10-Minute Plays                  by William Ivor Fowkes



At the MET

 

Two women cruising for men at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York find their ideal man in an unexpected place. 

 

 

Live Zoom Reading: January 2022. Plays & Pizza.  



 

Bill of Health

 

How far can you take the Hippocratic Oath?

 

PublicationIris Literary Journal, Assure Press, 2020.



The Brazilian Dilemma

 

What does the “L Word” mean when there’s a third person in your bed?

 


Productions:

October 2013. The Collective 10-Minute Play Festival, The Collective NY, New York City.

December 2015C:10 Comedy Tonight, The Collective NY, New York City.

Film:

2016. Produced by Collective NY Films, New York City.

2018. Official Selection, Adirondack Film Festival, Glens Falls, NY.

2018. Hunter Mountain Film Festival.

2019. Released on Amazon Prime Video. 

2020. Cal Arts Actor Showcase. (student video)

Staged Readings

September 2013. McLean Drama Company, Washington, DC.

October 2014. The Collective NY, New York City.

Award: First Prize, McLean Drama Company’s 10-Minute Play Contest, 2013.

Honor: Semi-finalist, Pick of the Vine, Little Fish Theatre, San Pedro, CA, 2014.

PublicationThe Collective NY: 10 Anthology, December 2013. 

 

THE BRAZILIAN DILEMMA was the inspiration for--and was expanded into--the full-length play, THE FIDELITY CLAUSE.


Coffee Break

Breaking up is always hard.

 

Podcast: February 2018. Panglossian Productions, Williamsburg, VA. 

LISTEN HERE

Staged ReadingMay 2018Take Ten, The DGPG Writers, The Players Club, New York City.

 

COFFEE BREAK is an excerpt from the full-length play, THE FIDELITY CLAUSE.


 

Do Not Go Gentle, Angela

 

Angela's nurse assumes nothing is going on behind her silent face. Angela knows better.

 

ReadingJune 2019Plays & Pizza, Lucky Jack’s, New York City.

Live Zoom Reading2020Sip & Play, Love City Arts, New York City.



Godiva Chocolate and a Diet Coke

 

Truth and fear collide in a hospital waiting room.

 

ReadingJune 2018Gay Pride Plays, Village Playwrights, The LGBT Community Center, New York City.

Publication: Masque & Spectacle, September 2022.


Harassment

 

Sexual harassment is no laughing matter for corporations charged with training their employees on the perils of this sensitive issue. Or is it? 

 

 

Productions:

July 2013. Colonial Quickies, Colonial Playhouse, Aldan, PA.

April 2015Whistling With Slush in My Shoes Spring One-Act Play Festival, Thespian Production, New York, NY.

April 2016. Comic Shorts, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ.

Staged Reading: Oct. 2011. Moral Dilemma Comedies Benefit Challenge, Abingdon Theatre, NYC.

Honors:

Shortlisted by Pint-Sized Plays, Fishguard, UK, 2017.

Semifinalist, Edge Fest, Birdhouse Theatre, Milledgeville, GA, 2018.

 


The Masseur & the Movie Star

 

Massage therapist Brad Hall isn't comfortable working at a social club for senior gay men, but he has no problem working on one particular client.

 

Livestream Reading: February 2021Almost Adults Productions, Albuquerque, NM.

 

THE MASSEUR & THE MOVIE STAR is an excerpt from the full-length play, SUNSHINE QUEST.


A Misunderstanding at Sunshine Quest

 

Members of a social club for retired gay men are puzzled by the sexual orientation of one member.

 

Production: December 2024. Cone Man Running Productions, Houston, Texas.

 

Livestream Reading: December 2020. Love Creek Productions, NYC. 

 

A MISUNDERSTANDING AT SUNSHINE QUEST is an excerpt from the full-length play, SUNSHINE QUEST.


Monet

 

Visitors to a museum in Paris get lost in their thoughts. Is this the end of art?

 

Staged Reading: November 2018. Cocktails & Classics, Turn to Flesh Productions, NYC. 

Livestream Production: November 2021Shut In But Not Shut Down--Part 2, Anytime Players Ensemble.

PublicationJune 2022. Fresh Words’ anthology, Contemporary One Act Plays (Volume 3).

 

MONET is an excerpt from the full-length play, MUSEUM LOVERS.


Museum Piece #2

 

Four tourists visiting the Prado Museum in Madrid confront Velazquez’s masterpiece, Las Meninas.  

 

Production: July 2017. Pend Oreille Players’ One Act Play Festival, Newport, WA.

Staged Reading: May 2012. 2012 National 10-Minute Play Contest, Theatre Oxford, Oxford, MS.

Publications:

January 2014The Best 10-Minute Plays 2013, Smith & Kraus Inc. 

2017: Brooklyn Publishers, Cedar Rapids, IA. 

Licensing: Brooklyn Publishers, Cedar Rapids, IA, as of 2017.

 

MUSEUM PIECE #2 is an excerpt from the full-length play, MUSEUM LOVERS.


Sally & Chip

 

A man tries to deliver some disturbing news to his wife.

 

Live Zoom Reading: December 2021. Plays & Pizza.  

 

SALLY & CHIP is an excerpt from the full-length play, MARRIAGE.


Stacy's Cookies

 

A married couple watches with a critical eye as more women step forward to claim that Donal Trump assaulted them.

 

ReadingPizza & Plays, Lucky Jack’s, New York City, June 2018.

Honor: Semi-Finalist, Women in the Age of Trump, NYCPlaywrights, January 2017.


Stage Directions

 

An actor confronts a script consisting solely of stage directions.

 

Staged Reading: April 2018DrekFest, Stage Left Theatre, Chicago.

Honor: Shortlisted, Spellbinder, a Quarterly Literary & Art Magazine, October 2022.


Stuck in Place

 

An anxious playwright refuses to focus on his imminent move, but his characters provide some inspiration to get on with things.  

 

Publication: Waxing & Waning, 2021.

Staged Reading: March 2024. Curtain Rising: Staged Readings of New Works, Burlington County Footlighters, 2nd Stage, Cinnaminson, NJ.

Live Zoom Readings:

August 2024. Tiger's Heart Players, The Bronx, NY.

September 2020. Theatre in My Pajamas, online theater group.


Table Manners in Buenos Aires

 

A woman and her daughter sit out a rainstorm in a restaurant while awaiting a call from the hospital about the fate of the man in their lives.

   

Productions:

May 2012. Blue Slipper 10-Minute Play Festival, Livingston, MT. 

June 2012. New Play Festival, Salve Regina Theatre Arts Program, Newport, RI. 

Publication: Fresh Words Magazine, May 2022.

Honor: Semi-Finalist, 12th Annual 10 By 10 in the Triangle, Arts Center, Carrboro, NC, 2013.

 

TABLE MANNERS IN BUENOS AIRES is an excerpt from the full-length play, THE HUDSON FAMILY GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS.


Table Manners in Gramercy Park

 

A man tries to convince a woman not to leave him.

 

Publication105 Five-Minute Plays for Study & Performance, Smith & Kraus Inc., 2017.

ProductionNovember 2021. Middle & High School Play Festival, Leman Manhattan Preparatory School, New York, NY.


Table Manners in Hell's Kitchen

 

Two couples at neighboring tables in a restaurant have very different things on their minds.

 

Staged Reading: April 2019Take Ten, The Dramatists Guild Playwrights’ Group, The Players Club, New York City.

Honor (as Asides): Top 30 Finalist, The Collective NY 10-Minute Play Festival, NYC, 2016. 


Table Manners in Lake Forest

 

Kate can't decide whether or not to share her latest news with a gossipy country club friend.

  

Reading: Pizza & Plays, Lucky Jack’s, New York City, April 2018.

Honor: Quarter-Finalist, Lakeshore Players Theatre, MN, 2017.  

 

TABLE MANNERS IN LAKE FOREST is an excerpt from the full-length play, THE HUDSON FAMILY GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS.


Table Manners in Santa Monica

 

A man and a woman who meet through a dating website struggle through their first date.

 

Productions:

August-September 20174th Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival, 4th Street Theater, Chesterton, IN.

March 2011. Artistic New Directions’ Eclectic Evening of Shorts, NYC. 

August 2010 (as Table Manners in NoHo). Summer Shorties

2010 Festival, Turtle Shell Theater, NYC.

Broadcast: Shoestring Radio Theatre on San Francisco Community Radio (KUSF in Exile) and the Public Radio Satellite System, March 2016. 

AwardHonorable Mention, Magnolia Arts Center's Seventh Annual Ten Minute Play Competition, Greenville, NC, October 2012. 

Honor: Semi-finalist, Pick of the Vine 2015, Little Fish Theatre, San Pedro, CA.

Publication: Clockhouse Review, the literary journal of Goddard College, October 2013.

 

TABLE MANNERS IN SANTA MONICA is an excerpt from the full-length play, THE HUDSON FAMILY GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS.

 


Table Manners in Tribeca 

 

A woman awaiting the arrival of her date has her hands full when her ex-boyfriend shows up instead and forces his company on her.  

 

Productions:

November 2016Five Minute Mile Play Festival, Cone Man Running Productions, Obsidian Theatre, Houston, TX.

April 2010. 8-Minute Madness Festival, Turtle Shell Theater, NYC.

 

TABLE MANNERS IN TRIBECA is an excerpt from the full-length play, THE HUDSON FAMILY GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS.


Two Americans in London

 

Two men who share a past run into each other in the bar of a London hotel.

 

PublicationThe Galway Review, Ireland, November 2020. 

Honor: Top 40 Finalist (out of 1000) as Asides, The Collective NY 10-Minute Play Festival, NYC, 2014. 

 

TWO AMERICANS IN LONDON is an excerpt from the full-length play, THE HUDSON FAMILY GUIDE TO TABLE MANNERS.


An Uber in the Rain

 

A man and a woman, both recently divorced from each other's best friend, run into each other in the rain.

 

Livestream Productions: 

June 2021. Recorded by Anytime Players Ensemble. (Broadcast TBD)

October 2020. Tickle & Scratch, Turn Point Theatre, UK. 

 

AN UBER IN THE RAIN is an excerpt from the full-length play, THE FIDELITY CLAUSE.


Virtual First Date

 

A man and a woman attempt a first date during the Covid crisis.

 

Livestream Productions:

May 202110-Minute Play Festival, Appalachian State University, Department of Theatre & Dance, Boone, NC.

November 2020Virtual 10-Minute Play Festival, Fargo/Moorhead Community Theatre, ND. 

November 2020Shut in But Not Shut Down, Anytime Players Ensemble

Film: May 2020, Kartic Bhargav—filmed by a group of friends, San Francisco.

AwardWinner, This Covid Life, Script6, London, UK, 2020.

Honor

Short-listed, Short+ Sweet: Dubai, 2020.

Short-listed, Short + Sweet: Sydney, 2021 


The Ward

 

Shortly before the presidential election of 2016, two stroke victims awake to the latest news about the campaign.

 

Publication: April 2019: Statement Magazine, California State University, Los Angeles. 


When Philosophers Split the Check

 

A group of philosophers struggle when it comes time to split the bill at lunch.

 

Staged Reading: July 2024. Hindsight Festival, Left Edge Theatre, Santa Rosa, CA.   

 

WATCH THE VIDEO: Here's a video of a reading of my 10-minute comedy, WHEN PHILOSOPHERS SPLIT THE CHECK, at the Left Edge Theatre's Hindsight Festival in Santa Rosa, CA in July.

 

WATCH THE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5-wmilN1ko&t=5100s