THE ANTI-WAR THEATRE on The Peace Tree

DEBRA'S ASHES

A play about loss, family, dysfunction and war...(2 women, 2 men)

(As the audience files in the dim glow of the television (a constant on stage throughout) can be seen but not much else, save for shadows. Music playing over the house speakers, “I Wish I Was the Moon” by Neko Case, timed to end as lights rise on Scene One.)
READ DEBRA'S ASHES

IRAN'S LABYRINTH

A young girl in a magical land as her father foments war...(One man, 1 girl)

(On stage are a large group of massive, ancient trees, center. They appear angry; their limbs extended in a gruesome dance. As the audience waits for the houselights to fade and the fantasy to begin, a haunting didgeradoo solo begins to play. As the houselights fade, the didgeradoo will peak and then fade down, but not out.)
READ IRAN'S LABYRINTH

CUT AND RUN

A film director makes his final film based on lies...(1 man)

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."
Henry David Thoreau

PROLOGUE- DECIDER'S VOICE: Okay! Okay! Cut! Goddamnit! Where are all the extras? This scene requires bodies! Loads of them! Bring on the fucking children! Quite on the set! Cue the bombs! Mothers start screaming! Fathers get that look of anger and hate in your eyes! Children you just lie there! And roll camera and ACTION!"
READ CUT AND RUN

SECOND LANGUAGE

An Iraqi exploding conversation...(3 men, 3 women)

(A group of Iraqi men and women, old and young sit outside a café smoking and drinking coffee. They are all relaxed and there are no bombs or guns or any sound but the sound, save for that of their voices.)
READ SECOND LANGUAGE

ALLAHU AKBAR

A play on torture...(3 men)

(As the audience files in they see on the stage a dungeon-like cell in the shadows center stage, seemingly underground. There is a stone wall center and one wooden chair to the left. A human shackle device is mounted upon the wall; two hand shackles with chains and two foot shackles with chains.)
READ ALLAHU AKBAR

THE EMPIRE HAS NO HEART

Two men running away from empire into truth...(2 men)

(Lights rise on a bare stage. Lightening flashes are seen slashing across the sky. Soon a distant rumble like that of an advancing line of military tanks can be heard far off in the distance behind the audience. Two men enter running from the back of the house to the stage. They stop center. As the action takes place the rumbling grows ever so louder.)
READ THE EMPIRE HAS NO HEART

SORROWFUL NUISANCE

Four Arab men speak of the bombs nuisance...(4 men)

(As lights rise on the stage we see four old and judicious Arab men, Ahmad, (most praiseworthy), Anis, (love and friendship), As’ad, (happiness), and Almahdi, (guided to the right path), standing near a deli in downtown Baghdad, conversing …Periodically a distant explosion will cause them to hold their words or repeat them. The explosions do not alarm them; instead they are a part of their daily lives in Iraq; their routine. The men, numb to the bombs frequent occurrence, are only a quick and sorrowful nuisance.)
READ SORROWFUL NUISANCE

HERA'S CHILDREN

A play of mythical proportions... (2 women)

(Lights rise on ATHENA (The Virgin), her flesh covered in ivory, her drapery and armor in solid gold. Soon HERA, the Queen of the gods, wearing the polos crown enters. In her hand she holds a pomegranate; the emblem of fertile blood and death (and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy). As she ascends the steps of the Parthenon, ATHENA addresses her.)
READ HERA'S CHILDREN

UNBIND IT

The hanging of a dictator... (1 man)

(As the audience files in the stage is bare and dark. Before the houselights fade the sound of wind begins to filter through. As houselights fade the wind grows stronger. Soon from the darkness we hear the repeated sound of a coarse rope being pulled taut. This for some time… followed by silence. From the dark we hear a mans voice.)
READ UNBIND IT

TUMBLE DOWN

A Short Absurd Play…(2 women 2 men)

(As the audience files in they see a humble dining room table center. Three humble chairs. Three plates and three sets of silverware. The Dixie Chicks “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice” begins to play, timed to end as houselights and stage fade out. The stage is dark as the last of the song filters through the theatre. Silence. The phone rings. After the third ring it is answered by CHRISTINE. We hear her voice in the dark.)
READ TUMBLE DOWN

OF KINGS AND MEN

Two traitors in a jail cell, you just know it can’t end well. (2 men)

(The lights rise on stage. We see KARL lying on one of two cots in a jail cell. He glares at GEORGE who stands next to the other cot holding a newspaper in his hands.)
READ OF KINGS AND MEN

COME OUT COME OUT WHERE EVER YOU ARE

A search for terror... (2 women, 1 girl, 2 men, 1 boy)

(The stage is completely in shadow. We are in what is now the area surrounding The Green Zone. There is a slight sound like that of a giant ogre smacking its lips. It is subtle, yet disturbing. Soon the sounds of many whimpering and moaning people floods the theatre. A spot now begins to come up center stage and we see a very large pile of concrete and wood and pavement and general debris. An old woman (eighty) enters atop the rubble. She is elegant and graceful. The wind blows through her hair as she steps forward and addresses the audience. As she speaks lights rise on the stage.)
READ COME OUT! COME OUT! WHEREVER YOU ARE

SUNFLOWER

An American military widow talks to her husband... (1 woman)

(As the audience files in they see a single flower growing out of center stage underneath a soft spotlight. It is a magnificent yellow sunflower rising up to greet the afternoon sun. A soft violin solo fills the air. Houselights fade and all is dark save for the soft light. The violin swells and the light slowly fades. The music fades out as we hear a woman speaking from the dark. Lights rise on and around the flower now and we see a woman kneeling on a blanket.)
READ SUNFLOWER

THE MASK OF WAR

Two mothers have a conversation with War personified... (2 women, 1 man)

I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?"
~Eve Merriam

(Two mothers, one Israeli and one Palestinian, stand center as lights rise on the bare stage.)
READ THE MASK OF WAR

P.O. DUBYA

A short tele-play (1 man)

(Lights rise on John McCain sitting on a very plush and large bed in the suite of a very high dollar hotel. He is watching the live broadcast of Barack Obama’s speech at Invesco Field, with an estimated crowd of 84,000 people, on the television. The theater audience cannot see the television as it faces McCain who sits on the bed facing out toward them. He is alone and visibly agitated while drinking a Martini, no easy feat that one. He is rather tipsy and obviously alone and lonely on this night of nights. McCain talks to the television as if it were Barack and, at other times, to his Martini as if it were a friend.)
READ P.O. DUBYA