I am also a screenwriter, have had short stories published, and had a magazine column in a specialty magazine—Quirks Marketing Research Review.
I also make up silly poems for other people’s special occasions.
SCREENPLAYS
Although my concentration has been on plays, I have also written several screenplays, some of them based on the stage plays.
NOT ONE MORE FOOT OF LAND! This screenplay explores the blurry line between savior and traitor. It’s the story of Major Ridge, the most controversial Cherokee who ever lived.
Set in the early part of the nineteenth century, it’s a historical drama based on a true story – the involvement of Major Ridge in what came to be known as the Trail of Tears. The major characters—Major Ridge, his wife Sehoya, John Ridge, John Ross, Andrew Jackson, and other historical figures actually existed. And the events, sometimes modified in the screenplay for dramatic purposes, actually happened.
Initially Major Ridge, a respected warrior, was one of the strongest Cherokees against removal of the Cherokees from their homes. He was the one who stated, in response to white encroachment, “Not one more foot of land”. But gradually he realized that if the Cherokees did not agree to removal they would shortly become extinct. So, he signed a treaty, which many other Cherokees thought he did not have the legal standing to do, allowing the federal government to execute the removal. He did this all the while knowing that he would ultimately be assassinated for his actions, as many considered him a traitor to the Cherokee people.
Major Ridge was a complex man who devoted his life to ensuring the survival of the Cherokee Nation in its struggles against the intruding white settlers and the white governments. But at the same time, he was a conflicted man who embraced many elements of “white culture”.
Integral to the story is the long-lasting romance between Major Ridge, and his wife, Sehoya, a strong woman in her own right.
NOT ONE MORE FOOT OF LAND! offers the opportunity for great spectacle. In addition to ceremonial and war dances, and battles between Indians and whites, there is, of course, the Trail of Tears march in which hundreds of thousands of Cherokees were ‘removed’ from their ancestral land, mostly in Georgia and Tennessee, to west of the Mississippi River.
NOT ONE MORE FOOT OF LAND! depicts how Indians were taken advantage of by intruding whites who desired more and more land. While it is well-known that American “civilization” relegated Indians throughout the United States, as one expert in Indian affairs has pointed out, this story will make audiences feel for events, not just know about them cognitively.
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?
Potential Screenplays
THE TROLLS STOLE THE NORTH POLE, and SPACENAPPED SANTA are both currently published stage plays designed for kids.
Both plays can be adapted into a screenplay, either animated or “real”.
TROLLS STOLE THE NORTH POLE
Will Santa be able to make toys this year to give to kids around the world?
Perhaps not. It’s just days until Christmas when two trolls divert a shipment of toy supplies destined for Santa’s toy factory at the North Pole to their troll toy factory at the South Pole. It’s all part of the trolls’
scheme to manufacture toys and sell them at inflated prices. But when Santa discovers the devious plan, he sends Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, and two elves to the South Pole to retrieve the stolen supplies and bring them back in time to make toys for Christmas. Will they be successful? Or will most kids on Earth have to do without toys this Christmas?
This screenplay contains 19 wonderful catchy songs.
SPACENAPPED SANTA
Santa, on a test drive with his sleigh, is spacenapped to the planet Plantania.
It’s Christmas Eve and on the planet of Plantania an alien scientist, Gar, has unveiled his newest invention, a giant magnet. But a power-hungry alien, Fisthead, steals the magnet and points it into the sky at the exact same moment Santa and Rudolph are test-flying Santa’s sleigh. Santa and Rudolph become caught in the powerful magnetic pull and are forced to land on Plantania, where they discover they have been spacenapped, along with the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Not only does the selfish Fisthead take all the Easter eggs and make them into egg salad, but he steals Santa’s toys so that he can be the most popular alien on the planet. Will Santa and the others ever get back to the North Pole? And will it be this year, in time to deliver toys to all the kids on Earth?