Richard Dresser
Title Plot/Notes Premiere and/or Selected Other Performances
At Home One-act Premiered April 1984 at Ensemble Studio Theater in New York City , as part of the theater 's seventh annual marathon of new one-act plays
The Hit Parade A decade after the death of a talent agent 's only successful client , the agent hires a car thief to impersonate the dead rock star in a comeback concert for the residents of the musician 's hometown Performed in summer 1985 by Manhattan Punch Line at TOMI Theater in New York City
Bait and Switch One-act . Two brothers attempt to save their struggling restaurant by bringing in a new partner , a member of the Mafia Performed April 1986 as the opening play in the third annual New Dramatists Lunchtime One-Act Play Festival in . West Coast premiere in fall 1993 by Interact Theatre Company at Theater Exchange in North Hollywood
Amnesia A man suffers from amnesia and other difficulties . Originally written to be filmed First reading July 1987 at the National Playwrights Conference at Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford
The Downside Employees of a New Jersey pharmaceutical company prepare an anti-stress drug for its American release and cope with its unexpected side effects Premiered November 1987 at Long Wharf Theater in New Haven . West Coast premiere in December 1989 at Pasadena Playhouse . Performed December 1990 at Griffin Theatre in Chicago
Alone at the Beach Six single strangers share a summer house in the Hamptons Performed in spring 1988 at Humana Festival in Louisville , Kentucky . Performed in summer 1989 by the Phoenix Theatre Company at the Masters School in Westchester . Performed in summer 1991 at Way Off Broadway Playhouse in Santa Ana . Performed May 1992 at Griffin Theatre Company in Chicago . Performed June 1993 as part of Bay Street Theater Festival in Sag Harbor
Splitsville One-act . A young Florida couple seek jobs in a sinister new theme park being built across the street from their home Performed May 1988 by Primary Stages Company at 45th Street Theater in New York City . West Coast premiere in fall 1993 , along with Bed and Breakfast and Bait and Switch ( under the title Splitsville ) by Interact Theater Company at Theater Exchange
Better Days A depressed former factory town in New England is revitalized by a booming industry in arson Performed in 1986 by Levin Gheater Company at Douglass College in New Brunswick . Performed summer 1989 by Gloucester Stage Company in Massachusetts . Performed May 1990 by Renegade Theater Company at United Synagogue of Hoboken . Performed July 1990 by Dramatist Workshop in Chicago . Performed January 1991 at Primary Stages in New York City . Performed in winter 1992-1993 at Way Off Broadway Playhouse in Santa Ana
Bed and Breakfast One-act . Two American couples vacation near England 's Stonehenge Performed May 1993 as part of Ensemble Theater 's Marathon of one-act plays . West Coast premiere in fall 1993 by Interact Theater Company at Theater Exchange ( see Splitsville )
The Road to Ruin One-act . Two mechanics work on the broken automobile of a married couple Performed July 1993 by Renegade Theater Company in New York as part of An Evening of One-Act Comedies
Below the Belt Three managers stationed in a bleak , rural manufacturing plant toil and conspire against each other Premiered April 1995 at Humana Festival . Performed in spring 1996 at John Houseman Theatre ( off-Broadway ) in New York ( called Best New Play of 1996 by the Wall Street Journal ) . Southern California premiere May 1997 at Old Globe Theatre in San Diego . Performed summer 1997 at Contemporary American Theater Festival ( CATF ) in West Virginia . Over 40 productions in Germany
Gun-Shy A divorced couple and their new partners are stranded together in a snowbound house Premiered April 1997 at Humana Festival . Performed February 1998 at Playwrights Horizons . Performed summer 1998 at CATF . Southern California premiere in spring 2000 at Laguna Playhouse
What Are You Afraid Of ? One-act ( 15 minutes long ) , written by the request of the Humana Festival 's producing director Jon Jory , who asked Dresser to write a play performed in the front seat of an actual car while audience members sit in the back seat . A shy driver struggles with his attraction to an attractive female hitchhiker Premiered spring 1999 at Humana Festival in parked vehicle . Performed in Hamburg , Germany , where actors drove on city streets with the audience
Something in the Air A down-and-out man seeks to profit from the life insurance policy of a bitter , terminally ill patient Performed summer 1999 at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor . Performed summer 2000 at CATF
Wonderful World A mother attempts to connect with her two grown sons , both of whom are struggling with their own long-time relationships Premiered spring 2001 at Humana Festival . West Coast premiere summer 2001 at Laguna Playhouse
Rounding Third Two Little League coaches try to reconcile their very different approaches to baseball and to life . Dresser was prompted to write the play when he learned that his son 's Little League coach was planning to cheat to win a game . In the original Chicago production , which starred George Wendt , the play 's opening scene was moved from a bar to a ballfield to avoid audience identification with Wendt 's Cheers character Workshopped summer 2001 at CATF . Premiered fall 2002 at Northlight Theatre outside Chicago . West Coast premiere January 2003 at Laguna Playhouse . Performed summer 2003 at Old Globe Theater in San Diego . Performed October 2003 at John Houseman Theater in New York ( off-Broadway ) . Performed summer 2004 at CATF
Greetings From The Home Office One-act ( seven minutes long ) , performed with no live actors , only recorded voices emitted from a speaker phone . A solo audience member enters an office setting and finds that they are playing the role of a newly hired employee . The audience member interacts with the computer while the voices of a boss and co-workers come from the intercom , involving the audience member in a storyline of purported scandal and corruption . Eventually the audience member must make a pivotal decision about whom to trust , based on the voices and their interactions with the computer . The play was written for a specifically detailed commission by the Technology Plays project , a joint effort by the State University of New York ( SUNY ) and the Capital Repertory Theatre . ( Dresser said later that he had accepted the commission , with its strenuous demands for a play to be told without live actors to one audience member at a time , only because he believed nothing would ever come of it , and was forced to follow through when the project received a grant . ) Premiered November 2003 with five other short plays ( one commissioned from William Kennedy ; four others the result of a university-sponsored script competition ) in the New Atrium Library at SUNY . Appeared May 2004 at the Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany
Augusta The first play in Dresser 's Happiness Trilogy about class in America . Two female housecleaners scheme with their shady manager to achieve a better life for themselves Premiered summer 2006 at CATF . New England premiere in fall 2006 at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell
The Pursuit of Happiness The second play in the Happiness Trilogy . Unhappily married middle-class parents attempt to help their daughter win acceptance to college . Written on commission from the Laguna Playhouse Premiered January 2007 at Laguna Playhouse . Performed summer 2007 at CATF . Performed at Merrimack Repertory Theatre
A View of the Harbor The third play in the Happiness Trilogy . A young man brings his wealthy girlfriend to meet his eccentric family at the rural home where he grew up , and buried secrets come to light Premiered summer 2008 at CATF . New England premiere January 2009 at Merrimack Repertory Theatre
List of plays
Richard Dresser (born c. 1951) is an American playwright and screenwriter, whose work has been widely performed in theaters across the United States, as well as in Europe. In addition to his plays, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical Good Vibrations and the musical Johnny Baseball. Dresser has also served as a writer and producer for multiple television series, most notably The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.