THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT A PLAY

Writing short plays is a refined art unto itself, demanding precision, discipline, and a flair for economy that borders on the surgical, a very difficult thing for writers of all genres. In A Playwright’s Dozen by Gregory Fletcher there are no leisurely strolls through exposition, no long-winded monologues to establish character, no indulgent detours into subplots. From the moment the curtain rises in the reader’s mind, Fletcher commands attention and pounces into the action. It is storytelling in a straitjacket; he sketches each character with a few bold strokes but the essence is unmistakable. Each story has a beginning, middle, and end, accompanied sometimes by a twist, sometimes by a punch or, at the very least, a sigh.

Eight Times Around

The book offers thirteen short plays written between 2002 and 2025, each a compact narrative packed with character richness and dramatic momentum. These plays span genres, tones, and settings: some comic, some meditative, some stark, some surreal. Several have received notable recognition: Stairway to Heaven won the Gary Garrison National Ten-Minute Play Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Roast Beef and the Rare Kiss was nominated for Best Short Play by the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. Family of Flechner was published in The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2016. Some await their first public staging; others have been performed in classrooms, festivals, and stages across the country. All are written with clarity, theatricality, and an ear for dialogue that speaks to the moment.

Gatekeeper

What unites them is their human core; they are stories about identity, connection, absurdity, memory, and meaning. Eight Times Around is rich and poignant, layered with existential and metaphysical depth, a meaningful allegory and a powerful dramatic work for the stage. It calls to mind works by Jean-Paul Sartre or Beckett, plays where language masks deeper philosophical rumblings. The Nine-Month Fix, at first glance, seems deceptively kinky until the tone effortlessly moves to horrific gravity. For actors, the roles in both are a gift: emotionally nuanced, ripe with subtext, humor, and heartbreak. For readers, it offers catharsis without sentimentality.

Forced-Fed Bronze

Designed for both performance and study, this collection offers roles as varied and expansive as the world we live in, with characters young and old, white and BIPOC, straight and queer. Pronouns, casting, and staging are intentionally fluid, inviting directors and performers to bring their own vision to the work. Whether you are teaching an acting or directing course, curating scenes for a showcase, or simply seeking short plays with real depth and theatrical spark to produce or read, this collection delivers. Buy it, you will not regret it.

Stairway to Heaven

A Playwright’s Dozen: 13 Short Plays
Gregory Fletcher
published August 1, 2025
drama/short plays | paperback | 126 pages | 6 x 9
ISBN 979-8-2868-9583-0 | also on Kindle
available at Amazon

Gregory Fletcher