Naomi in the Living Room and Other Short Plays: A Collection of One-Acts

THE STORIES: NAOMI IN THE LIVING ROOM. Naomi, when visited by John and Johnna, her son and daughter-in-law, is alternately friendly and insulting. Johanna copes her best, but when John changes his clothes to look like Johanna, things start to unravel. Naomi barely notices any differences, but throws them both out of the house, then decides she's had a nice time! (1 man, 2 women.) THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS SHOW. Lettie Lu is broadcasting her own public TV access show from a local motel. Based on Lettie Lu's belief in the Book of Leviticus, the show's interpretation of the story leads Lettie Lu to today's segment's activities of capturing and putting to death a homosexual and an adulteress. All in a day's devotion to God. (2-3 men, 3-4 women, flexible casting). ENTERTAINING MR. HELMS. An extremely conservative father runs a rigid household: the Pledge of Allegiance each morning, his wife does woman's thing, his daughter gets points for being glad a classmate died of a botched abortion and his son gets in trouble calling sports teams by words with double meanings (instead of Team A and B). They are all happy living in America. (2 men, 2 women.) CARDINAL O'CONNOR comes to explain briefly why birth control is always always always wrong. (1 man.) WOMAN STAND UP. A sensitive woman trying to do stand-up comedy has to bring her own laugh track, just in case. Her self-deprecating jokes turn out to be all too real, as is her pain as she senses the truth. (1 woman.) DMV TYRANT. A man goes to a woman clerk at the Division of Motor Vehicles and tries to get his license renewed with infuriating results. (1 man, 1 woman.) THE HARDY BOYS AND THE MYSTERY OF WHERE BABIES COME FROM. Frank and Joe Hardy change sweaters a lot and look cute. The word sleuthing excites them and they're off to investigate what it means that Nancy Drew has a bun in the oven. (3 men, 1 woman.) AUNT DAN MEETS THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT. Aunt Dan, the title character of Wallace Shawn's Aunt Dan and Lemon, has a discussion with Giradoux' Madwoman of Chaillot. They discuss it all. (2 women or 1 man, 1 woman.) CANKER SORES AND OTHER DISTRACTIONS. A man and a woman, previously married, try to reconcile over dinner, but a canker sore and a talkative waitress ruin everything. (1 man, 2 women.) MEDEA. A sketch co-authored by Durang and Wendy Wasserstein. Medea and her chorus of three woman try to figure out if it's appropriate to kill your children to punish your husband. Jason shows up; so does a messenger with news of Lady Teazle; and a deus ex machina comes down from the sky to cheer everybody up. (2 men, 4 women.) FUNERAL PARLOR. A widow is accosted at her husband's funeral by a very inappropriate guest. (1 man, 1 woman.) 1-900-DESPERATE. Gretchen, nagged by her mother about her empty love life, calls a romance talk line and finds only other women and one young man named Scuzzy. When a five-year-old child dials by mistake, Gretchen finds his innocent babbling preferable to all the adults. (3 women, 1 man, 1 child.) WOMEN IN A PLAYGROUND. Two women watch their children play; one of them is pretty normal, the other has a very pessimistic outlook. (2 women.) PHYLLIS AND XENOBIA. Two strange sisters bicker about who did or didn't kill their mother, and who does or doesn't like pudding. (2 women.) DESIRE, DESIRE, DESIRE. Another Tennessee Williams parody, from the author of For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls. Blanche DuBois, her nerves shot, is stuck in a house with a slobby Stanley Kowalski, who keeps yelling Stella! Stella left for a lemon Coke six years ago and never returned. Blanche tries to seduce a young census taker, but is interrupted by Big Daddy and Maggie from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. A tart from The Iceman Cometh shows up as well, irritating Blanche by saying pipe dream instead of illusion. Stella comes back briefly, but departs again, leaving Blanche and Stanley stuck together for eternity. (5 men, 3 women.) ONE MINUTEChristopher Durang is the author of 'Naomi in the Living Room and Other Short Plays: A Collection of One-Acts' with ISBN 9780822214489 and ISBN 0822214482.