Work samples

  • DSC_8347 (1).JPG
    DSC_8347 (1).JPG

    A scene from Just a Bus Driver produced by Urban Waves at the Open Hydrant Theater Company, Bronx, NY 2016.

  • 10x10 in the triangle cast and dir 2016.jpg
    10x10 in the triangle cast and dir 2016.jpg
    The cast of Just a Bus Driver, produced by Artscenterlive during 10x10 in the Triangle, Carrboro, NC 2016
  • Finalist 2024 Water Works Festival -- for Feeble-Minded White Trash
    Finalist 2024 Water Works Festival -- for Feeble-Minded White Trash

    My full-length play, Feeble-Minded White Trash, was a finalist in the 2024 Water Works Festival by Live Arts Theater in Charlottesville, VA, out of 600+ entries.

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About Susan

2024 OTW Artist   Baltimore County  

The Theatrical Mining Company has produced two of Susan Middaugh's full length plays, A Modern Pas De Deux and Black Widows as part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival. Next Stage Press has published Black Widows.

Eighteen of her short plays have had productions by 34 theaters in the United States, Canada and England. The theaters, most but not all of them community theaters, include Single Carrot,… more

View Susan's Resume
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Black Widows

You can read the script in the text file attached. Here is a synopsis of my full-length play, Black Widows:

This is a cautionary tale about two Los Angeles women in their 70s who are crooks. The play opens as Vera Krabitz and Gwen Halsted are stealing cash and credit cards from hotel locker rooms. Gwen is afraid of getting caught and suggests they come up with a new scam. Shortly thereafter, Vera and Gwen befriend a couple of homeless men they meet through a church soup kitchen. They give the men a place to live, take out multiple life insurance policies on them and name themselves as beneficiaries, then wait for the men to die. Until one day, Vera becomes impatient.
With doubling, the cast may be reduced to six: 3m, 3w.

Feeble-Minded White Trash

During the late 1920s in rural southern Virginia, Hattie Clawson, an illiterate laundress with two illegitimate children, one of them black, hasn't heard of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes or his majority opinion in the landmark case Buck vs. Bell. But she will feel the impact of the court's decision when the Commonwealth of Virginia forces her to unergo an involuntary sterilization, severs her parental rights and takes her children away. What will she and her children do to survive in a society preoccupied with race and class? Will the stigma ever go away?

Queen for a Day

10-minute play, 2 characters: 1m, 1w; butler has a British accent

In an auction Holly wins a butler for a day. He starts to serve her breakfast in bed -- until the action veers off in an unexpected direction.
  • Synopsis of Queen for a Day
    In an auction Holly wins a butler for a day. He starts to serve her breakfast in bed -- until the action veers off in an unexpected direction. This is a 10-minute play featuring 1m, 1w. The script is in the first text file on the left.
  • Program from Knutsford (England) Play Festival
    This festival in Knutsford, England, chose my short play, Queen for a Day, as a winner in their festival. The performance was in October of 2008.
  • Flyer to promote my play, Queen for a Day, in NYC
    Brief Acts produced my play, Queen for a Day, in New York City in September 2008. Directed by Donna Gloria Mooney Cast Holly: Susanna Randolph Jeeves, the butler: Paul Wilcox

    • It's My Party!

    10-minute play, 3characters, simple set

    Connie, a suburban woman, gets picked up for the first time for drug possession. Sharing a room with her at the jail intake center is a prostitute named Crystal. Each woman wants to get out on bail, but only one will. Except for their addiction and a fondness for the same pair of shoes, they appear to be very different. Will they find their common humanity?

    • It's My Party

      Synopsis:
      Suburban drug addict Connie Silks and prostitute Crystal Brown want to be released from jail.
      Both have attitudes. While they wait, they fight over a pair of Jimmy Choos and reveal their
      vulnerabilities.

      CAST OF CHARACTERS

      Connie Silks, 30, suburban drug addict, white
      Crystal Brown, 28, mother and prostitute, black
      Megan Callahan, 30, lawyer, any race

    • Such Good Neighbors

    short play, drama, 10 minutes

    An elderly couple are awakened in the middle of the night by their next-door neighbors who are having an argument. The wife becomes intrigued, the husband wants to distract her from listening. This 10-minute play has two characters: 1m, 1f and a simple set.
    • Such Good Neighbors, a 10-minute play
      An elderly couple are awakened in the middle of the night by their next-door neighbors who are having an argument. The wife becomes intrigued, the husband wants to distract her from listening. 1m, 1w, simple set
    • Flyer to promote a production of this play
      Flyer to promote a production of this play
      The Flying Leap Players in Grand Marais, MN produced my play in 2002.
    • This is the playbill put out by Flying Leap Players
      This is the playbill put out by Flying Leap Players
      The playbill shows the actors and director.
    •

    • Suite 510

    A woman writer is working in her office late at night. An Intruder knocks on her door and insists that she open the door. This man proceeds to terrorize her and accuses her of killing his sister in a hit-and-run accident.

    Two characters: 1M, 1F


    Set requirements: a desk, a door, and a few simple office props

    • Suite 510

      Synopsis:
      A woman writer, working alone at night in her office, encounters an intruder who threatens to
      kill her.


      Cast of Characters
      Mary Gallagher, a free-lance writer, any age, any race, has spunk, sings off-key
      The Intruder, a man with a wild look, wears business attire, any age, any race
      Set Requirements:
      A desk and chair and a few simple props.

    • When I Fall in Love, It Will Be...

    Two devoted spouses of dementia patients strike up an unlikely friendship after they discover what's been going on at their spouse's assisted living facility. A 10-minute play with 2 characters: 1m, 1w.

    The Next Dance

    When you're a man in his early 20s who has cerebral palsy and is struggling for independence, what does it take to find sex besides money? Ask Jack Durso. But a real match? Then it helps to have a personal care attendant named Max who's also an amateur boxer and who challenges Jack's MO.
     

    Hooked: Anybody's Child

    Based on personal interviews, this docu-drama shares the true stories of men and women affected by the substance abuse crisis. They include those who are addicted and are now in recovery, others who overdosed and died and the parents of those who struggled with them. The play features men and women who are white and black, who live in the inner city as well as the suburbs, who are poor and others who earn a good income. Although the individuals live in Maryland, their stories are universal. 

    Consumer Confidence

    A convenience store clerk insists that all sales are final when his former elementary school teacher requests a refund. Will she persuade him otherwise when she wants to return a package of condoms?