Charles Deemer
Plays
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Stage Plays:
Produced:
Above the Fire
The Profession
The Dragon
Champoeg: the Story of Old Oregon
The Pardon (1979) (adapted for the screen )
"There was a war. There was a war but there were no heroes. Perhaps you remember."
1934: Blood and Roses (1980)
"I'm a slow learner but when I learn, watch out."
Country Northwestern (1981)
"You don't earn a goddamn thing in the music business, Red. You either kiss ass or you don't kiss ass."
The Half-Life Conspiracy (1983)
"The Pacific Northwest! The land of lumberjacks and fishermen and cowboys! That's why I nuked it, you're so close to the mythological center of things."
Reviews: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 .
Christmas at the Juniper Tavern (1984)
"Mill workers drink beer, swamis meditate. It's the nature of things."
Reviews: 1 .
ISBN 0-934847-03-7
ACE-award, public television version.
Fred Ross, logger poet : background of poetry in the play.
The Comedian in Spite of Himself (1984) (became Sad Laughter )
The Ballad of Sam Crab (1984)
Abigail and Harvey (1985)
Waitresses (1985)
"Waiting for something is better than waiting for nothing."
Reviews: 1 .
Testing (1986)
"Why don't the sirens stop? This can't be the real thing..."
Varmints (1989)
"Nations die, Paddy, but gold is eternal. And why? Because man's nature is greed. Greed!"
Previews, Reviews: 1 , 2 .
Basis of an opera by John D. Nugent (music) and Charles Deemer (
libretto ) (in progress).
Who Forgives? (1996)
"My name's Ed, and I'm a perp."
Famililly (1998)
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all children are created equal..."
Winner of the 1997 Crossing Borders International New Play Competition.
Finalist, Oregon Book Award, 1998.
Bedrooms & Bars (1998)
"What the hell's wrong with being a romantic?"
(the shorter NY version , 2002)
Finalist, Oregon Book Award, 1998.
American Gadfly: the Story of Wayne Morse (1989, 2004) (Also a television version ).
"Do something to protect American brain power."
Staged readings only:
Song of the Salmon
Sad Laughter (1999) (adapted for the screen )
"My life is a dress rehearsal for a play."
Best Stage Scenes of 1996 ISBN 1-57525-077-2
Best Men's Stage Monologues of 1996 ISBN 1-57525-075-6
Unproduced:
My Town, Your Town
Ears
The Flooding of West Rapids
The Ghosts of Fairfield
A Brown Man's Burden
Mercy to the Patriot
The Death Cycle (3 one-act plays):
The Hiroshima Maiden
The Sadness of Einstein (1985)
"Revolution belongs to the young."
Casting Paul Robeson
Chekhov's The Seagull
Very Short Plays:
Snoops ... minding other people's business.
Winner, BLUUBIRD Theatre Festival competition.
Habitat ... another gray day in the 22nd century.
Patriots ... war can be bad on your marriage.
Posthumous Plays:
In 2008, I began a series of plays for posthumous performance only. These scripts will be available in my archive in Special Collections at the University of Oregon.
The posthumous plays are:
Oregon Dream . An old man. An ex-wife, now a lesbian. Ghosts. (ISBN 978-0-9788610-5-6, The Sextant Press.) More info .
Books:
Seven Come Eleven: Stories and Plays, 1969-1999
Trade paperback, ISBN 1-89365-264-5
More info
Seven Plays
Trade paperback, ISBN 1-58898-239-4
More info
Finalist for the Oregon Book Award, 2001
Three Oregon Plays
Trade paperback, ISBN 1-58898-951-8
More info
Country Northwestern and other plays of the Pacific Northwest
Trade paperback, ISBN 0-9747440-9-3.
More info .
Ebook pdf (left click to view, right to download with "Save Target As").
The Sadness of Einstein and other plays .
Famililly .
Winner, 1997 "Crossing Borders" International New Play Competition.
Trade paperback. ISBN 0-9786357-5-2.
Free ebook .
More info .
Sad Laughter .
Eight Oregon Plays .
The Haven Project:
Phone Plays (2000) , very short audio plays.
Dramatic Celebrations: