Straight Plays with 1 M, 1 F Character

[bwguyhottie]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 4:09am

My friend ellen and I are looking for straight plays with a 1 M 1 F cast (ok if more if designed for actors to play multiple characters).

We are in the 18-20 age bracket. We would perform it in the lab theatre here at UT. Age appropriate roles would be idea, but since this is a college theatre experience, any plays would be great.

Right now the only one I can think of is An Infinite Ache.

[Jon]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 8:21am

Take a look at "Jesse and the Bandit Queen" - about Jesse James and Belle Starr.

It's highly theatrical, the two performers assuming multiple roles, bare stage (just a few pieces of furniture), simple costumes (no changes).

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 8:26am

I stage managed "The Diaries of Adam and Eve" -- 1m, 1f.

[Mamie]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 8:33am

If you're interested at all in a wonderful musical - try I Do, I Do.

[nycdncr]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 9:12am

Jack and Jill

by Jane Martin

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 9:15am

maybe not age appropriate, but The Gin Game... Updated On: 10/20/04 at 09:15 AM

Posted: 10/20/04 at 9:33am

I agree with Jack and Jill by Jane Martin.

Keep in mind that you'll need 4 or 5 techies who come on stage to give the actor/actress props, help them change on stage, etc.

[Craig]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 9:37am

Love Letters is also a 2 character play

Posted: 10/20/04 at 9:40am

Love Letters has been done to death though.

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 9:55am

"The Unexpected Man" by Yasmina Reza - (she wrote the play "ART" as well)

A man and a woman are in a train car together.
The man is a novelist, contemplating the futility of his writing and becoming distraught.
The woman recognizes him at once and is a huge fan (she even has a copy of his latest book in her bag), but she's too shy and embarrassed to say anything.
The entire play is composed of "inner-monologues" which the actors speak aloud.
It's not a traditional play, but it's cool.

[Craig]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 9:59am

Birdbath is also very good. Very dramatic.

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea - same

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune

Greenwich Mean

Funeral Parlor

The Nina Variations

Oleanna

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 10:01am

Mamie,

You are a "mind reader"!

I was thinking of THE FOURPOSTER--the straight play source of I DO! I DO!

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 10:53am

Wait wait...
I think THE FOURPOSTER has 3 characters...
There is a narrator, if I'm not mistaken, as well as the couple.

But I'm talking with Mary_Ethel the Secretary of Trivia over here, so I'm probably wrong.

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 11:47am

"Ancient History" by David Ives

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 11:53am

The Sea Horse by ???
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley
Frankie and Johnnie in the Clair de Lune by Terence McNally

If you can swing one other male, This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan is a perfect piece for your age range.
Talk To Me Like The Rain, and Let Me Listen a one-act by Tennessee Williams

Updated On: 10/20/04 at 11:53 AM

[robbiej]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 11:54am

Look for a play called THE STONEWATER RAPTURE.

I saw two good friends do it in college and it was spellbinding. It helped that they were both terrific actors, but it's an interesting (slightly disturbing) story that is very moving.

EDITED TO SAY: And little did I know it was written by Tony and Pulitzer winning playwright Doug Wright (I AM MY OWN WIFE).

Updated On: 10/20/04 at 11:54 AM

[robbiej]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 11:58am

And here's a synopsis I've found. I also believe that there is a bit of homosexual subtext going on for the male character:

Set on the front porch and in the living room of a conservative Texas home, the play tells the story of two teenagers whose sexual awakening has been severely hampered by the fundamentalist fervor that runs like power lines through the Bible Belt. A comic first scene, set on the porch of Whitney's home, details his attempts to seduce the puritanical Carlyle after he's just been elected president of the Youth Ministry at the Church picnic. Carlyle coyly refuses his advances, citing everything from teen pregnancy to hellfire and damnation as reasons to abstain. In a dramatic second scene, Carlyle seeks Whitney's help after she has been the victim of a sexual assault. Rather than face the grim reality of her experience, Carlyle transforms the attack from an act of violence to a vision of glory, in which the bodies of her assailants become the angels torn from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and the alcohol they forced upon her becomes the blood of Christ. As Carlyle's delusions grow, Whitney must convince her of the unfortunate truth. Together they struggle to wed their simplistic religious doctrine with the often painful complexity of the real world.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 12:14pm

27 Wagonloads of Cotton - Tennessee Williams
Two-Character Play - Tennessee Williams
Laughing Wild - Christopher Durang
Misery - Stephen King, adapted by Simon Moore

[LittleFish8386]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 12:29pm

I'm not sure if this is the right name of the play (Guido knows it) its called the Red Door

or something to that effect---its very good for young people

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/20/04 at 1:48pm

I don't know if you are looking for a full length or one act but in Brian Friel's "Lovers" the first act, titled "Winners" is about two Irish teenagers facing adulthood and trying to figure out what to do with their lives. The first act can stand alone as a separate work.

[LacyD]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:48pm

"Philip...with one L"

One woman, one man, full length. Still fairly unknown, but probably not for long.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:57pm

Actually Goth, Lovers is a 3 character play : Meg, Joe, and narator.
It was one of my favorite plays that I did.

A good, short one act play with 2 characters, 1 male and 1 female is "The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year" by John Guare.

[NuggetMonkeys]

Posted: 10/21/04 at 11:57pm

SURE THING, by David Ives.
no doubt.
-d.b.j-

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 12:03am

There is also "Home Free" by Lanford Wilson. The play is brilliant, but very disturbing.

[alterego]

Posted: 10/22/04 at 1:32am

Same Time Next Year, The Owl and The Pussycat or even Greater Tuna (written for two males but just as easily works for a mixed cast).