Bruce Ward
For more information on all plays, please visit website.
- Fabulous Ride into the Unknown
80-minute solo monologue that chronicles the lives of 10 men as they experience the emergence of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Accompanied by music and images of the decade.
“An extraordinary series of character sketches created with remarkable skill … A gallery of human faces through which our collective anxieties and fears are refracted and, finally, purged. A striking, angry, funny, touching, satiric and political work that puts the first decade of AIDS into a startling dramatic context.” – Bay Windows
Bruce Ward continues to perform this piece at theaters, universities and conferences across the U.S., and is available for bookings.
One-Act: 1 hr. 20 min.
1M – or multiple men, any age
- Lazarus Syndrome
Elliott, a long-term HIV survivor, has not left his Manhattan apartment for 13 days. His self-imposed isolation is shattered when his father, his younger brother, and his partner unexpectedly arrive to coax him into leaving the cocoon of his apartment. During an evening when time and place appear “out-of-joint,” apparitions appear, dreams manifest as reality, soup is poured, prayers are spoken and truths are revealed. Lazarus Syndrome is a comedy and a drama about family, heritage, resilience, and the healing power of acceptance.
2nd Place Winner – Jean Kennedy Smith Award, American College Theater Festival, Kennedy Center, Washington DC, April 2007
Premiere: August 2007, Theatre Alliance, Washington, D.C.
One-Act: 1 hr. 40 min.
4M: 3 – 30s-40s, 1 in 70s
- Paint by Numbers
Max, a Scorpio actor, and Lance, a Pisces copywriter, live together in an apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC. As Lance parks himself on the sofa and drinks himself into oblivion, Max coerces him into playing “therapy games” to explore and deepen their relationship. One of the earliest plays to deal with emerging anxiety over the AIDS crisis.
Produced by the 78th Street Theatre Lab in NYC and the Celebration Theatre in L.A. in the early 80s, and later by the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, Boston Theater for the Arts.
One-Act: 40 min.
2M: 20-30s
- Alternatives
A young, sexually confused playwright breaks the third wall, with his literary allusions to Wilder, Chekhov, Miller, and Kerouac. In relationships with both sensible Sara and spontaneous Dean, Jack explores the various alternative possibilities to his life, and, in the process, discovers himself.
One-Act: 1 hr.
3M: 20s
2W: 20s
- Room 69
During a Homosexuals Anonymous meeting, everyone desperately tries to hide his or her true sexual orientation. A spoof on the gay “recovery” movement.
Produced at Boston Theater Marathon, and at the “Drop Your Shorts” festival, NYC.
Published by Bakers Plays.
One-Act: 10 min.
2M: 20s-40s
2W: 20s-40s
- Bourbon and Cheesecake
Kathy and Dorothy are old friends who have not seen each other in years. They meet again at an anti-abortion rally, at which they are on opposite sides of the issue. Following the rally, the two women dine and find that their commonalities may be just as strong as their differences. The conservative Dorothy has a gay son, whom she has come to accept, and their waiter just happens to be gay.
Produced at the Boston Theater Marathon.
One-Act: 10 min.
2W: 40s-50s
1M: 20s
- Roger G. Asmas
A cockroach has inadvertently turned into an all-consuming human being, much to the dismay of his loving cockroach family. The story is about being different, and perceptions towards those differences. A re-telling of Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis.”
Produced at the Boston Theater Marathon.
Published by Bakers Plays.
One-Act: 10 min.
2M: 20-50s
2W: 20-50s
- Temporary Insanity
The boss has disappeared, the bills are overdue, and the public relations firm of Haksley, Beskam and Lanskin is in danger of shutting down. When the firm considers accepting client Kenley Schmenkin, a mild-mannered momma’s boy who has been released on a murder charge due to the “Twinkie defense,” a battle of morals ensues. However, Kenley, fueled with chocolate, holds the office — including the gay office manager — hostage. Then Kenley falls in love with the meek secretary in this fast-paced comedy.
Staged readings at Ensemble Studio Theater, Manhattan Punchline, 23rd Street YMCA, NYC, Newburyport Firehouse Theater.
Two-Act: 2 hrs.
4M: 20-60s
4W: 20-60s
- A Long Fall to the Crystal Sand
Althea lives in a large, decaying house on Cape Cod, in the summer of 1976, with her elderly father. She is the caretaker for Irene, who has Alzheimer’s disease. College students Jack and Lou board for the summer, during which time Jack come to terms with his homosexuality. An exploration of the choices people make between living in reality or in fantasy. It is also a coming-of-age story, as Jack transitions from adolescence to young adulthood.
Produced at the Studio, Northwestern University.
Two-Act: 2 hrs.
3M; 2 late teens, 1 late 70s
2W: 1 60s, 1 80
