Oscar Wilde-esque stageplays

LEON KAYE -- DEAD AT 44!! Oscar Wilde-esque stageplays Neil Simon-esque stageplays Charlie Kaufman-esque screenplays Family Screenplays ONE ACT - IDEAL FOR A CLASS TO PERFORM BEFORE PARENTS WILL ARTICLE

MURDER WITH GRACE (Screenplay and stageplay

   Pretty GRACE NEVILLE, seventeen, battles her desire to murder her future sister-in-law, NAOMI.  Though she is a shallow young woman whose cackle could chill the bones down one's spine, Grace recognizes that murder would not be very mannerly.

  Grace's best friend, BETH, suggests poison.  But Grace refuses, chooses instead to find a very rich man who will find interest in Naomi, thus breaking up the engagement.

    Grace's choice, HENRY HUNTINGTON, moves into a country manor close by, along with his family.  Forged letters are sent back and forth, tales of immense riches created, so that by the time they meet, Naomi and Henry are already well down amour's path. The problem is Grace too finds Henry very desirable.  He is interested in music, poetry, and horses, all the things Grace loves!

    Naomi breaks off the engagement.  Fearful of losing Henry, Grace seeks him out, relates her feelings.  Sadly, Henry's heart is taken, and as long as Naomi lives, he cannot consider another.

    Grace is finally ready for murder, but her sad attempts fail.  She tries poisoning Naomi, but she does not drink anything.  Grace tries pushing Naomi off a high cliff but almost falls off herself.  This unsettling event forces Grace to rethink her actions.  She decides that murder is not the answer.

    At dinner with the Huntingtons, Naomi relates the story of her near death. Then, inexplicably, she suddenly stands, doubles over in pain, soon after dies -- poisoned by mushrooms!  But Grace cannot understand how.  Did someone kill Naomi?  Or was it a terrible accident? 

    Innocent, unaccused, Grace's esteem for Henry grows, and when he invites her to a fiftieth birthday party for his father, Grace cheerfully accepts.  At the party, Henry's father proposes marriage to Grace.  Errantly believing he is proposing for Henry, Grace accepts.

    On the morning of her wedding, Grace readies to poison herself. She decides she cannot "gracefully" bow out of the wedding, save her societal position, and continue pursuing Henry.  But then she has an idea.

The play finished in fourth place in the Backdoor theatre contest.  The screenplay was a quarter finalist in the most prestigious Nichol (Academy Award) Fellowship Contest, where it placed in the top 280 out of 5600 scripts. It was also a semi-finalist in the Writer's Network Contest 2002. 

The play was published by Eldridge and was read at Centre Stage South Carolina and Chelsea Studios, NYC.  I now hold the rights to this play.

-- Recommended for full production there and at Illinois Theatre Center, the Goodman Theatre, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinatti, and Spokane Interplayers Ensemble.

"One of the three or four best examples of farce dialog I have read." -- Douglass McCoy - Centrestage South Carolina.

The screenplay was recommended to the head of Alibi Films by Lisa Katselas (producer of films, "Mrs. Dalloway" and "Richard III".

Screenplay seriously considered for production by Alpine Pictures.

COFFEE HOUSE

 A one act fantasy about coffee and the rest of your life.  Published by Brooklyn Publishers.  Photo of TSI performance in NYC in late December 2003, directed by Greg Vorob.           

"Can I steal this?" -- successful NYC playwright.

"No, it's copyrighted."  -- Leon's corral of lawyers.  Okay, not lawyers, but frequent watchers of Law and Order.

PLAIN AS JANE (Screenplay and stageplay)

 Pretty, rich, BRIE JABLINOVICH feels trapped.  Though she desperately wants to become a romance novelist, her no-nonsense father, NATHAN wants Brie to finish college, then take over his insurance agency when he retires.   Torn, Brie prays for guidance.  The spirit of JANE AUSTEN answers Brie, promises to guide her in her writing aspirations as well as her life choices.  But Brie has never had a real romance... well, Jane can fix that.

PLAIN AS JANE is also a screenplay  This script was requested by Liz Hurley, and Alicia Silverstone's Co's.  A director, who had just finished her first feature, was attached (no longer)  Recommended by readers at Koch Co, and Samuel Goldwyn.

 


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