Michael Halperin
Playwright
michaelhalperin@ sprintmail.com
Michael Halperin's play "Dancing with William Blake" had its staged reading with First Stage in Los Angeles in 2006. His play "All Steps Necessary", commissioned and produced by Inkwell Theater, premiered April 2006 in Los Angeles and his one-character play, "Mela", was given a command performed in August 2004 in Jerusalem in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Yad Vashem. "The Spark of Reason" inspired by the excommunication of Baruch Spinoza was produced as an Equity-waiver workshop production in Los Angeles in 2000. His two one-act plays "Freud at Sinai" and "Poor Timing" have been produced on both the east and west coasts. Halperin wrote the popular young adult novel "Black Wheels" chosen by the National Education Assn. as one of the best books for the years 2005 and 2006 and co-wrote the best-selling award-winning novel for children "Jacob's Rescue". As story editor for Universal Television and executive story consultant at 20th Century-Fox he wrote numerous popular television series. Halperin teaches screenwriting, broadcasting and communications in the School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He holds a BA Degree in Communications from the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Southern California and a Ph.D. in Film Studies.
All Steps Necessary
An 80 minute one-act inspired by a true incident. On November 12, 1938, two days after Kristallnacht, Hermann Göring calls a meeting of the Nazi elite who meet over coffee and pastries to determine the fate of all the Jews of Germany. During the meeting a battle of personalities rages between Göring, Goebbels and Gen. Reinhard Heydrich. 8 men 1 woman - one set interior.Commissioned by Inkwell Theater. Premiered 2006 in Los Angeles.
"Leaves no trenchant chill untilled" Los Angeles Times
"Power begets madness in 'Steps'"Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
Dancing with William Blake
Drama - 90 min After fifty years of marriage, how does a man cope with the death of his wife and the dream of recapturing a lost moment from his youth? 1 man/4 women"It speaks with poetry, feeling, and a genuine sense of the human character." John McDonald, Director, First Stage
The Spark of Reason
Drama - Two acts Based on a true story. Revenge, love, betrayal, and religious intolerance intertwine with the dramatic events leading up to the excommunication of 25 year-old Baruch Spinoza. 8 men/2 women.Bed and Breakfast
Comedy - Two actsA disillusioned screenwriter and his therapist wife are conned into buying a bed and breakfast only to discover that the pastoral life isn't pastoral and not much of a life. 4 men/5 women
Mela
90 minA Catholic-Polish woman recounts the harrowing true story of her family’s rescue of three Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto and keeping them safe for four and a half years under the constant threat of exposure. 1 woman
A Chair by the Wall
Comedy - 15 minutesAdapted from a story by Sholem Aleichem. Twin brothers battle over
custody of their father's synagogue chair next to the eastern wall. 4 men.
Desert Stories
Two one-acts on a common theme.Freud at Sinai Comedy - 50 Min.
A remarkable encounter between Moses and Sigmund Freud at the foot of Mt. Sinai leads to an argument between the great leader of the Exodus and the father of psychiatry about the wisdom of giving the Ten Commandments to the world. 2 men/2 women
Poor Timing Comedy - 30 min.
Three determined angels attempt to convince Moses that he must die before reaching the Promised Land. He refuses to obey the dictates of God and the battle escalates until the angry Creator intervenes. 2 men/1 woman