Charles Henry Coburn

Curtain Going Up! Charles Henry Coburn

These 15 short contemporary plays for competition have surprise endings and are designed to spike the audience's interest. Billy Banes, an escaped bank-robber and murderer, stops at Silas Hogue's farm, not for food and a fresh horse, but to stretch the old sod-buster's neck with a rope. The famous child from Lourdes who was granted the power to perform miracles faces a moral dilemma when his miracles bring devastating consequences. Everyone in Mayville has a guilty secret about who killed Brice Borman, the town's most hated man. Heavy with despair, a man walks solemnly onto a bridge and stares over the railing at the murky water far below him. Paul, a teenager, discovers his father's location and arranges a reunion with Dad to satisfy years of festering anger with a gun. In their twilight years, Helene, an international singing star, and Frank, a successful businessman, meet aboard a luxury cruise shop, where they dance away thoughts of personal loss to find a second chance at love. An experienced actor tries out for a part in Shakespeare's King Lear in this encounter with mistaken identities and a unique interpretation of what real talent is all about. And more . . .