The perfect young woman and her perfect young boyfriend in MADE FOR A WOMAN are perfect examples of the image conscious society in which we live. She has everything and he does too, and they have each other. All is fine until she feels duped by a case of over-packaging, her world falls apart, and she decides to take matters into her own hands in a dangerous way. (1 man, 1 woman)
In BACHELOR HOLIDAY a mouse, caught in a glue trap, causes three roommates to discuss the meaning of life, death, yuppiedom, karma and the harsh reality of their place on the food chain. (3 men)
Over a POWER LUNCH a highly ambitious couple battle for power and control of their relationship even though they've just met. So serious are they that they even use the wait staff as tools of jealousy. (2 men, 2 women)
In THE M WORD two ambitious executives decide that they are good for each other and proceed to negotiate a future together. As they're so caught up in the corporate lifestyle, this truly is a negotiation and in the end, they agree to "merge." (1 man, 1 woman)
YOUR MOTHER'S BUTT focuses on a therapist desperately searching for clues to help her seriously disturbed young patient. As the patient rattles on about shoes and belts, he recalls a dream he had about his mother, and the therapist thinks she's got her answer. (1 man, 1 woman)
Alan Ball is an Academy Award-winning screenwriter, director, producer and occasional actor, who is best known for writing the screenplay for the Oscar-winning film American Beauty, and for creating the HBO original drama series Six Feet Under.
Even those his one-act plays ended up being more like stylized sketches than I would have expected (although it did serve as a wonderful reminder of just how stylized, "American Beauty" really is) it is still some of the funnier material of read in a while. One of very few playwrights who can actually make me laugh out loud as I'm reading. Oh what weird fun.