I am a California native and a graduate of the University of Southern California. I have been actively involved in live theater in one capacity or the other for about the last five years. The last decade has been a critical period for the arts in Orange County. For me personally, it has been an equally challenging and rewarding period. Although my main focus is playwriting, I have been known to act in and direct the odd piece here and there. Direct involvement with show productions is an invaluable experience. I know it has helped to better inform my writing for the theater. I highly recommend it for any and all aspiring playwrights.

Email contact: JRicha4944-at-aol-com

Ten-minute plays

Champion of the Western Hemisphere | Produced: STAGEStheatre, Fullerton, December 2011.

All Kathleen wants for Christmas is to get rid of husband Jimmy. Unfortunately for her she picked drunken, good-for-nothing Shaun to do the deed. Comedy. 2m/1f.

Fay W. | Produced: Mysterium Theater, Santa Ana. September 2011.

Fay is a self-proclaimed artiste extraordinaire. She revels in skewering pop culture reality along with fey friend J.J. But Fay’s artistic manifesto soon blurs the line between the real and unreal–between objective rationality and mental psychosis. Drama. 1m/1f.

For Art’s Sake 

Arthur and Jacqui both expect to take top honors at the local Annual Playwright’s Festival. It’s a royal battle of half-wits as the slings and arrows of outrageous conceit are let loose. Comedy. 1m/1f.

Juice Stand | Produced: STAGEStheatre, Fullerton. June 2007.

Boy meets girl at bus stop. Boy seeks to impress. Girl’s ready for success. Nothing stands in their way but a loud insistent street vendor. Comedy. 2m/1f.

Metronome

Down-and-out, homeless Dwayne meets successful playwright Leslie at a NY sidewalk café. When Dwayne overhears Leslie’s connection to Women Playwright Festivals he feels compelled to reveal his obsession with the Feminist Plot to take over the world. Very politically incorrect! Comedy. 1m/1f.

Miracle on Seventeenth Street | Produced: Empire Theatre, Santa Ana. December 2009.

Christmas Eve in Paramus, NJ. Charlie and Brenda can’t find a thing to watch on TV. Enter Jack Frost. And suddenly, Charlie and Brenda find themselves contestants in the most important game show of their lives! Comedy. 2m/1f.

The Napoleon of Crime

Boastful Donny dreams of making the grand heist and impressing girlfriend Jess. But does he have the time to do the crime? Comedy. 1m/1f.

Not So Different

At a sidewalk bistro, exes Jobe and Diana casually discuss their shared past and their respective “foreign office” assignments. Jobe and Diana–they’re just everyday people like you and me. Or are they? Drama. 1m/1f.

The Once and Future Kings | Staged Reading: Block Party, Santa Ana. June 2007.

When veteran Elvis tribute performer Jimmy injures himself fellow DJ Kevin steps in to save the day. But Jimmy doesn’t like the idea of the new kid stealing his thunder. Comedy. 3m/2f.

Played | Produced: Empire Theatre, Santa Ana. April/May 2011.

Gamer geeks Kyle and Jennifer have a lot in common. They love playing board games. But is that all? When a high roller visits their convention kiosk it may be time for Kyle to become a real knight-in-shining-armor. Comedy. 2m/1f.

Rizzoli Returns from the Mall | Produced: Empire Theatre, Santa Ana. December 2010.

College student and perennial slacker Rizzoli is having a lousy day. A fun cautionary tale monologue about venturing into shopping malls during the Christmas season. Comedy. 1m.

Superfluous | Produced: Empire Theatre, Santa Ana. August 2010.

Jonathan is a prose writing legend in his own mind until his personal muse–“That’s Sir Muse, to you!”–intervenes and gives him a lesson in dramatic presentation.  Hey, who’s writing this thing anyway? Comedy. 2m.

Take My Land…Please!

May 1626. Thursday. Peter Minuit is out to make the deal of a lifetime by purchasing all of Manhattan Island. The one thing he didn’t bargain on was having to deal with the wily Chief Coney and his secretary Margo. Comedy. 2m/1f.

Waiting for Dodo | Produced: Cabrillo Playhouse, San Clemente. December 2008.

Two hapless gents wander about on a moor waiting for a special personage to put in an appearance. Along comes a young maiden…close enough! Sentiments and yuletide traditions are discussed and discarded in favor of puns and parodies. Comedy. 2m/1f.

Who Wants to Be a Star? | Staged Reading: Empire Theatre, Santa Ana. September 2008.

While dining at a trendy Hollywood restaurant, Jimmy is determined to show his star-struck girlfriend that he’s not a fan of the famous when two celebrities sit next to them. Speaking out against the Cult of Celebrity, Jimmy risks his relationship to make a point. But when push comes to shove Jimmy puts his foot in his mouth. Comedy. 3m/2f.

One-act play (50 minutes)

Peace on Planet Earth | Produced: STAGEStheatre, Fullerton. November/December 2007.

Meet the Mooneys, they’re out of this world! Dad Cosmo and Mom Aurora along with daughter Haley travel all the way from…uh, Canada, eh?–for a surprise visit on their son Jack away at college during the Christmas break. But Jack is not so thrilled. He’ll have a lot of explaining to do to both his family and his roommates Jill and Bob. Like, what’s that spaceship doing in the backyard?! Comedy. 3m/3f.

Full-length plays 

Dumb Luck

Aspiring poets, musicians, and comic book freaks congregate at a hip coffeehouse to grandly re-imagine themselves as notorious celebrities and superheroes. It’s all so boring for snarky young Jane. Enter a mysterious stranger and Plain Jane has suddenly met her match. Comedy. 3m/2f.

Fool’s Gold

Craig and Jeannie Nielson are more interested in being the next Reality TV “it” couple than being good parents for their son Richie. That’s okay with Richie since he relates better to his mismatched toy action figures anyway. An outrageous send-up of contemporary community theater drama fodder. Comedy. 3m/2f.

The Great Dramatist

When a pompous playwright and his long-suffering “fabulous” personal assistant check into a hotel hosting a Sci/Fi convention good manners and decorum check out. Mix in: a rival playwright, his femme fatale, a saucy Brit bellhop, and a ditzy wannabe starlet.  Stir vigorously. Comedy. 3m/3f.

In the Cards

Megan and Britney are Venice Beach waitresses who dream that bigger things are in store for them. For Megan, it’s owning her own business. For Britney, it’s a bigger…well, never mind. When the boss’s son and his friend drop by for kicks an innocent game of mistaken identity takes a turn for the weird eventually forcing everyone to reveal their true selves. An honest-to-God feel-good comedy. Really! Comedy. 3m/3f.

Jungle Jim Swings Again

Things really heat up for libidinous ex-TV star Evan Starret after he’s cast in a big Hollywood movie. When his ex-wife, an old flame, a rising ingénue and two faux talent agents crash his private house party, it’s Evan who’ll finally have to pay the piper. Comedy. 3m/3f.

Nothing Doing

Getting through the dress rehearsal of the World War Two farce Desert Heat is nothing compared to the disaster its squabbling cast will face on the show’s opening night performance when the female lead gets drunk and the special effects operator abandons ship at the intermission. Comedy. 4m/2f.

Presidential Hopeless | Produced: STAGEStheatre, Fullerton. July/August 2009.

Believing that “he governs best who governs least,” President Roy Ubu soon finds himself the target of a series of elaborate plots to force him out of office devised by the ambitious Secretary of State and his mistress, the Vice President. Finding an unexpected ally in a plucky White House maid, President Ubu inadvertently manages to foil scheme after scheme with hilarious results! Comedy. 4m/4f.

Primate Lives

Years after their divorce, a fatally attracted psychic medium and a spaced out Ufologist meet again, along with their new significant others, at a New Age Symposium held in the Loon Creek Hotel. The star-crossed forecast predicts a high probability of smarmy repartee with a slight chance a of Bigfoot sighting! Comedy. 3m/2f.

Sooner or Later

Immigrant Franz Kepler is the innocent abroad in 1890’s New York City. Attempting to change his fortunes, Franz heads west to enter the Oklahoma Land Run. Missing out on a land claim, Franz joins the Nature Theater of Oklahoma traveling sideshow where he finds his true calling. Complications ensue when a mysterious actor, who secretly claims to be John Wilkes Booth, proves to be a worthy romantic rival. It’s good versus evil culminating in a sideshow-within-a-sideshow re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth as the farcical Macbooth. That’s right. I said it. “The Scottish Play” as farce. Comedy. 4m/2f.