About the plays of Arthur M. Jolly

Clicking on the title or photo of the play will bring up more information. Clicking on the picture of the cover will take you to the publisher's website. Plays marked with the NPX logo can be downloaded for free by members of the New Play Exchange.








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FULL LENGTH COMEDIES

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The Lady Demands Satisfaction

The Lady Demands Satisfaction

(5w, 2m) comedy.
Winner of the Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award and Joining Sword & Pen Competition.
When a young maiden who has never touched a sword learns she must defend her inheritance in a duel, she struggles with a milksop suitor, a servant girl posing as a Prussian fencing master, the actual Prussian fencing master who believes he is there to marry her, a stodgy lord, and her domineering aunt – the finest blade anywhere - to save her house and lands.
The Lady Demands Satisfaction from Next Stage press

A Very Modern Marriage

A Very Modern Marriage

(1w, 2m) comedy.
Matthew and Tina's marriage is already on the rocks when Tina's friend Christopher moves in with a secret agenda to get Tina out of the picture and steal Matt's heart once and for all.
New Play Exchange

Long Joan Silver

Long Joan Silver

(8-20w, 6-15m) comedy.
Published by YouthPLAYS.
Long Joan Silver and her all-female crew take on discrimination and inequality as well as Squire Trelawney, Jim Hawkins and all the regular characters in this hysterical new version of the classic adventure story Treasure Island.
Long Joan Silver

The Christmas Princess

(4-8+ w,4-4+ m) children's play
Published by YouthPLAYS.
A new fairy tale for all ages - a spoiled Princess must find three magical christmas gifts for her parents if she is to escape an arranged marriage to the world's stupidest Prince.
The Christmas Princess

Mission: Colusa

Mission: Colusa

(3w, 2m, 1 any) comedy.
Can a team of volunteer astronauts stay sane in the confines of a mock spaceship on a simulated four year mission? Um.... no. NASA was looking for the best of the best and got these people instead.
New Play Exchange

Mrs Dilbers Christmas Carol

Mrs Dilber's Christmas Carol

(9-36 roles) large cast comedy.
Mrs. Dilber - Scrooge’s maltreated housekeeper in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol - meets Marley and the Spirits of Christmas before they haunt Scrooge, and sets off on a past, present and future adventure of her own in this subversive and hilarious reimagining of the classic Christmas story.



FULL LENGTH DRAMAS

A Gulag Mouse

A Gulag Mouse

(5w, 1m) drama.
Published by Next Stage Press
Winner of the Joining Sword & Pen Competition
Woodward/Newman Drama Award Finalist.

A woman's arrival at a Siberian Gulag destroys the intricate web of hierarchy, alliance and treachery among the other inmates of her bunkhouse.
A Gulag Mouse
Past Curfew

Past Curfew

(2w,1m) drama.
Published by Next Stage Press.
Years of bitter conflicts erupt as a single mother and her teenage daughter confront the unspoken issues between them in a night of vicious headgames.
Past Curfew

The Ithaca Ladies Read Medea

The Ithaca Ladies Read Medea

(6w, 1m) drama. There is also a ONE ACT version for 6f.
Published by Next Stage Press.
In 1953, after interrogation by the House Un-American Activities Committee, four university wives meet for their monthly play reading knowing one of them betrayed the host.
The Ithaca Ladies Read Medea
Trash

TRASH

(2f) drama.
Published by Next Stage Press.
Winner of the Joining Sword & Pen Competition.

In TRASH, two estranged sisters clash when they attempt to recover their mother's dying message - a letter that has been thrown out with the trash and now resides in a municipal dump
Trash



ONE ACT PLAYS

Almost Christmas

(1w, 2m) drama
A bartender tries to get money from her new boss and a cantankerous regular customer to fund a trip to kill her father. Merry Christmas!
Published by Next Stage Press as part of an evening of one acts titled THIN LINES.
Thin Lines

Bailing Out

(1w, 1m) serio-comic
A fisherman with a troubled past reveals the secret of life to a jaded nurse in a hospice.
Published by Next Stage Press as part of an evening of one acts titled THIN LINES.
Thin Lines

Courtin' in Georgia

(1w, 2m) comedy
A reinterpretation of Anton Chekhov's The Proposal, set in the south of the U.S.
A frail hypochondriac tries to ask his neighbor's headstrong daughter to marry him in spite of a long history of rivalry between their families.
New Play Exchange

The Ithaca Ladies Read Medea

The Ithaca Ladies Read Medea - One Act

(6f) drama. A ONE ACT version of the full length play.
Contact the playwright.
In 1953, after interrogation by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, four university wives meet for their monthly play reading knowing one of them betrayed the others.

The Night Before Christmas

(10-30) Middle School comedy
The famous poem that begins “Twas the Night Before Christmas” goes awry when the characters start voicing their own opinions about what it all means.
Available from YouthPLAYS!
The Night before Christmas

Mopping the Stage

(1m) dramatic Download this one for free!
A playwright mops the stage before a play, and reveals the event that forced him to quit a lucrative job training military helicopter pilots and become a writer. And mop stages.
free download

Rising

(4w, 3m) drama
Seven combative Middle School students must work together when their school is surrounded by rising floodwaters.
Available from YouthPLAYS.
All author proceeds from this play, whether from sales or productions, go to charities working for hurricane relief.

Rising

Straw, Sticks, Bricks

(6-9 any gender) comedy
Available on the New Play Exchange
Three building materials that long to become houses face real trouble when they meet a Big Bad Wolf.
New Play Exchange

There Is No Play

(9-15, any gender) drama
Eight drama students attempt to stage a play that speaks to their own experiences, even after the school administration shuts it down.
Available from YouthPLAYS.
There Is No Play at YouthPLAYS

Thicker than Water.

(1w, 1m) drama
A young couple cope with love, a possible pregnancy... and an inexplicable puddle of blood.
Published by Next Stage Press as part of an evening of one acts titled THIN LINES.
Thin Lines




TEN MINUTE PLAYS

After It's All Over (1w, 2m) surreal comedy
Available from Original Works Online.
A nuclear family in a post-nuclear age struggles to accept the son's decision to go into a completely one-sided battle.
Guilty Moments
After the War is Over (2w, 2m) drama
Available on the New Play Exchange
A young couple struggle to reconnect after being separated by World War II - and sixty years later, the couples' daughter struggles to connect with her father as he battles Alzheimers.
New Play Exchange
Archibald the Monster (9-16+ any) comedy
When a scary monster terrorizes fairy tale villagers to steal their food, only the poorest child has the cunning and bravery to stop the monster and earn the villagers’ respect - in a tale woven by two babysitting siblings trying to head off a tantrum from their own little “monster”.
Published by YouthPLAYS, Inc.
Archibald the Monster from YouthPLAYS, Inc
Ashes (5 any) horror
Four teenagers search the remains of a forest after a devastating fire for their missing friend who started the blaze.
Published by YouthPLAYS, Inc.
Ashes from YouthPLAYS, Inc
Bang! (1w, 2m) comedy
A jealous husband shoots his wife's ex-boyfriend before the curtain even rises in this surprising comedy.
New Play Exchange
Bath Time is Fun Time. (4 Any) comedy
Available from YouthPLAYS. Four bath toys face an existential crisis - they hate water!
Easily castable, family friendly... I wrote this play as a children's play, and found myself getting deeper into the angst of these poor inanimate objects questioning their entire existence.
Bath Time is Fun Time
Better by Candlelight (1w, 1m) drama
Available from Original Works Online.
A widower relives the anniversary of his wife's death with a role-playing prostitute.
Guilty Moments
Two miners, trapped. Blood and Coal Dust (2m) drama
Two miners, trapped by a cave-in one of them started, confront their fears and reveal their secrets as they await rescue.
Premieres August 15th at the
2024 SAMUEL FRENCH OOB FESTIVAL.
New Play Exchange
The Bricklayer (1m) drama Download this one for free!
A bricklayer talks to his son about the the importance of making each brick square and true, the importance of the big picture, of small parts playing roles in larger issues... as he builds an industrial chimney in a concentration camp.
free download
Bully Issues (1w, 2m) dark comedy
Three bullies clash over the best way to bully other kids.
Bullying, Ink
Childish Things (2w, 2m) drama
Now a short film directed by Matthew Singletary!
A man facing a terminal illness tries to reconcile with his daughter with the help of two of her childhood toys.
Childish Things is included in Applause Books' Best American Short Plays 2015-2016 and is also available on the New Play Exchange
Best American Short Plays
Christmas Spirit (3w, 2m) comedy
A hitchhiking maniac and dead bodies in the fountain conspire to ruin the perfect family christmas.
The Copilot (1w, 1m) comedy
A college dropout and her professional "road trip copilot" must survive a hungry bear after their car goes into a ditch.
New Play Exchange
Doing the Math (1w) drama Download this one for free!
A hyper intelligent girl - borderline Asperger's Syndrome - discovers her father may not be the man she thought.
This play won the 2012 MonoSlam Competition at the Secret Rose Theatre, Los Angeles.
free download
Every Battle, Every War (4m) comedy
Available from Original Works Online.
Four soldiers in a trench in World War One find more to fight about with each other than with the enemy.
Guilty Moments
Fallen to the Communists (1w, 1m) comedy
Awkward humor abounds when a widower tries to cope with his 12 year old daughter's first period.
New Play Exchange
The Fine Print (1m, 1 Any) serio-comic
Available from Original Works Online.
An extremely persuasive devil convinces an uptight engineer to build a diabolical electrical circuit for a new weapons system.
Guilty Moments
The Four Senses of Love (1w, 1m) off-beat comedy.
Available from Smith & Kraus.
A man with no feelings falls for a woman with no taste at a support group for the sensory deprived.
Best Ten minute Plays of 2012
The Fourth Ghost (1m, 1 Any) comedy
Available from Smith & Kraus.
Ebeneezer Schrooge confronts a very modern ghost who hates Christmas and suffers from seasonal affective disorder. (self-diagnosed.)
105 Five-Minute Plays
Gentlemen (4m) comedy
Four men meet at the urinals of a restaurant mens room, and clash over politics, physical attributes - and the meaning of masculinity and life.
New Play Exchange
How Blue is My Crocodile (2w) serio-comic
Available from YouthPLAYS.
Two young girls play fantastical games while waiting for their wounded father to return from a tour of duty.
How Blue is my Crocodile
How Not To Do Your Homework (10 roles for Middle School students) comedy
A simple instruction manual in the art of avoiding homework, bamboozling parents and putting one over on your teachers!
How Not To Do Your Homework
Howie's Last Words (1w, 1m) drama
Available from Original Works Online.
A stuntman, home late after a fire stunt that went disastrously wrong, confronts the wife who wants him to quit.
Guilty Moments
If You Could Go Back... (3 Any) comedy
Available on the New Play Exchange and in the collection 30 Short plays for Passionate Actors. When a geeky guy invents a time travel machine to go back and kill Adolf Hitler, his future roommate uses it to try and stop the would-be assassin in a comedic look at the cycle of violence.
30 Short Plays for Passionate Actors
The Last Man on Earth (1w, 2m) comedy
The last three survivors of the apocalypse face a complicated relationship triangle.
New Play Exchange
Last Minute Addition (2w, 2m) dramedy
Three actors struggling with a cheesy anti-texting and driving play are confronted by a student who lost his brother in an accident.
New Play Exchange
Moby (No Last Name Given) (3-4w,1-2m) comedy with music
Available from YouthPLAYS.
Herman Melville's classic "Moby Dick" in ten minutes. How much time do you really need?
Moby (No Last Name Given)
New Kid Next Door (3 teens) horror
When the creepy new kid comes over for July 4th, two siblings clash over whether to play nice... or run screaming.
New Play Exchange
Next Year, Cancun (1w, 2-3m) comedy
Available on the New Play Exchange
When a middle aged couple tries to spice up their anniversary with a little sexy role-play as a lady of the evening and her client - they run into an old college friend, and then the law.
New Play Exchange
Palaces (3w) drama, maybe dramedy
After Abby kills her abusive husband, she turns to her old flame Barbara - now living under hard times - for help.
Originally titled Of Rats and Men.
New Play Exchange
The Passport (2m) drama
Available on the New Play Exchange
Two lovers' plans for a trip are thrown into turmoil by an emergency phone call from home.
New Play Exchange
Past Saturn (2w, 2m, 1 Any) serio-comic
A couple whose marriage is on the rocks meet a couple with an embarrassing secret on Alaska's "Planet Walk" hike, in the face of an approaching blizzard. Throw in a pair of sandals and an unhelpful park ranger... what could go wrong?
Published by Next Stage Press as part of an evening of one acts titled AWESOME AMERICA.
Past Saturn
Sales of a Dead Man (2w, 2m) comedy
Winner of the Tree City Playhouse 10 Min Play Competition!
After the leading salesman gets squished by a bus, irascible co-workers and their awkward boss fight over his commissions to save their jobs.
New Play Exchange
The Secret of Jarlsberg (1w, 1m) comedy
A young couple clash over life, money, and the world's most perfectly expensive fondue.
New Play Exchange
She Will Have Freesias (2w, 3m) drama
Three troubled siblings must overcome their differences when they learn their mother has terminal cancer if they are to make it through the months ahead.
New Play Exchange
Snakes in a Lunchbox (3w or 2w,1m) serio-comic
Available from YouthPLAYS.
When Carly and Georgia team up to get the best revenge in the history of ever against the school bully who steals their lunch, they're not prepared for what happens - to them, to the bully, or to the dangerous snake they have hidden in a lunchbox.
Suitable for Middle School students and TYA
Snakes in a Lunchbox
Still Waters (2w,1m) drama
A couple fight to save their marriage after the death of their daughter.
New Play Exchange
Survivors Club (2w, 2m) comedy
Four survivors of a shared traumatic childhood experience - a visit to a chocolate factory that went disastrously wrong - confront the terrifying news that a man they thought was dead is plotting to give away five new golden tickets.
New Play Exchange
Sweeping with the Enemy (2w) comedy
Two overzealous stage moms clash over the best way to sweep the stage before their kids' dance recital.
New Play Exchange
Tiger in a Cage (1w, 1m) drama
Available from Original Works Online.
A female psychiatrist gets trapped in a jail cell with a former patient - a recidivist sex offender.
Guilty Moments
Uncle Yahya Ruins the Wedding (2w, 2m, 1 any) political comedy
A pre-wedding nervous couple deal with a meddling mother-in-law who's done the unthinkable - invited Uncle Yahya, a political extremist. It's a funny farce until the final moments, when we discover this is all taking place in Afghanistan, and Yahya's presence will provoke a drone strike.
The Waiting Room of the Gods (2w, 2m) comedy
Available from Original Works Online.
Three classical personifications of love - Venus, Erato and Cupid - are rudely surprised by a modern interloper - the spirit of Erectile Dysfunction!
Guilty Moments
What the Well Dressed Girl is Wearing (2w) comedy
Available from YouthPLAYS.
What happens when Jennifer asks her friend Sandra to pick out her outfit for her date with the guy Sandra's been obsessed with for years?
What the Well Dressed Girl is Wearing
Zombified (3m) comedy
Zombies make the best employees!
A CEO creates the world's most cost-effective workforce with the help of some black magic. It's a job for life... and beyond!
New Play Exchange


ONE MINUTE PLAYS


One Minute plays are on their own page.