Gary Davis
he, him, his
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
In my 60s I am an emerging playwright whose work seems to lean towards older actors. Starting a theater group for older actors.
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Biography

Currently in my 60s, I've been involved in theater since my teens as an actor and operatic tenor.  And now I'm an emerging playwright.  I've written shorts, one acts and a full length musical (so far) with many of my characters requiring older actors.

I'm also involved in starting a new theater group called Silver Lining Players geared towards older actors and so have an interest in seeing scripts specifically for older actors.

Plays

I Got It from Tom
by Script Gary Davis, Music and Lyrics Tom Lehrer

A two act (two hours) musical comedy based on the songs of Tom Lehrer.  An elderly gentleman is placed in a mental hospital by a distant relative for nefarious reasons.  But if they only knew how crazy he really is....  This is a tribute to one of the most brilliant musical satirists of the twentieth century and a celebration of the old fashioned stage and movie musicals of his time that so influenced Tom Lehrer's songs.

Cast:
TIM LEAR an elderly gentleman (70s to 90s) who has been committed to a mental hospital for nefarious reasons; NURSE RACHEL (30s to 50s) head nurse for the hospital; DR. CASH (50s to 60s) head of the Massachusetts State Home for the Bewildered; MR. CHASER (40s to 50s) lawyer for a distant relative of Tim Lear; DR. FLOYD (40s to 50s) female army psychiatrist; GENERAL (60s to 70s) identity withheld for national security, but thinks he’s General Jack D. Ripper from the film, Dr. Strangelove; HAJ (50s) chief orderly in the ward room; POPE YENTL (40s to 50s) patient on the ward, older Jewish woman, who thinks she’s the pope. (Casting note – Barbra Streisand for the movie version, obviously); DALE (30s to 50s) Patient who suffers from the delusion that he’s a patient in a mental hospital; NURSES JANET & LOLA (20s to 50s) who actually are nurses (in contrast to Jane and Lilly below); FREDIPUS (20s to 30s) Patient with extreme Oedipal complex; WINIFRED & WILFRED (70s to 90s) Patients (Note to director – It works best if these two come off as the most adorable grandparents in the world. I wanted Betty White, but too late, damnit!); DICK (20s to 40s) Patient who’s a little too friendly and a bit of a dick; ELEANOR/SILENT E (20s to 50s) Patient who speaks through interpretive dance, formerly a teacher; NICK (60s to 70s) Mysterious patient; JAYDEN (20s to 40s) Another orderly in the ward room; JANE & LILLY Two nurses (30s to 40s) (actually two soldiers, John & Larry, in disguise); ???? a surprise male character at the end (70s to 90s)
Ghost Light (short version)
by Gary Davis

A 10 minute short.  A crew returns to a theater that’s been empty for two years because of the pandemic to prep the stage for reopening. The setting is a bare, dark stage with only a ghost light and a leftover prop umbrella.

Cast:
KAY woman in her 50s or 60s, a stage manager AL man in his 60s or 70s, an actor RAUL younger man in his 20s or 30s, give or take, on the tech crew
Ghost Light (one act version)
by Gary Davis

Approximately 25 minutes. A crew returns to a theater that’s been empty for two years because of the pandemic to prep the stage for reopening.  The setting is a bare, dark stage with only a ghost light and a leftover prop umbrella.

Cast:
KAY woman in her 50s or 60s, a stage manager AL man in his 60s or 70s, an actor RAUL younger man in his 20s or 30s, give or take, on the tech crew
Waiting for Marie
by Gary A. Davis

A short 10 minute play. Russ, a gentleman in his 60s, sits at a table at an outdoor cafe waiting to meet and old flame he hasn't seen in over 30 or 40 years. He strikes up an acquaintance with Gene, another gentleman of the same age also their to meet someone, but a meeting he is not looking forward to.

Cast:
RUSS - Gentleman in his 60s; GENE - Gentleman also in his 60s; WAITER - Any sex or age
Free Dad Hugs
by Gary Davis

A one act play approximately 20 minutes.  The play is set during the clean up after a Pride event and shows that the simple act of a hug can change the world.

Cast:
JACOB an older man (50s to 70s) wearing a t-shirt that says FREE DAD HUGS, straight, but accepting of all DAVID a young gay man in his teens, deeply wounded LATITIA a black lesbian in her early 30s, happy and proud of where she is in life
Love in the Time of Coronavirus
by Gary Davis

A one act play approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Set in a nursing home in 2020 isolated from the rest of the world that is being ravaged by Coronavirus.

Cast:
RUTH An elderly nursing home resident, once a respected doctor and medical researcher now suffering from Alzheimer’s, but is presently experiencing an extended period of lucidity. BOB A friend to Ruth and fellow resident, he is in a wheelchair and is suffering the late stages of cancer. Bob has been many things in life, primarily a theater director. JOY A young black nurse well loved by the nursing home residents and a primary caretaker for Ruth and Bob. She is a widow with two children.
Black ICE
by Gary Davis

A one act play 25 to 30 minutes.  This is a bilingual (Spanish/English) play.  The script is presented twice, first without translations and then with.  An elderly woman from Guatamala has been separated from her granddaughter and is in an ICE detention facility in California.  Her interrogation does not go as planned.

Cast:
COMMANDER HAYES male, mid 50s, cold & cruel, commander in Enforcement and Removal Operations of ICE. DEPUTY SIMMONS female, 30s to 40s, works with Hayes as a translator, is new to translating and so not fluent MAGDALENA SPINOLA late 60s, early 70s, refugee from Guatemala seeking asylum, does not speak English.
cAndI
by Gary Davis

A short 10 minute play. On a long, lonely, late night drive home from a conference an abrasive business executive with a flask of alcohol shows us, and someone else, who he is.

Cast:
DRIVER* a fast talking middle age business executive, self absorbed, in command CANDI (pronounced ‘Candy’) the voice of the phone/GPS * Not giving this character a name is intentional
The Eighth
by Gary A. Davis

A short 10 minute play. ‘tis a ‘bawdy juvenile comedie’ set in 1609 in which an English commoner hath been summoned to audience before the King, whether for good or ill he knows not. To say more would be giving it away.

Cast:
BILL in his 50s, a third rate poet who dabbles in theater with varying degrees of success. He’s no Kit Marlowe, but who is? JAMES also in his 50s, two years younger than Bill, and the reigning monarch of both England and Scotland and is therefore both James I and James VI simultaneously. Speaks in a thick Scottish brogue. ELIZABETH the former reigning monarch of England and therefore the ‘late’ Queen Elizabeth having died a few years earlier at the age of 80. Yes, that means she’s a ghost. Speaks posh.
Life in the Plague Year
by Gary A. Davis

This is a three act anthology play consisting of the short plays "Black ICE," "Love in the Time of Coronavirus" and "Ghost Light (One Act Version)." Each act takes place at a different time: Act I at the start of the Covid pandemic, Act II at the height of the pandemic, and Act III as life begins to return to normal.

Cast:
COMMANDER HAYES male, mid 50s, cold & cruel, commander in Enforcement and Removal Operations of ICE. DEPUTY SIMMONS female, 30s to 40s, works with Hayes as a translator, is new to translating and so not fluent MAGDALENA SPINOLA late 60s, early 70s, refugee from Guatemala seeking asylum, does not speak English. RUTH An elderly nursing home resident, once a respected doctor and medical researcher now suffering from Alzheimer’s, but is presently experiencing an extended period of lucidity. BOB A friend to Ruth and fellow resident, he is in a wheelchair and is suffering the late stages of cancer. Bob has been many things in life, primarily a theater director. JOY A young black nurse well loved by the nursing home residents and a primary caretaker for Ruth and Bob. She is a widow with two children. KAY woman in her 50s or 60s, a stage manager AL man in his 60s or 70s, an actor RAUL younger man in his 20s or 30s, give or take, on the tech crew

Successes

April 15, 2024 - Ghost Light (short version) made the final round of selection for Grosse Pointe Theatre's Take Ten 10 Minute Play Festival and will receive a full production on June 13, 14 & 15.

April 2, 2024 - My three act anthology play, "Life in the Plague Year," was chosen as a finalist in the 2024 Staged Reading Series by the Valley Players of Napa, California.

April 1, 2024 - My three act anthology play, "Life in the Plague Year," was selected for the Playwright Center's April Script Club.

March 25, 2024 - My script "Black ICE" made the shortlist of 12 scripts for the RAFTA (Rise Against Fanatacism Through the Arts) in London, UK.

February 6, 2024 - 'Ghost Light' was a semi-finalist in the 'Off Broad Street Short Play Festival' as a production of Gather by the Ghost Light of Augusta, Georgia. The title of the play mirroring the name of the theater was entirely coincidental.