Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Free script excerpts posted

Dear friends,

I've added a new page to my website and posted some free excerpts from my longer play scripts for THEATER EDUCATION. These are suitable for middle grades on up through adult. They are family friendly, and guaranteed to be suitable for all audiences.

If you need a script for a competition, or a drama class or readings, check it out.

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Short Plays for Kids...and Adults.....and Families!

Dear friends,

I'm still trying to "find the market" so to speak for my new plays. I tend to use a lot of classic fairy tales as the "bones" of my story, or the underlying ideas behind them. But then my imagination takes over and I divert in different directions. For example, my brand BRAND new play that I finished last Friday (first draft only at this point) is based on a combo of the Princess and the Frog stories and the story of Sleeping Beauty. BUT, I have two new recurring characters that I'm sure will show up again...Rapunzel Rapunzel and Snow White. These two fiesty young women have gone into business together and run a detective agency, in Service to Her Majesty the Queen. Of course Ms. White has seven helpers...LOL!

The working title is "Princess Primrose and the Curse of the Big Sleep" but I love long titles so will probably add a sub-title, like "From the Casebook of Rapunzel & White, In Service to Her Majesty the Queen". This is the first in a series of plays I hope to write about these characters. Perhaps the stories will become books some day, too. That would be cake WITH icing. :-)

Writing about the same characters in several plays is a somewhat dangerous thing to do, because you run into the problem of theatres that don't want to do sequels because of various reasons. It's a shame, because I've found that people do fall in love with characters and want to see them return. At any rate, I love writing about the same characters in different situations. When I write a character, they become real to me.

My plays aren't the same ol' fairy tales, that's for sure. But deep down, they have that fantasy element, that magic that all classic fairy tales have brought to us down through the ages.

Happy trails!

bobbi c.
Playwright & Storyteller

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Vampire plays...galore!

Dear friends,

For the first time ever, I read the entire original DRACULA book by Bram Stoker. The version of Dracula that we've seen often in movies isn't very similar to the original story in the book. I decided that I had to adapt it into a play, naturally. First of all, I wrote it pretty straight forward. Then, since I needed a short play for a youth festival competition, I wrote a ten-minute version (yes, I did! LOL). I guess all the brou-ha-ha about "those" vampire novels and movies was lurking in the back of my mind, so I named that one VAMPIRE FEVER!

Then, since I couldn't help myself, I did another longer version, Texas style. That one is titled DRACULA BITES! or, Texas Has a Vampire in It! and it's my favorite. A bit melodramatic, but that's what I was going for.

For now, I think I'll let Mr. Dracula rest.

Happy trails!

bobbi c.