THE SUMMONING – AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION SKETCH (COMEDY HORROR)
It starts at the so called Production Meeting, with the meeting being called to order. Then suddenly from out of the crowd there erupts a pervert with naughty material on his phone (which luckily goes flat), followed by a witch spouting Latin curses, a creepy clown and a Zombie manifestation. To top it all off, the scary rental manager arrives demanding more money whilst the place erupts into chaos in this audience participation sketch.
The script relies on actors being placed within the audience and will be fun for everyone involved.
It is based on The Summoning, 2016: Haunted Attraction .
THANK YOU FOR SHOPPING HOOCHUM’S BARGAIN BASEMENT – FUNNY THRILLER SCRIPT
This funny thriller script turns the classic horror tale of the young couple alone in their car in a deserted area encountering a frightening or horrific thing on its head. A young couple have travelled to the BAD SIDE OF TOWN to get a coffee maker from Hoochum’s Bargain Basement, as the glass in their one has cracked, and they want to do something AWFUL. They want to replace the new one with the cracked one and take it back for a refund, PRETENDING THAT IT’S THE NEW ONE. SHOCKING!!!
They’ve had to travel across town, as their usual store burnt to the ground recently under VERY MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES, in which the little old lady who owned the store barely escaped with her life. Rumour has it, however that the little old lady had a graduate student on the side. On that fateful day he was working in the back of the store, and was very badly burnt in the fire and HE HASN’T BEEN SEEN SINCE…
Rumour also has it that he wasn’t, in fact using the old lady for her body, but for her coupon skills, which she was famed for. She could get a better deal with her coupons than anyone, and he was taking her for all that she knew.
But now that the couple has bought their new coffee machine, they’re about to go for a drive to a very deserted spot where anything could happen…
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Cuyahoga Falls High School, OH, USA – 2021
University of Vermont, VT, USA – 2021
Sassafras Cannon is a civil-war black comedy play highlighting and satirizing the follies of human nature, at its base. Featuring a set of characters ranging from the offbeat Bloodworth family, holding the reigns to a chocolate manufacturing corporation like the world has never seen, a lampooning version of President Jefferson Davis, a butler who seems a bit, well, evil, and even down to investors from overseas, all whom make their appearances, the show exaggerates America’s time-tested fascination with all characters wild and strange, all while twisting history into it’s own new version, all in a style reminiscing to the days of vaudeville shows and the Ziegfeld Follies.
Did you know that cocaine, now considered a drug, was in the original mix of Coca-Cola?
Did you know that Jefferson Davis is rumored to have been fleeing from the Union at the time of his capture in his wife’s clothing?
These are all facts and rumors that the play uses to perpetuate it’s story and satire, combined with intentional historical inaccuracies and rumors. Attendance at the production is recommended for those with both a sense of humor and a grasp of history.
Review from The Charlotte Observer:
The play, like many of my other script ideas, simply came to me one day out of the blue,” Starnes said. “I wanted to do a comedy on some sort of Willy Wonka-esque character and his especially eclectic family set during the Civil War, which would appeal to young adults and adults.
“Many of the details in the show were inspired by real-life facts found during my prewriting research. However, the play is not a documentary or historically accurate, following my motto that people – when attending an event such as a play – are seeking to be entertained rather than taught.”
Audiences are advised to bring a sense of humor, and parental guidance is suggested.
In Starnes’ play, there is no “fourth wall” between the audience and the storyline. The playwright said attendees “become part of the storyline” in the Museum of the Waxhaws’ auditorium.
For Ryan Fay, who is going on to do the great things everyone was expecting. If it wasn’t for him, this script would have been complete 6 versions ago.
For Beth Killion, whose amount of effort put into the costumes must have bailed out the entire craft industry. Homeschoolers and old ladies rejoice.
For Anna Claire, who listened to my weekly arguments with Ryan Fay in the car, citing that we sounded like an old married couple. Accurate.
For Hoke Pittman, who has been keeping my leading male characters rightfully sassy since 2013.
For Jasper Boykin, the original black butler.
For Lucas King, who made sure that the houseboy humor couldn’t be any bawdy or funnier.
For Katherine Pierce, whose realistic onstage wine-drinking couldn’t have come from no previous real life experience.
For Noah Tepper, the original Victorian emo. His hair color changes were part of those script versions.
For Carlos Vargas, whose constant mention of his male Cinderella adaptation never ceases to silence a room.
For Kevin Brennan, who has flashed more people than even the biggest career flashers, wearing his Jefferson Davis dress.
For Jessica Boyles, who died more times than anyone can count, in the show.
For Shawn Jones, the scariest investor in the ensemble.
For Camarin Chargualaf, who said “inherited chocolate empire” correctly on both running nights.
For Savannah Jillani, who maintains to look better in my clothes than I do.
For Tommie Wall and Sandra Glenn, who supported the project all the way to the stage, hiding some of it from the arts council along the way.
TUNE IN – TWO ACT COMEDY ABOUT A TELEVISION STATION
When Danton Stanton ‘accidentally’ kills oil tycoon Mr. Paramount, he alters his will and inherits Mr Paramount’s long neglected TV station, also ‘by accident.’ Danton decides to make the best of things and together with his best friend Walton Harley they team up with a bunch of misfits who between them, have had SOME previous television experience. These include the elderly Beverly Kraft, recently fired from her job at the community college, and Fred Feltbetter, an ageing has-been who fell far from grace in his previous job at the local rival TV network, and who now moonlights as Liza Justice, a cabaret singer. Between the four of them, they come up with a plan to rescue the failed TV station and best the evil rival network.
“Dedication-
The entirety from opening to last period of this play is dedicated to my best friend of more years than I can count, William Harris, one of the most ingenious people I know, who was instrumental in co-crafting every one of the characters in this show and remain largely unchanged from their original conjuring. Below is an excerpt from their debut concept novella, now hidden on an external hard drive, never to be seen by eyes other than our own, featuring the scene in which the cast of characters prepare to walk through a haunted house attraction, an experience not unlike writing this concept stageplay:
“Now listen here, Comrades,” said Mr. Feltbetter. “This is gonna’ be really scary. So, if you need a hand to hold or a shoulder to scream into, you can just come right on over to me. I’ll be happy to help you though this!” Walton and Danton stood up and began to exit the RV, closely followed by Mr. Feltbetter and Beverly. As they crossed the parking lot, they were enveloped by the scent of cheap rubber masks and what smelled like a large supply of Dark and Gorgeous hair product.” –
I sincerely hope that this play can gift to you the laughter and joy that our friendship has provided over the years. It was a true joy to be able to bring a teenage dream to life. Anything can happen. A gospel singer could emerge from your closet, sing the hallelujah chorus, and then return to the shadows of your moth-eaten, forgotten sweaters and disappear. Never discount what seems unlikely.”
