, jealousy and illness come to the fore, and the daughter's dreams and premonitions come true.
Salon reading through Austin Script Works.
Other Dramatic Writing
(note: this material is in some way encumbered or not currently available).
ASK ME - series of educational scripts for online animated flash high school courses in geography and history.
THE CAPTAIN CAN RE-CYCLE - series of short educational plays for the City of Austin Solid Waste Services.
THE DINER – libretto to a folk rock musical about a circle of friends and their struggles to save a cherished eatery; book only, produced at Capitol City Playhouse, music and original story by Mike Williams.
THE DEBUATANT ACTIVIST – short radio drama about a wealthy young woman who gives it all up to save the earth; produced by Train of Thought.
THE ECCENTRIC HOBO – short radio drama about a hobo who turns out to be wealthy; produced Train of Thought.
TRAIL OF TEARS: WALKING THE CHOCTAW ROAD - libretto a dance/drama based on Tim Tingle's book Walking the Choctaw Road (Cinco Punto Press), winner of the Oklahoma Book of the Year Award.
YOUNG BEOWULF - feature screenplay sold to Scorpio Productions.
NOTE: Unless otherwise indicated, all inquiries should be made directly to the writer
* Music for selected scripts has generally been arranged from folk and traditional music in the public domain. Demo CD's and selected sheet music is available on request.© 2005-2010 Emily Cicchini | Design by Andreas Viklund | words into wine