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A website dedicated to the shameless

promotion of stageplays and musicals

written or co-authored by

Gary Peterson

News

Latest News

12/12/2011Two of my short plays, "Hank Cinque" & "You Never say the Scottish Play", have been selected for the anthology, "The BITE-SIZED BARD".

2007

1/11/2012Greenville High School isperforming "Little Women"February 17-18, 2012
Full-Length Plays

Klondike Kalamity
The Prince & the Pauper
Little Women
The Secret Garden
A Little Christmas Spirit
A Christmas Carol

Klondike Kalamity

With David A. ByrneThe Great Yukon Blizzard of 1888 sets the scene for this hilarious romp over the fields of melodramatics. Included in the cast are: the fair and lovely maiden; the poor, crusty, but honest freelance lumberjack; the stalwart and heroic Mountie and a villain you will simply love to loathe! Add to their ranks a snow-blinded Indian, a flapjack-filching bruin and one befuddled lass who keeps forgetting her identity (not to mention her sex!), and you have a madcap farce in the finest and funniest tradition of the melodrama. Will Fangduster T. Barrelbottom get away with his unmentionably nefarious scheme? Can our true-blue hero ever hope to clear his foully besmirched name? Is there a chance that the heroine may escape the sawmill blade?

The Prince & the Pauper

NEW for 2012

The Prince and the Pauper

No twins are required for this stylized and comical adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic tale. The story is familiar, but there’s a twist in the telling. A boy prince and a girl pauper exchange places for a time, and they get to experience how the other half lives. The Prince spends time as a Pauper, and vice-versa. But when the old King dies, the true Prince must be the one to be crowned next.

Little Women

This new adaptation offers superb acting roles for all performers. It may be staged with only one set. Four sisters, each with a distinctively different personality, offer an irresistible charm as we see them grow up to experience life’s joys and disappointments. Your audience and performers alike will enjoy being part of a show that radiates entertainment with love, laughter, inspiration, and pathos. It’s an all-family play that dramatizes the magic that made the book such an enduring classic. This warm and winning adaptation condenses many of the most charming and memorable incidents of Louisa May Alcott's classic story.

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden

Mysterious things happen to family members at Misselthwate Manor in England. A neglected garden is changed and opens the way to happiness for Colin, a sickly boy, and Mary, an orphaned girl. A robin sings a mystifying song to Mary, which tells her how to enter the garden that had been locked many years before. In secret, Mary, the old gardener, and Colin replant beautiful flowers in the garden. Its magic inspires the sickly Colin to walk and his stooped father to stand erect and learn to love again. The best-selling book for several generations is now a very gorgeous and theatrical stage play.

A Little Christmas Spirit

A Little Christmas Spirit

With David A. ByrneThe greedy Horace Lattimer is missing his yuletide spirit...literally! That's right. Horace has instructed his housekeeper to keep Holly, his Christmas spirit, locked away so he can concentrate on business matters...even if it means not being happy! Year after year Horace has refused to even speak to or look at Holly. But this Christmas Eve is special. Horace's nephew and family arrive to help the old man find many of the emotions he has locked up or forgotten. With holiday joy and remembrances, the family also hopes to rekindle their son's shaken faith. Tenderly, the young boy's "spirit" is brought back with Holly's help. Horace, as well, finds peace through an encounter with the spirit. The love of the holiday season will be felt as the Spirit of Christmas is released on your stage.

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

A non-musical version of the Charles Dickens classic. This adaptation holds closely to the original story. Three traditional carols are included that may be sung by a chorus. The large cast may be cut to sixteen players with doubling. It may be staged as a one-act or two-act presentation. Dickens' ghostly morality story is staged with only one set, a variety of props and special lighting effects. Actors of many ages may participate.

Musicals

Midsummer
A Christmas Carol
Velveteen
Brementown Musicians
Stone Soup
Tale of 2 Cities
Good King Wenceslas

Midsummer

A Midsummer Night's Dream

With songs by Larry NestorPossibly the best version ever to introduce young audiences and performers to the joys of Shakespeare. This, the Bard's most delightful comedy, is made even more delightful with the addition of music. In less than an hour Puck takes us along on a trail of mischief as he uses love potions and shenanigans to entangle all the lovers in hilarious situations. The enchanting songs, ballads and lullabies give the story an consistent mood and the charm of modern love lyrics. Songs include: "Welcome," "Irresistible," "Lullaby" and more. The large cast permits many to participate in a wide variety of roles. This shortened version gives the story a sharper focus and makes it less formidable to stage.

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol (musical)

With songs by Larry NestorArrangement by Robert CrowderThe real thing! Not a parody, not a modernized version — but Dickens' original story adapted to a stirring stage presentation with music. Eight musical numbers including three traditional carols. Music is arranged for men and women, solo and ensemble SATB presentation. Choreography of a few songs is optional. Dickens' original ghostly morality story is unaltered, but the addition of music gives this show an inspirational tone.

Velveteen

The Velveteen Rabbit

With songs by Larry NestorEight bright, singable, danceable, lovable songs bring a lively yet warmly sentimental tone to this beautiful story about love. The Velveteen Rabbit is only a huggable toy -- but it yearns to be real. Easy to stage -- only one set it needed.

Brementown Musicians

The Brementown Musicians

With songs by Larry NestorTalking animals, inept pirates and other comic characters abound in this action-packed story based on the classic Grimm fairy tale. The heroes are four animals who desperately want to leave their barnyard duties and become the town musicians. Their dreams are interrupted by the entrance of a pirate crew planning to rob the small village of Brementown. In trying to warn the townspeople of their danger, the animals are themselves banished as spies. The animals manager to capture the pirates, recover the town’s stolen treasure chest and fulfill their dreams by eventually becoming the official ’Brementown Musicians.’

Stone Soup

With songs by Larry NestorA one-act musical version of the old folk tale with a good lesson about trust and ingenuity. Three starving soldiers, cut off from their company, enter a small village in Belgium shortly after the battle of Waterloo. The suspicious inhabitants refuse them food and point them on their way back home to France. Only the soldiers' cleverness saves the day and makes a hearty feast for one and all, seemingly out of one tiny stone. One ext. set. Music in book.

Tale of 2 Cities

A Tale of Two Cities, the Musical

Music and Lyrics by Larry NestorArranged by Frank MantoothSet in London and Paris at the time of the French Revolution, the story revolves around Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, and the woman they both love. Charles turns his back on the excesses of the aristocracy to marry the Englilshwoman, while Sydney must watch from afar. Among the excellent songs are: "Today We Drink the Wine," "When Will We Meet Again?" and "Hold Me in Your Mind." Here's a chance to stage an important work of literature in the form of a theatrically exciting musical! Multiple simple sets.

Good King Wenceslas

Based on the Christmas Carol by J.M. NealWith Jim LillyMusic and Lyrics by Larry NestorDuring the Christmas feast, King Wenceslas does the unthinkable: He invites all the servants and castle staff to break bread with the nobility. There he learns from his page that although all is grand and wonderful at the castle, not all of his subjects are so well off. A man of action and compassion, King Wenceslas moves the entire feast to a remote cluster of poor huts and shares its bounty. In the end, a warm glow pervades the entourage as they give their food and their raiments to the poor, and the winter night does not seem cold anymore.

Short Plays

A handful of actors attempt to put on Shakespeare’s play "Henry V" with no sets, cheap props, and a very limited time constraint. Nevertheless, their show turns out to be funny, earnest, and moving. Ultimately, it contains a message for today from 600 years in the past. 9 players (m/f); 10 minutes.

Phileas Fogg, an adventuresome Englishman, bets the members of his London club that he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days. Phileas and his servant, Passepartout, travel by train, ocean steamers, balloons, and elephants to complete the journey. 3m, 1f, plus extras; 18 minutes.

Hank Cinque

Around the World in 18 Minutes

NEW for 2012

Coming Attractions

You Never Say the Scottish Play

While waiting for an audition, 3 experienced actors attempt to explain the superstitions behind Shakespeare’s play "Macbeth" to a novice actor trying out for the first time.3m, 2f; 10 minutes.
In this "play before the play", we see previews of six classic stageplays, each reimagined for21st century tastes. Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Dostoevsky & Louisa May Alcott all see their masterworks get the reboot.2m, 2w, 2 announcers; 10 minutes.

Gallery

Original Klondike Cast Reunion
Cindy Bronski and Bruno
Klondike Cast Mansfield Ohio
Klondike Sawmill Scene
A Tale of Two Cities
Heart of Ice
Klondike St. Louis
Little Women
Klondike Cast Reunion
Stone Soup
Sincerely Samantha
Androcles and the Lion
The Velveteen Rabbit
The Scottish Playlet

Original Klondike Cast Reunion
Gary Peterson and Dave Byrne
Cindy Bronski and Bruno
Klondike Cast Mansfield Ohio
Klondike Sawmill Scene
A Tale of Two Cities
Heart of Ice
Klondike St. Louis
Little Women
Klondike Cast Reunion
Stone Soup
Sincerely Samantha
Androcles and the Lion
The Velveteen Rabbit
The Scottish Playlet

Videos

Original Cast reading 2010
2nd Klondike Production 1978
Pappa Mia
My two Emmy awards
Peterson Family Album
The Blue Danube--Johann Strauss, Jr. Opus 314

Original Cast reading 2010
2nd Klondike Production 1978
Pappa Mia
My two Emmy awards
Peterson Family Album
The Blue Danube--Johann Strauss, Jr. Opus 314

Contact

Gary Peterson

Gary Peterson is the author or co-author of 19 published plays and musicals, including Klondike Kalamity, with David A. Byrne.Gary is a news video editor for WLS-TV in Chicago. As such, he has worked on numerous television productions including the Oprah Winfrey Show. In 1984, Peterson received a national Emmy Award for his video editing work at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics. He received a second Emmy Award for editing in 2007.

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1984

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