David Zarko, playwright

Playwrighting

Dramatists Guild

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directing

acting

Curriculum Vitae

Original Scripts

historic serio-comedy

under revision

Cast: one woman, one man
Set: painters studio also used to represent several other locations
Period: Spring, 1877
Length: 90 minute one-act

The Emp

Joshua Norton, also known as Emperor Norton I, has his portrait painted by Addie Ballou, a renowned spiritualist, activist for women's rights, painter, poet, mother, and generally remarkable woman. Norton seeks an empress, and after a short while he begins to believe that Addie may fit the bill.

Draft of Top of Play

Rain and Revolution

comedy with a heart

Produced by The Actors' Theatre, Santa Cruz, CA 1990 and by The Metropolitan Playhouse of New York, 1999 (as "History Lessons").

Cast: two men, three women
Set: single, with projections to open each act
Period: contemporary or early 1990's
Length: two acts.

A professor of history and his much younger wife verbally spar, call up memories, and have their lives changed by the amorous couple at the next table. A witty play about love, music, and the nature of memory.

Top of Act Two
Roles

What Happened to Jones

Jones, an amiable scoundrel, wanders into a stodgy household while running away from the police, only to find himself believed by almost everyone to be their long-awaited guest, an Anglican Bishop from Australia.

The farce by George Broadhurst upon which this play is based was completely rewritten, but kept in period and, with restructuring, follows the basic story line of the original.

Produced by The Metropolitan Playhouse, 2000. Go to Directing for photos and reviews.

Cast: six men, six women
Set: single wing & drop or box
Period: a fantastical 1890's
Length: three short acts

Top of Act Two
Roles and Notes

Seeking Paris

A young man develops an infatuation with a male dancer who goes past his house every afternoon. He discusses it with his lady friend who encourages him to do something about it. Something is done, but nothing is resolved. Years pass. Relationships change and much else, too. The three friends begin to see larger patterns at work.

Serious comedy.

Unproduced

Cast: two men, one woman (or two)
Set: single realistic or selectively realistic exterior
Period: begins in 1988, ends in 2010
Length: two acts

Top of Play
Roles

forgeries

An actor discovers that he has hung himself after having had his heart broken once again over his leading lady. His artistic director replays his last moments with him, and the dividing line between life and death grows vague.

Surreal comedy/drama.

Produced in an earlier version by The Fabulous Theater Co., San Francisco, CA, 1980-81.

Cast: two men
Set: single, representative of the wings of a stage
Period: contemporary (early century)
Length: 90 minute one act

Top of Play

The Husband

From an original scenario of the commedia dell'arte, true love is thwarted by misguided old fools, but a clever and romantically inclined servant helps love win in the end.

The play alternates between scripted dialogue and detailed scenario upon which the actors improvise. A farce with some singing.

Produced by The Post Theatre Company, Brookville, NY 1993, at American College Theatre Festival Region IV, 1994 and at Hudson Guild Theater, New York, NY, 1994.
Go to Directing for a photo.

Cast: Six or seven men, six or seven women
Set: Single traditional commedia
Period: a fantastical sometime
Length: two acts with improvisational sections, and preshow and intermission activities
Note: music by Michael Paris

Representative Scene to Come

The Private Life of Richard Tanu

Two partners in an ad agency riff on a commercial they have booked for software that mimics handwriting. A short and funny musing on modern absurdities and unexpected consequences.

Satirical comedy.
(This play seems suddenly topical to me, so I am working on expanding it to a full length. If you are still interested in seeing it as a one act, I'll be happy to send it)

Produced by Metropolitan Playhouse, New York, NY, 1995

Cast Two women
Set: single, simple
Period: contemporary
Length: ten-minute play

Top of Play

Buddy Truffle

A middle class family is terrorized by a religious zealot who the father of the house has invited to live with them.

Based on Moliere's Tartuffe, the story is set in New York City during the LaGuardia administration and in the style of a 1930's crazy family comedy. The point is to put the issues Moliere addresses and the characters he uses to do that into a context that is powerfully accessible to a modern audience. The script is mostly my own, though it follows Moliere's story line and reflects his play in how each scene is approached, so I struggle with which heading I should put this under. Consider it on the cusp.

Produced as "Mr. Tartoof" in an earlier version at Studio III Group, New York, NY, 1991, and in its current version at Marywood University, September 2011. Go to Directing for a photo.

Cast: principals, four or five men, four or five women - small roles, four small roles (one of which must be a man)
Set: single, interior
Length: two acts, but it can be played as a 90 minute one-act
Period: Manhattan, 1939
Note: In the 2011 production Mrs. Parnell was played by a man, and Val , Mayor LaGuardia, and Loyal by women. The point being, with this style there is flexibility.

Top of Play
Roles and Notes

Adaptations & Translations

A Servant of Two Masters

A servant from Bergamo finds himself in Venice serving a woman from Turino who is pretending to be her brother. A series of even more complicated events makes him also the servant of her lover who doesn't know she is in Venice dressed as her dead brother, whom he killed in Turino. Chaos ensues.

A translation from the Venetian and Italian created for a production in California. I stuck very close to Goldoni's dialogue in most cases, while also giving the characters an American tone that places them in social classes recognizable to modern audiences.

Produced by West Valley College, Saratoga, CA, 2001 and by Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, 2004

Cast: principals: six men, three women; four to six extras, probably at least one of those male
Set: best performed on a cleverly designed set that will allow for multiple locations without significant changes
Length: three acts
Period: a fantastical notion of Venice

Top of Play
Roles and Notes

The Truth About Romance

The many and various loves of an incurable romantic, named Anatol, which we follow from college days to marriage about a dozen years later, and his sardonic, and much more grounded, friend, Max.

Adapted with reference to seven translations of Schnitzler's play Anatol, it was created because we found none of the translations to be readily playable.

Produced in a previous draft at Studio III Group, New York, NY, 1990 as "Anatol". It subsequently received staged readings in its present form and under the current title.

Cast: two principal men, one small male role (Franz), and up to seven women in supporting roles. It can be effectively cast with three men and two women.
Set: the play is in seven scenes, but this version allows the various locations to be depicted by a few pieces of furniture that Franz moves while describing the full setting.
Length: two acts
Period: early 20th century Vienna

Representative Scene

The Woman

The Party machine attempts to control an "insurgent" reformer congressman by implicating him in a sexual scandal. This story never goes out of date. And, as Karl Levett of Baskstage put it: "The two leading female roles speak volumes about emerging feminism."

An adaptation of the 1911 play by William C. DeMille (Cecil's brother), the flow of dialog, if not the wording, follows the original through most of the first act. The second act increasingly becomes my own, until the story takes a new direction entirely towards the end.

Produced by Metropolitan Playhouse of New York, New York, NY, 2001. Go to Directing for a photo and reviews.

Cast: nine men, two women. The story, though sensible to modern audiences, is very rooted in its time, so casting would be difficult to credibly change
Set: first act, Washington D.C. hotel lobby - second act, hotel room
Length: two acts
Period: 1912

Top of Play
Scene from Act Two
Roles

A Christmas Carol

A hardened businessman is visited by spirits one Christmas Eve who take him on a journey of self-discovery.

This is a word-for-word adaptation of the Dickens classic. The script uses all of the text that Dickens used for his public readings, plus sections from the book that he left out. The narrative sections are performed, from a first person point of view, by the actor to whose character it applies. The staging should be very fluid, and the text musical in the way it is delivered.

Produced by The Northeast Theatre, LaPlume, PA, 2002, and by the same under the name Electric Theatre Company, Scranton, PA 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Also as a benefit for WVIA TV & FM, 2011.
Go to Directing for a photo.

Cast: six men, four women, each playing multiple roles except for the actor playing Scrooge
Set: an open stage or a unit set
Length: two acts
Period: 1840's
Note: music by Liz Feller

Representative Scenes

Back in the mid-seventies, when my high-school Russian was still accessible, I translated five short plays by Chekhov, which I then spent the next 25 years re-working and adapting. My Russian has since all but disappeared.

The Barbarian

The beginnings of an unlikely romance between a melodramatic widow and a desperate and maniacal creditor.

This play is also known as The Bear or The Brute.

Produced by Catskill Mountain Theater, Margaretville, NY, 1989, by The Northeast Theatre, LaPlume PA, 2003, and several community theatres and high schools.
Go to Directing for photos.

Cast: two men, one woman
Set: single interior
Length: one act
Period: late 19th century Russia

Representative Scene

The Celebration

A grandiose bank president, the highly staged-managed 15th year celebration of his tenure, and of how it all goes so terribly wrong.

This play is also known as The Jubilee or The Anniversary

Produced in Griffin Conservatory, Scranton, PA 2008.

Cast: two men, two women with extras at the end
Set: single, interior
Length: one act
Period: late 19th century Russia

Representative Scene

The Proposal

The hapless attempts of a nervous man approaching middle age to propose to his neighbor's daughter.

This play is also known as The Marriage Proposal

Produced by Catskill Mountain Theater, Margaretville, NY, 1989, by The Northeast Theatre, LaPlume, PA 2003, and several community theatres and high schools.
Go to Directing for photos.

Cast: two men, one woman
Set: single, interior
Length: one act
Period: late 19th century Russia

Representative Scene

Swan Song

An old actor who has just retired finds himself alone late at night in what he believes to be an empty theatre, and muses about life and his craft.

Produced by The Northeast Theatre, LaPlume, PA 2003, and several community theatres and high schools.
Go to Directing for photos.

Cast: two men
Set: single, interior
Length: one short act
Period: late 19th century Russia

Representative Scene

The Insalubrious Effects of Smoking Tobacco

A middle aged man who, on his wife's instructions, is to talk about the bad habit of smoking to a charitable society, instead reveals his life in all its quirky, tedious, and heartrending detail.

This play is also known as On The Harmfulness of Tobacco

Produced by Catskill Mountain Theater, Margaretville, NY, 1989, and several community theatres and high schools.

Cast: one man
Set: single, simple, interior
Length: one short act
Period: late 19th century Russia

Representative Scene to Come