THE WOODEN HEART

by Adam Szymkowicz

Full-length

Comedic Drama

Mitch wants to be a carpenter. Heather wants to be a woodcarver. The wolf wants to be an intellectual. Ruby wants to escape the wolf. The woodcutter wants to escape the narrator. A fable-inspired play about love and wood and finding your purpose.

Production Notes

Cast of Characters

(5W / 3-4M)

Narrator, female, 30s

Mitch, male, a little lost, 30s

Heather, a would-be woodcarver, female, 30s

Brenda, female, works in an office, 30s or 40s

The Wolf / The Wooden Man / Prin, adult male

Ruby, female, 20s or younger

Janice, the woodcutter, female, 30s

Harris, the carpenter, male, 30s to 50s

Nazario, the woodcarver, male, old as the woods, might have an Italian accent

Gender as listed is suggested. Other choices may be possible. All actors can be any race but please be thoughtful about your cast composition. Try to have a diverse cast in all senses of the word in a way that is representative of your community.

If you need one fewer actor, Brenda or Janice or Nazario could be Prin and then Harris could do Wolf/Wooden Man.

Setting: A small town with a lot of woods and wetland swamps.

Time: The present. But also there is a fable / fairy tale feeling to it, you know? So kind of mythic too.

Author

Adam Szymkowicz

ADAM SZYMKOWICZ’s plays have been produced throughout the U.S., and in Canada, England, Wales, The Isle of Man, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Turkey, Switzerland, South Korea, Thailand, Sweden, Austria, Slovenia and Lithuania. His work has been presented or developed at such places as Portland Center Stage, MCC Theater, Ars Nova, South Coast Rep, Playwrights Horizons, LCT3, LAByrinth Theater Company, The Lark, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Primary Stages and The New Group, among others.

Published plays include Deflowering Waldo, Pretty Theft, Food For Fish, Hearts Like Fists,Incendiary, Clown Bar, The Why Overhead, Adventures of Super Margaret, 7 Ways To Say I Love You, Rare Birds, Marian Or The True Tale of Robin Hood, Kodachrome, Mercy, The Book Store, Old Fashioned Cold Fusion, The Parking Lot, The Night Children, Clown Bar 2, The Wooden Heart, Stockholm Syndrome, 100 Things I Never Said To You, 100 Love Letters I Never Sent and Nerve. His plays are published by...[FULL BIO]