Micki Shelton's full-length plays include Fred and Mary: An Unconventional Romance (Elks Opera House, Prescott, AZ, 2012) Medea's Ghost (Theatre Artists Studio, Scottsdale, AZ, 2010), Amici (Arizona Classical Theatre, 2003), Circles (2nd Annual Ashland Oregon New Plays Festival, 1994 reading and City Lights Theatre, San Jose, CA, 1998). Other full-length plays include Cheap Food and Sex and Discovery, which are ready to receive their premieres.
Many of Micki's short plays have been included in festivals throughout the west and southwest, among them Little Black Dress INK's Female Playwrights ONSTAGE, Carmel (CA) Performing Arts Festival, Theatre Artists Studio's Summer Shorts, Arizona Women's Theatre's Pandora Festival, and various Prescott, Arizona One-Day Plays. Among her most recent shorts--mostly written since the 2016 presidential election are Evolution Fast Track, Fix It, Drum Beat, Curve Ball, Ryan's Birthday Toast and Jitterbug.
Plays
It is 1978. A priceless codex is uncovered in Egypt. Over 1600 years old, the manuscript is in good condition until it spends 17 years on the black market. Infinitely fragile, fragments are pieced together in a Swiss lab. Yet its journey is less shocking than its content, for this is The Gospel of Judas. Discovery begins with the restoration of the manuscript, moves to its effect on a small family, posing the question, “In a world where facts keep changing—from what we know about dinosaurs to what we know about our heritage—how do we hold onto our cherished beliefs, or can we?”
Sparkling with fire and wit, Fred and Mary re-imagines the relationship between ground-breaking architect Mary Jane Colter and pioneering hotelier Fred Harvey who has been credited with “civilizing” the West. Straddling the border between historical and alternate realities, their story is interwoven with the beauty and culture of the indigenous people of the Southwest.
When two therapies converge in the Arizona desert, love is in the air; but supporting his mom’s way of healing her inner child still isn’t enough to prepare Garth for Frank’s ‘great white hunter’ ritual—or for his New York daughter, Serena. Sometimes a good laugh at ourselves is the best way to communicate and, maybe, the only way to heal the planet.
Successes
My full-length play Fred and Mary: An Unconventional Romance, which received its world premiere in 2012 at the newly restored historic Elks Opera House, was declared a part of Yavapai County's Arizona Centennial Celebration. Thanks to Arizona treasure Elisabeth F. Ruffner for making this happen!
One of my newest ten-minute plays, Evolution Fast Track, was produced in the summer of 2017 in two festivals--by both Scottsdale's Theatre Artists Studio and in Prescott by Little Black Dress INK. Both festivals placed my play to run last. What an honor!