MY SCREENPLAYS
Although my concentration has been on plays, I have also written several screenplays, some of them based on the stage plays.
BOXCAR & EUGENIA
This is a serious comedy where Boxcar, a very large man and a minor actor dressed as Santa Claus, shows up drunk on the porch of a feisty 82 year old Jewish widow who is virtually blind. She invites him to live with her, much to the chagrin of Susan, the social worker who has befriended Eugenia. Despite conflicts with the two women, Boxcar makes himself useful by doing odd jobs around the house. He finally turns his life around and lands a job at a nursery, and even is cast as Falstaff in a production put on by his theater group. The situation is complicated when Eugenia suffers a stroke, and is in danger of being sent to a nursing home.
REBECCA’S GAMBLE (written with Robert Begam)
Rebecca’s Gamble is a riveting courtroom drama, a trial in which Rebecca Adler, a doctor at a facility which does cryonic suspensions, is accused of the murder of her friend, the terminally ill Kent Eastman. (Cryonic suspension involves, freezing ‘dead’ bodies for later reanimation.)
She is accused of murder because, at Kent’s request, she administered an overdose of anesthetic which ceased all his bodily functions. The reason for doing this was so that his suspension could be started immediately before much tissue deterioration took place.
There is testimony from prosecution witnesses, including the victim’s mother, a technician, an insurance executive, a pastor, a CPA, a molecular biologist, a neurosurgeon, another doctor, a rabbi, a pathologist, a computer scientist, and a physicist and neurobiologist.
There is an attempt to compromise the judge via a sex scandal.
Many of the characters have androgynous names, including the judge and most of the witnesses.
SEX IS GOOD FOR YOU
“Sex Is Good For You” is a romantic comedy about Sheila, an attractive schoolteacher who craves sex, with her husband Ed, of course. But he’s reluctant because he’s recovering from a heart attack, which he got smack in the middle of the last time they made love. Now, she tries valiantly to get Ed into bed — pleading, a romantic dinner, having the cardiologist tell Ed sex is safe, even going to the “red light district” where she tries hiring a hooker for Ed, but is almost arrested herself for soliciting. Nothing works. Finally, Sheila asks Debbie, Ed’s young beautiful nurse at the hospital, to seduce him. Debbie refuses, but does accept Sheila’s invitation to dinner when she learns Craig, their mid 20’s shy son, will be there. The situation is complicated when Mike, Ed’s boss at work, hits on Sheila.
SHORTY THE DOG
In this comedy, Al is aging and his son Jeff, a widower, has no choice but to place him in a nursing home. Al’s dog Shorty misses him badly, and Jeff figures a way to smuggle Shorty into the home, despite the fact that pets are not allowed. The other residents of the home scheme to hide Shorty from the staff, but finally Shorty is found and forced out. But the residents of the home band together and organize a demonstration with a picket line, covered by the media. The nursing home is forced into accepting not only Shorty, but more pets. As Jeff pursues a romance with Mimi, a nurse who has befriended Al, soon the place is inundated with pets of all kinds – cats, dogs, birds, snakes, and the residents are much happier and healthier. At the color war organized for the mental and physical health of the residents, there are even events for pets, which Shorty participates in, competing in an obstacle course race.
TROUBLED MOUNTAIN
The authorities have no idea who is the serial killer in Barnesville, a mountain community with “family values”. Jim, a city-dweller who owns property in Barnesville, travels there and meets Annie, the attractive woman who hasn’t been paying the rent to him recently, as well as the charismatic Pastor, and his wife Cecilia. More killings transpire while Jim is in town. Jim becomes more and more interested in Annie, and so, seemingly does the Pastor, who makes visits to see her. So, who is the killer? Is it the Pastor? Is it Annie’s missing husband? Is it the ghost of the founder of the community? Or is it someone else?
