Winner of the Fratti/Newman Award for Political Playwriting. A million dollars to the most patriotic man or woman in America - and America does the voting Do you love your country? Do you stand united? Do you support our troops? Do you have what it takes to make it to the final round? A man reports to a testing center for his final casting interview. There are a lot of forms to fill out. Then there's his psychological profile, his medical testing, and his background check. The questions never seem to stop. Some of them seem awfully personal, some of them almost seem like an invasion of...

A troubled young woman awakes one morning to find her deceased mother busying herself around her apartment... A man makes the desperate attempt to free himself from the year 1905... A hard-boiled babe goes joyriding with the Almighty in a '62 Plymouth Fury (God's favorite) but she's got murder on her mind... Vikings invade Santa Monica... A recently widowed man finds his house slowly filling with the soil from his wife's grave... With a playful touch like a razor's swipe, these eighteen stories explore the mysterious landscape that exists between the real and the unreal - a territory of...

Frederique Michel and Charles Duncombe continue their critically acclaimed series of classical French comedy with a sparkling new translation and adaptation of Moliere's farcical Sganarelle. One of Moliere's first works after his company had established itself in Paris, this wicked satire on fidelity and honor is a round-robin of mistaken suspicions and imaginary betrayals. Two couples - a doltish middle-class husband and his mistrustful wife, and a beautiful young girl and her handsome lover - mistakenly believe they have betrayed each other. The more they argue, scheme, plot, and attempt to...

Beaumarchais's notorious comedy was the most scandalous play of the 18th century-and its most incredible theatrical success. In this new translation-adaptation by Frederique Michel and Charles Duncombe, Beaumarchais's clever servants outwit, manipulate, and ultimately humiliate their corrupt master, the Count Almaviva, exposing him for the fraud he is. So subversive was the play considered in its depiction of the ruling classes that during World War II, Vichy France would not allow it to be performed. Michel and Duncombe bring it to new and vigorous life: a witty, sexy, outrageous, and...

Nominated for "Best Adaptation" by the LA Weekly, and a "Critic's Choice" in the Los Angeles Times, this sparkling new translation/adaptation of Moliere's classic comedy le Bourgeois Gentilhomme was described by the LA Times as a "gracefully loopy souffle" and an "unguarded hoot." Wealthy and foolish Monsieur Jourdain is in love with the Countess Dorimene and aches to be what he is not-a member of the aristocracy. Determined to overcome his low birth with an education in high style, he unwittingly surrounds himself with charlatans and swindlers who gleefully take his money and prey on his...

"Towards the close of Charles Duncombe's harrowing ensemble piece about human rights abuses by Russian soldiers in Chechnya, a young man asks incredulously, "It's not really possible for people to act like that, is it?" The answer is self-evident but far from simple, and rooted in paradox. One by one these] steely-eyed, parlous young men recount nightmarish acts of murder, rape, and torture, committed against men, women, and children. Some speak as if seeking absolution or to assuage tormented consciences, while others glibly justify these acts by war's brutal logic or as necessary acts of...

Two naked humans in a cage-a young woman and a young man. They are good-looking specimens. What are they doing there? What do they think? What do they want? Do they have it easy, or do they miss their freedom? Visitors come and go, staring at the naked people, arguing, and wondering about just those things. A documentarian interviews their Keeper, who tries her best to provide some insight into the keys to these creatures' curious behavior. This new play for City Garage by award-winning playwright Charles A. Duncombe is both a dark satire and an absorbing drama about entrapment. When we look...