Lojo Simon
Writing for the Theatre
Heartland
, with Anita Yellin SimonsSecond place, David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award (Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival), 2009; Winner, Dayton Playhouse FutureFest, 2008; Winner, Long Beach Playhouse New Works Festival, 2008; Second place, University of Akron Playwriting Contest, 2008; Alternate, American Theatre in Higher Education Playworks 2008; Semi-Finalist, Reverie Productions (Off-Off-Broadway) Next Generation Playwrights Contest, 2007; Second prize, 2007 Oxford International Institute for Documentary and Drama in Conflict Transformation, Semi-Finalist, Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center 2009 National Playwrights Conference
Heartland is set on a small, family-run dairy farm in Wisconsin where, in March 1945, a German-born widow and her children are struggling to make ends meet after the family patriarch has died. When they receive notice from the War Manpower Commission offering two Prisoners of War to work their farm, they eagerly accept the offer. But the German-American family and the German POWs bond too well for the townspeople to accept, and the widow is arrested, interned and eventually suffers a breakdown which tears her family apart. Based on true stories of many such arrests of German-American families during World War II, Heartland tells the story of what can happen when fear and prejudice pit neighbor against neighbor in times of war. Four females, six males. Full-length.
Read the reviews and see photos of the 2008 production here.
The Care and Feeding of Wild Birds
Finalist, American College Theatre Festival Region VII Ten-Minute Play Competition, 2010; North Park Vaudeville 10-Minute Play Festival, 2009
The Care and Feeding of Wild Birds is the tender story of an elderly grandmother and her adult grandson who, through an experience with the natural world, learn a heart-warming lesson about love, death and aging. The play features two actors -- one male and one female -- and runs about ten minutes. Minimal staging required. One young male, one older female. 10-minute.
Read the play here.
Read a review and see photos of the 2009 production here.
Read a review and see photos of the 2009 production here.
Mi Corazon
Teenager Gabriella is dying of a congenital heart defect and is on the waiting list for a transplant when her best friend, Skye, has a premonition that she will die so that Gabriella can have her heart. A play for young audiences in middle and high school, Mi Corazon explores how it feels to lose the people we love and the things we do to try to save them. Four females, one male. One-act TYA.
Adoration of Dora
Semi-finalist, Alive Theatre's Cherry Poppin' Play Festival, 2008
Adoration of Dora explores the nature of art and creativity through the story of surrealist photographer and one of Picasso’s many lovers, Dora Maar. Already an accomplished photographer when she and Picasso met in 1936, Maar is perhaps best known as Picasso’s Weeping Woman, the subject of numerous portraits painted during the Spanish Civil War. Adoration of Dora explores the conflict that Maar felt as both artist and muse to one of the most revered creative geniuses of the 20th century. With a cast of six females and a run time of under two hours, Adoration of Dora draws its inspiration from the Parisian surrealist movement and the upheaval of the interwar period that shaped the art and politics of the time. Six females, one act.
Ladies First
, with Anita Yellin SimonsFinalist, Trustus Playwriting Festival, 2006; Honorable Mention, 2006 OMNI Center for Peace, Justice & Ecology Peacewriting Award, 2006
Ladies First chronicles the efforts of a peace activist who is visited by the spirits of four former first ladies, Mary Todd Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Edith Wilson and Pat Nixon. Together, they devise a madcap scheme to kidnap the first lady in an effort to convince the president to end the war. "It's a clever, entertaining, thought-provoking idea, and it surely will be seen on the stage before too long," said OMNI Director James Bennett, a noted peace activist and author. Six females, one act.
Girlfriends
2nd prize, San Diego Actors' Alliance One-Page Play Festival, 2006
Girlfriends is a very brief one-act about two friends in a retirement home who reminisce about love and romance for women in their 80s. Perfect for senior theatres and audiences with a short attention span. Features two mature females. No set required.
Read the play here.
The Last Two Jews in Kabul
& SisThe Last Two Jews in Kabul, one-act drama, examines the Jewish perspective on justice, law and compassion in post-Taliban Afghanistan. What is one’s obligation to community when the community has only two people left? Two male actors, one set. Sis, one-act comedy, is a humorous but poignant story that mixes Jewish cuisine and Jewish values. A modern tale about Passover, tradition and family. Two mature females and one male. One set. Both one-act plays were performed as a staged reading at the Center for Jewish Arts and Culture in La Jolla in 2003.
