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SOUTH BEACH
(60 minutes)
It is 1981 in Florida and there is only the slightest hint that this part of South Florida will evolve from a haven for little old Jewish ladies to the stomping grounds of Madonna and Gianni Versace. The play is set at a residence hotel that has seen better days, the home of Iris, Jean and Eleanor, three old Jewish friends with New York roots. Wit and wisdom and memories dominate the conversation until two visitors arrive. First to arrive, Stephen, a nephew with a good heart and good intentions. He is quickly followed by David, a son with big plans to purchase the hotel and relocate his aging mother. The play is a humorous and poignant comedy addressing the way we relate to and treat our forebears. © PETER BRAV 2003, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PROPRIETY
(100 minutes) An introduction to the Monaghan family of lawyers in the fictional Long Island Village of Seaville. Led by Thomas Monaghan, former Mayor, Village Council, Planning Board, Village Attorney, who believes that a certain approved way of living is the only way to avoid the chaos that beset his family in generations past. Oldest son Eddie long ago fled to try and do good with the farm workers of Northern California. Youngest Billy is trying to figure out which way to go. Middle son Tommy is quite the character, desperate to come out from under his father’s daytime thumb as a lawyer by co-owning two bars at night. And now by pursuing a real estate development that promises to be quite lucrative if he gets his well-connected father’s blessing, something that will never be forthcoming. As things spiral downhill for Tommy in Act 2 and he is victimized in a tragic incident, it becomes clear by play’s end to both Billy and the audience that reputation and propriety are more important than truth to the family’s patriarch. © PETER BRAV 2016, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
GOOD TILL CANCELED
(80 minutes) The middle age malaise that has plagued Michael and Elizabeth Rosenman disappears in the face of a fraternity hazing incident that claims the life of their only son. The play examines coping with tragedy and the assessment of blame, as Michael’s marriage, longtime friendships and life are all shown to be at risk. The play hopefully works on two levels, analogizing lunacy still present on the college fraternity scene to the craziness visible daily on the national level. Much of the first act takes place at a New York City steakhouse where three college friends and their wives get together from time to time. Amidst the laughter, tensions rooted in money and drastically different political viewpoints simmer. At the end of the first act, Michael and Elizabeth receive the news that all parents dread. In the second act, a year later, Michael seeks to cope and make sense of the tragedy by attempting to pin criminal responsibility on his best friend Russell’s son, a young man who had been president of the fraternity. Separated from his wife, alienated from his friends, heavily drinking and heading downhill rapidly, Michael seems too far gone to ever heal. © PETER BRAV 2011, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
AFRICAN VIOLET
(45 minutes)
Alvin Peterson, a balding Jewish New York man in his fifties, has enjoyed almost two decades of unparalleled literary success posing as the celebrated African American romance novelist Alvina Patterson. He owes much of his success to his dedicated and idealistic editor, Teresa Daniels, a young woman who has never met her star writer. Teresa loves books but she knows that publishing is a business and understands the need to please Matthew Wilkerson, her senior editor, a man whose eyes regrettably are fixed only upon the bottom line. With sales lagging and his publisher’s announcement of the first ever Spend A Day With Alvina Patterson Contest, Alvin’s charade appears to be over. Alvin and his aloof wife Rachel know it is time to come clean. Meeting his loyal editor Teresa and Alvina’s passionate Number One fan Clara Johnson and her cynical granddaughter Tonya does not make it easy. This one act play is a humorous commentary on ethnicity and race, success and failure and the importance of reading and education. © PETER BRAV 2002, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
THE RUB
(15 minutes)
Middle-aged Josh has been a seemingly satisfied client of masseuse Maria for more than a year. This afternoon, however, Josh’s fantasy in the small dimly lit massage room will collide with Maria’s. The results are a humorous commentary on any fantasy and on the importance of viewing each other always as people and not props. © PETER BRAV 2013, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
SERIOUS
(15 minutes)
A veteran husband and wife comedy team on the road in Arizona with their seemingly much too serious young son learn that their fears about him being too “serious” may be completely unfounded. © PETER BRAV 2010, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
LATER
(10 minutes)
Existential short play about frustrated husband Jake and his loyal to a fault wife Ruth, set at a single table in an Italian restaurant in New York City. © PETER BRAV 2002, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
