More Plays

• viewPaternity

  Sam and Tina have a critical decision to make about their future. Seeking advice, they turn to those closest—literally—and get a lot more than they bargained for. Comedy: 2w, 3m.

  Productions

  Paternity, directed by Craig Lucas at the Cherry Lane Theatre May 18-29
  *This is a developmental production

• viewThe Penetration Play

  Rain is in love with her best friend, Ash. It's possible Ash feels the same way. Except that now Ash is falling for Rich to the delight of her mother, Maggie. Over the course of an evening, all three women will experience the bittersweet consequences of desire. This verbally taut comedy brings to life that little-known adage: If at first you don't succeed... seduce your best friend's mother.

  
  Kathryn Grody, Mia Barron, Amanda Siegfried. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

  
  Mia Barron, Amanda Siegfried. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

  Production quotes

  “The cracklingly funny dialogue summons up the feel of a raunchy gossip session that includes an uncomfortable, almost violent game of one-upmanship.”
  --Jason Zinoman, The New York Times

  "A smart, elegantly simple three-character play for strong women actors that moves like lightning -- any theatre that wouldn't touch it is missing out."
  --Loren Noveck, NYTheatre.com

  "This is a witty, bitterly mocking play. Playwright Winter Miller has written a tight, carefully structured script."
  --Jenny Sandman, CurtainUp

  "The dialogue that Winter Miller sets down on the stage for her characters is very conversational, which makes her characters as believable and tangible as anyone I know off-stage."
  --Timothy John Papp, OffOffOnline

  Purchase through Playscripts

  Productions / Awards

  The Penetration Play was developed at the New Group and produced by 13Playwrights at the Mint Theater in NYC. It is published by Playscripts, Inc. and excerpted in Smith & Kraus’ Best Stage Scenes 2005 and Best Monologues 2005.

  Produced by 13P at the Mint Theater 2004
  Directed by Josh Hecht
  Cast: Mia Barron, Kathryn Grody, Amanda Siegfried

  Press

  • Sexual Tension Along the Jersey Shore, The New York Times (PDF)
  • A CurtainUp Review, CurtainUp (PDF)
  • Your Mom, offoff online (PDF)
  • http://jameswagner.com/2004/12/gloria_steinem.html
  • http://renegadetheatrefestival.org/documents/renegade_performance_descriptions.pdf
• viewConspicuous

  Adoption brings a multitude of diverse people together, transcending race, culture, and traditional gender roles. In this fast-paced collection of humorous and thought-provoking interconnected stories, we meet a young woman raised by two dads, an African-American family considering adopting a Native-American girl, a Korean college student who has to cope with her adopted mom's mental illness, and many others. Skipping freely through the present, past, and future, Conspicuous examines adoption from multiple angles, revealing its complexities and joys. (This play was specially commissioned for high school actors.) Runs 30-40 mins, cast size 10-20 actors 50% gender split, any race.

  Productions

  Conspicuous was commissioned by Keen Company for Keen Teens and performed on Theatre Row in May 2007.

  Purchase through Playscripts

• viewMother to Son: A Monologue

  Mother to Son is a monologue by Winter Miller included in the anthology edited by Eve Ensler and Mollie Doyle, A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer. This monologue is authorized by the author to be used for free by anyone wishing to perform it for a Darfur-related event.

  In Darfur, Sudan, more than 400,000 black Africans have been murdered as the government of Sudan arms the Arab Janjaweed or “devils on horseback,” to enforce genocide. More than two million Darfuris are displaced in refugee camps.

  MOTHER TO SON:

  One day, I know already to expect it, you will lay your curly head in my lap and ask, “Why am I not named for my father?” And I will wrap you in beautiful lies. Yes, I will tell you my husband was everything to me, the night sky specked with the most dazzling stars. I will tell you he was the desert, dusty and immense. I will tell you his love scorched and burned like the sun. I will tell you an army of men on horseback kicked my husband to the ground and shot him seven times. The first was in the leg, so he could not run. The second was in his groin so he could not spread his seed. The third was in his heart so he could not love. The fourth was in his heart so he could not breathe. The fifth was in his heart to hear him cry for mercy. The sixth was in his heart to silence him. The seventh was in the middle of his forehead, for good measure.

  But listen my son, for these are words I have never spoken and I will never speak them again so long as I live.

  Your father, all six of him, dragged me through the dust, my head bobbing over stones. When my dress tore, just as I would, he gripped my hair, pulling me like a fallen goat. Your father, all six of him, threw me face down in the dirt. As I choked sand, your father, all six of him, cut my clothes off with a knife. One by one, all six of him entered me.

  I did not make a sound.

  Your father, all six of him, called me “African slave” as he spattered his seed in me. Your father, all six of him, said “this land belongs to Arabs now, this cattle belongs us,” and slashed my right thigh with his blade. (So I would remember him), your father, all six of him said.

  Alone at last, in a pool of my own blood, I looked up at the wide sky above and prayed to die. When I awoke the village pyre had dwindled to embers.

  Your relatives are nameless corpses shoved in wells. My home is a pile of black ash and a stray teapot. There is no one and nothing to go back to, there is only going forward. I will not speak to you of the past. I will teach you not to ask

• viewMonologue: Ugandan Grandmother, performed by Ruby Dee

  Watch on YouTube

  Voices of Uganda Web Site