DUNLEVY’S DREAM

New 2007. Joe Gates has been MIA for twenty years and presumed KIA. The action of the play takes place the day after Joe returns home sometime in the late 1980’s with a million dollars in a suitcase and a score to settle. - Three Actors, 2m, 1w. The play is 83 pages, in Three Acts, and will play approximately 90 to 95 minutes. - No set. just a space with red sofa, red chairs, black tables, brown coat tree and 1980s tabletop.

McELHENEY’S REED

New 2007. When Staff Sergeant Jack McElheney arrives as an outpatient at a facility that approximates Walter Reed’s notorious “Building Eighteen” he finds that the only people waiting to care for him are fellow soldiers, who are also wounded. It’s a dark comedy in which Jack is terrorized by a rampant TV, haunted by night terrors, potential suicides, private contractors (from Backwater, Inc.), and visions of a mysterious woman who may be his only salvation. - Four Actors, 3m, 1w, play six roles, 5m, 1w. The play is 85 pages, in 10 scenes, and will play approximately 90 to 95 minutes. - No set. just a space with red sofa, red chairs, black tables, brown coat tree and 1980s tabletop.

SCARS & STRIPES

Two teenagers, an African -American urban girl and a white rural boy, confront their racial prejudices when they meet at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington, DC. Looking for clues into their fathers' pasts, they discover more about themselves and each other and are changed forever. - Two Actors, 1 boy, 1 girl. - No Set. One Act, approximately 60 minutes.

"The beautifully written play ends hopefully, but does not try to tie up all loose ends."

Acting Edition available from Encore Performance Publishing, Orem, Utah, 1994.

Published in Rag Mag, Vol. 13, No. 2, Winter/Spring 1996, pp. 40-74.

Published in Childsplay, Limelight Editions/Proscenium Publishers, Inc., edited by Kerry Muir, 1995.

Received - Distinguished Play Award, American Alliance for Theatre and Education, 1995.

Published in Dramatics Magazine, Vol. 66, No. 9, May 1995, pp. 28-41.

Stage One: The Louisville Children's Theatre, Louisville Garden's Theatre, Louisville, KY, and toured regionally, January 1993. (Yetunde Adeyinka-DeLeon, Jeremy Tow. Directed by Thomas Cadwaleder Jones.)

Stage One: The Louisville Children's Theatre, The Mex Theatre, Louisville, KY, April 1992. (Melanie Jean House, Jeremy Tow. Directed by J. Daniel Herring.)

Additional productions by University of Vermont Theatre, Robert E. Lee High School, Future World Productions, Lincoln Park High Schools, Shelby County Community Theatre, Hobbs Community Players, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Pennsylvania Stage.

A CIRCLE ON THE CROSS

An American soldier missing in Vietnam for 20 years turns up at his family's Arkansas chicken farm to find that his wife married his brother 10 years after he was captured by the Viet Cong and this his son, born after he went overseas, is a younger version of himself - a rebel against the world. - Four Actors, 3m, 1w. - Single set.

"It's the most exciting new script I have read in a long time, maybe ever. I find it funny and very moving at the same time." - Amie Brockway, Artistic Director, The Open Eye.

Film version, 2007. (Terrence Mann, Steven Earl-Edwards, Ryan McWhorter, Liza Vann, Matthew Lewis. Directed by Stephen Maloney.)

 

Price Theatre, LaGrange College, LaGrange, Georgia, March, 2001. Directed by Steven Earl Edwards.

Screenplay (with Steven Edwards), A Circle on the Cross Productions, 2001.

Screenplay (with Ted Cornell), Eastern Independent Film Producer's Association, New York, NY, 1989.

The Double Image Theatre, New York, NY, May 1991.

Optioned for film production by The Eastern Independent Producer's Association, New York, NY.

The Producer Circle Company, The Belasco Room, Sardi's Restaurant, November 1988. (Swoozie Kurtz, Bob Guntan, Josh Mostel, Josh Hamilton. Directed by Melvin Burnhardt.)
Optioned for production by The Producer Circle Company, 1350 Avenue of the Americas - Penthouse, New York, NY.

Nominated by the Open Eye for Plays in Process, Theatre Communications Group, 1988.

The Open Eye, New York, NY, March 1988. Reviewed: New York Times 3-6-88. (Debbi Mcleod, Al Mohrman, Steven Earl-Edwards, Jim Winston. Directed by Amie Brockway.)

Listed in Play Source, Theatre Communications Group, 1988.

Received The Drama League of New York Award, 1987.

The Drama League of New York, New York, NY, May 1987. (Dan Desmond, Ray Gill, Cheryl Aden, Jefferson Mays, Kate Malin. Directed by Anthony Phelan.)

Nominated by The Colony for Plays in Process, Theatre Communications Group, 1987.

The Colony Studio Theatre Playhouse, Los Angeles, CA, April 1987.

Finalist - Philadelphia Festival for New Plays, 1987.

Finalist - Actor's Alley Repertory Theatre, Los Angeles, 1987.

Five readings by The Welsh Chieftain Theatrical Tribe, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 1987-88.

Semi-finalist - The Forest A. Roberts/Shiras Institute Playwriting Award, 1987.

ON THE ROAD TO EAST L.A.

Pine Grande Hawkins returns to the home of his youth in an attempt to recapture the spirit and drive that once made him a country western star. Instead, he comes face to face with old familial feuds and a devastating family secret. - Six Actors, 4m, 2w. Single set.

"The play is very moving and beautifully paced. Mr. Jones is an exceptional writer, with insight and wisdom." - Stephen Purdy, The Daily Mississippian.

“It's strength lies in the playwright's storytelling ability, his ear for dialogue and his characters." - Catherine Zaiser, The Forum.

"A colorful, yet gripping portrait of an Arkansas family forced by an almost pitiable array of guilt and secrets to twist in a dry wind of despair." - William Kerns, A-J.

St. Bart's Theatre, New York, NY, March 1992. (Tracey Cassidy, Steven Earl-Edwards, Barbara Blomberg, Michael Waxenberg, Eric Bettelheim, Ken Altman, Maren Swenson. Directed by Brett A. Crawford.)

The Festival of Southern Theatre, Oxford, MS, July 1991. (John Prince, Katie Walsh, Libby Villari, Graham Murphy, Fred Willecke, Daniel Ruch. Directed by Scott McCoy.)

The Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre, October 1990. (Twylia Hill, Arnie Roos, Laurie J. Wigtil, Pearce Tefft, Bruce Van Blarcom, Jim Revier. Directed by Thom Haggerty.)

The New Plays Production Program, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, April 1990. (James Ivey, G. W. Frazier, Steve Taft, Debbie Davis, Susan McCarty, Eric Benson. Directed by Ted Cornell.)

Winner Fargo/Moorhead Playwright's Competition, March 1990.

Finalist - Eighth Annual 1990 Texas Playwright Festival, Stages Theatre, Houston, TX.

Finalist - Nationalist Playwright's Conference, O'Neill Theatre Center, April 1990.

The Open Eye: Eye On Playwright's Lab, New York, NY, May 1989. (Rebecca Hoodwin, Dennis Jordan, Kathleen O'Neill, Brian Poteat, Frank Hamilton, Tommy Canary, David Amarel, Julia Brothers. Directed by Ted Story.)

MURDER IN MIND

Finalist - Midwest Theatre Network Original Playwright Competition, Rochester , MN, March, 1995.

Pan American University, Edinburg, TX, November 1991. (Directed by Linda Donahue.)

The New Plays Production Program, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, April 1991. (Steve Earl-Edwards, Michael Endy, Susan McCarty. Directed by Tom Jones.)

The Open Eye: Eye On Playwright's Lab, New York, NY, May 1989. (Dick Hughes, James Kiberd, Debbie Mcleod. Directed by Russell Treyz.)

Ed-Man Productions, New York, NY, February 1989. (Terence Mann, Steven Earl-Edwards, Liza Vann. Directed by Steven Earl-Edwards.)

Reading by the Welsh Chieftain Theatrical Tribe, Lubbock, TX.

THREE POINT SHOT

Finalist - In The Works Competition, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1990.

SCARRED GROUND

Victory Gardens Theatre, Chicago, IL., April 1990. (Craig Spidle, Moon Hi Hanson, L. Kent Brown. Directed by Philip Euling.)

DECEPTIONS

Finalist - West Coast Ensemble Celebration of One-Act Plays, June 1989.

OFF TO VEGAS IN A CUSTOM CAR

The Open Eye: New Stagings, New York, NY, April 1988. Directed by Kim Sharp.

AT THE HAWG ROCK CAFÉ

The Open Eye: Eye On Playwright's Lab, May 1989. (Cheryl Aden, Roberta Cornell, Dennis Jordan, Dick Sabol, Mark Tankersley, Sterling Taylor, Michele Valence. Directed by Kim Sharp.)
Reading by the Welsh Chieftain Theatrical Tribe, Lubbock, TX.

THE WALL INSIDE

The Open Eye: New Stagings, New York, NY, March 1989. (Leland Gant, Oni Faida Lampley, Dan Tubbs. Directed by Kim Sharp.)
The New Plays Production Program, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, October 1988.

IN MEMORIAL

The Open Eye: New Stagings, New York, NY, May 1988.

Finalist - Sierra Repertory Theatre Competition, Sonora, CA, 1987.