Tom Hendricks 
Ten Short and Short-Short Plays 

Five short plays:1. THE WANDERING STUDENTS. In a magical wood, two nymphs bewitch two college students with lyrical results (rhymed play) in this homage to Shakespeare’s comedies. 2. WILLIAM TELL. THE PLAY. A group of players are acting out Shiller’s, William Tell – but is it staged or real when he shoots that arrow? A play in a play, in a play, that tests reality. 3. MEDUSA, (The First Greek Tragedy in 2, 000 Years.} Two Greek Gods, Athena and Poseidon are in a power struggle; with Andromeda, Perseus, and Medusa, the pawns in their fight. 4. DAEDALUS. Father and son, must escape the Minotaur monster, but the king won’t let the pair leave. Daedalus has the intellect and skill for invention, but fate is against him in this tragedy. (On our website – see issue #85)5. SWANELLA AND THE DOLL. (A Ballet in Verse.) This play is based on the classic ballet story, Coppelia that in turn is loosely based on "The Sandman" by E.T.A. Hoffmann. Plus, Five Short-Short Plays:6. MANIKIN AND MINIKIN. (A Two Character Play.) Two Porcelain figurines sport with one another on a mantle in an English parlor, in this romantic, rewriting of Manikin and Minikin (A Bisque-Play), a puppet play by Alfred Kreymborg (1918). 7. RED. (Children’s Play). The Queen has had enough of the Throne Room’s old threadbare red carpet. Time for a new one, but it has to be just the EXACT shade of red. How does the rug maker satisfy the Queen?8. THE INTERROGATION. (A Dramatic Poem.) A painter and art teacher, is interrogated for unknown reasons by offstage interrogators. 9. LARRY’S SUGAR PILLS.(One Act Play.) Larry, the owner of Larry’s Sugar Pills defends in court, the curable claims of his ‘medicine’ that is nothing but sugar, "We had a sugar coating but I’m the first to say / That seemed redundant, and got in the way…"10 JOB. This bible story is based on the Book of Job. It is written in the style of the medieval ‘mystery’ plays.