Allan Baker
For read-only versions of these plays, see: abbyproductions.com
- Five Minutes
Two friends and co-workers find comfort in their family and faith. Two strangers face death by remembering what made life worth living. A gay couple on the phone — one in the tower, the other at home — find that love can take you to a safe place when nothing else can. These three couples find these truths during a critical, devastating five minutes in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
“Best of the Fest,” 2006, Austin FronteraFest fringe festival.
Emerging Artists Theatre’s Fall Festival of Short Plays, New York City, 2006
Samuel French Festival of Off Off-Broadway One Act Plays, June 2007.
One act: 19 min. – no set
4M: 20s-30s
2F: Afro-Am late 30s, early 60s
- … last and always
A gay couple, one partner in the World Trade Center Building, the other at their home in the city, must say goodbye. Based on the last scene of “Five Minutes” this play is set on the events of September 11, 2001.
Produced by NativeAliens Theatre Collective, as part of New York City’s Pride Festival, 2009.
Produced by Turtle Shell Productions, New York City, as part of their “Ninth Annual 8 Minute Madness Playwright’s Festival, 2011.”
Produced by Blue Slipper Theatre, Livingston, Montana, as part of their first “10-Minute Play Festival,” May 2012.
Produced by Buffalo United Artists Theatre, Buffalo, NY, as part of their annual “Takes Ten: GLBT Short Plays” festival, June 2012.
Produced by the University of Guam Theatre Dept., as part of their annual student-directed ten-minute play festival, November 2013.
Produced by The Actors’ Theatre of Santa Cruz, CA, as part of their annual “8 Tens @ 8” ten-minute play festival, January 2014.
Produced by The West Coast Players of Clearwater, FL, as part of their annual ten-minute play festival, July 2014.
One-Act: 10 min. – bare stage
2M: 20s
- Voices
Born in the 1860s, Martha is the tyrannical 97-year-old matriarch of a Texas family. Peggy is her 75-year-old, oft-married, spirited, bohemian granddaughter. Cole is a young, gay man with AIDS. The family holds a conversation across four generations. They happen to reside in a cemetery.
Produced at the Off Centre Theatre, Austin, TX, April 2010.
Encored at the Rollins Theatre as part of Austin Pride, June, 2010.
One act: 32 min. – 5 chairs
2M: mid-teen, late 30s
3F: early 20s, mid 70s, mid 90s
- Click
Saturday night and two gay guys are online trying to hook up. Jason sees quick and easy sex as a way to avoid emotional intimacy. Michael sees it as a way to more quickly get emotionally intimate.
Produced at the Off Centre Theatre, Austin, TX, April 2010, and in June 2010 as part of Austin Pride.
Produced by Uptown Players at the Kalita Humphreys Theatre, Dallas, TX, as part of “Dallas Pride Performing Arts Festival,” September 2011.
“Click” won first place in July 2012 when produced by the Eclectic Company Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, as part of “9th Annual Hurricane Season New Play Festival and Playwriting Competition.”
One act: 26 min. – minimal set
2M: early-to-late 20s
- A Midsummer Night’s Conversation
Four months into their relationship and Colin and Ben face a critical moment. It is a time for honesty, intimacy and total self-exposure. One of the two is an actor; a very good actor.
Nudity (both men).
Produced at the Off Centre Theatre in Austin, TX, April 2010, and encored June 2010, as part of Austin Pride.
Produced by Uptown Players at the Kalita Humphreys Theatre in Dallas, TX as part of “Dallas Pride Performing Arts Festival,” September 2011.
One act: 28 min. – a bed
2M: early-late 20s
- All the Saints
Alex, a very successful model/escort/circuit party boy, and AJ, a U.S. Navy pilot stationed in San Diego fall in love. For the sake of his beloved, Alex renounces this love and leaves AJ.
A modern re-telling of Dumas’ “Lady of the Camellias” and Verdi’s “La Traviata,” with gay characters. A timeless love story, faithfully translated from 19th century Paris into a modern gay setting in San Diego, the White Party in Miami, Baja, and San Francisco.
Nudity.
Three act: 2 hours 15 min. – minimal set
12-17M: three mid-late 20s, two late 30s, mid 50s, one non-speaking late teen-early 20s, five-to-ten non-speaking early-to-late 20s
- Eskandar
Eskandar is the 18-year-old “kept boy” of an Afghan warlord. Joe is a gay, Afghan/American who has returned to the country of his birth as part of a clandestine military operation.
Inspired by the Carmen of both Mérimée and Bizet and set in today’s Afghanistan.
One-Act: 1 hr. 15 min. – minimal set
10-12M: late teen, four in 30s, 40s, four-to-six non-speaking of any age
- Beauty
A great work of art changes hands, and a tale of true beauty is told: by the Dealer, the Collector and the Buyer. A character portrait of a compassionate woman is described, one who cared for the victims of a plague, when most others refused to help.
An audience-selected finalist when Produced by Valley Repertory Company, Enfield, CT, in February 2012, as part of their “LabWorks 15 Minute New Play Contest.”
In July 2012, “Beauty” was produced by Salem Theatre Company, Salem, MA, as part of their annual “Moments of Play” short play festival.
One-Act: 15 min. – bare stage with one chair
3M: 30s, 50s, 70s
- Dex & Abby
A gay couple, Jim and Sean, are in love and beginning their relationship in their new home. Their dogs, Dex and Abby, don’t get along at all. Fortunately, the characters are able to communicate in unexpected and lovely ways.
Produced as a fully staged reading at Salvage Vanguard Theatre, Austin, TX, March 2013.
Production slated by This is Water Theatre in Bryan/College Station, TX, February 2015.
Two-Act: 1 hour, 45 min.
3M: 2 in 20s, 1 in 60s (plays the 15-year-old dog)
2F: two in 20s (one plays the 5-year-old dog)
