One-Act Plays by Janet S. Tiger Complete list with synopses as of September 2023
Janet S. Tiger
Playwright Email [email protected]
Dramatists Guild Member since 1983 www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com
Synopses of One-Act Plays
Due to the extensive number of awards and productions, details have been kept to a minimum
on these pages. For complete information about any specific play, please email requests to [email protected] .
Note: Several of the plays listed are also available as full-length plays.
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A SLIGHT MISUNDERSTANDING Published by Lazy Bee Scripts
Husband and wife spend many years not realizing they had a major miscommunication that has affected their lives considerably.
AFTER CLASS Produced
A teacher talks with a student after class - but does either one really listen?
ALWAYS IN MY HEART Produced
An airport is always a great place to bump into someone you haven’t seen in ……forever.
ALMOST NORMAL Brand new! Winner
When dealing with mental health, a mother and daughter face some difficult decisions.
ALMOST Reading
What could a killer and a nurse have in common …except maybe death?
BANNED IN BOOKSVILLE Brand new!
A librarian won’t take a book off the shelf – but is it worth going to jail?
BIGGEST SECRET (TRILOGY OF 3 PLAYS – Produced--Winner
(at this time, all three have never been done at same time)
House #1, House #2, House #3))
Two characters in each piece
#1 - A mother and daughter find that hoarding can mean more than just things. Produced
#2 - Husband and wife about to start a new life in a new house--and the secrets are moving in with the them.Top of
Bottom of Form
#3 - Murder, suicide--a maid returns from a vacation to find nothing is the same.
BLIND WOMAN'S BLUFF Anthologized--Produced numerous times- Winner
A blind old woman puts a classified ad in the paper and a young man answers the ad--but is he there to buy or to rip her off? Quick, funny and a good showcase piece for actors
BLINDFOLD Brand new! Winner
Tour-de-force about one woman’s experience with abortion during the days when it wasn’t legal
BREEDING GROUNDS (two versions: 5-minute and one-act) Produced (both)--Winner
Two people meet in an unusual way.......a way that breeds unexpected results!
CAREGIVERS ANONYMOUS Produced (also in Full-length)
A support group with some unusual twists – and unusual caregivers! Some laughs, some not-so-laughs and with a lot of truth about caring for others of all ages.
CELL PHONE OF THE MONTH CLUB Reading
In the world of cell phone sales, you never know who will be the last customer of the day......
CRIME Produced--Published by Lazy Bee Scripts
What is the true nature of crime? An effective, gripping piece about crime and its effects on different people. Characters: three men--one a criminal, the other two known criminals.
Longer Version Reading
On the news every day, everywhere we look, there is crime. But what is the effect on the people involved for real? A different take – a detective takes the audience on a different route with no car chases and no blood, but maybe ....echoes of a broken heart.
CURSE OF THE DUCHESS Produced and on Cable TV
A duchess recounts how a curse changed her life. Touching--a tour de force for an older actress.
DAY JOB Produced--Winner--Published
A professor grading papers has an unexpected visit from a disgruntled student--with unexpected results.
DAY OF ATONEMENT Produced--Winner
Two women, lifelong friends, face Yom Kippur (the Jewish New Year also known as the Day of Atonement) with different ideas. Great showpiece for two older actresses.
DON'T YOU CRY FOR ME Produced
The death of his father - and an unusual request in the will - leads a young man to deal with major issues in his life, and his family, in a very Southern finale.
FINALE Produced--Winner
A magician gives a performance - with a surprising finale.
FINALLY! Winner
Sometimes you have to wait a long while to get where you’re going…..finally.
GENESIS Reading
From a famous book that almost everyone has heard of – come two characters who will
introduce the beginning…..of everything
GET A COLD! Produced (often)--Winner
A man from the future describes the delight he has in the simple pleasure of...getting a cold.
GIFT OF THE MAGIC Reading
Everyone knows the magic story of the Gift of the Magi by O. Henry…this is a story about a couple…..with a little bit different magic.
GOD’S COFFEE SHOP Produced--Winner
A very special day at a very special coffee shop, where something new is learned
as the owner and the customers find out a little bit more about coffee…and life.
HATE CRIMES Reading
Young man discovers his genetic history is different than he expected.
The result is painful - a story of hate now and through time
HESITATION Produced--Winner
A young man makes one decision that changes his life - in two possible ways
I DON’T WANT TO GO HOME! Brand new!
Man comes home to find his mother will not leave his apartment! The stark reality of when parents get a little too close.
I TOLD YOU SO! Reading
The modern world has many advantages--one is our amazing cable home entertainment system --not!
INTERVIEW - New title - HORNET'S NEST Produced--Winner
Welcome to the Hornet's Nest--a radio talk show that can be very interesting--and dangerous. When Audrey Hornet hosts a political guest who used to be an old lover, anything can happen. And it does. Riveting suspense that builds to an explosive climax keeps audiences on the edge of their seats.
IS IT IN YET? Produced
A couple seems to be having a problem getting one thing into another.
IT’S GOOD TO HEAR YOUR VOICE Produced
Even though memories can become vague, two friends are connected by many things over the years.
LEFTOVERS Reading
A Homeowners Association has to deal with leftovers – food and old problems – and the neighbors who caused them.
LEGEND OF THE DONUT SHOP DIAMONDS
A local donut shop hosts a variety of characters--with different stories. This one is about donuts and...diamonds....
LET ME FINISH! (Two versions) (one for Jewish audiences) Produced--Winner
What happens when you hear the end of the story...that you may not have wanted to hear.
LET ME FINISH! (for Jewish audiences)
And LET ME FINISH, PLEASE! Reading
The second scene tells more about what can happen when a story is not finished…..right away.
LOCKER ROOM CHANGES Produced--Winner
Many things get changed in a locker room - with some funny and unusual results.
LINE Winner
Waiting in line at the grocery you can always meet interesting people you never met before......or did you?
MAKING THE GRADE (for Jewish audiences) Winner
A Jewish professor must use his rabbinical training when a student confronts him with a serious problem.
MIXED MARRIAGE (for Jewish audiences) Produced--Winner
A very current piece about a married couple--where the wife has just discovered a shocking secret about her spouse.
MODEH ANI (for Jewish audiences) Reading
A rabbi and his mother know that lying is bad, but is there sometimes room for a lie that keeps another from pain?
MOVING DAZE
The first day in a new place is never easy….but so is the first night.
MR. LEMONHEAD or, The Saga of Mr. Lemonhead or, The Birth of, the Brief but Exhilarating Life of, the Untimely Demise of and the Resurrection of ....Mr. Lemonhead Winner
A rotting lemon is rescued from the garbage and creates a conflict with a housewife's sister as well as her husband.
NAKED IN DUBUQUE Reading
An art exhibition is just an art exhibition- or is it a chance to put a new slant onto an old relationship?
NOT SO FAST! Winner
A teenage girl finds out that escape is not easy and even when you take drastic measures, mothers can discover a way to find you.
OH, SUSANNAH! Produced
Susannah returns from her husband's funeral to find a suitor at her doorstep.
ONE NIGHTSTAND Reading
Art and sex intersect in a motel room, but is it only for one night?
OSCULATION (or, About Love and Math in the Time of Chemistry) Winner
In order to win the Senior Academic Decathlon, a young man has to tutor a girl who hates math.
RENNY’S STORY (for Jewish audiences) Commissioned--Produced
A one-woman show HOLOCAUST PLAY--Lesson Plan available to teachers
It was the performance of a lifetime--disguised as a Catholic farm girl hiding in Nazi controlled Poland, Renny Grynblatt Trajman struggled to keep herself--and her family-- alive. Her story is vividly told in RENNY'S STORY--a gripping tale of courage and love amidst the horrors and heartbreak of World War II. As a young Jewish woman in Warsaw, Renny fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and even escaped from a death camp--but what happened to Joseph, her young son? Renny Kurshenbaum passed away in 2007, but her story lives on--as all the stories of the Holocaust must live.
RETURN
Grieving son gets an unexpected delivery – that changes the way he looks at death- and life.
RETURN TO HAMBURGER HOUSE Reading
Two sisters find that a foggy drive leads them to some very unusual places. Some in the past…..
ROOT (for Jewish audiences) Reading
In the middle of a brutal Nazi death march, a woman meets a child that changes her life.
SAVE A PLACE FOR ME Commisisoned
A bus stop makes for a new way to meet others - the oldstyle online dating--on bus-line that is!
SCRIPTEASE Produced
A well-known playwright is found dead at the reading of his newest play - which of his 'friends' didn't like his latest literary offering?
SECOND ACTING Reading
Watching a theatrical play is always a new experience - but who needs the first act anyway?
SECOND CHILD Staged Reading
China's law forbidding more than one child per family creates scars that last through generations.
SITTING SHIVA (for Jewish audiences) Reading
Two daughters consider what their father’s death might entail
SLIDE RULES Produced--Winner
A young man applies for a nonexistent job at a country paper whose publisher has a vast number of unneeded slide rules.
SOLITARY Winner
A young man in prison chooses solitary in order to some make difficult decisions.
STORAGE UNIT Produced Winner
Two sisters find more than expected in closing out a storage unit
SWEEPSTAKES Produced
(two versions –one both characters male, second –both characters female)
Winner, winner chicken dinner–or maybe pizza. From a time when it’s free if it’s late.
Strong language.
TAKE OUT THE GARBAGE Produced
A one-woman stand against husbands with a similar problem – taking out the garbage!
TALES FROM THE CRIB Winner
A full-grown man wakes up in a crib--with his full-grown mother taking care of him. Based on a true ..... dream.
THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED
A man comes to an older woman’s house for the census. An ordinary interview. Or is it?
THE AFFIDAVIT (for Jewish audiences) Produced for over 40 years worldwide-- Winner--Anthologized
Lesson plan available to teachers
A desperate woman brings a cherished family heirloom to a pawnbroker to try and get money to rescue her father from Nazi-occupied Austria. Will she get the money? And at what cost? Fast-paced with a surprising end.
THE ARGUMENT Produced
It's good to be friends. Who else can still argue with you- and love you, too?
THE DEVIL COMES TO RIVER BEND
A horrible accident upends the victims’ family- and all those around.
THE ELBOW OF THE MOUNTAIN Produced
Three co-workers discover the joys of a team-building vacation
THE FIRST TIME Reading
What is it about first times that we remember – and which ones do we forget
THE LAST BOAT Winner
In a nursing home, two of the residents are able to connect on a different level.
THE MOST BORING CLASS IN THE WORLD Reading
An ordinary classroom, with ordinary students…or is it? Three sets of students are ready for another day in Mr. Dillon’s History class – but it turns out that something is going on that is not in the history books! “Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat this class."
THE NEWEST OLDEST Produced--Winner--Published by Lazy Bee Scripts
Who's going to be the oldest? A contest you wouldn't think anyone would want to win......except these truly older ladies. A play about winning - no matter how old you get.
THE TOWEL LADY Anthologized--Produced for 30+ years--Winner
A woman hangs out her laundry while telling her unusual views on towels--and life.
THE WAITING ROOM (one-act and full-length) (for Jewish audiences) Produced--Winner
A Jewish family in Vienna, Austria, just before World War II, is faced with crucial decisions about taking the opportunity to leave - or staying behind with an aged and ill relative. Basic human questions about the value of life and importance of family are confronted. Poignant drama.
THREE
Coupling is one thing, and sometimes it means…three. But biology and math are not always compatible.
TIME TRAVEL CAFE Produced
Coffee is not the only thing that is available at this café.
TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING
Two men learn that living together is never easy – especially when death is part of the picture
TWO SISTERS Reading
Family matters – it does, and they do drive us a little crazy. Two sisters try to help their father through one of the most difficult parts of life – change.
WHEN LIFE HANDS YOU POTATOES Produced
Holidays can be difficult, but when Hanukah arrives and Mom can't find the candles, there's gonna be big trouble! And then there's the potatoes..... A play about a family miracle.
YARTZHEIT (for Jewish audiences) Produced--Winner
A yartzheit candle is lit for the memory of the dead--and one man is in an unusual state of learning what that means
YOU'RE HIRED! Produced
The new hire turns out to be someone older–a mother. Her mother! And her
mother tells her some scary news about her father. Office politics gets a whole
new meaning.
WAR BRIDE Reading
A soldier has a visit with a prostitute in Saigon–but with an unusual reason for being there.