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A PLAYSCRIPTS TITLE
Collection / Anthology, Comedy / 3w, 5m, 10 any gender (youth)
By Jonathan Dorf, Tyler Dwiggins, Kathryn Funkhouser, Patrick Greene, Mora V. Harris, Carrie McCrossen, Ian McWethy and Jason Pizzarello
Eight short plays – that can be staged together, in any order, or each by itself – delve into the comedy in crime in a rogues’ gallery of ten-minute plays.
Eight talented (and devious!) playwrights find the comedy in crime in this rogues’ gallery of ten-minute plays wrapped in a classic whodunnit. When eccentric billionaire J. Leslie Arlington is murdered, a clueless detective finds the suspects are all reluctant to admit their alibis... because they were all committing other ridiculous crimes at the time. Designed as a flexible build-your-own mystery, these plays can be performed in any combination and threaded together with optional interludes. You never know what’s coming next when the suspects include disgruntled chefs, teen detectives and vengeful divas, but one thing’s for certain: every alibi is absolutely absurd.
The Alibis contains the following plays, which can also be performed individually:
Attempted Theft of a Confection from a Minor by Patrick Greene – Two master thieves are about to pull the biggest job of their lives and nothing can get in the way, except maybe a sweet tooth.
Davina Arlington Wants Revenge by Tyler Dwiggins – When a vengeful diva and her daughter break into a mansion, they try to dodge the after-hours staff and find more than they bargained for.
Hamster Murder! by Ian McWethy – The more Rose’s parents try to salvage her birthday party, the more disasters pile up in this mini-farce.
Mill Noir by Jonathan Dorf – A teen thespian detective discovers a vast black market for plagiarized papers and an unlikely ally.
Badger Poison by Kathryn Funkhouser – A shady lawyer plans to silence a pair of activists by any means necessary, but keeping track of a deadly beverage is harder than it looks.
In Case of Fish by Jason Pizzarello – Two underpaid chefs turn to smuggling stolen jewels, only to find themselves matching wits with an unusual buyer.
The Incredible Season Finale by Mora V. Harris – A woman trying to watch the final episode of a trashy reality show finds a neighbor desperate to come over and even more desperate to keep her fandom a secret.
I Did It! by Carrie McCrossen – A murderous wealthy man finds himself forced to make an unplanned stop on his way to kill an arch-rival.
The Alibis was published in 2021, and has enjoyed hundreds of performances in high schools and community theatres since publication.
DETECTIVE CASEY NEPTUNE – A private eye with a flair for the dramatic and an enormous ego.WARWICK – A helpful butler with a passion for karaoke.A MYSTERIOUS FIGURE – You’ll see.
Each individual play in The Alibis will have its own cast of characters who can be portrayed by an ensemble, but the below list contains the primary suspect in each section.
The Suspects
CLYDE BARTLETT – A master thief who has been lurking around the estate disguised as a groundskeeper. (Play: Attempted Theft of a Confection from a Minor)DAVINA ARLINGTON – J. Leslie Arlington’s sister, a grand dame of the theatre. (Play: Davina Arlington Wants Revenge)QUINN – Arlington’s grand-niece, a harried young parent with something to hide. (Play: Hamster Murder!)TITUS ARLINGTON-TEXAS – Arlington’s great-grand-nephew twice removed, an aspiring teen detective. (Play: Mill Noir)SPARKY RANDALL – A shady lawyer, Arlington’s “fixer.” (Play: Badger Poison)FRANC DUBOIS – Head chef at the Arlington estate. Wishes to be perceived as fancy and French. (Play: In Case of Fish)PROF. VIVIAN STRICT – A prominent TV critic who writes about her hatred of Arlington’s TV show. (Play: The Incredible Season Finale)EDMUND RIDINGHORN III – Another eccentric billionaire, J. Leslie Arlington’s self-proclaimed nemesis. (I Did It!)
In the collection’s Prologue and Epilogue, dialogue attributed to “SUSPECT” may be divided among any of the Suspects as best suits your production. If you choose to omit any play, you can simply cut the associated character and divide the dialogue among the remaining Suspects. You may cut the section associated with that play (marked in brackets) from The Alibis' Prologue and Epilogue. Skip that play’s individual Prologue and Epilogue too.
The Arlington mansion.
Jonathan Dorf has had his plays produced throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America, Africa and Asia. He has been a finalist for the Actors Theatre of Louisville Heideman Award, the Weinberger Playwright Re ...
Patrick Greene is the author of I Quit, Masterclasses, Instructions for Hugs, A Talkback (Stage Partners) and Brief Interviews with Internet Cats (Concord Theatricals). He is the co-author of This Murder Was Staged, Parody This!, Two Chairs and a Lie, How (Not) to Be A Wizard ...
Ian McWethy has written over 60 plays that regularly receive over 1,000 productions every year. They’ve been produced in all 50 states and in over 50 countries abroad. He’s also co-written two novels with Carrie McCrossen, Margot Mertz Takes It Down and Margot Mertz For The W ...
Mora V. Harris writes character-driven comedies under a blanket in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Notable productions of her work include The Weird Sisters Theatre Project, The Women’s Theatre Festival, 5th Wall Productions and Pittsburgh Opera, in addition to multiple productions ...
Tyler Dwiggins is a Los Angeles-based playwright, screenwriter and producer. His plays (including subText, The Binding and Orange Is the New Glass) are published by Concord Theatricals, TRW Plays and Stage Partners. His first play, Bump, has been showcased at Actors Theatre o ...