Edith Weiss
Playwright
WELCOME
About Me
Welcome to my website. If it wasn’t a 'virtual’ place I’d offer you coffee and a cookie.
Which, after over a year of this pandemic, I would love to do. When everything shut down last March and we were on lockdown, I wrote a play meant to be done on Zoom called, aptly enough, "Once Upon a Zoom." It got a lot of productions by teachers keeping theaters alive in their schools. I also wrote one for the stage: "The Murderous Ms. Maisey," which uses some of the stand up routine I did for years touring the country and internationally for the military. This play is listed under "Comedic Murder Mysteries." The Zoom play is under "Plays for Young Actors. "
I have spent almost my whole life working in the theater - children’s theater, professional theater, community theater, college and educational theater. Besides writing plays, I also act and direct them. Which means I understand that actors want characters that are well developed. Lines that are witty and funny, Physical humor, in the case of plays for children, to keep them engaged. My plays have been produced on every continent except Antarctica. I really like my plays. I’ve seen them done professionally and in schools. They are easy to direct, rarely is a set change called for, (some of the plays get a lot of tours) and no actors sit backstage for long. And when they’re onstage, no one is playing scenery. Everyone has their “moment” - or many of them. With the exception of a couple of my adult short plays, they’re all funny. With the exception of “the Tightwad” - female actors far outnumber male actors.
As I know how tedious and frustrating searching for the right play (cast size, length, content) is; I have tried to make this as painless as possible. The index lists all the plays, large cast size down to monologues. “Plays for Young Audiences” are small cast. In some cases, such as the Christmas play “Holly Jollies”, “Biggity Bad and the Three Little Pigs”, and “The Agony and Hilarity - the Life of Teens” - doubling will cut the cast down. Both “Plays for Young Actors” and “Comedic Murder Mysteries” are large cast shows. There are adaptations, and original plays. Each play has a synopsis, and the name of the publisher. Please check out the categories to get details such as reviews, productions, and excerpts.
Contact me if you have a need I haven’t addressed. Within reason, of course. I sure hope you find something you like. weisskrispies@yahoo.com