The Authors

Peter Appleton

I have been involved with Amateur Dramatics with the Lee Players for over forty years initially as an on-stage performer (actor is pushing it) and subsequently as producer and have had the pleasure of producing several of my plays. As a group we tend to favour comedies but will try most genres – but not Shakespeare as our audience know the correct words.

I trust you will enjoy this offering

Olivia Arieti

Hello,

I am Olivia Arieti, a US citizen, with a degree from the University of Pisa, and I live with my family and Pedro, my dog, in Torre del Lago Puccini, Italy. I love writing plays and have some work with Heuer Publishing, Brooklyn Publishers, Desert Road Publishing, JAC Publishing & Promotions, Green Room Press, Applause Theatre, Lazy Bee Scripts and now also with Smith Scripts! Some of my productions include FLIGHT ATP12 by Gulfport Community Players, FL, JUST FOR YOU, Blue Box Productions, NYC, CONTEMPTUOUSLY IN LOVE, Ciona Taylor Productions, NYC, one minute plays, Gi60 Screaming Media Productions NYC, UK, Spare Change Theatre, NYC and Eclectic Theatre Company, FL. UP NORTE and NIGHT INTRUDERS, were finalists in the R.J. Flores Short Play Reading Series and had staged readings in NYC while THE TEACHER, an adaptation of a short story of A. Chekhov was produced at the Viaduct Theatre, Chicago, for the Neapolitans Off-Chekhov Festival.

SOMETHING IN COMMON has been produced by Spokane Radio Theatre, WA and now I am so pleased to say that you can find it at Smith Scripts.

Erik J. Bailey

Erik J. Bailey is an American based playwright, actor, singer, director, and composer. He is currently studying theatre at Dean College, a small university in Franklin, MA USA. His plays are known for being witty, sometimes containing jokes that require some thought. Theatre is his passion and doesn’t know where he’d be if he never discovered it.

Colin Barrow

A son of a farmer and born near Tiverton, Devon in 1961 I’ve spent most of my life somewhere with a stage nearby. At school not only to participate in anything theatrical but mainly to avoid lessons. Then on leaving school either acting on stage, backstage, lighting, sound, prompter, set build, directing, making tea and all the rest which someone has to do to make a show work. This life long theatrical input has given me a great experience in all aspects of putting on a show and writing a script for one. This has been valuable when writing scripts by taking into account the whole workings of a production and not just the written dialogue given by a script.

I have written bespoke pantomimes since around 1990 and many of which I am now rewriting to suit all. I started Play writing about 2006, as until then I felt I had not lived enough to put my knowledge of situations, stories, people watching, body language, etc, into creating scripts. This is when audience members knows a person very similar to one of the characters, as it brings some realism to the play.

I am a humorous person and live each day as my last and enjoy what ever life brings. This humour is very much reflected in my work. I have to say here that it’s only since 2011 that I turned to being a professional writer having had a accident at work in 2010. This has led to many plays and pantomimes since being published and performed with great success.

Prior to 2010, on leaving school I worked at a Horticultural college and became highly qualified and a national sports groundsman. Afterwhich I had my own business of a horticultural nature combined with music retail. Odd mix I know, but it suited my life as a single parent bringing up a son and daughter, both of which tread the boards or work back stage as a hobby. I then aspired to a funeral director for a company and ran a branch. I thoroughly enjoyed this and many a somber occasion was broken with some laughter which made me very popular and well recommended when the bereaved need a friend at their saddest time. This time of my life gave me a great source of looking at life in families homes, their lives and stories. Not to mention all the fun and games which cropped up from time to time doing the job of a funeral director. One day I intend to put these experiences into a scripts, but as yet I don’t feel ready to do so. Then after the accident in 2010, I became unable to be the man everyone turned to for help at their worst hour and so I started my next adventure. And now here I am, bringing happiness, fun and entertainment to many people which gives me such a buzz. This only leaves me to say, If you take any of my scripts, I do hope you have the fun and enjoyment staging them as I have writing them for you.

Francis Beckett

Francis Beckett is an author, journalist, playwright and contemporary historian.  Two of his plays, after successful fringe runs, are published by Samuel French; a third won the Independent Radio Drama Productions award and was broadcast by LBC.

His latest play Britain After Brexit is based on an earlier work, The London Spring, which enjoyed a successful London fringe run.

Many of his short stories are published in collections from Oxford University Press and Biteback Publishing.

His 17 non fiction books include Clem Attlee, a new edition of which is now out from Haus Publishing; What Did the Baby Boomers Ever Do For Us (Biteback, 2010); 1956, The Year That Changed Britain (Biteback, 2016); and, most recently, the semi-autobiographical Fascist in the Family (Routledge, 2016.)

He edited the 20-book series Prime Ministers of the Twentieth Century for Haus Publishing.

He has written regularly for the Guardian and the New Statesman, and frequently for many other publications, and edits Third Age Matters, the national magazine published by the University of the Third Age.

Rafe Beckley

Kevin Broughton

I live near Oxford in the heart of England. When I was young they used to call me a daydreamer, but then I started writing down the worlds that came to life in my head.

I started writing in earnest after reading an email on a mailing list. It was from the great writer Joe Michael Straczynski( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0833089/ ). He explained the difference between writing for a book and writing for the screen. It was like an epiphany; I love films and television, so it was something that came naturally.  I started playwriting, and had some success in early competitions which launched me into the world of being a writer and I have been going ever since.

I don’t write in any particular genre or form; ideas come to me all the time, and I just like to go where the story takes me.  Most of the time I tend to write historical or speculative fiction.

I get a great deal of pleasure from writing and seeing the way in which directors and actors bring the words to life. I am grateful to  Smith Scripts for publishing my scripts on their website, and giving another avenue for my writing to be seen. I hope you enjoy reading my work as much as I enjoy writing it.

Eddie Coleman

Eddie Coleman has been writing stage plays for over 15 years.

Several of his plays have been produced by amateur drama companies across the UK and his most recent play, Idiot Spaz, was one of the ten winners in the British Theatre Challenge 2015. The play is published by Lazybee scripts.

John Collings

I am the founder of the ‘Macmillan Cancer Support Theatre Company’ (see my facebook page). I have staged all of my plays & musicals, at the Under Ground Theatre, Eastbourne, to raise funds for Macmillan. I have had my plays produced in London, Brighton, Cambridge, & Manchester, But, my greatest achievement was to win the “Steyning Playwriting Festival” which was judge by Sir Arnold Wesker.

Kieron Connolly

Kieron Connolly was born in 1961. Hs novels ‘Water Sign’, ‘There is a House’ and ‘Harold’ have dealt with subjects as diverse as romance, bereavement and addiction. Although everything about the author seems rooted in Dublin – his novels, accent, comparisons with Behan and Beckett etc., his place of birth is Thurles, County Tipperary. The writer is a nephew of musician ( and former member of The Dubliners ) Bob Lynch. ‘The Book of Condolences’ was written in 2014/15, and when Vincent Smith read the script and became attached to the project as director, things took off from there ( he’d worked with the likes of Tommy Cooper and Orson Welles in seasons past ). ‘The Book’, Connolly says, is about us: humanity. Simple as. 

Carole Dhu

Carole Dhu has been active in the theatrical arena for more years than she cares to admit to, as a performer, a producer, director, vocal coach, compere, choreographer, teacher and adjudicator, as well as a couple of stints providing character voices for radio commercials.

Originally planning to produce A Characteristic Quest as a show where people licensed their own music, the offer of being able to write lyrics to brother Geri’s catchy music was instantly taken up, and the collaboration proved to be both enjoyable and productive!

The idea for this story (inspired by Carole’s love of Monty Python humour)  first popped into her head in 2002, but the writing stalled after Act One was committed to paper,  due to time constraints.  In desperation on New Years Eve 2003, she told everyone she was busy, locked the doors, drew the curtains, took the phone off the hook, turned off the mobile and by the time 2004 dawned the script was complete!

In 2006 the show was featured on local television in Western Australia and premiered successfully in a country hall.  Nine years later Carole staged it a second time in a slightly more prestigious venue where once again it was received with much enjoyment!!!!!!!.

Jonathan Edgington

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Jonathan started writing after completing a two year playwriting course at Southampton’s Nuffield Theatre, under the tutelage of John Burgess (the National Theatre’s former Head of New Writing). Since then he has written 29 plays (+ some monologues and sketches) that have been performed world-wide, including far-flung places like Nigeria, Japan and Canada.

Jonathan’s one act play THREE NIL DOWN AT HALF TIME has been translated into Gaelic and French and is his most successful play to-date with 22 different productions to its credit. His short comedy BABIES was filmed in 2015.

A number of Jonathan’s plays were produced in 2016 including ITV at The Pensive Federation Theatre Company’s Significant Other Festival at The Tristan Bates Theatre in Covent Garden; his full length version of ROBIN HOOD premiered by The Chesil Theatre Company as an open-air production in the gardens of Wolvesey Palace, Winchester; LAURA at the Chesil Theatre’s 10x10 David Bowie themed New Writing Festival in Winchester and LEGION  at The Pensive Federation’s Collective Project  at the Tristan Bates Theatre.

2017 is going well with several of Jonathan’s plays either having been produced or set for production later in the year.

More information regarding Jonathan and his plays can be found on his website:

Chrissy Evans

My background is in education but originally, I trained as an actress at the Birmingham Theatre School and set up a touring Theatre Company and also played in Summer seasons until life, and the need to make a living, intervened.

I began writing professionally in 2001.

 I first wrote and directed short films as BusPassProductions. Together with friends, I had noticed a lack of films for older audiences, despite the fact that they make up more than a third of audiences for both theatre and film. You can find these films on Vimeo and Facebook

 Then, 2 years ago, I decided to try writing for my first love – the stage. Again, aimed at an older cast and an older audience.

 This is the first play I wrote. It ran for two nights, in conjunction with another, shorter comedy. Both nights sold out.

Judith Foot

Judith was born in Brighton and is married with two sons. She started singing at the age of 9 and has performed in many amateur productions from Oliver to Carmen. For the last thirteen years she has been a member of Peacehaven Players and enjoys acting, directing and writing.

The Wow Factor! was the first comedy juke box musical Judith wrote for the Players and was performed in June 2013. It was written to allow the large membership to each have a speaking role with the opportunity to sing popular solos, duets and group songs within a ‘talent contest’ style storyline. It was hugely popular amongst the cast and audience.

By popular demand Judith wrote another juke box musical for the Players the following year; Fly Me! which was performed in June 2014. Another comedy with well known songs, but this time set in the holiday destination of sunny Torremolinos, it follows the adventures of a group of fun loving holidaymakers.

Judith’s third juke box comedy musical called Crystal’s Department Store, premiered in May 2016 for three performances at Peacehaven Brighton. The story follows a young woman who inherits a department store from a mystery man, however she soon realises she will need all her resolve to win over the suspicious staff and turn the fortunes of the Store around. 

Judith is currently in rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast whilst also writing her fourth script called The Wedding Party.

Katherine Luna Gate

Katiuscia Cancedda is an Italian emerging playwright and screenplay writer, and writes under the pseudonym of Katherine Luna Gate.  She has been living in England for the last 20 years where she has been bringing up her two daughters Francesca and Eleonora, thanks to whom she mastered the skill of storytelling. She started writing poetry and short stories at the age of 12. She has been journaling all her life, and defines herself “a word collector”.

After many years of teaching, in 2006 she was inspired to return to her old love, the stage, studying and gaining a high grade in a Performing Arts A Level course. She started a blog when, in 2012, writing plays defined her writing style and she was ready to share her work with the world ( ) not without setbacks!

That didn’t stop Luna – as she prefers to be addressed – and she carried on writing to date, both in her first language (Italian) and in English. She has written a two-act play, two monologues, a screenplay, and several short plays. She is currently working on a new monologue and a new screenplay. Her genres vary but the theme remains the same: the Feminine in all its forms.

She is grateful to Smith Scripts for the opportunity to share her work again.

Anna Girolami

Anna Girolami writes stories, plays and screenplays. She lives and works in Derbyshire’s beautiful Peak District, in the heart of England

All her work can be found on her website:

www.goodredherring.com

Valerie Goodwin

Valerie Goodwin , author of ‘The Magdalen Whitewash’ has been a Drama teacher, playwright and director for over 35 years.

Now the founder of the Bridport Shakespeare Company , Valerie took her play ‘Love, Marilyn’ to Edinburgh fringe  and has been onstage
at the Globe for her MA in Staging Shakespeare.

Valerie started writing plays as she needed a good vehicle for her young cast for Frankenstein, and had to write one that suited a large
cast  but was a close adaptation of the book It has a single set:the attic of the chateau , 100 years after 1817. Complete with
skeletons, dust, cobwebs and brains in jars ( we had great fun making those brains)

Valerie loves all aspects of am dram and youth groups and has written ‘The Giggleswick players do full frontal’ as a semi autobio’ of her
years in village halls!

Richard Hills

I joined my local Operatic and Dramatic Society at the age of twenty. In over sixty years in the Society, I directed thirteen plays and acted in one hundred and forty Pantomimes, Musicals and plays, playing small character parts.

I started writing shows and ended up with fifty-three Pantomimes and Plays. I am now on the world list of Professional Playwrights with Pantomimes going on in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Shetland Islands and Australia.

I have now had Plays going on in England, Wales, France, Spain, Malta, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Texas, Oklahoma, California, and Alaska.

D Brent Holland

My name is Brent Holland and I teach High School Theatre at Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina.  I have been writing shows for my honors class for the past four years and I have found it to be a very rewarding experience. 

When not at work directing shows, I am often at my karate dojo I co-own with my older brother (www.cfikarate.com) where I am a 6th degree black belt in Isshin-Ryu Karate. I play guitar and bass, have a beautiful wife Aubrey and a seven year old son, Rhett. 

Feel free to contact me with any questions you have about one of my shows as I would be more than happy to help in any way!

Les Jamieson

Hello,

I was born in Chelmsford and moved to Nottingham where I trained as an English and Drama teacher. Spent the next 25 years in the Notts / Derby area; acted with a few companies, wrote scripts for school use and climbed, surprisingly, the professional greasy pole and became Head teacher of a city centre school in Derby.

Just under 20 years ago I moved to Cyprus to become Head of a school on a British base. I’ve retired now and live near Larnaca with my wife Mo, three cats and a demanding garden.

Dave Jeanes

Born in Dorset in 1960, I have been writing ever since I found out how.

My first love was music. Check me out here:

Lately, I have turned my attention to Pantomimes and currently have ten, published by LazyBee Scripts.

 There are several other comedies too and three novels; available on Amazon, etc. Or direct from Lulu.com

Joe Laredo

Brian Lawless

Gavyn Lugsden

Gurmeet Mattu

Gurmeet Mattu is a Scots writer of Indian descent. His first full length stage play, in 1984, was CITIZEN SINGH, followed by EVERY BLOODY SUNDAY, SIEGE MENTALITY, COWBOYS & INDIANS, MSSIAH, WINDAE HINGIN’ and THE GHOSTS OF GLASGOW. He has also written the shorter pieces, THE STORMER and THE GIFTIE GI’EN US for 7:84 Theatre Company. For BBC Radio he has written SICK AS A PARROT, THE FLIRT, THESE MAGIC WORDS and SHOULDERS as well as sitcom pilots, COCONUTS and DOC for BBC TV.

He is also a winner of the Scottish Screen/DNA films First Draft Award.

He is currently the Artistic Director of the Yorkhill Theatre Group in Glasgow.

Andy Moseley

Andy Moseley is a playwright and founder member of NoLogoProductions. His plays include Are You Lonesome Tonight? A Bridge Game Too Far (winner of the Roy Purdue New Writing Trophy, Orange Tree Theatre 2011) After We Danced, Boxes, Casual Encounters, Going For Gold and Heart Shaped Box. His first book, Around the States in 90 Days was published in 2009. His website is www.andymoseley.com. NoLogoProductions website is www.nologoproductions.com

Denise O’Leary

Greetings

I am a published poet and award winning playwright whose work has been performed both in New York and London.   The daughter of an Irish immigrant father and English mother, I won my first prize for writing aged 7.  I went on to study journalism and, as a recent mature student, gained a 1st Class Honours degree in Creative Writing. Pandora’s Boxes was first broadcast on Resonance FM and was adapted for stage at the Camden Fringe Festival.  From there, it transferred, by invitation, to enjoy a three week run at the Rosemary Branch Theatre, London.  Critics compared my writing to Beckett and Gogol – praise indeed!

I’ve travelled extensively and enjoyed the hospitality of strangers from Key West to Kashmir.  This play was inspired by my solo journey through India.  My most recent odyssey to Latin America is recounted in my travel book; Footloose & Fearless @ Fifty +.

It is now my pleasure to see Pandora’s Boxes available for all at Smith’s Scripts.

Kathy Rucker

Kathy Rucker is a past member of the San Francisco Bay Area theatre company, Playground.  Her first play, Beautiful Scar, was a finalist for the Heideman Award at the Humana Festival Ten-Minute Play Contest.  Her next play, Chop Shop, earned her an invitation to the Sewanee Writers Conference where she developed the work with playwrights Romulus Linney and Dan O’Brien.  Ms. Rucker’s play, Turing Tested, was selected for participation in the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska, as was Sultan’s Battery, which was also selected for the Great Plains Theatre Conference and was a finalist in the New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest.  The play was also nominated for the London Fringe Festival Theatre Writing Award and had its world premier in 2010 in Los Angeles, produced by the Fresh Baked Theatre Company.  In 2013 her play, Done There, Been That, was produced at the Bierkeller Theatre in Bristol, England, directed by Natasha Harper-Smith.  Crystal Springs was produced in 2014 at the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco, directed by 2013 Bruntwood Prize Winner, Anna Jordan. Also in 2014, Crystal Springs was produced at the Park Theatre in London, UK, directed by Jemma Gross. In 2016 Crystal Springs will be produced at the (ITCH) Theatre in Tempe, Arizona. Ms. Rucker’s most recent play, Kadupul, had a reading with the Core Artists Ensemble in New York City in the summer of 2016, directed by Rachel Casparian.

Ms. Rucker is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

Jane Sunderland

Jane Sunderland has come to playwriting from academic writing, and holds an MSc in Playwriting from Edinburgh University. She is particularly interested in writing plays based on real people, especially women. In addition to ‘Dorothy and William’ (Dorothy being Dorothy Wordsworth),  she has written a one act play about the last years of Charlotte Bronte’s life, ‘Charlotte and Arthur’, which focuses on Charlotte’s struggles over her eventual decision to marry Arthur Nicholls, her father’s curate. Jane’s short play, ‘North to Muira’ about the journey of a fictional, recently bereaved woman to scatter her husband’s ashes, was produced in April 2017 in Glasgow by Short Attention Span Theatre.

Ian Watson

Ian writes comedy drama. Be it short screenplays, long screenplays, plays, musicals, sketches, even the occasional novel. He has had varying degrees of success from a West End run to BBC radio broadcasts and various bits used by others in everything from stand-up to monologues for auditions. He’s even written radio and TV commercials. He has a website www.ian-watson.com and he’s 47… and used to be a northerner but dropped all that when he couldn’t afford the membership fees.