"For now I stand as one upon a rock - Environ'd with a wilderness of sea, - Who marks the waxing tide grow wave by wave, - Expecting ever when some envious surge - Will in his brinish bowels swallow him."
- Titus Andronicus
This page offers summaries of a few selected plays. Laura writes darkly comic plays that examine the human condition from the lens of small town Southern American society. Some plays are written in a Southern Gothic style and are meant to be staged with this in mind.
See Laura's page on the New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/22891/laura-tolin
Laura's work has been presented and developed at the Kennedy Center's Summer Playwriting Intensive, The Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha, the Ten for TENN Festival, the Nevada Conservatory Theatre, and The Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska. She holds a MFA in Theatre Arts, concentration in Playwriting, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
In addition to writing plays, Laura has also taught undergraduate theatre courses including: Women's Plays, Introduction to Theatre, and Play Structure and Analysis.
See Laura's page on the New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/22891/laura-tolin
Laura's work has been presented and developed at the Kennedy Center's Summer Playwriting Intensive, The Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha, the Ten for TENN Festival, the Nevada Conservatory Theatre, and The Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska. She holds a MFA in Theatre Arts, concentration in Playwriting, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
In addition to writing plays, Laura has also taught undergraduate theatre courses including: Women's Plays, Introduction to Theatre, and Play Structure and Analysis.
Tolin Theatrical Resume | |
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Full-Length PlaysThe Rules of Learning, Drama
4F, 3M, with much character doubling Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes Minimal Set Principal Tammy Height runs her school like a prison. Her "rules" of learning reduce the students to zombie-like inmates. But when Tammy hires Miss Louise Emory as the new English teacher, she gets more than she bargained for. Little does Louise know that the school’s rotten inner world is about to be exposed. Shelter My Soul, Drama 2F, 2M Running time: 2 hours Unit Set Corinna bid farewell to her small-town Mississippi life after high school, but when she finds herself thousands of dollars in student debt, she calls on an old friend to help her out: by dealing drugs and giving her a cut. But this decision could rob her of her hard-earned, stable relationship, and her promising future. Rain Means Good Luck, Dark Comedy 4F, 3M, no character doubling Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes Unit Set Caddy is a proper Southern woman with a flair for entertaining and social propriety. But when her daughter decides it's time to get married to an out-of-towner, Caddy's own marital skeletons come out of the closet. When Caddy snaps and ruins the whole ceremony, she must choose between alienating her family forever, or finally accepting that life isn't always perfect. Veil Road, Drama 2F, 2M Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes Unit Set In rural Tennessee, Pamela is a recluse who lives with her "touched" teenage son Jason. One day, Jason starts to draw scenes of the accident that left him disabled years ago, and soon, the past cannot be prevented from coming to light: Pamela must face what really happened that day on Veil Road. Pennypincher, Drama - Southern Gothic 3F, 2M Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes Unit Set In 1920's Memphis, impoverished mother Marion is an out-of-towner who extorts her two children and swindles the public with her fortune telling. Cooking up a new scheme to amass more money, she pushes her daughter into a dangerous trade. |
Short PlaysThe Dying House, Drama - Southern Gothic
3F Running time: 45 minutes Unit Set Three sisters return to their Mississippi home after a monstrous storm ravaged their town. They are looking for their Mother, who stubbornly stayed behind. When they find no trace of her, guilt, greed, jealousy, and blame begin to tear the sisters apart. Luxury, Drama 2F, 3M Running time: 30 minutes Unit Set Aging spinster sisters Jitty and Polly strive to make ends meet despite Polly's low-paying job at a local big box store and Jitty's penchant for buying expensive antiques. When the local antique dealer comes to collect on Jitty's debts, the truth about their situation comes to light. This play is unique in that it seeks to cast senior theatre artists. Dinner and a Monk, Dark Comedy 2F, 2M Running time: 25 minutes Unit Set Marion's filmmaker husband Bruce returns home on Thanksgiving wearing a monk's habit and wielding divorce papers. All the while, Marion's parents bicker among themselves and barely take notice of the horrible transformations that are happening right under their noses. Chanticleer, Comedy 1M, 2F Running time: 10 minutes Minimal Set Vain opera singer Chanticleer is haunted by visions of a sexy fox the night before his final performance. Based on Chaucer's Nun's Priest's tale of the rooster and the fox. The Three Belles, Drama - Southern Gothic 4F Running time: 10 minutes Minimal Set Three antebellum sisters vie for their mother's love in order to inherit the largest part of her estate in this King Lear-esque allegory of the pursuit of happiness. Hit and Run, Drama 1F Running time: 10 minutes Minimal Set Las Vegas hooker Marcy is being interviewed about her life, but during the course of her tale, she reveals that she accidentally ran over someone in the desert... who it is will surprise you. Vote for Mongo, Comedy 2M Running time: 10 minutes Minimal Set "Prince" Mongo - a royal spaceman from the planet Zambodia - has been campaigning for local office in Memphis for over twenty years. But today, with the help of a homeless man, he's going to finally convince the audience to vote for him. |