Play and Poetry Collections Now Available for Purchase
Plays
- Queer Quickies
- “A Fantasy and a Dare” — Chloe and Simon are a happy, polyamorous, mixed gender, bisexual couple. Chloe has a fantasy about watching two men have sex. One night, while they are out getting coffee and discussing this, their friend, Greg, walks in. “A Fantasy and a Dare” is about being with someone who gets you and is right for you, even when that includes someone else. (A much earlier version had a staged reading in An Evening of Sex, Angst, Love and Misery: A Post-Holiday Show from CherryFire/PornoBoy Productions, San Marcos, CA, Dec 1998 - Jan 1999.)
- “Bonnie and Claudia’s Attempted Toaster Oven Heist” — is finally now a period piece in the US. A month after Bonnie's cousin voted against same-sex marriage in an election, Bonnie and her girlfriend, Claudia, try to enact vengeful justice by breaking into the cousin's home to steal a toaster oven. Impulsive Bonnie took the lead organizing the robbery, but actually organized very little of it, especially irksome to a planner like Claudia. While hiding from the cousin's dog (that Bonnie was unprepared for), the two argue about pantyhose, lip gloss, what to steal now that they know the cousin doesn't actually own a toaster oven and whether they would be ready to get married if it were legal. (Produced in Buffalo United Artists’ Take 10, Buffalo, NY 2015; LSU’s Theatre Dept’s Outworks Festival, Baton Rouge, LA 2011; StageQ’s Queer Shorts 5, Madison, WI 2010.)
- “The First Good-bye” — a woman doesn’t understand why her daughter is so upset about moving away to college. She doesn’t realize the “girlfriend” her daughter’s leaving behind is more than “a girl who’s a friend.” “The First Goodbye” is a play about the pain of first heartbreak, the distance of being closeted, and about feeling the world changing but not enough. (Produced in StageQ’s Queer Shorts 4, Madison, WI 2009.)
- The section titled Queer Play(er)s includes select pieces from the author's time with the creative writing and performance group Queer Players in San Diego, CA.
- (ISBN 978-0-9974833-0-7, 2016)
- The Santa Plays
- Two Santa themed plays originally performed by A Reasonable Facsimile Theatre Co. in their Chicago Christmas Spectacular. Also contains brief essay, “A Jewish Playwright at Christmas.”
- “He Sees You When You’re Sleeping” (Approx 15-20 min, Characters: 2F, 2M) Nicole thought she was safe from Christmas because her boyfriend, Ira, is Jewish. She is upset to learn that he was once a mall Santa. Nicole has a fear of mall Santas and Christmas and has locked herself in the bathroom. Their friends Chris and Gwen wonder if they should leave. As Ira is trying to talk Nicole into coming out from the bathroom, Gwen slowly begins to suspect that her boyfriend Chris might actually be a clown (which she has a fear of). When Nicole finally leaves the bathroom, Gwen locks herself in. Nicole comes to terms with Ira's past as a mall Santa and that it might be okay to make it through December with a boyfriend. Gwen decides maybe she can face Chris juggling and he begins to teach the group how.
- “Naughty or Nice: Santa Scandal Update” (Approx 10 min, Characters: 4F, 4M, 3Any) News coverage of the unfolding Santa scandal. After a video was uploaded to YuleTube showing Santa passed out at a party well before the arrival of Christmas morning and the completion of gift delivery questions have been raised. Who has been delivering the presents? What does all this mean? Can people still believe in Santa?
- (ISBN 978-0-9974833-2-1, 2019)
Poetry
Geography of Ghosts
A collection of poems about time, place, and longing for what is gone.
38 poems, including “California,” a one-minute play/poem that was a part of Clubbed Thumb's A Pageant of the 50 States (and more) (New York, NY 2007).
(ISBN 978-0-9974833-1-4, 2016)
The Las Vegas Poems
The Las Vegas Poems are poems I wrote on a trip to Las Vegas (not necessarily about Las Vegas).
(January 2000)
Bitter / Love
Bitter / Love is a two-sided chapbook I put out for Valentine's Day.
(February 2000)
Zines
Social Distance Stories – Staying at Home Edition 1 “The Plan” is a mini zine respone to Covid–19 social distancing. Our protagonist decides to be brave and make a plan of all the things she’s going to get done while social distancing ... but that’s not what she really ends up doing. Based on a true story (okay, it’s me). You can view it online here. So, Etsy told me I was prohibited from selling it on their site. On one side of it artist–me was like, “WTF?” But on another side artist–me was like, “Really? I just got in trouble for a zine about anxiety, reading too much online news, hand washing, procrastination and my cat — does that mean I’m edgy?” So, just saying, I might still be edgy and I’ve had to social distance the print version of my Social Distancing Stories zine at puffytailcat.bigcartel.com.
Plays and poetry available for purchase at http://www.etsy.com/shop/puffytailcat. The books with ISBNs are also on Amazon, my Author Page is www.amazon.com/author/deborahchavasinger. Social Distance Stories zine is available for purchase at puffytailcat.bigcartel.com.