KILLING NEIL LABUTE AND OTHER PLAYS
by David Robson
The 10 short plays in this collection range from the absurd to the serious to the seriously absurd. Praised by critics as “hilarious,” “darkly funny,” and “more than a little bit moving,” they have been produced by theatres across the country and around the world.
Killing Neil LaBute: (3M) An online review draws the ire of an infamously edgy and unforgiving playwright.
Death of America: (3M, 1F) Two friends debate the current state of the world before improvising a weird and wacky drama in a local bar.
The Speech: (2M, 2F) A college student attempts to give a speech but gets off track and instead reflects on what’s really important in life.
Goons: (5M, 4F) This interview from Hell includes a mysterious box, a spatula, and a couple of burly goons.
You Rang: (2M, 1F) A groom with cold feet gets advice from an (un)expected source.
Mel and Mee: (2M) What really happened the night actor Mel Gibson got arrested?
Ed Rex: (3M, 1F) In this comic riff on Oedipus Rex, a powerful CEO must save his business while grappling with his dark and twisted past.
A Necessary End: (2M) When a college professor and his student, a military veteran, meet, conflicts arise over issues of purpose, power, and politics.
Someone Else’s Life: (2F) Past and present collide when a grieving daughter meets the wife of a former factory worker sickened by the toxic chemicals he worked with.
The Stronger: (2F) In this adaptation of August Strindberg’s classic play, two rivals engage in a Christmas Eve face-off in which secrets are revealed and one tries to prove that she is the stronger.
- Cast Size: Flexible
- Running Time: 90+ for full evening
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance for full evening, contact for shorter plays
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About the Playwright
David Robson is an award-winning playwright whose work for the stage has been hailed as “compelling”, “forceful”, and “gut-wrenching” by the New York Times, and “an important contribution to contemporary theater” by the Philadelphia Inquirer. His plays include WITHOUT CONSENT; BLUES IN MY SOUL: THE LEGEND AND LEGACY OF LONNIE JOHNSON; HAMMER OF GOD; BIRTHRIGHT (PlayPenn semi-finalist); AFTER BIRTH OF A NATION (Best Delaware Playwright Award); PRICELESS; PLAYING THE ASSASSIN (Philadelphia Critics’ Best Play Nomination); PLAYING LENI (co-written with John Stanton); A FEW SMALL REPAIRS; MAN MEASURES MAN (Barrymore Award nomination); and AFTER DENMARK. Work has been produced by TheaterWorks Hartford, Delaware Theatre Company, Penguin Rep, InterAct Theatre Company, Passage Theatre, and Act II Playhouse, among others. Robson was recently named Delaware’s Best Playwright. Other honors include the Hotel Obligado Award for New Work, the Susan McIntyre Playwriting Award, the Panowski Playwriting Award (runner-up), and two playwriting fellowships and three grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts. Play development: Theatre Exile (Philadelphia);Blank Theatre (Los Angeles), Bated Breath Theatre (Hartford, CT), Lark (NYC), White Pines Productions (Philadelphia, PA), City Theater Company (Wilmington, DE), Great Plains Theatre Conference (Omaha, NE), Last Frontier Theatre Conference (Valdez, AK), Rebel Theatre (NYC), and New Theatre (Coral Gables, FL). His plays and monologues are published by Next Stage Press, Smith and Kraus, and Original Works Publishing. David is a member of the Dramatists’ Guild, the Playwrights’ Center, and is a former playwright in residence at the Lark in New York City. He is also the author of more than a dozen books for young adults, including Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, The Murder of Emmett Till, and The Black Arts Movement. He earned an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College, an MS in English Education from St. Joseph’s University, and a BA in Communications from Temple University.
Review Killing Neil LaBute and Other Plays.