FULL-LENGTH
(alphabetical)
a TACK of an American Conscience an attempt to catch up
Winner of the 2002 Rod Parker Playwriting Fellowship
The world around George has been reduced to rubble and he finds himself trapped in a labyrinth of public education and questions with only wrong answers. As his wife pleads with him to come home and his uncle entangles him in a web of dead-end American dream schemes, time accelerates at a dizzying pace. But George can only dig—sifting through a life-size crater in the center of his world and searching for his existence in America’s fabricated history.
Production History
Emerson Stage (dir. Joe Antoun), The Workshop Theatre, Boston, April 2002
newFangled theatReR, The Kraine Theatre, New York City, November 2006
9 roles: 2 (m), 3 (f), 4 (m/f)
Available in PLAY’N AMERIKA, on Amazon.com
the AmerikAn trip, tik a prequel of plays by johnmichael rossi
An abrupt power outage causes the lights to go out on King Kristopher’s great idea, sending him into a tragic downward spiral. His arch-rival and successor, Sam, takes control of the land with one not-so-hidden agenda—to wash away all memory of Kristopher, the man who stole his land and his lady. the AmerikAn trip, tik is an epic caricature of American politics that defies the structures of time in order to create a picture of how a country’s past has shaped its future—an amalgamation of history in which time loops and overlaps .
Production History
newFangled theatReR, Stuart Street 2nd Stage, Boston, April 2004 (staged reading)
newFangled theatReR, The Red Room, New York City, October 2005
newFangled theatReR, The Kraine Theatre, New York City, August 2006
12 roles: 4 (f), 5 (m), 3 (m/f)
Available in PLAY’N AMERIKA, on Amazon.com
gentlefucknation a beautification by johnmichael rossi
Follow the inner and outer workings of Akkiz, a laundry woman from "Far Faraway Lands" who is being haunted by La Cucaracha, a man dressed as a pink cockroach. As we wash through the residents of this community, a suspenseful plot unfolds. The ever-changing weather pushes against a variety of urban locales while characters are constantly shifting from realistic dialogue to poetic verse while taking The Audience on a whirlwind medi9tation of music, words and imagery. The play grapples with themes of gentrification, ecology and cultural exchange using the laundromat as a metaphor to explore the gentrification of a neighborhood.
Production History
Players Time & WritingBloc’s October Leaves Reading Series @ Access Theater, October 2008 (reading)
The Process Group ‘s Required Reading Series @ The Workshop Theater, NYC, January 2011 (reading)
newFangled theatReR & Railroad Playhouse, The Railroad Playhouse, Newburgh, NY, May 2011 (staged reading)
Received Honorable Mention in 2008 New Works of Merit Contest, NYC
10 roles: 4 (f), 6 (m) + A Mariachi Band
Soon to be Published: expected November 2016
Rumi High an intifada by johnmichael rossi
Debi`, a young first-year poetry teacher is thrown a loop on day one at Rumi Highl when Principal, Big
Mikey Bee (an animated man festooned in a bright yellow bumblebee suit) has just notified the young rookie
that her schedule has been changed to teach drama. Despite her protests that she knows nothing of drama,
she is handed the mission and begrudgingly accepts. She steps into her basement classroom full of mold,
mildew, dusty broken furniture and forty-one copies of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. As Debi` and her
a never-ending struggle to re-solve itself. The play builds itself into a billowing bureaucratic mess, confusing
and bewildering (YOU) towards dialogue. Designed as the first-ever “hyper(play)text, Rumi High questions,
challenges and parodies the public education system, revealing itself to be a fragmentation and re-
conceptualization of The Crucible. Rumi is omnipresent, as a dervish whirls throughout the play his poetry
alters our perception.
Production History
Minghella Building, University of Reading, UK, December 2012 (workshop presentation)
McGinn-Cazale Theatre, Vital Theatre Company, NYC, January 2013 (workshop presentation)
Bob Kayley Theatre, University of Reading, UK, June 2013 (workshop presentation)
19+ roles // Available at www.RumiHigh.org
Doctoral Thesis: Collabowrighting the Hyper(play)text: A Postdramatic Digital Poetics
Up On A-Farm
an Orwellian Ode to the Times that Are by johnmichael rossi
Written during the “Anti-RNC summer of 2004” in NYC, Orwell’s classic tale, Animal Farm, is adapted for a post-9/11 Bush-era world and imagined as a multi-media site-specific mask performance.
Production History
newFangled theatReR & the BLANK Collective, The Secret Garden, NYC, June 2004
12+ roles //
Whodunnit?! The Mystery of Who Stole Mister Punch
A Dada-ist doggy-napping dinner mystery play, of sorts by johnmichael rossi
In honor of Jenna & Marcelo, In celebration of their 13th Anniversary
Written in the style of a dinner mystery game, as a wedding anniversary gift, to be presented across an evening of drinking and eating, at the Wortham Manor Estate. The bride and groom were each asked to submit a ‘guest list’ of iconic figures, dead or alive, fictional or actual, that they would like at their wedding. From this starting point, I devised a mystery scenario around their dog, Mister Punch, being doggy-napped, where all who are present, are suspect. Characters were assigned at random, based on the ‘guests’ selection of a costume / prop, which determines their role. There were three possible endings, of which one is selected at random at the start of the event.
This script was commissioned for a specific event, and therefore written with the company in mind; and exemplifies how I might approach the form, should anyone be looking to commission custom mystery play.
18+ roles // Script Available for Download /// Script Endings