Works written by Michael Hollinger
HOPE AND GRAVITY
UNDER THE SKIN
MR DICKENS’ HAT
SING THE BODY ELECTRIC
TOUCHTONES (musical written with composer Roger Maggio)
Synopses:
Hope and Gravity – (comedy; 3M, 2W with doubling or 5M, 4W without doubling) When an elevator falls in a major city, nine lives intersect in surprising ways, both comic and tragic—through love and sex, poetry and dentistry; in offices, homes, and hotel rooms. Jill longs for Steve, who’s engaged to Barb, who hooks up with Peter, who’s already having an affair with Nan, who’s married to Marty, who subscribes to Elevator World. Meanwhile, nine stories off the ground, Douglas meets Tanya—who’s hoping to get pregnant with Hal—and a little miracle changes hands. By turns hilarious and profound, HOPE AND GRAVITY traces the barely perceivable threads that connect us all.
Under the Skin – (comedy; 2M, 2W with doubling) Lou needs a kidney. Yesterday. His daughter Raina’s got one to spare, but she’s also got issues (Plenty of these.) Like how come the sonofabitch had sex with so many women who weren’t her mother? Time leaps backward, forward and sideways, secrets get aired and truths revealed in this lively, unpredictable comedy that asks what we owe our parents and our children.
Mr. Dickens’ Hat – (holiday play with music; 3M, 3W, with doubling) December 22, 1865: In a London hat shop, on the darkest night of the year, a diverse ensemble of six takes on two dozen colorful Dickensian characters and a suspenseful, heartfelt story to generate plenty of warmth in a cold season. Featuring nine “original Victorian carols.”
Sing the Body Electric – (drama; 2M, 2W) Jess is tanking in Physics, so her mom hires Lloyd to help her pass. But she’d rather study his son, the survivor of a lightning strike that killed his girlfriend a year ago, and tattooed his body with elegant scars. When Lloyd and Mom hit it off, these two broken families are bound ever closer, inexorably — with explosive results. An intricate, atmospheric tale of love, sex, and the unseen forces that draw us together and drive us apart.
TouchTones – (musical, written with composer Robert Maggio; 3M, 4W) As idealistic teens, Justin and Christine vowed to stay celibate until marriage. Now, years later, they both look forward to their wedding day (and night), just months away. Until she stumbles on an unfamiliar number, frequently called, on his phone, and one world collapses as another opens up.
BIO:
Michael Hollinger’s plays include Under the Skin, Opus, Ghost-Writer, Tooth and Claw, Red Herring, Incorruptible, An Empty Plate in the Café Du Grand Boeuf, and the musical TouchTones (co-authored with composer Robert Maggio), all of which premiered at Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre Company and have variously been produced around the U.S., in New York City, and abroad (London, Paris, Tokyo, Athens, Poland and Slovenia). Plays premiered elsewhere include: Mr. Dickens’ Hat at Chicago’s Northlight Theatre; Hope and Gravity at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre; Cyrano (translated, and co-adapted with Aaron Posner) at Washington’s Folger Theatre; Sing the Body Electric at Philadelphia’s Theatre Exile; and the musical A Wonderful Noise (co-authored with Vance Lehmkuhl) at Creede Rep. Awards include an ATCA/Steinberg New Play Citation, two Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards, an L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award, a Mid-Atlantic Emmy, four Barrymore Awards, nominations for Lucille Lortel and John Gassner awards, and multiple fellowships from the Independence Foundation and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Michael is a Professor of Theatre at Villanova University, Artistic Director of Villanova Theatre, and a proud alumnus of New Dramatists.
Website: www.michaelhollinger.com