Curtain Call - by Gary Goldstein

“Curtain Call” is a drama about a woman who comes out of a coma--after a car accident--only to learn she has a limited amount of time to help her family and best friend move forward with their lives.  It's about the choices we make in life, the ways we define happiness, and how we decide what to leave behind.  Patty, the main character, is guided on her journey by her late mother, Rita, who’s her “liaison” between heaven and earth. 

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Thanks to everyone who entered.

Bomb Shelter - by Kimberly Pau Donato
George is an eigthy-three year-old drug addict who was imprisoned during WWII when denied conscientous objector status.  His grandson Wallace is an eighteen year-old confused suburban kid who is recruited by a Marine at Taco Bell.  A few hours after his wife's death George catches Wallace lurking down in his abandoned bomb shelter.  At first George wants nothing to do with Wallace, he hasn't been high on crystal meth in ten years and he is ready for his fix.  When George can't find his stash he teaches Wallace how to produce meth-amphetamine from household items as they struggle with family secrets and the morality behind war and protest.

Cell - by Judy Klass
Cell is the story of two brothers from different generations.  Dennis, the younger brother, is in his 30's.  A product of Gen-X, but still somewhat lost as to who he is or should be.  Michael, Dennis' older, Baby-Boomer brother, is a diabetic who has lost both legs to the disease.  His other physical ailments and obesity keep him mostly bedridden, dependent on the care of his brother, even as he complains about being alive at all.  The play opens shortly after Michael's death, a possible homicide police detective Rodriguez has been charged with investigating.  Dennisrelates his story to the detective and, as the mystery surrounding Michael's death is revealed, we experience the relationship, rivalry, animosity and, ultimately, love that the two seemingly polar opposites share .

Rosa - by Peter Snoad
For years Cynthia Spalding has dreamed of being a mother. Now it’s about to happen. She and her husband, James, are preparing to fly to Guatemala to collect their new adopted baby daughter, Rosa.  But on the eve of their departure, events take an unexpected turn. Their car, parked on the street outside their house, is destroyed by fire in the early hours of the morning. Cynthia and James assume it’s an accident. The police apparently think so, too. But Lewis, a government investigator, insists that the blaze was caused by a terrorist bomb. And he asks the couple some oddly pointed questions. About their “foreign” adoption. About the vanity plate on their car. About an old friend who works in the American embassy in Beirut.    Suddenly, bizarrely, the Spaldings are terrorist suspects. And their world comes crashing down: their house is searched, they lose their jobs, and their friends desert them. Worst of all for Cynthia, the adoption of her precious Rosa is imperiled. Why, they ask, is this happening?  Months later, broke and desperate, they learn the shocking truth. The response from James is explosive. But James harbors his own dark and painful secrets. And when these, too, are laid bare, the destiny of Cynthia, James—and Rosa—is changed forever.

The Immortal - by William R. Duell 
Daisy Collier, a reporter for her church magazine, learns that a local woman, Lucinda Spring, has become the oldest living American.  She interviews Lucinda, an atheist who insults Daisy, her religion and her assumptions about life.  Daisy tries to determine if Lucinda has exaggerated her age in order to collect early Social Security benefits, but soon finds herself entangled in a more complex inquiry:  to find the existential comfort that would allow Lucinda to embrace her own mortality.  The inquiry leads to a volatile climax, but during its course each woman experiences and recognizes the vanity of self-righteousness.

WILLIAM R. DUELL has a masters degree in Film from San Francisco State University and a BA from the University of Virginia.  As a photographer, his projects include shooting the cover and interior photographs for Millennialism Today: The Shadows and Lights of Waco, by James D. Faubion (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001) and photographing flipbook images for Paper Tangos, by Julie Taylor (Durham: Duke University Press, 1998).  In 1993, Billy Arjan Singh, for which he wrote the documentary script, received the Bengal Film Journalists' Best Documentary Award in Calcutta, India.   On January 20th, his play, The Immortal, received its first stage reading at The Attic Ensemble Theater in Jersey City, N.J.  In its earlier versions, this drama was a finalist of the Festival of Emerging American Talent at the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis and a semi-finalist for the Playwrights First Award at the National Arts Club.  William is currently polishing a new play, BIG EASY BACCHAE, a radical transformation of Euripides’ masterpiece, about a young activist, intent on making his New Orleans neighborhood a better place, who evicts the Goddess of Passion and her followers from their church, a defunct gay bar.  William is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc.

GARY GOLDSTEIN has been represented on the Los Angeles stage with the comedies Just Men, at the Stella Adler Theatre; and Parental Discretion and Three Grooms and a Bride, which both enjoyed long runs at the Coast Playhouse.  He also recently wrote a one-woman stage show for veteran actress Mariette Hartley entitled If You Get To Bethlehem, You’ve Gone Too Far.  Gary's one-act comedy Blockbuster Mentality was presented this summer at Manhattan's Underscore Playhouse by the WAIT Theatre Company.   Gary has sold or optioned original screenplays to various studios and independent producers, has a string of episodic TV credits, and rewrites scripts on assignment.  His play Parental Discretion was optioned and developed by Warner Bros. TV as a half-hour pilot, with Jennifer Aniston executive producing.  In addition, Gary's romantic comedy screenplay If You Only Knew was produced by Eternity Pictures and Moonstone Entertainment, and starred Johnathon Schaech, Alison Eastwood, and James LeGros.   

JUDY KLASS has had eighteen one-act plays produced, in NYC theaters such as the Harold Clurman, the Sanford Meisner, the Looking Glass and Expanded Arts.  Recently, her short play THE PLAY'S THE THING was chosen as one of six finalists in the Down Home Play Festival by the Arts Council of Rock Hill and York County; it will be given its first production in August, in South Carolina.   Judy's full-length play TRANSATLANTIC has been produced twice in NYC. Two monologues from it appeared in The Best Women's Stage Monologues 2002 and one appeared in The Best Men's Stage Monologues 2002, both published by Smith and Kraus.  Judy's full-length play DAMAGE CONTROL has been produced in Manhattan once.  One short play of hers is published as a stand-alone script by Brooklyn Publishers of Texas.  Others have appeared in The Rockhurst Review, The Rockford Review, Luna, and on-line in Wings. One is in press in the textbook ACCESS LITERATURE, and another is in press in the anthology THE ART OF THE ONE-ACT.  Judy co-wrote the Showtime cable film IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES, based on the novel by Julia Alvarez.  It has won Imagen and Alma awards and is out on DVD.  Judy is also a screenwriter and prolific poet.  She teaches English, writes songs, and lives in NYC.

PETER SNOAD began writing plays four years ago, drawing on 30 years’ experience as an actor and as a professional writer for nonprofits and the news media. His produced plays include Entitled, which premiered at the Devanaughn Theatre in Boston, MA last year, and The Boolies, a musical play based on a children’s story that he co-wrote with Maggie Steig. Another of his plays, Resistance, will be performed at the Pittsburgh New Works Festival on September 15-18, 2005, a week after it receives a staged reading at the Herring Run ArtsFest in Middleborough, MA. Peter’s plays have been finalists in playwriting contests run by Creative Mechanics Theatre in New York City; Stageworks/Hudson in Hudson, NY; the ArtsCenter in Carrboro, NC; Lakeshore Players in White Bear, MN; and Stormy Weather Players in Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY. As an actor, Peter has performed in theatres in Boston, New Hampshire and Vermont. His film work includes corporate videos, commercials, and at the age of six, a memorable appearance—he vaguely remembers—in the 1955 Rank Organization production of A Town Like Alice, starring Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch. Peter lives in Jamaica Plain, MA with his wife, Mindy Fried, and their daughter, Sasha.  

If you would like to contact any of the writers, please  use the FEEDBACK form.

Thanks to everyone for entering the TrapDoor Ensemble playwright competition.  We received many excellent entries and it was not an easy task to narrow the field.  

TrapDoor Ensemble is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation.  As a public charity, all contributions and donations made to TrapDoor Ensemble are tax deductible under section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code.

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