AMERICAN ROSE.  90 minute, ensemble-cast play follows the dramatically changing lives of five diverse American women set amidst the backdrop of the dramatic WWII period, all five of whom enter war production workplaces and war situations during the 1940s.  The stories of these five are juxtaposed with additional female roles iconic of a variety of multicultural and historically accurate individuals plucked from the events of that period and presented with a heightened theatricality.  American Rose was originally commissioned by Sightlines Theatre Company and produced in 1997 at the Ohio Theatre in New York City.  The original script (as the text of the play submitted by Hansell) won honorable mention in the 1998 Jane Chambers National Playwriting Award.

14 LADIES IN HATS.  75 minute series of character monologues exploring the tension between expression and repression in the lives of contemporary American women and girls.  Produced in 1988 at Centerspace Studio Theatre in Project Artaud, San Francisco; subsequent portions produced throughout the U.S.; two ("Don't" and "Affair on the Air") published in MORE MONOLOGUES FOR WOMEN BY WOMEN (Heinemann); one ("Drop it") recorded live as performed by the author at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and available from the Poetry Center of San Francisico State University.

LITTLE KINGS.  60 minute tragicomedy one-act depicts a contemporary American family, five members of which exist as fractured-fairy-tale-versions of characters from KING LEAR via an originally deconstructed satire that sends-up 400 years of human civilization and family history.  2 female, 2 males, 1 of either.  Published in OASIS 10.1 Jan.-Mar. 2002.

MARY MARY.  20 minute speed-play presented in 3 flash-acts that dip into the life-history of a suburban Californian family through the snapshots of three Christmas Dinners, each in different decades.  2 male/3 female.  Published in INFLATABLE MAGAZINE Winter 1999, and in SPOT LITERARY MAGAZINE 2.1 Fall 2007.

MY MEDEA.  90 minute, ensemble-cast (including a chorus which chants contemporary slang, in verse) tale that presents a reconstruction of the Euripides classic but set in contemporary Los Angeles in order to explore current events related to class, race, gender and the worship of celebrity.  My Medea is a vibrant, accessible, and relevant retelling of Medea, imbued with popular icons and events cut from the American landscape, it is a visceral and exhilarating expose of contemporary values.  Published in THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT PLAYS 1996-97 (Applause).  Premiered March 4-19 2005 at the Players Theatre, the undergraduate division of Cal Rep, CSULB.

ROLLOVER OTHELLO.  25 minute stylized one-act in which Oth, Desdie and I. find themselves (and each other) in a contemporary Brooklyn police house, where they "talk" over their personal histories.  Nominated for a Pushcart Prize as published in OASIS 5.1 Jul.-Sep. 1996.  2 males, 1 female.

WAITING FOR TWO.  A full length play in 87 scenes, for two actors: 1 male, 1 female. Beginning in an Eden-of-the-Future, Waiting for Two tells the compelling and comedic story of one Every Woman who may or may not put up with the Man as she navigates courtship, career, parenthood, and the inevitable decline, surviving the funny, frightening and banal events of life.  Using language in a variety of ways, delving below or punctuating a surface, Waiting for Two suggests a myriad of pacing techniques and staging elements that can include notes for frenetic dancing or absolute stillness and everything in between, thereby providing producers and directors with innovative possibilities of interpretation, collaboration, and choreography.  By dramatizing character-developing vignettes,Waiting for Two creates a form that accomplishes multiple plot points wherein each life can stand for many more.  The play presents the essential issues of identity and connection at stake for anyone, while further exploring what it means to be alive in a world unhinged by environmental degradation and technological change.

WE ARE ALL DICK 3.  50 minute two-character male/female love/history comedy/drama spun from RICHARD THE THIRD as backdropped by the contemporary events and entertainments of our American world.  Published originally in OASIS 11.3 Oct.-Dec. 2003.  1 male, 1 female.

Most of the above texts are available from <susan.hansell@gmail.com>.

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