ALL PLAYS
Complete listing of Joseph P. Krawczyk's Plays
FULL LENGTH PLAYS
Year’s End
(drama)
1980
5 characters (3 male, 2 female), setting is an apartment
Synopsis: In YEAR’S End a talented, well-respected high school teacher resigns unexpectedly. Four of his colleagues try to change his mind, and no one is left standing amid the emotional wreckage that ensues.
Production History:
1980, Way Off-Broadway Theater, Queens, NY; 1985, Sargent Theater, Equity Showcase; 2013, Manhattan Repertory Theater, Workshop Production. 2014, Cape May Theater, NJ, Staged Reading.
Bless Them O’Toole
(drama)
1981
4 characters (3 male, 1 female), setting is an apartment, interior of an Archbishop’s residence, Synopsis: A priest, losing his grip on his sanity, finds himself embroiled in the politics of the clergy.
Production History:
1981, Ensemble Studio Theater, NYC, reading; 1982, San Francisco Theater Company, staged reading.
Family Bound
(drama)
1985
4 characters (3 male, 1 female), setting is a home. Synopsis: Family Bound is a play where past and present collide as two brothers see their parents from an adult perspective. They gain insight into the mystery of their parents’ death and their sibling relationship.
Production History: 1980, Bechmann Theater, NYC, Workshop Production; 1986, Sargent Theater, NYC, Equity Showcase.
Inconceivable
(comedy/drama)
1987
4 characters (2 male, 2 female), setting is an apartment. Synopsis: A wife wants desperately wants to have a child, but her husband has been emotionally abused as a young man and refuses to comply. Their best friends, one of whom is pregnant, try to sway him.
Production History: 1987, Sargent Theater, NYC, Equity Showcase; 1988, Main Stage, West Hollywood, California, Equity Waiver.
Latin Retreat
(comedy/drama)
1990
4 characters (3 male, 1 female), setting is the lobby of a Central American hotel. Synopsis: An American diplomat finds himself in a quandary on the eve of a revolution.
Production History: 1990, Sargent Theater, NYC, Workshop Production; 1991, Playwrights Horizons Theater School, Staged Reading; 1992, Park Theater, Union City, NJ, Staged Reading.
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Gender Wars
(comedy)
1995
5 characters (3 female, 2 male), three settings (gym, steps of a brownstone, supermarket aisle). Synopsis: Two young men, fresh out of the Marines, try to cope in a new world of relationships.
Production History: 1995, Sargent Theater, NYC, Workshop Production;
1996, Samuel Beckett Theatre, NYC, Off Broadway production.
Madame President
(musical drama)
1998
8 characters (4 male, 3 female), full-length musical, multiple settings (apartment, exterior political office, interior office) Synopsis: A musical about the ascent of the first woman president.
Production History: 1998, Apollo Productions Studio, NYC, Staged Reading.
Who Killed Johnny Hansen?
(comedy/drama)
2000
8 characters (6 male, 2 female), one setting (radio and TV studio). Synopsis: A surreal tale of serial murders and corporate greed. Beneath the surface, Johnny Hansen is a metaphor and a requiem for the middle class in American society.
Production History: 2001, Sargent Theater, NYC, Workshop Production; 2002, John Cullum Theater, Equity Showcase.
Divinity
(drama)
2011
6 characters (4 male, 2 female), two settings (apartment, research facility). Synopsis: Six characters are locked in a struggle to ascertain the existence of the divine. How this confrontation unfolds and ends is a defining moment for each of these characters.
Production History: 2011, Sargent Theater, NYC, Workshop Production.
Fog
(comedy)
2012
3 characters (2 male, 1 female), setting (exterior field). Synopsis: Two characters are transported by the Fog, representing a safe haven for them, to a surreal land. One is excited about exploring their new surroundings; the other only wants to return to the protection of the Fog. A third character appears and further complicates their attempt at a resolution.
Production History: 2012, Sargent Theater, NYC, Workshop Production.
The Treatment
(drama)
2014
4 characters (3 male, 1 female), setting (medical ward). Synopsis: A mystery thriller about two individuals trying to reclaim their memories. Only at the conclusion do we understand what has been done to them and what they need to do to become whole again.
Production History: 2015, Sargent Theater, NYC, Workshop Production; 2017, International Theater Arts Institute (IATI), Staged Reading. 2019, International Theater Arts Institute (IATI), Actors Equity Showcase.
It’s All About Lorrie
(comedy)
2014
5 characters (2 male, 3 female), setting (an apartment and a rehearsal room). Synopsis: What happens when a character only referenced in a script “comes to life” and barges in on a rehearsal, demanding to make the play all about her? Enthusiastic director/writer Jessica is about to begin rehearsal when Lorrie shows up and imposes her will with a new draft of the script in hand, throwing everything into chaos.
Production History: 2014, Broad Views on Broadway, NYC, Staged
Reading; 2016, Thespis Theater Festival, full production; 2017, John
Cullum Theater, NYC, full production.
The Man Who Found Troy
(drama)
2014
3 characters (2 male, 1 female),
setting: (drawing room, exterior location). Synopsis: Based on a true story, Henry Schliemann, a wealthy entrepreneur, embarks on a rocky, twenty-year journey to discover the ancient city of Troy. He uses Homer’s Iliad as his guide and inspiration.
Production History: 2014, Beckmann Theater, NYC, reading; 2017, John
Cullum Theater, NYC, staged reading.
Release 35.6
(drama)
2015
3 characters (2 male, 1 female), setting (park-like setting). Synopsis: Release 35.6 is story of intrigue, love and loss, and renewal set in world of genetic manipulation.
Production History: 2015, Sargent Theater, NYC, full production;
2016, International Theater Arts Institute (IATI), staged reading.
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The Gap
(comedy)
2018
4 characters (3 male,1 female), Setting (a clothing store), Synopsis: In the tradition of The Theater of the Absurd, a man, under his wife’s urging, walks into the changing room of The Gap clothing store to try on a new pair of jeans. Unable to exit the changing room, he finds himself trapped in an alternate dimension. What happens next changes their lives forever.
Production History: 2017, American Theatre of Actors, full production.
2018, International Theater Arts Institute (IATI), staged reading.
Guns, God and Gomorrah
(drama)
2019
3 characters (2 male, 1female), Setting (a battlefield), Synopsis: After having killed sixteen, innocent civilians in Afghanistan, the main character embarks on a surreal journey of self-discovery and atonement. He has made this journey many times before, each time getting closer to the heart and the guilt of his crime.
Production History: 2019, American Theatre of Actors, reading; 2019, Dramatists Guild, staged reading.
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ONE-ACT PLAYS
Macho Moments
(comedy)
2013
2 characters (2 males), Setting (a gym, a bar, a city stoop), Synopsis: Two working- class guys back from Iraq struggle to find their place in a world that has bypassed them.
Production History: 2013, Mid-Winter Madness Festival, full production; 2014, American Theatre of Actors, full production.
Stop The Bleeding
(drama)
2011
2 characters (1 male, 1 female), setting (an apartment). Synopsis: An advertising copywriter wakes up one morning to find that he has the stigmata.
Production History: 2011, Beckmann Theater, NYC.
The Tasting
(drama)
2012
2 characters (2 males). Setting (a NYC, Manhattan apartment), Synopsis: Jeffrey, an archaeologist, believes he has discovered the cup of Christ; while Lawrence, an antiquities dealer, covets the cup in the hope it will cure him of a fatal disease.
Production History: 2012, NYC Avant-Garde Festival, full production.
Reincarnation
(comedy/drama)
2014
3 characters (2 male, 1 female), setting (a bedroom in an apartment). Synopsis: Round and round these characters go and where they stop nobody knows, each one unable to choose freely their gender or sexual orientation.
Henrietta
(comedy)
2015
2 characters (1 male, 1 female), Setting (interior of an automobile), Synopsis: Cheating on his wife, Carl gets his comeuppance when he tries to meet his mistress at a motel. Henrietta, an upgraded, vehicle navigation system that also acts as a lie detector, thwarts his attempt at adultery. In their encounter, Carl comes face-to- face with his own mortality and decides to make a U-turn back to his wife.
Production History: 2015, George Bruce Theater, full production; 2015, Tri-State Theater Festival, full production; 2016, Beckmann Theater, full production; 2018, Bayonne Comedy Festival, full production; 2018, Pittsburgh New Plays Festival, full production; 2018, Bobcat Players, full production; 2019, Neil LaBute Theater Festival, full production
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The Changing Room
(comedy)
2016
2 characters (1 male, 1 female), setting (interior of The Gap store). Synopsis: In the tradition of The Theater of the Absurd, a man, under his wife’s urging, walks into the changing room of The Gap clothing store to try on a new pair of jeans. What happens next changes their lives forever.
Production History: 2016, Beckmann Theater, NYC
SHORT PLAYS
The Understudy
(comedy)
2014
2 characters (1male, 1 female). Setting (a NYC apartment), Synopsis: A twenty-something couple live together. One person in that relationship discovers that her significant other’s expectations are somewhat bizarre and unsettling.
Production History: 2014, Dancing Frog Theater Company, full production; 2014, Thespian Productions, full production.
Morning Ritual
(drama)
2014
2 characters (1 male, 1 female), setting (a living room in a house). Synopsis: Tom brings coffee and donuts to his wife of 30 years. He carries on a conversation with her from the kitchen as she remains offstage in the bedroom. At the end of the play, we find that her part of the conversation has been pre-recorded since she had died about a year ago. Tom listens to the recording every morning to get him through the day as a widower.
Production History: 2014, Piney Fork Playwrighting Festival, NYC; 2014, South Street Players, Tri-State Theater Festival, NJ.
Lucky Lady
(comedy)
2014
2 characters (1 male, 1 female), setting (on the street outside a veterinarian’s office). Synopsis: A woman with an empty carrying case stands outside a vet’s office. She mourns the loss of her dog. A man notices her grieving and offers consolation. What happens next changes her life.
Survival of The Fittest
(comedy)
2013
2 characters (2 males), setting (the bottom of a sink hole). Synopsis: While hiking, two antagonistic friends accidentally fall into a sink hole. They spend more time arguing about who should survive and why rather than working on a way to get out.
Production History: 2013, Cape May Stage, NJ.
The Third Date
(comedy)
2015
2 characters (1 male, 1 female), setting (an apartment setting). Synopsis: Two people prepare for their third date together, each one harboring a secret that may end their burgeoning relationship. They are both surprised when they discover each one is the mirror image of the other.
Production History: 2015, North Park Playwrights Festival, San Diego, CA.
The Wish
(comedy)
2015
3 characters (2 male, 1 female), setting (a kitchen setting), Synopsis: A sixty-five year old husband wishes his wife, who is the same age as he, still looked as she had at twenty five. A genie grants him his wish, only to find out that you have to be careful what you wish for in a world of unintended consequences.
Production History: 2016, Ten-Fest Theater Festival, Waitsfield, VT.