Plays by Rich Orloff

Judgement Days

is a pair of one-act plays about people who try to escape or embrace their heritage, and the unexpected price paid for their decisions. The original L.A. production ran over six months. Los Angeles Times called the evening, "theater with a brain and theater with a heart". The one-acts include:

Kurt Was My Buddy
In 1986, the day Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria, a local TV news anchorman, a child of Holocaust survivors who has hidden his Jewishness to get ahead, learns that his favorite cameraman worked for Waldheim during World War II. 2 M 1W, one set, approximatly 50 minutes.

Where I Came From
A woman in her 30's returns home to ask her mother, grandmother and uncle about their life decades earlier in Russia, a subject they still don't wish to discuss or remember. When the woman pushes the issue, she gets both the answer and insight into why the subject has been repressed for so long. 3 W, 1 M, one set, approximately 50 minutes

The Whole Shebang

The play imagines God as a college student and asks, "What if the entire universe was just some nerd's science project?" Variety wrote, "Orloff's charming and whimsical comedy delivers impish fun, along with a thoughtful and provocative message." 1 m., 1 w., 4 either, 1 set, 45 min.

Shedding Light

What begins as awkward banter between a 50 year-old African American cable repairman and a Jewish woman of the same age builds into increasingly challenging and personal questions about race and religion, both for the man, still recovering from old wounds, and the woman, who is having a crisis of faith after a traumatic year. 1 man, 1 woman, 1 set, 70 min.

Kurt Was My Buddy

set in 1986, is about a TV news anchorman who has hidden his Jewish identity to get ahead in the business. On the day Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria, the anchorman, a child of Holocaust survivors, learns that his favorite cameraman worked for Waldheim during World War II. 2 m., 1w., 1 set, 50 min.

 

Where I Came From

is about a woman in her early thirties who returns home to ask her mother, her grandmother and her uncle about their life decades earlier in Russia. When the woman pushes the issue, she not only learns "where she came from", but she also gains insight into why the subject has been repressed for so long. 3 w., 1 m., 1 set, 50 min.


Contact: rich@richorloff.com