Shellen has written numerous theatre pieces—short plays, full-length plays, cabaret pieces, and musicals (some in collaboration with others). The synopses and production histories are below (STILL IN PROCESS~INCOMPLETE). If you are interested in reading any of the plays for possible production, please leave a message here.

Full-Length Plays Musicals and Cabaret Pieces One-Act Plays

Synopses

FULL-LENGTH PLAYS

(in alphabetical order)

IMPERFECT FLOWERS

This two-act play for two women and two men taking place in the 1980s explores the relationship between a 44-year old “displaced homemaker” in her first job and the 24-year old man who is a custodian at the school where she is teaching. They inspire irrevocable changes in each other’s lives, but with each other they hit a wall beyond which they cannot go. In the second act, a chance meeting four years later allows them to resolve some of the unfinished business between them. Produced by the SNAP! Festival in Omaha, Nebraska to glowing reviews. Also had a workshop at Manhattan Class Company starring Gretchen Cryer and James (Jimmy) Wlcek.

LIARS
(by Elliot Meyers with Shellen Lubin)
This two-act play for two men and two women is a raucous (almost farcical) comedy. The roommate of a womanizing pathological liar plots to teach him a lesson with the assistance of the friend’s bizarre mother and a vengeful ex-one-night-stand who pretends to be a pregnant nun. When the plot explodes in their faces, the lessons learned are different and more profound than the ones expected. Produced off Broadway at the Producers Club Theatre.

A ONE WOMAN TRAVELING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ASSEMBLY PROGRAM

This collection of two one-act plays and two monologues for one woman and four men is about a bright, dynamic, passionate 25-year old woman in 1974 going through some painful life lessons as she finishes up a one woman tour of elementary schools in the northeastern United States. Kayla begins on the road, talking to herself and the audience, in LOOKING FOR NEW HAVEN. In WRAPPING WIRES, we see her confrontation with two men who confound her: the boss of the company, who has to fire her, and the technical director of the company, who makes everything and everyone as comfortable and easy as she makes everything complex and difficult. In the second monologue piece, SEAFIRE, we see her on the phone with her boyfriend who is ending their relationship. In the last one-act, ORBITUNIA, stripped of everything, Kayla comes to terms with some of the things that have eluded her as she helps a high school boy make some serious life choices of his own. Written in residency at Cummington Community of the Arts.

THE QUALITY OF RESPECT

Loosely based on William Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, this 3-act play for 11 characters (3 women, 8 men, can be multi-cast) explores some of the issues raised by Shakespeare's play over the centuries, including the systemic prejudice against people from other religions and races, the poor, and women. The play takes place in Venice in the late 1500s, both in and around Ghetto Nuovo, the first Jewish ghetto in the world, and the place from which the term "ghetto" derives. Primarily in iambic pentameter, the two plots of the casket test and the blood bond are woven together in a different way, leading to a different, yet equally unsettling, outcome.

WAITING

This two-act play for two women and two men is an interpretation of the story from the bible of Jacob’s seven years of service to Laban for his beautiful daughter Rachel’s hand in marriage and the subsequent seven years of service after he is tricked into marrying her older sister, Leah, told from the perspective that Leah is the one with whom he shares a relationship of depth and understanding, although he is unable to recognize this as love. Has had a staged reading directed by Joel Friedman at the Dramatists Guild. Finalist in the the Mildred and Albert Panowski Playwriting Award.

WALL POSTERS

This play in one act runs about 60 minutes, for two women and one man, and takes place in that moment of time in the 1970s when the second wave of feminism was about to hit a brick wall and gay rights were just beginning to come out of the closet. An older brother and younger sister are forced to look at how they view womanhood with the dramatic, sassy input of Vera, the ghost of Jayne Mansfield. Performed in workshop at SUNY Fredonia.

WAR ORPHAN

This one-act play running about 75 minutes for three men and three women is a dark comedy about a loving, intimate, non-sexual friendship between a young gay man and a young straight woman who are both struggling to find a place in a world that is changing too quickly in some ways and too slowly in others. The play takes place in 1983 with flashbacks from 1961 through 1982. Through the flashbacks, hopping back and forth over the years, Susan struggles to come to terms with Jeff’s death, with their relationship, and with the family that never really accepted him. Has had a reading by Shakespeare's Sister Company.

MUSICALS and CABARET PIECES

(alphabetical order)

BAD NEWS
(book and lyrics by Harmon Dresner, music by Shellen Lubin)
A two-act spoof of campus musicals for four men and six women, complete with melodramatic transformations, tap-dancing sidekicks, and assorted crazy characters. Produced at the New Jersey Public Theatre (Celebration Playhouse). Available from Dramatic Publishing.

BETWEEN PRETTY PLACES
(A Musical Ghost Story, play by Susan Merson, music and lyrics by Shellen Lubin, musical arrangements and additional music by Matthew Gandolfo)
This 75 minute chamber musical for four women and one man (one of the female characters is a child) about the disruption and catharsis necessary in a family when a tragic, neglected daughter has hung herself in the front yard, leaving behind her own daughter. Produced in CA at the Pacific Resident Theatre and in NYC at Here Arts Center starring Carolyn Mignini, Tuck Milligan, and Laura Liguori, directed by Shellen Lubin. More recently produced at 13th Street Theatre, directed by John L. Hadden.

CLEANING UP
(additional lyrics by Elsa Rael)
A two-act one-woman musical about a songwriter trying to finish the re-writes on a new musical and clean her apartment at the same time. In the process, she makes some illuminating discoveries. Originally produced off-Broadway (performed by Shellen) at PSW Studio.

MOLLY’S DAUGHTERS

A two-act musical for five women. While their mother is in a coma upstairs, three sisters sort through their relationships as they try to decide what they are going to do with her. Inset through the piece, their mother, Molly, tells the audience the stories of her life. In the midst of the emotional chaos, the teenaged daughter of the eldest sister comes home and adds her needs and perspective to the mix. Commissioned by American Jewish Theatre, it was seen in various forms produced by them at both Henry Street Settlement (featuring Lisa Loomer and Jane Ives) and the 92nd Street Y (featuring Rosalind Harris). It was also seen in a staged reading at the Professional Older Women’s Theatre Festival at the Public Theatre, produced by Elsa Rael and Joe Papp, and at the Davenport Theatre.

MOTHER/CHILD
(additional lyrics by Elliot Meyers)
A one-hour one-woman musical exploring the many varied feelings and thoughts of one woman--about self, family, work, artistry, and life--after giving birth and during the first few months of having a new baby at home. Originally performed by Shellen in numerous cabarets as well as Interart and American Jewish Theatres, directed by Jane Whitehill.

MY BRAVE FACE
(created and written by Robert John Cook and Shellen Lubin, collected songs by Shellen Lubin and many others)
A cabaret musical of collected pop and rock songs for two men and one woman about a man trying to come to terms with disillusionment after his marriage of 30 years falls apart. Produced in numerous venues including Daryl Roth Theatre's DR Lounge, Don't Tell Mama, and Waltz Astoria.

WHAT ZEESIE SAW ON DELANCEY STREET
(book by Elsa Rael, music by Matthew Gandolfo, lyrics by Shellen Lubin)
This one-act 70 minute musical is based on the picture book by Elsa Rael, telling the story of a bright, inquisitive girl on the lower East side of New York City in the 1930s, and what she discovers about her community and life on her ninth birthday.

WHEN ZAYDEH DANCED ON ELDRIDGE STREET
(book by Elsa Rael, music by Matthew Gandolfo, lyrics by Shellen Lubin)
This one-act 70-minute musical is based on the award-winning picture book by Elsa Rael, telling the story of a bright, inquisitive girl on the lower east side of New York City in the 1930s, and what surprises await the day she is forced to go to temple with her very stern grandfather while her mother is in the hospital giving birth to her new baby brother.
ONE-ACT PLAYS
(alphabetical order)

AFTER THE THIN MAN (Stella and Sylvia Seek Success)

A short one-act play for two women, running about 20 minutes. Arriving back in New York after her stint in Hollywood feeling defeated and depressed, Stella Adler, in conversation/confrontation with her dear friend and colleague, Sylvia Gassel, decides to make a huge change in her life. Sylvia stays on the path of being a "character actress" in a world in which there are none. Has been performed at Hubbard Hall in Cambridge, NY, at 13th Street Rep, the Lambs, and Jefferson Market Library. This piece was written for 365 Women a Year: A Playwriting Project.

ANTHESIS

A one-hour play for one woman and one man. The first act of IMPERFECT FLOWERS. Produced by the West Coast Ensemble in their Eighth Annual Festival of One Act Plays.

CIRCUMSTANCES FORBID

A transformation play for three to six women about traps and trials women historically have faced in this culture explored through monologues, scenes, movement, and music.

COFFEE ONCE A YEAR

A short play for two women about two old friends who reunite under odd and confusing circumstances and try to untangle the knotted web of their past and come to terms with the emotional residue left after the explosive end of their loving friendship. Produced by Six Figures Theatre Company at Henry Street Settlement and subsequently in the Samuel French OOB Festival.

COLOSSALLY ABUNDANT

A ten-minute transformation play for three women and one man, exploring the words of Emma Lazarus' famous poem, The Great Colossus, and the place from inside her and from her life that brought her to write this piece that was unknown in her lifetime, but since has been etched into The Statue of Liberty and become so iconic. Has had a reading at Jefferson Market Library. This piece was written for 365 Women a Year: A Playwriting Project.

ELEVATOR INVENTIONS

A ten-minute play for one man and one woman that takes place in the mind of a white woman as she unfolds potential scenario after scenario with the black man in an elevator with her. Produced by numerous theatres, including Six Figures Theatre Company at Henry Street Settlement, and Manhattan Class Company.

LEAH

A one-hour play for two women and two men. The first act of WAITING, this is an interpretation of the story from the bible of Jacob’s seven years of service to Laban for his beautiful daughter Rachel’s hand in marriage, up until the moment before he is tricked into marrying her older sister, Leah. The story is told from the perspective that Leah is the one with whom he shares a relationship of depth and understanding, although he is unable to recognize this as love.

ORBITUNIA

A one-hour play for one woman and two men--the final piece of A ONE WOMAN TRAVELING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ASSEMBLY PROGRAM--about a woman solo touring an assembly program who gets stuck in the tiny town of Orbitunia, Pennsylvania overnight, befriends two high school boys at the local pool hall, and changes one of their lives, and her own in the process.

PARABOLA

A ten-minute play for three women and one man, exploring the perspective of Natalia Levi Ginsberg on her fundamental relationships. This piece was written for 365 Women a Year: A Playwriting Project.

PARIS PURITY

A ten-minute play for one woman and one man, Zilphia Horton and her father, in the moment that she rejects the upper-class life in which he has raised her to seek a life of music, purpose, and fighting for the working class. Has had a reading at Jefferson Market Library. This piece was written for 365 Women a Year: A Playwriting Project.

THE PASTOR'S WIFE

A 10-minute play exploring the question: When a woman becomes the Pastor of a church in a small town, who becomes the Pastor's Wife?

ROLE CALL

A 10-minute play for one man and one woman exploring in a boxing ring the paces men and women put each other through, explored through a series of improv games.

STANDARD PRACTICES

A ten-minute play for two women, exploring a moment in the life of Ida Tarbell, journalist, historian, and muckraker. Ida and her friend Laura confront the standard practices that they do and do not accept. This piece was written for 365 Women a Year: A Playwriting Project.

THREADS OF ORCHARD STREET

A 20-minute play for two women and two men telling the story of a Russian Jewish immigrant woman's first adventures on the lower east side of New York City.

WHITE COTTON

A ten-minute play for two women, both playing two parts of the legendary activist, Fannie Lou Hamer, in a jail cell, the night she was beaten within an inch of her life. Fannie wants to have a life, but Lou has a mission, and knows what it will take to achieve it. Has been performed at Monster Box Theatre, at 13th Street Rep, and at The Lambs (directed by Kimberly Eaton). This piece was written for 365 Women a Year: A Playwriting Project.

WRAPPING WIRES

A 40-minute play for 1 woman and 2 men--the second piece of A ONE WOMAN TRAVELING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ASSEMBLY PROGRAM--about a woman touring an assembly program who in one day gets fired and is forced to confront why people have such a difficult time with her.

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