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A PLAYSCRIPTS TITLE
Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w, 3m
Adam Szymkowicz
When Rachel is left a bookstore by her great-aunt, she finds she doesn’t have the time or patience to run it. Will a property developer’s lucrative offer persuade her to sell, or will the charm of the store, its staff and customers win her over?
The future of a whimsical, almost magical bookstore is uncertain after the owner dies and leaves the shop to her niece Rachel. Rachel has a job in New York City that doesn’t pay her enough and a fiancé that won't stop calling. She doesn’t have the time or patience to run a bookstore, so when real estate magnate Max Brewer offers her more money than she can imagine to turn the store into an apartment complex, her choice seems like a no-brainer. But as the shop works its magic on her and she gets to know the eccentric employees and clientele, she starts to wonder: can you really put a price on a beloved community bookstore?
The Bookstore was first developed through a reading at the Flux Theatre Ensemble Retreat in 2018 and has been performed widely by schools and community theatres since 2020.
CANDACE – Female, manager of the store, 30s. RACHEL – Female, great-niece of the recently deceased owner of the store, late 20s. MARIE – Female, assistant to real estate tycoon Max Brewer, any age. ELLEN – Female, clerk in the bookstore, any age. SVEN – Male, clerk in the bookstore, any age. KIM – Any gender, clerk in the bookstore, any age. JAMIE – Any gender, getting married today, around the age of Also Jamie. ALSO JAMIE – Any gender, getting married today, around the age of Jamie. ALEXIS – Female, book clerk with uncanny ability to find the right book for you, any age. WOMAN IN A GAS MASK – Any age. NEIL – Male, clerk in the bookstore, younger than Jane. JANE DRICKEN – Female, a novelist, 40s or older. RYAN – Male, English bookseller, posh English accent, 30s-40s. A MAN IN ELIZABETHAN GARB – Male, any age. TED – Male, around Ellen’s age. MILES – Male, author of The Secret History of the Largest Bookstore in New England. SUE – Female, any age. DR. HERN – Any gender, any age. MISS WHITHERLY – Female, around the same age as Greg. SADIE – Female, around Josh’s age. JOSH – Male, around Sadie’s age. TURTLEDOVE – Any gender, attracted to Byron. BYRON – Any gender, attracted to Turtledove. GREG – Male, bearded, around the same age as Miss Whitherly, lost. MARRIED FRIEND – Any gender, any age. ANTHONY – Male, wears a suit, around the same age as Rachel. MAX BREWER – Male, real estate magnate, fancy. MACHINA (MAC) ROGERS – Male, around the same age as Rachel.
All characters can be any race. Please try very hard for a diverse cast in every sense of the word “diverse.” All parts can be doubled except Candace and Rachel. Jamie and Also Jamie are probably of the same gender.
The largest and most idiosyncratic bookstore in New England. The present.
“Warm, funny and inviting.” – John Bavoso, New Play Exchange
“Delightful, witty, moving, and satisfying as a good novel — the one you didn’t know you needed, right when you needed it.” – Vince Gatton, New Play Exchange
Adam Szymkowicz on the Use of Monologues in His Plays
Adam Szymkowicz’s plays have been produced throughout the U.S and in Canada, England, Wales, The Isle of Man, Ireland, Scotland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Turkey, Switzerland, South Korea, Thailand, Sweden, Austria, Slovenia, Malaysia, ...