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 his page features details and synopses of some of Simon's plays written for the stage, and provides a peek into his works that are currently in development. If you would like to obtain a copy of any of these scripts in digital form for reading and/or potential production, please Contact Simon. Produced plays are listed alphabetically, with previously unproduced plays and plays in development listed at the bottom of the page.
Arpillera
| Synopsis: | The date September 11th carries a very unique meaning to the people of Chile. It was on 9/11 in 1973 that a military coup, led by General Augusto Pinochet and backed the US government, overthrew the democratically elected President of Chile, Salvador Allende. In this docu-drama based largely on eye-witness accounts, Arpillera details the American involvement leading up to the coup and recounts the horror of the day itself. Direct parallels are drawn between 1973 and 2001 and the events in Chile become a specific example of a long chain of similar incidents, clearly demonstrating the devastating and long-lasting impact that foreign intervention can have on a nation and its people. Taking its name from the patchwork quilts created by the mothers of the disappeared as a silent form of protest, Arpillera weaves a rich tapestry of life in Chile in 1973 and the years that follow.
| | Style: | Drama
| | Number of Acts: | One
| | Length: | 70 mins
| | Total actors required: | 9 (flexible)
| | Men: | 4
| | Women: | 5
| | Production History: | First produced as part of the Graduate course in Directing at the University of Calgary (Calgary, Alberta) in 2004.
| | Notes: | Casting is flexible and can be done with varying cast numbers and role allocations. |
Collaboration
| Synopsis: | Theatre is supposed to be the ultimate collaborative art form, but when a young director finds herself having trouble working with the set designer on a production, she turns to the producer for help, only to find that the hierarchies of seniority, reputation and gender can get in the way of an ideal artistic process. She finds herself faced with a decision between the desire to further her career and the danger of sacrificing her artistic morals, and neither option is going to let her off easy.
| | Style: | Dark Comedy
| | Number of Acts: | One
| | Length: | 15 mins
| | Total actors required: | 2
| | Men: | 1
| | Women: | 1
| | Production History: | First produced by Nickle and Dime Productions (Calgary, Alberta) in 2004. Subsequently produced by Downstage (Calgary, Alberta) as part of Theatre Junction's Random Acts festival in 2005.
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Jack of Hearts
| Synopsis: | Pearce is a card shark in every sense of the word. Every hand he touches turns to gold, and he's finding it harder and harder to find people who are willing to lay their money on the line against him. But Pearce's card playing isn't just a means to amassing a small fortune for his own selfish reasons, but rather to save enough money to buy his dying father Travis a kidney transplant on the black market. Knowing his father will never reach the top of the legitimate patient waiting list and not knowing how much time Travis may have left, Pearce turns to Donna for help in scouting out an opportunity that will make or break both his and his father's chances. But playing against a table full of other sharks, with all the money on the table, will Pearce have what it takes to win out and save his father's life?
| | Style: | Drama
| | Number of Acts: | One
| | Length: | 60 mins
| | Total actors required: | 6
| | Men: | 4
| | Women: | 2
| | Production History: | First produced by Phantasmagoria Productions (Guelph, Ontario) in 2002. Subsequently produced by Nickle and Dime Productions (Calgary, Alberta) in 2004 and by Sage Theatre (Calgary, Alberta) in 2005.
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The Lookout Trail
| Synopsis: | Jennifer Murphy is the Principal at an elementary school like any other. But when she receives a mysterious message claiming to be from the future and predicting grave danger to her students, she is faced with a decision to make. Does she bow to the requests of the message or ignore its seemingly impossible claims. Enlisting the help of the Vice Principal, they try to determine the best course of action, but it becomes clear that something in the message is even more important to Jennifer than ensuring the safety of her own students. Every attempt to determine the validity of the message only further clouds the situation as the predicted event draws closer, and only once the final decision is made is the truth revealed in a shocking twist ending.
| | Style: | Drama
| | Number of Acts: | One
| | Length: | 45 mins
| | Total actors required: | 4
| | Men: | 2
| | Women: | 2
| | Production History: | First produced by Phantasmagoria Productions (Guelph, Ontario) in 2001.
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Pulling the Wool
| Synopsis: | Allen is a struggling writer who has taken a job in the stories department of Canada's Leading News Network (CLNN). His job is to work with The Statistician to take numbers and figures and dress them up to paint the picture the network wants, be it good or bad. However, Allen slowly comes to realize that the stories he is helping to create are geared more toward profit and propaganda than integrity and information, and he begins to question the operations of the network, despite the protestations of his wife. Allen's need for adventure begins to get the better of him, as he embarks on a personal mission to expose the network and its backwards policies, finding an ally in the network's beautiful anchorwoman, and seeking to be an angel to the people of Canada, despite the dark forces that stand in his way.
| | Style: | Dark Comedy/Drama
| | Number of Acts: | One
| | Length: | 60 mins
| | Total actors required: | 4
| | Men: | 2
| | Women: | 2
| | Production History: | First produced in a co-production by Downstage & Nickle and Dime Productions (Calgary, Alberta) in 2005. Subsequently produced by Downstage (Calgary, Alberta) as part of the Edmonton International Fringe Festival in 2005.
| | Notes: | Pulling the Wool won the award for 'Outstanding Original Script' at the 2005 Calgary One-Act Play Festival.
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Unproduced Plays & Plays in Development
| Cow Town: | Nine characters weave in and out of each others' lives in a play about oil, drugs and other things that make the city of Calgary prosperous.
| | Death of Houdini: | Inspired by several theories around the death of the greatest magician of all time, a play about how far some will go to keep people in the dark.
| | E.O.M.: | A young girl who hates her job at a fast food restaurant finds herself the unlikely organizer of a union to protect the maltreated employees.
| | The Green Fairy: | The 'absinthe murder' of 1905 serves as a historical reference point in a play about scapegoating the innocent to protect the wealthy and powerful.
| | Heredity: | A young woman returns home for a family funeral and is forced to face her family's daunting health history while coming to terms with her loss.
| | Overdue: | A musical set in the not-too distant future where a greedy government controls all knowledge and seeks to eliminate the memories of the poor.
| | Sanitarium: | A man wakes to find himself in an asylum and without memory. As he slowly regains it, will he be horrified by the crimes he has committed?
| | Skeletons: | When a lawyer receives a desperate visit from a forgotten high-school friend, dark memories come rushing back that forever changed both men.
| | Testament: | A woman finds a note with strange markings in her mailbox, and comes to realize that she is the target of someone's demented and dangerous game.
| | Visiting Hours: | A death row inmate receives a visit from an anti-death penalty lawyer who claims that he can save him, but is the offer too good to be true?
| World's Worst
Freak Show: | A macabre musical with a heavy Tom Waits influence set in a freak show where the featured acts are horrible, yet no one seems to notice or care. |
For more information on any of these plays, please Contact Simon.
Current Projects - Theatrical Resumé - Written Work - Downstage - Headshots - Contact Simon
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