A retired high school teacher, estranged from his daughter, hopes for a reconciliation by writing a song for her daughter’s wedding. But he is diagnosed with cancer, and struggles to fight the disease even as he continues with the song. He must confront his past and his demons as his condition deteriorates, and is helped along the way by his loving sister Mary and a quirky trio of kindred spirits. Musical drama runs 90 minutes. Cast of 7 (3m, 4w). Simple, unitary set. (Music by J. Linn Allen.)
As a girl in rural Illinois, Jane Addams, motherless and suffering from a crooked back and a painful sensitivity to the world around her, has a vision of a grand house where she and others who suffer can live a happy life. She grows up to create Chicago’s Hull House settlement and become known throughout the world as a social reformer. But she wonders at the end whether she has become emotionally empty in sacrificing personal relationships for her cause. Musical drama runs 90 minutes. Cast of 8 with doubles (6f,2m). Simple, unitary set. (Music by Sari Miller and J. Linn Allen.)
In a dilapidated, financially struggling cafe, a group of oddball baristas including a revolutionary on the run from assassins, a religious romantic who sees Jesus everywhere and a transvestite Ayn Rand fanatic find purpose and love over the course of a day filled with disasters. Musical romcom runs 90 minutes. Cast of at least 8 (4m, 4f) Simple, unitary set. (Music by Bonnie Janofsky and J. Linn Allen.)
In a future time of political chaos in America, a gun-waving radical invades the home of a physicist-philosopher and former presidential candidate, intending to persuade him to support her revolutionary group or kidnap him if necessary. But when she finds out he is paralyzed and speechless from a stroke, she sets out to seduce his son and daughter to her cause. Musical dramedy, runs 90 minutes. Cast of 5 (2m,3w). Simple, unitary set. (Music by Cris Wo.)
Take yourself apart and put it all back together. Between the Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination of JFK, a floundering journalist revisits scenes from his childhood in the 1940s and 1950s to figure out if elements of his past can show him a way out of his depression. He is saved by a song in a cemetery. Musical dramedy runs 90 minutes. Cast of 6 (3m, 3f). Simple, unitary set. (Music by J. Linn Allen and Sari Miller.)
Sudden, mysterious booming sounds shake up the deteriorating Midwest town of Clearfield, whose previous claim to fame has been the periodic appearance of the Northern Lights – now long absent. The booms create fear (and hope) about an alien invasion, bring a media crush, cause a breakup in a teenage romance, reawaken long dead feelings of love in the town’s mayor, help expose a sheriff’s corruption, and create new economic possibilities. Musical satiric comedy runs 90 minutes. Cast of 14 (7m,7f), Simple, unitary set. (Music by Jamie Allen.)
A naive idealist navigates protests, riots and madness, becomes involved in an interracial triangle, and makes a journey to sad experience during the civil rights and anti-Viet War struggles of the 1960s. (Candide meets the Big Chill.) Musical drama runs 90 minutes. Cast of 8 with doubling (5m,3f). Simple, unitary set. (Music by Jamie Allen and Josh Davis.)
A visit from a long-absent college friend challenges a couple in a troubled marriage, The friend brings a new partner, and reveals why he left suddenly and without explanation just before graduation. Suddenly gender and identity are up for grabs. Dramedy runs 10 minutes in straight version, 15 minutes in musical version. Cast of 4 (2m,1f, 1 nonbinary). Simple, unitary set. (Music by J. Linn Allen.)
A jewelry maker with a passion for beautiful stones must go far outside of herself to resolve her conflicts over whether her work has real value. Musical dramedy runs 15 minutes. Cast of 7 (5m, 2f). Simple unitary set. (Music by Sari Miller.)
An English teacher sings sonnets on his fire escape to flee enforced isolation but discovers his neighbor on the floor above him is not a lover of the bard—at least not at first. But she and her roommate expand his perspective. Musical romcom runs 30 minutes. Cast of 3 (1m, 2f). Two-level set. (Music by Sari Miller.)