KAREN SUNDE

All PLAYS conceived for bare stage, or one set.

Published Plays:

THE FASTEST WOMAN ALIVE. Aviatrix Jackie Cochran with buddies Chuck Yeager, Amelia Earhart, Eisenhower, LBJ, the WASP, the Mercury 13 secret astronauts... 2 men, 3 women (or many more).**

KABUKI LADY MACBETH New lyric text, twist on Shakespeare - Lady's metamorphosis, defying Yin and Yang balance, MacDuff gains pure warrior power Macbeth sacrificed - severed heads, dance, demons. 2 men, 2 women, 4 either. **

HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM. A boy and girl with every reason to hate find they can't help but love. (Romeo & Juliet) Bomb-wounded Israeli soldier encounters fleeing Palestinian refugee. 1 man, 1 woman (+ 2 off-stage voices).*

KABUKI OTHELLO. Othello, a Caucasian Ainu, becomes a demon of jealousy. Iago's wife Emilia weaves the story of a precious lost fan, winding karma, violent ends. 3 men, 2 women + chorus.**

TRUTH TAKES A HOLIDAY. 1st 24 Hours when a White House sex scandal breaks. 2 men, 2 women.*

IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA. Kidnapped "cowboy" Marine serving UN (true story) in Lebanon's maze of rival Muslims drags America into the new world as the mystery of his capture unwinds. 6 men, 1 woman.*

BALLOON. Ben Franklin "Papa", departing France and his greatest love, relives his heart-wrenching battles with his bastard son. 5 men, 1 woman.*

HAITI: A DREAM. Starvation flight, voodoo dreams, a young family's wild voyage toward America. 2 men, 2 women. (Stage and radio versions) in FACING FORWARD.*

DARK LADY. Shakespeare's tempestuous, star-crossed affair with Italian composer/​poet, Emilia Bassano--a woman dark, tempestuous, musical. Delicious?" 4 men, 3 women. **

TO MOSCOW. Breathlessly romantic true story of the theatre--Chekhov, Stanislavski, and the amazing women who made them possible. 2 men, 4 women (+ 2 company).**

OH WILD WEST WIND. (10 minutes.) Indian woman with pregnant daughter-in-law forced onto the Trail of Tears. 1 men, 2 women. In ROWING TO AMERICA.**

*Click here to order from www.broadwayplaypubl.com!

**Click here to order from www.dramaticpublishing.com!

All unpublished works - to acquire or inquire contact ksunde@​thorn.net

Unpublished Plays:

PLEASE GOD, NO WEDDING OR SHOOTING AT THE END. Chekhov struggling to write The Seagull, while characters from it, his private life, and Hamlet swim in his head. 9 men, 5 women.

2020 SEXCARE. (10 minutes.) In a better future, star Universal Sexcare worker and boyfriend grilled by psychologist, 1 men, 2 women.

TRACKING BLOOD WHITE. Indian girl healer, vicious bear on mountain vs. red-neck town. A magic tale of America, now. 4 men, 6 women, 1 girl-child.

DEBORAH: THE ADVENTURES OF A SOLDIER (from screenplay Undercover Patriot). 6 men, 6 women, 1 child.

NATIVE LAND. Rebirth of a family to serve its crumbling nation via embracing its rebel child's dream. 2 men, 3 women, 1 boy.

SWEET LAND OF FIRE. (1970) The 24 hours before "the house on 11th street," inhabited by "Weathermen," explodes. 3 men, 3 women.

ME AND JOAN (LA PUCELLE). Burned out female stand-up comic meets Joan of Arc, makes war on "the fathers of the church." 1 men, 2 women + company.

THE RUNNING OF THE DEER. Ragged Continental army--chased out of New York, down New Jersey, and vomited half-naked on Pennsylvania bank of the Delaware--turns...and becomes America. 12 men, 3 women.


One-Person Plays (One Acts):

WHEN REAL LIFE BEGINS. Passionate romance of producer and dying husband whose acting performances become greater as he weakens, until she embraces her calling. 1 woman.

ANTON, HIMSELF. Writing an impotent love story after The Seagull flops, Chekhov’s mind darts between passion, family, art, and disaster. 1 man. (Published in monograph.)

MASHA, TOO. Irrepressibly seized by love, Chekhov's sister struggles with whether to leave her brother's work and the care of him, to marry. Tender, funny, passionate. 1 woman. (Can serve as Act One before ANTON, HIMSELF.)


Other Kabuki Plays--lyric renditions of the stories, Japanese style:


KABUKI MACBETH. Severed heads, a hanging sword, a temple bell, ghostly spinners of fate. 6 men, 4 women + chorus.

KABUKI RICHARD. Richard III as Shiva, god of creation and destruction. How all those women turn on him. 5 men, 5 women, + company.

ACHILLES. His war-prize concubine narrates his rage, his sea goddess mother, fighting the river, the flames, and Hector of Troy to find peace in an enemy's embrace. 4 men, 3 women + chorus.

Opera

SPA, A Joy of Woman's Desiring - Love, betrayal and all things male, as revealed at the Spa. All female - 2 Hispanic, 2 non-Hispanic principals, 3+ chorus. (Composer Michael Dilthey)

Translation:

PHILOCTETES by Sophocles. Great wounded archer marooned by Achilles, sought and tricked by Achilles' son. 2 men + chorus.


Musical:

QUASIMODO.Rock-opera version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 5 men, 3 women + chorus.